Don't Move to the Quad Cities (Chicago, Naperville: cul-de-sac, home, transfer)

[ozradio]

I grew up in Rock Island and left for college in the early 90s. I rarely go back and would never consider settling there. It's a typical rust belt area with all the associated pros and cons. From what I've seen of Madison, the QC can't hold a candle to it. Unless one gets a great job offer or has family there I'm not sure why anyone would want to relocate there.

[AnonymousCoward]

Every place has its advantages and disadvantages. The average home in 2006 in Dane county sold for $249,454 in 2006, and that's for the whole county. Houses in or near Madison, sell for more than that. I heard people talk about $250k starter homes when I lived there! In my experience, wages weren't particularly competitive either. Madison may look nice, and it is certainly vibrant but even middle income people struggle to afford to live there.

Chicago is even more expensive to live in than Madison, but for many professional jobs the salary should more than make up the difference. I guess it all comes down to finding a place that is a good match for what it is you want out of a community.

[SoIl]

Sounds like certain parts of southern Illinois.

[dr.goldblatt]

Wisc must allow competition with Telephone companies and Cable companies. With cell phones and satellites today I don't know if I would base my living arrangements on choice of telephone and cable.

But choice in these industries would be nice.

A college town vs. a post industrial town is not going to be the same. I have found people these days are not as friendly.

How many Asians are there in the QC. I would think they could have gone to Iowa city for something.

[m72martin]

Maybe your negative attitude is the reason over 100 companies have not responded to your resume...??? Life is what YOU make it. I grew up in the QC's and I'm proud to be from there. I don't think you know what you are talking about.

Originally Posted by homemakergirl

I moved to Moline from Madison, WI. I thought that the living experience would be similar seeing that it is about the same size (although Moline is about 40,000 people there is about 150,000 in the cities combined).

The schools are horrendous, I pulled my daughter out and put her in private schools (which is the only good thing about the QCA, the private schools are very affordable compared to other cities). I was on the report card for Illinois schools and noticed that even thought cost of living is less here than most of the state (supposedly) the teachers are about the highest paid. Don't let that fool you, the teachers here don't care and as I said the public high schools are terrible. I found it funny that one of my daughter's classmates mother is a teacher at the local public high school, but she has all of her kids in private school. Also the rent is much more reasonable than Madison, but the neighborhoods are not friendly.

It has been the biggest disappointment, there are no good restaunts, they are all national chains or small restraunts serving only Asian, American or Hispanic food. Their Taste of the Quad Cities was three blocks long, expensive and no specialty food, just the normal national chains. No entertainment, the city is not pretty for the most part.

There is also no competition here. There are two grocery store chains to choose from, there are no real meat markets or deli's. The prices are outrageous. The grocery stores sell "steaks" with cuts I have never heard of. The fattest ribeye steak I have seen here is only about 1/2 an inch. If you ask the butcher to cut meat for you they look at you appalled.

You can't choose a different phone company, only AT&T, there is one cable company and their prices are sky high.

There are no grocery stores that carry Asian food (there is one, but it is so dirty I am afraid of bringing home a cockroach or getting food poisoning), we drive 3 hours to Arlington Heights to get Asian groceries.

The people are rude and if you are not from this area, you are clearly labeled an outsider. People do not smile, they are more concerned about beating you to the line at the grocery store, parking stall, etc. The city is not laid out well, their community events are lacking.

They claim to have wonderful job opportunities here, I cannot find a job in my industry or one equivelent to what I do (Accounting/Payroll clerk). I have submitted at least 100 resumes over the last three years and I rarely get a response, I think they see I am not from their community and disregard it.

I am so thankful that my husband is transferring to Chicago and we can finally put this town behind us.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by MarquettePark

I just got done reading home girls post,

How many phone companies do you want, AT&T formerly SBC, formerly Ameritech, Formerly Iowa Illinois Bell, is over 150 years old, besides cable telephony, which I install among other things, how many phone companies are in the US,

One cable company, yea, how many cable companies do you think are in Chicago, two, Comcast and Wow, and Wow, is only available in certain areas, and is under chapter 11, I know I ve worked for every provider in the US, and have certifications with all of them (public record......look it up) and if you think it was expensive in QC, wait until you see your first bill from Comcast, youll crap yourself, inside info, subscribe to cable telephone, you ll enjoy the daily outages, the incompatible 911 calling system which for the record, has caused deaths, and personal harm to people who have it, and dont forget the top of the line customer service, i work for these companies, and I wouldnt put their crap in my own home, EVER HEARD OF SATELLITE,

Food, what other kinds of food, are there, do you honestly expect to get Kim Chi, in the corn belt of america, learn how to grow and cook your own food, which those people in that area , have been doing since the USA became a nation.

Shopping what kind of shopping do you do, do you honestly expect to find a Macy's (aka occupied Marshall Fields) ever heard of online shopping,

Butcher's are u a millionaire, wait until you ask a butcher to cut something for you up here, cash in your savings bonds.

People, you ll find more nicer people here, I ll tell ya, the most racially segregated city on the planet earth, Nelson Mandela came here, and said, he would prefer apartheid then live here............(thats public record as well), and historically cities with five million plus people are more friendly than small town america, just look at New York, they love each other to death. Chicago has a great reputation for welcoming outsiders, "we are all about that",

Jobs, other than sevice or agricultural what kind of jobs, did you expect to find in the Breadbasket/Bible Belt of america, accounting and payroll, in order to hire someone that writes checks and keeps the books, you have to have people working that collect a check, your not going to find that in Petticoat Junction, I send out ten to twenty resumes a day online, and Im semi retired, and somewhat famous, I get no responses, and Im connected.

Im not trying to be mean, but you strike me as a little princess, spoiled, and have too much time on your hands, you moved to an area which still lives in the 19th century, and you expected them to be just like you...........as I recall you said your from the west coast or something, and you moved to the QC area, and now your coming here to Chicago, I sincerely wish you the best, and hope things go well for you.

PS: I ll hook you up to both cable companies so you dont have to pay them, youll need that money to pay for tuition, parking, and sides of beef, dont forget the even more expensive taste of chicago, and its three million sweaty, rude, drunk patrons.

On schools, the Chicago Public School system is a gladiator academy, and ninety percent of their teachers, place their kids in private schools,

Funny how you dont mention RCN, which is 20 times better than Comcast. Although it is only available in certain parts of Chicago. Hmmmm. lol

[Chicago60614]

^ really? In my 6 years of living here the one thing i've heard over and over is that people HATE RCN. Funny. I've always just gone with Comcast cause it's been there when I moved in....

Also, just cause I noticed, the original poster said the Quad Cities have 150,000 people. I'm pretty sure it's around 375,000.

[QuadCityImages]

Just to throw this out there, but you can easily get kimchi in the Quad Cities. You just have to know where to look, and clearly the original poster couldn't look past chain grocers and TGI Fridays. There's very little in Madison that you can't find somewhere in the QC area, if you look.

[Switch625]

What is it with six month old threads being dug up?

[TootsieWootsie]

I totally disagree with the comment that people here are rude. I have been gone for over 40 years, returning only to help an elderly parent. The one thing I can say honestly about the people is how kind and caring they are. No, they don't often greet you with that big, fakey Southern smile, but they will stop and help you when you need it.
And living is cheap, cheap, cheap here. Look up the cost of living. It is low here. Lots of house for cheap.
Food is cheaper here. Lots of farmer's markets.
There is lots of stuff to do here, so the statement that there is nothing to do here is absolutely wrong. There are lots of festivals and art shows. Many big name top stars come here to perform all the time, too. What is this person saying that there is nothing to do? Are they never reading the paper?????
This isn't mecca, but for good, inexpensive, wholesome life, this is pretty good.