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yes, it is that bad. a lot of the people there are on government aid and just rob and do drugs for a living. i would say that atleast 50% of the residents in Kankakee have ties to the West Side or South Side of Chicago somewhere in their family. a lot of the younger people (20-35) are in fact transplants from crime ridden and poor neighborhoods in chicago. some of them are very good people but others still have the street mentality.
The Kankakee schools, especially at the junior high and high school level are the most disturbing places I have ever been to. There is a very good reason that people pay good money to move out of 111 to BBCHS and Herscher school districts. Perhaps the reason the school is crappy is because people don't realize how bad it is.
By comparison, a house in Frankfort that will cost you $500K will cost you $300K if you drive 20 minutes south into Kankakee County. That is the appealing part of Kankakee County. We have been down looking at houses, didn't see any bad sections, but we stayed in Bradley and Bourbonnais, which seem to be growing quite well. If you want value and trying to escape a little, its a super nice option..
The only part of Kankakee I would consider living in would be the part that attends Herscher schools.
no offense but you don't get any of the negatives of kankakee if you speak of the frankfort area and maybe that explains the price differential. frankfort is the antithesis of kankakee and that is why the prices are different. frankfort has some of the best schools (top 3) in the state. kankakee on the other hand has drug and prostitution problems...something frankfort has never had. frankfort is about a quarter the size kankakee, has more to offer since its' neighboring communties are new lenox, orland park, ect. bernie mac (comedian, actor) has a house in Prestwick Country Club (right off of Harlem Avenue south of Rt. 30) in Frankfort. Plus the drummer for the band STYX lives there too. i don't think you can find celebrities living in kankakee like that unless they are former NBA ballers who lost all of their money to crack. frankfort also has a ridiculously competent police force since they don't have much trouble but a ton of money. there are million dollar homes in frankfort in places like Butternut and Prestwick but there are also 250,000 dollar homes just west of matteson.
i worked in manteno for 3 years. it's a very nice community but manteno, monee, bourbonnais, and bradley are nothing like kankakee.
when i speak of kankakee, i speak of what sticks out. and the bad areas stick out. you know the saying, the bad apple ruins the bunch. but i am sure there are very nice communties within the fairly large city of Kankakee.
Location: Chicago, IL on to Arizona State University
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1.) Kankakee is a very broadly used term. It often encompasses the two neighboring cities of Bradley and Bourbonnais. People say that Kankakee is a bad place. They often forget out Bradley and Bourbonnais. Bourbonnais is actually a fairly nice city I go there about 3 or 4 times a week for the Dairy Queen and other little shops they have there. Olivet Nazarene University is also a very nice local college and is located in either Bradley of Bourbonnais. I cant recall which one. The school system is not bad at all. Children can choose to receive education if it is available, which it is. Theyre just unmotivated. They dont seem to care. That is not the fault of the public school system Id just like to add.
2.) I think its hilarious when people say "Ohh. My son or daughter goes to Mac (the private school referred to in a previous post). This school might be private and expensive but it is also over packed and drug rampant. Students have had to share lockers in the past because of over crowding. I would choose BBCHS (Bradley Bourbonnais Community High School) over Mac anyday.
3.) Kankakee is an area to stay away from at night ofcourse, but they do have the two main hospitals of the area and some nice parks along the river. Bird Park is an example along with Alpiner Park (host to most of the cities youth baseball games) Butterfield Park is home to a majority of the youth softball leagues.
4.) The main problem with Kankakee is that people always want to build out. Instead of revitalizing the city center with new housing developments. They take the safer chance at success and just continue to expand. This is like a virus. As the drugs and crime from the city center start to rub off on the suburbs they too turn into drug and crime ridden places. Then more suburbs are built away from the danger. And it spreads again. If they want to fix the problem they need to strike at the source. The heart of Kankakee, out by the Industrial Park and North and Western Suburbs. The area by the Paramount and Public Library (also known as "downtown") isnt so bad.
5.) Kankakee also has a thriving Historical District. One of the lesser seen sides of the city. I love going there and taking walks along the river or going to one of the many parks, equipped with tennis courts, basketball courts, and along the river, jetties for boat service. Naturally, Kankakee knows how to take care of its upper class just like any city. Historical District is definitely a safe place to walk around at night.
6.) The metro area is also trying to make changes to improve the city. This includes nightly classes in English at KCC (Kankakee Community College, another College of the area) for the Spanish Population. Kankakee has opened its arms to new business and as I speak there are already two new Wal-Marts open, a Target, Avenue, multiple Starbucks. Public libraries galore. Many new eating establishments can also be seen driving down one of the local avenues. Examples such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Olive Garden, and many others. The city is already home to a mall which although doesnt have many "popular" stores, it is on the rise. Huge houses are continually going up on the outskirts. Nice little gated communities with green lawns and long drive ways. Low housing prices continue to draw in more and more people from the Northern Suburbs.
7.) Metra Rail is supposedly extending a rail line down to Kankakee's Train Station, which is currently served by Amtrak. The city has also started a public transportation which includes busing for citizens and a few cabs can also be seen dotting the roads.
8.) I live in Herscher, a small city roughly 20 miles outside of the Kankakee area and I really like going to the city for a night out on the town at one of the many hip new restaurants. They have some decent shopping for middle class people and in general the people are pretty nice. They put on a tough exterior but if you actually take the time to stop and talk to some of them youll find that everyones really friendly.
The Kankakee schools, especially at the junior high and high school level are the most disturbing places I have ever been to. There is a very good reason that people pay good money to move out of 111 to BBCHS and Herscher school districts. Perhaps the reason the school is crappy is because people don't realize how bad it is.
Really, and could you explain why Kankakee High is so much more disturbing than BBCHS? Every school has its problems, and the only major difference I can see between the schools is theirdemographics.
To tell you the truth, I admit that Kankakee has its fair share of problems, but I feel as if I would have a better time fitting in with many diversities of people in Kankakee HS. And after going through two testy years of private Catholic education, I feel more liberated and comfortable in this school than I have ever been.
Last edited by RWA; 05-22-2008 at 05:42 PM..
Reason: inappropriate grammar
Kankakee was a chronically economically and socially repressed area long before the housing crash took place there about March 1, 2006. You can't give away a house; much of it is composed of older, decaying housing neighborhoods with super low income and welfare tenants. The 2007 taxes were just hiked up, despite severely decreased housing values and lack of overall sellability-for retirement funds of the few-especially the horrible schools tax and many governmental layers (over-layered by far) levies. That helps keep housing values downward spiraling in price with no sellability, by far more than Will County. Smart investors fled the area long ago. I fled Kankakee County in 2007, because of the area and will never get rid of a house I made a big mistake buying 23 years ago. In the last two years there, I witnessed 3,000 illegals come in and push the welfare rolls beyond belief. The city itself is one of the worst slum drug-gang ghettos,just like Sun River Terrace and Hopkins Park-Pembroke. Nobody moves to the County, they move within, if at all (from one slum rental to the next).I have read sites commenting that the County is not mentioned as a place to move to-nobody will even answer you on CraigList,but they sure know about the ammenties and justifiable housing values in Will County. The 'anchors' for Kankakee County are welfare institutions, eateries, common box retailers; the County itself has no unique high profit offerings of it's own-although it would like to think so. BTW backwards ignorance.The biggest discussion topics of other websites on the county are eat,eat, eat out and what will become of the old Walmart(of course it will rot just like the old KMart-duh); I saw the hugest people there-extreme obesity. People walk down the main street, slumping, scowling, wearing the filthiest rags they can dig up. It is a mecca for lawyers-overly abundant per populace. The one viable, largest industry is Riverside Hospital and facilities(top 5% in the nation), employing many local somewhat literate to imports of doctors to the area or the rare doctors feeling their Hypocratic Oaths. Bourbonnais has a better reputation minus the low graduation rate and ratings of Kankakee schools. Unfortunately better people and neighborhoods lying outside Kankakee can't sell because those kids are bussed to schools in the 'city'. The choice is obvious for many in rural subs-have the kids picked up by bus to several parochial schools or home school. The demographics are about the worst in Illinois. Shootings, street fights and beatings, drugs, are the worst I ever saw making Chicago and Joliet look tame. And when the Kankakee and Iroquois Rivers flooded this past winter, not even Blago's State government would help the victims, after the Federal Government wouldn't either.
Location: Chicago, IL on to Arizona State University
27 posts, read 104,485 times
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Gah! Its people like you that give this place a bad name. It is not that bad at all. The Kankakee/Bourbonnais/Bradley Tri-City area is not a bad place. Like every city it has the parts that should be avoided at night. But it has decent shopping, decent restuarants, and very kind people. Pessimists like you give this city and county a bad name. Obviously youve never bothered to visit the surrounded towns such as Herscher, Manteno, Peotone, or Limestone. All of which have very high education rates and very low crime rates.
Really, and could you explain why Kankakee High is so much more disturbing than BBCHS? Every school has its problems, and the only major difference I can see between the schools is theirdemographics.
To tell you the truth, I admit that Kankakee has its fair share of problems, but I feel as if I would have a better time fitting in with many diversities of people in Kankakee HS. And after going through two testy years of private Catholic education, I feel more liberated and comfortable in this school than I have ever been.
To be quite honest, KHS seems rather low on the charts, and I would probably have done Catholic school.
Aroma Township(including the small Village of Aroma Park(small supermarket, auto repair, gas stations, insurance agency, parks, nice restaurant, boat club, fire department, law office) is nice, quiet, has lovely homes on bigger lots and acreage). It is 5 miles away from the city of Kankakee. Unfortunately parts of the township's children get bussed to schools in Kankakee, which has killed some housing sales. Almost 1/2 of the kids in the subdivision I moved away from after 20 some years to 2,000 miles away put their kids in private schools(three choices) or home school them so the kids wouldn't be victimized in Kankakee schools by crime or become involved in drugs themselves nor subjected to lower education standards and graduation rates. Aroma Township collects much higher income taxes and could afford it's own K-12 instead of paying property taxes to the 111 school district. People in Aroma Township are primarily hard-working homeowners, decent, clean, not loud and by far less drug-cultured than that city five miles away. Police and fire/ambulance respond promptly and without fear in Aroma Township. A good number of residents are business owners, lawyers, doctors, boating/golf, fishing/river enthusiasts and river people! There are several natural forest preserves with educational agendas for all ages. Agriculture is slowly dying off, unfortunately, with it being a desirable place to live. Land is much more so a premium there. GOOD place for families compared to some cities and towns in the County.
Check, recheck, and then again, when selecting for property value, crime, and other important population behavior demographics in Kankakee County. This peaceful, serenely beautiful township is 'on the river'(a decent part of it) east I-57 about 5 miles.
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