Why arent more people looking at Momence,Bradley,Manteno,Grant Park (Chicago: employment, minimum wage)

[60950anna]

Just a comment on MANTENO where I moved 18 months ago. Even though I work in Joliet and have an hour drive each way, it is WORTH it!! Lovely safe town. I work nights so on my nights off I am often up at 2am walking my dogs (chihuahuas)and I have never felt safer in my life!!!

[sigprn]

Manteno is nice. But it has really boomed and so have the property taxes. Like i said i live in Momence and i never lock my doors at night. To the one poster in the thread yes the new finer foods sub. Thats a great sub because pull out hang right hand left on cemetary road straight shot to the mall. To the one poster from limestone. Yes you would go to hersher schools. Hersher isn't limestone. Limestone is on 17 herscher isn't.

[sunnyandcloudydays]

Seems to me this is a dynamite area I actually know to people from the bradley , kankakee area and they really are great people and very down to earth.

That area is really nice and I think it is one that does not need to be overlooked.
Just because its not lake county Illinois does not mean its not nice.

As far as the distance or time of drive seems it would take over an hour to get there in any kind of traffic and would agree with drover at the 3 am timing

either way either up 57 ,55 or even 394 into the dan ryan you would run into some serious traffic and an hour would be a s t r e t c h
Heck it takes 45 minutes or so from matteson into the city 35 minutes in 3 am traffic tiley about the same , oak forest about the same this is to the loop not the edge of chicago but the heart

[sigprn]

kankakee county gets screwed because they don't run the trains down to us. The closet would be University park. They should extend this down to Manteno. Concerning Momence schools. Low income students come from Hopkins park not Momence except for east side of town.

[linicx]

Between 2000 and 2010 the population increased less than one percent annually. Unless something has changed in the last five or six years it is still an AG county albeit an important one. Most city dwellers are not particularly interested in rural living.

I walked away from citified living over 30 years ago; I do not miss it. But I also understand its limitations, and disadvantages, and I embraced the change for a better life.

[Lookout Kid]

As one of the previous posters said, the south suburbs lag way behind in terms of job growth and job centers. A lot more people have jobs in the western and northern suburbs.

[601halfdozen0theother]

I drove the area a few weeks ago, and that wind farm being constructed now (south of Herscher, heading east) is going to be HUGE HUGE HUGE!!! Wowza! You people in Chicago use way too much energy.

[justalicious6989]

Originally Posted by 601halfdozen0theother

I drove the area a few weeks ago, and that wind farm being constructed now (south of Herscher, heading east) is going to be HUGE HUGE HUGE!!! Wowza! You people in Chicago use way too much energy.

Well... We are a city of 2.7 million and our county does have 5.2 million residents. I'd expect there to be huge energy consumption. Can you imagine how much NYC uses? Anyways, back to the original thread. I have family in Kankakee county. While it's not a far drive from the City or southern suburbs, it's not economically viable just yet! If we extended the Metra out there or did some sort of speed track that could get people from Downtown to Kankakee in about an hour or so with limited stops, I bet the area would grow quite a bit.

[linicx]

Sixty years ago FFA was a big deal and so was the family farm. And fifty years before it 'shop' trained kids who were not going to college. Carpentry and mechanics were very popular subjects.

One can put lipstick on a pig but it stlll won't fly. Most people who live in a vibrant larger city will not leave it to settle in a farm town. IL and IA are the #1 and #@ producers or corn and beans in America. Anyone who thinks differently should travel 1-55 from Chi to St. L, I-80 from Chi to Iowa, IL29 from IL26 to Pana, I-74 from Iowa to 1-55, E US 136 from Havana to Leroy and some other routes such as US 24 and 150, or IL 97, 78 and 10. In the summer one will find thousands of acres of crops and ranches interrupted by hundreds of miles of concrete ribbons, small farm towns, and tiny enclaves hidden amongst the heavily wooded river backwater and sloughs.

Rural life is not near Cook County. It's driving 50 miles on two-lane county roads to any town (larger than 500) that offers shoppers more than one grocer and one 35 bed hospital. You know you are in rural America when the most exciting thing you do every week is take the kids shopping at Walmart, and then to McDonald's for a Happy Meal.

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by SJaye

Undoubtedly, a commute up to Chicago for work from this area is not feasible.

You might be surprised how many people from the area and even in Iroquois County actully make that drive in to work in the city. Several family members and friends did it for years. You get the best of both worlds that way. And today with home computers linked to the work place you can stay home and only go into the office when needed so icy roads and traffic are not as much of a problem as they used to be.