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Old 07-05-2016, 05:02 PM
 
Location: TN/NC
34,806 posts, read 30,852,651 times
Reputation: 47093

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Northwest Indiana View Post
And its also not fair for another group to be prevented from moving into an area by intimidation tactics, but ya know, welcome to NWI where this has occurred over and over again.

People who flee an area and move in the same direction that the group they are fleeing from is moving as well will never have my sympathy when the "others" move in.
I have a hard time imagining this is going on today. I wouldn't think most communities in NWI would have the political clout to try and keep people out like the Winnetkas etc.

 
Old 07-05-2016, 05:57 PM
 
2,154 posts, read 5,448,913 times
Reputation: 1571
Quote:
Originally Posted by Serious Conversation View Post
I have a hard time imagining this is going on today. I wouldn't think most communities in NWI would have the political clout to try and keep people out like the Winnetkas etc.
I am not talking about political intimidation. I am talking about leaving notes on people's doors like "NIGG*RS NOT WELCOME/GO BACK" or vandalism as has happened to a family member in the area and some other people I know. And the worst part is that at least two of these situations were confirmed by apparently non-racist neighbors whom the offender confided in and that is how they were caught. This is a lot more common than you may think. Also the classic kids not being allowed to play with "them" still occurs.

Less common, but still occurring, is "drive-by slurs".
 
Old 07-05-2016, 06:51 PM
 
2,888 posts, read 6,708,011 times
Reputation: 2147
Quote:
Originally Posted by Serious Conversation View Post
I have a hard time imagining this is going on today. I wouldn't think most communities in NWI would have the political clout to try and keep people out like the Winnetkas etc.

Politics are strong in Lake County, Indiana. Maybe you should stick to East Tennessee politics.
 
Old 07-07-2016, 03:28 PM
 
Location: Saint John, IN
11,583 posts, read 6,664,706 times
Reputation: 14786
Default We moved from Il SW Suburbs to NWI!

We moved our family from Plainfield, Illinois. We were in a $500K home literally a block from Naperville. Fantastic schools and all the store and amenities you can think of. We grew up in Illinois as well, but we recently moved to Saint John and here's why.......TAXES! We were paying over $12K a year and it will only get worse with the corrupt IL government. Its all they have to get out of debt. Another problem....Heroin. Now I know drugs are everywhere, but when you have an affluent area where teenagers are home alone all day even the best high schools get drowned in it and that's what's happening in Naperville and Plainfield! Also (and I hate to say it) but every time (or at least 80%) a home sold in North Plainfield, someone of middle eastern decent moved in. Usually 10 family member's in one home. I don't know what it is, but they are moving to the SW suburbs like crazy. MOST (not all) are rude and only speak to those of their own ethnicity, very cheap and DO NOT keep up their yards. Oh did I mention our government is giving them tax breaks for coming here? Moving to NWI was a no brainer. And yes, we are white. I don't mind having a minority move next to me, but I don't want to be the minority. If I pay for a half million dollar home, I want the area to look nice. BTW.....I've seen a few minorities moving into the north part of Saint John as well.
 
Old 07-07-2016, 03:59 PM
 
Location: Crown Point
141 posts, read 215,453 times
Reputation: 135
Quote:
Originally Posted by Serious Conversation View Post
As someone not from IN, I have really wondered where the tax dollars go. Like you said, the roads are horrible - generally the worst I've seen in any state I've lived in. I don't really get anything for those tax dollars.

Going back to that statement, I can tell you where the dollars go, in the bank. Sure, Indiana has a 2 billion+ surplus, but what good does that do when you are not fixing your roads. I realize that Illinois is a fiscal mess, but there has to be a happy medium. You cannot run the state like a business, because government isn't in it to make a profit. Illinois is in a mess because they pay their employees an outrageous salary and lifelong pension and mis-management. Indiana needs to take better care of it's citizens and maintain their roads. Indystar came out with a good article on how Indiana's adult protective services are severely underfunded, and have about 1/4 of the staff they need, and their budget is less than half of what similarly populated states are.
 
Old 07-07-2016, 04:10 PM
 
2,154 posts, read 5,448,913 times
Reputation: 1571
Quote:
Originally Posted by CGab View Post
We moved our family from Plainfield, Illinois. We were in a $500K home literally a block from Naperville. Fantastic schools and all the store and amenities you can think of. We grew up in Illinois as well, but we recently moved to Saint John and here's why.......TAXES! We were paying over $12K a year and it will only get worse with the corrupt IL government. Its all they have to get out of debt. Another problem....Heroin. Now I know drugs are everywhere, but when you have an affluent area where teenagers are home alone all day even the best high schools get drowned in it and that's what's happening in Naperville and Plainfield! Also (and I hate to say it) but every time (or at least 80%) a home sold in North Plainfield, someone of middle eastern decent moved in. Usually 10 family member's in one home. I don't know what it is, but they are moving to the SW suburbs like crazy. MOST (not all) are rude and only speak to those of their own ethnicity, very cheap and DO NOT keep up their yards. Oh did I mention our government is giving them tax breaks for coming here? Moving to NWI was a no brainer. And yes, we are white. I don't mind having a minority move next to me, but I don't want to be the minority. If I pay for a half million dollar home, I want the area to look nice. BTW.....I've seen a few minorities moving into the north part of Saint John as well.
Your explanation is appreciated. However, I will tell you that if heroin was one of the reasons that you moved to Saint John, then that was a horrible reason to move. Yes, as you stated, drugs are everywhere...however Lake Central High Schools is well-known in the area to be home to many drugged out kids and STDs...this is going back to the 80s too (at least).

Also, I do know that the SW suburbs has seen a large increase in the Middle Eastern population and can say that "word of mouth" has a lot to do with growth in general, but especially in that case. But Munster and the Tri-town area is definitely having growth in Middle Eastern as well, so again, you may be disappointed in the long run (unless you flee again). Merrillville in the 80s-90s was thought to have been where there would have been the most growth in the Middle Eastern and Indian/Asian community in NWI due to some medical offices there and it being a hub of commercial activity; however, the growth in those populations never took off and shifted to western Lake County at the time Merrillville was seeing sharp growth in the Black population and decline in the White Population (mid 90s).

Minorities are few in Saint John, but seem to be mostly in the newer areas of Saint John in the northeast and southeast parts of town. However, there are visibly more in the Saddle Creek/Silverleaf neighborhoods in the Hanover Township area which is also a bit more affordable. Minority growth in Saint John will be on the lower end of all the suburban areas in Lake County. Crown Point will see a lot more.
 
Old 07-07-2016, 05:41 PM
 
435 posts, read 425,952 times
Reputation: 511
Default Roads in IN - Not the Worse IMO...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikko12 View Post
Going back to that statement, I can tell you where the dollars go, in the bank. Sure, Indiana has a 2 billion+ surplus, but what good does that do when you are not fixing your roads. I realize that Illinois is a fiscal mess, but there has to be a happy medium. You cannot run the state like a business, because government isn't in it to make a profit. Illinois is in a mess because they pay their employees an outrageous salary and lifelong pension and mis-management. Indiana needs to take better care of it's citizens and maintain their roads. Indystar came out with a good article on how Indiana's adult protective services are severely underfunded, and have about 1/4 of the staff they need, and their budget is less than half of what similarly populated states are.
I am surprised to hear some think that IN roads are really bad.


To put NWI roads in perspective, a few winters back when I lived in downtown Chicago I went through 3 tires in 1 winter alone (thank you massive potholes). NWI roads are SO MUCH better overall from what I can tell than Chicago. Now, I have not driven extensively through Gary so I am not qualified to make a statement regarding that.


Also, this last year for a business trip I had to drive from NWI to Indy to Cincy to Columbus to Indy and then back to NWI. There was actually a good amount of road construction and bridge work being done.


Relative to southern states, the northern states roads are going to be more beat up b/c of the 4 seasons and expansion/contraction. I really don't think IN is lagging in roads relative to other northern states like IL or MI, for example.


I get what you are saying though. Let's spend some of the $$ on the most value-add programs. Overall, this is a GOOD PROBLEM to have. I personally would rather see more money spent on education and business incentives but that is just my opinion.
 
Old 07-07-2016, 06:13 PM
 
435 posts, read 425,952 times
Reputation: 511
Quote:
Originally Posted by CGab View Post
We moved our family from Plainfield, Illinois. We were in a $500K home literally a block from Naperville. Fantastic schools and all the store and amenities you can think of. We grew up in Illinois as well, but we recently moved to Saint John and here's why.......TAXES! We were paying over $12K a year and it will only get worse with the corrupt IL government. Its all they have to get out of debt. Another problem....Heroin. Now I know drugs are everywhere, but when you have an affluent area where teenagers are home alone all day even the best high schools get drowned in it and that's what's happening in Naperville and Plainfield! Also (and I hate to say it) but every time (or at least 80%) a home sold in North Plainfield, someone of middle eastern decent moved in. Usually 10 family member's in one home. I don't know what it is, but they are moving to the SW suburbs like crazy. MOST (not all) are rude and only speak to those of their own ethnicity, very cheap and DO NOT keep up their yards. Oh did I mention our government is giving them tax breaks for coming here? Moving to NWI was a no brainer. And yes, we are white. I don't mind having a minority move next to me, but I don't want to be the minority. If I pay for a half million dollar home, I want the area to look nice. BTW.....I've seen a few minorities moving into the north part of Saint John as well.
Interesting, last night I was talking to a colleague at work who lives in a very nice area of Burr Ridge IL ($1 mill+ homes) and he was saying the same thing regarding Middle Eastern increases in his area. While he has no particular issues with ethnicity, there was concern expressed about the fact that many random people seem to come/go out of the neighborhood, stay over and even loiter about on the streets in some cases. Conversely, his wife is concerned as the majority of men will not even look at her if she says hi or attempts to engage, making it a much less "neighborly" environment. The women are primarily in burqa and don't engage.


I haven't experienced anything like this in Munster IN but have been friendly with some ME families and they seem pretty liberal (no burqua, wife working/studying, kids out and about with others...). I don't think you need to be "scared" of anyone from the ME but if they are on the very conservative side of the Muslim religion (some will call this "radical" others cannot say it) in their treatment of women and other beliefs, I can totally understand why it would create a less amicable neighborhood, especially for a woman.
 
Old 07-07-2016, 08:28 PM
 
Location: Saint John, IN
11,583 posts, read 6,664,706 times
Reputation: 14786
An earlier post wanted to hear from some people who moved to NW Indiana from the SW suburbs of Illinois.....Just to clarify, there were many different reasons why my family decided to move from (Plainfield) Illinois to Indiana. We actually considered several different states, but we do have some family and friends here and family that lives within 35 minutes over the border in Illinois. Like I said previously, our main reason for leaving Illinois and moving our family to Indiana was the taxes. Illinois is now the highest taxed state in the U.S. and I just didn't see my money being used for anything. The schools that were once considered great are having staff and programs cut left and right. Sales tax increases every year along with income tax. Every time you turn on the news they are talking about raising the taxes and how they need more money for pensions. I can't give anymore. Yes, there are other reasons why we moved as well, but our lifestyle in general has become more relaxed since we moved here. Would I recommend others from the Naperville area to move here? Maybe, depends on the lifestyle their looking for. There is obviously more amenities in the Naperville area than here, but I don't feel I'm missing anything. People seem a lot more laid back and friendlier in general here. I wish we made the move sooner!
 
Old 07-08-2016, 12:55 AM
 
Location: Humboldt Park, Chicago
2,686 posts, read 7,838,371 times
Reputation: 1196
Default Cgab

Did you leave Nequa for NWI?

I totally get the tax argument but Nequa is pretty top notch. You said you lived in Plainfield, a block from Naperville so I assume you were not in Plainfield North district. Both are good districts (Nequa is rated better). I have not heard of declines in either high school.

My wife's uncle lives in 700k house just north of Nequa and they pay 14k for property taxes. And their kids are 30 and 35 years, so lots of taxes for no kids in school.

Anywhere you have affluent idle teenagers you will have drug problems. Barrington and New Trier are very affluent and have similar issues.

I have to admit your concern about ME seems a bit like nuanced white flight.

Many ME people have large extended families whose members often come to visit for several months at a time. I have never seen crime spike as ME population increases.

I have seen schools improve as middle eastern population increases, though I think radical Islam is horrible, especially in its treatment of women.

I have several friends who live in St Johns. They are all Hispanic and some relocated from the south side as Chicago experienced white flight. Some sold their homes in Pilsen and used the funds to relocate to St Johns after they retired.
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