Illinois To NWI Migration (Indianapolis, Fort Wayne: property tax, to live, prices)

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

I have foreigners literally everyday tell me how they would love to visit Chicago but are concerned about the crime. I tell them it is overblown and that they will be fine so long as they avoid the south and west sides.

It would be like someone in Indy thinking that all of Indy is crap because of crime on east and west sides.

Chicago is well known by conservative media for gun crimes and failed gun laws. Much of this attention is due to Obama starting here as community organizer.

I just posted a thread in the Chicago forum about the crime perception and referring to the part that you bolded. I would be interested in hearing your thoughts about it!

[Humboldt1]

I read your post in Chicago forum and still stand by my recommendation.

Foreigners will be okay in areas like Oak Park, Hyde Park and Beverly but are not going to know what areas to avoid on south and west sides.

It is amazing how fast neighborhoods can change from good to bad on the south and west sides. Take Chicago avenue from Maywood to River Forest to Austin. It is 4 miles but the change is amazing. Go from welfare to billionaires to millionaires to welfare again.

I do not see positives from Chicago as a whole being seen in a negative light. Gentrification can only help select parts of Chicago. Austin, Garfield Park, Lawndale, Engelwood are not getting nice anytime soon and continue to lose people.

When you take Chicago avenue you go from tree lined streets with nice to decent to modest homes (all Oak Park) and then once you cross austin (6000w) it is all store front churches, liquor stores and funeral homes. Little hope for areas like Austin (exception being nicer Galewood portion north of Oak Park).

Other problem is that even when all these poor people leave Chicago, they just resettle in suburbs, often in subsidized housing, which in turn hurts the schools and overall tax base of these suburbs.

[subject2change]

Originally Posted by damba

Enjoy your twenty mile drives to the grocery store in your low-tax bedroom community(!)

Have you ever been to Northwest Indiana?? There is no part of it where a grocery store is that far, unless you are stretching what you call the border by about 15 miles. Within maybe 3 miles of my house I have Jewel, Walt's, 2 Stracks, 2 Aldis, Whole Foods and Meier.

[nanannie]

Wow, it IS True.
Talk about an inferiority complex.whew.
Amazing.
My son goes to Purdue. And His new girl,my perhaps potential daughter in law is a born and raised Indiana farm gal. My ol hippie hubbie and I met at Indiana Dunes at prom (about 200 years ago),and we have been looking around there as we sold our Illinois home (yay). You probably don't realize we are neighbors and as a soon to be EX Illinoisian ( is that a correct term ?) some of you act like the jealous ugly step sister. Just some of you. I have not met you in person, just very nice Midwestern "folk".
Actually, many (perhaps most)of us think you're just a neighbor with a lot in common and we dislike our Illinois politicians just as much as you do. I have spent so much time there, and met as many nice Midwestern people as I have in Illinois. As native, Bill Murray onces said (Stripes) )
" hey, lighten up Francis" we really have a lot in common.
Peace

[artemis]

Originally Posted by nanannie

Wow, it IS True.
Talk about an inferiority complex.whew.
Amazing.
My son goes to Purdue. And His new girl,my perhaps potential daughter in law is a born and raised Indiana farm gal. My ol hippie hubbie and I met at Indiana Dunes at prom (about 200 years ago),and we have been looking around there as we sold our Illinois home (yay). You probably don't realize we are neighbors and as a soon to be EX Illinoisian ( is that a correct term ?) some of you act like the jealous ugly step sister. Just some of you. I have not met you in person, just very nice Midwestern "folk".
Actually, many (perhaps most)of us think you're just a neighbor with a lot in common and we dislike our Illinois politicians just as much as you do. I have spent so much time there, and met as many nice Midwestern people as I have in Illinois. As native, Bill Murray onces said (Stripes) )
" hey, lighten up Francis" we really have a lot in common.
Peace

[nanannie]

Originally Posted by artemis

I give up. What's with the face? We aren't neighbors? Everyone in Indiana dislikes the border state?

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by McdonaldIndy

Apparently i was right about crime spiking in the Chicago Loop and North Side: Violent crime spikes on Chicago’s North Side | WGN-TV

While this may be true, you still will not see droves of people leaving the loop and north side for Indiana. I know I sure as hell wouldn't lol. The loop and north side has also seen many folks moving in and more upscale development occurring and this will continue. Most of the growth in Indiana has been from folks leaving south side (due to crime, poor schools), south suburbs (due to crime in some areas, poor schools) , and more recently, southwest suburbs (due to taxes as their schools are good and areas very safe in general). And in many aspects, while some growth in NWI from some south/southwest suburbs has fueled positive growth (by positive, I mean good) in nicer suburban areas, there has been less positive growth in areas such as East Chicago, parts of Hammond, and Gary where those cities has essentially taken on the burden of poor and sometimes violent residents formerly of Chicago and south suburbs. If anyone leaves the loop and north side, they would most likely be going to the north/northwest/west suburbs. VERY few would come to NWI.

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by McdonaldIndy

The problem is taxes are even higher there. Lake County Illinois has one of the highest property tax rates in America. North Chicago is hardly a haven of safety too.

Yes, but North Chicago, Waukegan, and parts of Zion, IL are really the only areas of Lake County, IL that are considered much less desirable areas. The majority of Lake County, IL is desirable, especially south Lake County, IL. The stigma of the undesirable areas of Lake County, IL has not had nearly as negative of an impact on development overall as the areas of Lake County, IN that are considered undesirable by INDIANA residents (Gary, East Chicago, parts of Hammond) have had over here. And then add in the fact of being in Indiana is still considered a stigma to many other folks. Lake County, IL also has more high-paying job centers. If the types of jobs in Lake County, IL were to move to Indiana, 90% chance they would go to north Indy or the northern suburbs of Indy. Less likely to NWI. Lastly, the taxes may be higher, but folks up there can mostly afford it and if they get to a point where they no longer can afford it, chances are greater of them moving out of the midwest in general.

[cobra86]

Originally Posted by McdonaldIndy

That stigma is based on Ignorance, Closed Mindedness, and a silly 1950s style Prejudice.
Fortunately the people that belong to that group are getting the Kharma they deserve. Incomes falling, Taxes soaring, Schools cutting programs, services shutting down, roads not getting repaved.

You can say that about NWI too since the state has been giving this area the cold shoulder for so long. Ie. Cline Ave, loss of high paying industrial jobs, select school programs being reduced. People say they know when they're in Indiana on 80/94. The road lights are turned off at night except by exits, that and the hundreds of fireworks billboards.


I really don't understand why you would wish that on people from Illinois, maybe you don't realize Chicago is the economical capital of the Midwest region. Without it, a lot of what you see or get here wouldn't be as much as it is today. And closed mindedness? Guess you don't recall the outcry of RFRA and some of Indiana's other great social issue history moments?

[svillechris]

Originally Posted by McdonaldIndy

Detroit was the same way 60 years ago. The Midwest will survive without Chicago and quite frankly with the way Chicago treats its citizens and the entire state of Illinois some sacrifices will need to be made. Chicago doesn't get it and quite frankly trying to talk to a brick wall and teach the city/its residents is a waste of time. The Midwest is better off coming together and moving forward without Chicago.

A lot of American's not just in the Midwest but from coast to coast are just done with Chicago. Like Gerald Ford to New York City in the 1970s its drop dead for Chicago.

Come on. This doomsday scenario is nothing more than political rhetoric. Chicago isn't going anywhere. You will always have millions of people who are willing to pay the cost to live there (real estate prices, taxes, etc.) for the great benefits the city offers. Also, it's the biggest job center in the Midwest. It's far more diversified in its job offerings than was Detroit that was/is so leveraged to the auto industry. I don't love the future of the city for various reasons, and I (and anyone else with a brain) would agree that it's a fiscal mess, but it's not going to turn into some ghost town in the next century. Once you start seeing the biggest employers in the city leave Chicago or the Chicagoland area in droves... then you might start seeing a more significant decline in the city overall. It really all comes down to jobs, and high paying jobs more specifically. There is no other city in the Midwest that really even rivals Chicago in that regard. I agree with Cobra's other point too, in that people in NWI don't really want Chicago to crumble. A weakened Chicago means a weakened job market both in the city and in its suburbs, that has a direct correlation with the quality of life of many of those living in NWI.