NW Indiana's image problem (Gary, Lawrence: college, live in, law)

[Chuckity]

Originally Posted by Tk101

It's apart of NW indiana. Its mostly not considered apart of chicagoland area. It looks more like a satellite city( i.e Rockford or Kankakee) than a suburb.

Sigh.

Valparaiso, and all of Porter county for that matter, is definitely considered part of the Chicagoland area.

My local tv stations are 2, 5, 7, 9, 11 & 32.

I can get the Trib or the Sun Times thrown in my driveway every morning if I choose - and not mailed to me like I would have to if I didn't live in the "Chicagoland area".

I can listen to B96, XRT or GCI on my radio if I want. Without static.

Damn.

[WildWestDude]

The state border still seems to be a dividing point for the Chicagoland area. For example, I will say I used to live in the Chicago area and then people will ask me where and I would tell them Munster. Then more often than not people will say that's not Chicago that's Indiana! Seems you can't get that differentiation out of their mind even though the city of Chicago itself borders Indiana at Whiting and suburbs such as Munster are closer than Naperville. Is NW Indiana that much different?
Anyway, by reading various articles and threads here in the forum I think this image problem is starting to make a turn for the better year by year. Moreover, I don't think its just about what people think of NW Indiana but it actually materializes in way of life, investing, attitudes, etc. Correct me if I am wrong.

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by WildWestDude

The state border still seems to be a dividing point for the Chicagoland area. For example, I will say I used to live in the Chicago area and then people will ask me where and I would tell them Munster. Then more often than not people will say that's not Chicago that's Indiana! Seems you can't get that differentiation out of their mind even though the city of Chicago itself borders Indiana at Whiting and suburbs such as Munster are closer than Naperville. Is NW Indiana that much different?
Anyway, by reading various articles and threads here in the forum I think this image problem is starting to make a turn for the better year by year. Moreover, I don't think its just about what people think of NW Indiana but it actually materializes in way of life, investing, attitudes, etc. Correct me if I am wrong.

You are absolutely correct. I think the reason why the image is getting better is because commercial entities are taking Indiana more seriously when looking at expansion and development opportunities. I mean, some companies literally had no clue that there were any suburban areas of Chicago in Indiana. They thought it was just Gary and then corn lol. But when you drive from Chicago and take the toll road then 65, you really see anything nice at all until you go through Crown Point. Places like Munster, St. John, Dyer, and Schererville cannot be seen from the highway and so aside from former south suburban residents who migrated here, those areas were largely unknown and when known, unclaimed as suburbs by those on the Illinois side. Also, we are no longer just attracting Illinois residents from declining south suburbs. We are attracting residents from nice areas such as Orland Park, Tinley Park, Frankfort, New Lenox that are booming themselves but dollar for dollar, cost way more to live in with much higher taxes. That's a good sign.

[kevhead77]

I'm one of "those" people moving from the Frankfort area, have a beautiful house and good schools...but the taxes are outrageous!

[reppin_the_847]

I think the reason for this is because commuters from NW Indiana to Chicago are still largely in the minority. What I mean is that they are VASTLY outnumbered by their counterpart commuters from other Chicago neighborhoods and suburbs that are in Illinois.

The best comparison in a way would be to New Jersey. New Jersey has a ton of commuters to NYC (Manhattan). The entire state of NJ is covered with rail-based transit that can whisk commuters into NYC. NW Indiana has one single train line (the South Shore Line), and does not quite have the same critical mass of commuters as NJ offers to NYC. In NY, people "generally" understand that NJ offers fairly good proximity to the city at least from a commuting standpoint. But even despite all of that, New Jersey often gets trashed from New Yorkers and NY folk from other parts of that particular metro area. Heck, even the rest of the nation likes to bash on NJ and call it the garbage dump of NY or America lol. The parts of NJ that are close to NYC happen to be heavily industrial much like northern NW Indiana can be. Therefore, same kind of labeling mentality (unfortunately) is gonna happen to people that claim NW Indiana as home until provincial people explore the region a bit more.

Originally Posted by WildWestDude

The state border still seems to be a dividing point for the Chicagoland area. For example, I will say I used to live in the Chicago area and then people will ask me where and I would tell them Munster. Then more often than not people will say that's not Chicago that's Indiana! Seems you can't get that differentiation out of their mind even though the city of Chicago itself borders Indiana at Whiting and suburbs such as Munster are closer than Naperville. Is NW Indiana that much different?
Anyway, by reading various articles and threads here in the forum I think this image problem is starting to make a turn for the better year by year. Moreover, I don't think its just about what people think of NW Indiana but it actually materializes in way of life, investing, attitudes, etc. Correct me if I am wrong.

[PILMAN]

Originally Posted by WildWestDude

The state border still seems to be a dividing point for the Chicagoland area. For example, I will say I used to live in the Chicago area and then people will ask me where and I would tell them Munster. Then more often than not people will say that's not Chicago that's Indiana! Seems you can't get that differentiation out of their mind even though the city of Chicago itself borders Indiana at Whiting and suburbs such as Munster are closer than Naperville. Is NW Indiana that much different?
Anyway, by reading various articles and threads here in the forum I think this image problem is starting to make a turn for the better year by year. Moreover, I don't think its just about what people think of NW Indiana but it actually materializes in way of life, investing, attitudes, etc. Correct me if I am wrong.

Because it's not chicago, it may be a satellite area bordering chicago but it's not part of chicago or cook county. This is similar to New Jersey or New York, or DC and Baltimore and arlington Virginia. So to claim that it's a part of chicago is inaccurate and incorrect when it's in Indiana state lines, pays taxes to the state, your police and legal system are part of Indiana, culturally there may be similarities but it's not a part of Chicago.

You can find the cta in some cook county suburbs like rosemont, there's not that large number of commuters to chicago from Indiana compared to jersey and new York city

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by PILMAN

Because it's not chicago, it may be a satellite area bordering chicago but it's not part of chicago or cook county. This is similar to New Jersey or New York, or DC and Baltimore and arlington Virginia. So to claim that it's a part of chicago is inaccurate and incorrect when it's in Indiana state lines, pays taxes to the state, your police and legal system are part of Indiana, culturally there may be similarities but it's not a part of Chicago.

You can find the cta in some cook county suburbs like rosemont, there's not that large number of commuters to chicago from Indiana compared to jersey and new York city

Of course it is not "part of Chicago"...nothing is part of Chicago unless it is within the city itself...

But if you are implying that NWI is not part of the Chicago area AT ALL?? Then you are truly ignorant of the area.

What makes Naperville more "part of the Chicago area" than Munster? The fact that it's in Illinois? Okay. But that's pretty much it. Munster, Highland, Schererville, and other areas are just as connected and suburban in nature as suburbs on the Illinois side. If there were no "welcome to indiana/Illinois signs, most people would not be able to tell the difference.

[PILMAN]

Originally Posted by Northwest Indiana

Of course it is not "part of Chicago"...nothing is part of Chicago unless it is within the city itself...

But if you are implying that NWI is not part of the Chicago area AT ALL?? Then you are truly ignorant of the area.

What makes Naperville more "part of the Chicago area" than Munster? The fact that it's in Illinois? Okay. But that's pretty much it. Munster, Highland, Schererville, and other areas are just as connected and suburban in nature as suburbs on the Illinois side. If there were no "welcome to indiana/Illinois signs, most people would not be able to tell the difference.

There is a significant difference, what makes it not part of Chicago is the state lines separating chicago from northwestern indiana. Technically the suburbs even in cook county aren't chicago either but they still pay taxes as part of cook county, the legal system serves all the villages in the jurisdiction of cook county including cook county jail in chicago, the L or cta expands into Chicago suburbs in cook directly linking them to the city, ballots and elections affecting cook county are held in the villages of that county, northwest Indiana not only is in another jurisdiction but also under different state laws.

Regardless of proximity, the line is where it ends and defines the border. So yes technically it is inaccurate to say one is from the chicago area if one lives in northwestern indiana, I would be rather confused and it would make more sense if someone said they are from Valparaiso or Michigan city or Gary.

[PILMAN]

Originally Posted by McdonaldIndy

How long have you lived in Northwest Indiana? seriously....

What does your drivers license and license plate have for your state? If its not Illinois issued then its not part of Chicago area. In fact the Chicago metropolitan area is only used for economic purposes and is not legally a part of the Chicago suburbs.

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by PILMAN

There is a significant difference, what makes it not part of Chicago is the state lines separating chicago from northwestern indiana. Technically the suburbs even in cook county aren't chicago either but they still pay taxes as part of cook county, the legal system serves all the villages in the jurisdiction of cook county including cook county jail in chicago, the L or cta expands into Chicago suburbs in cook directly linking them to the city, ballots and elections affecting cook county are held in the villages of that county, northwest Indiana not only is in another jurisdiction but also under different state laws.

Regardless of proximity, the line is where it ends and defines the border. So yes technically it is inaccurate to say one is from the chicago area if one lives in northwestern indiana, I would be rather confused and it would make more sense if someone said they are from Valparaiso or Michigan city or Gary.

Forget about cook county...Naperville (which I mentioned) is in DuPage county. So again, does Naperville not count either?? How is it not inaccurate to say that I live in the Chicago area when I live 27 miles from the loop but people from say, Geneva, which is over 40 miles from the loop can say it? And to say that I live in the Gary area would be accurate too but misleading as it is a smaller city and people would probably think I live right by there which I dont. But that's okay, I'm not going to argue with someone who is clearly not from the area lol. You are clearly wrong. That's all.