Mark Hansen wrote:Previously in my life, I would have voted crap on the suburbs, but now, being a bit older, I don't feel they're so bad. I live in a collar, older suburb of Chicago (Park Ridge), so I now have the luxury of parking in my own driveway, instead of driving around block after block looking for a parking space in my old neighborhood in Chicago, which was Ukrainian Village. I have to say, I kind of got tired of nickeled and dimed everytime you turn around with various parking regulations in the city, like permit parking, no parking zones for no apparent reason, etc., and the traffic just seems to keep getting worse. I also kind of got sick of Daley's emasculation of everything in Chicago, especially of the music and bar scene. I never want to see another one of those stupid planters he's had put in the middle of a lot of the major streets. I never want to see anymore black wrought-iron fence. And I got sick of paying for the privilege of living in Chicago, and having the money going to Daley's cronies. Now, if I want to go to Chicago, which I still like for it's restaurants and the occasional show, I can, but I don't have to deal with the attendant headaches of living in Chicago.
Now, as to the cookie cutter type suburbs that seem to endlessly spring up on the outer fringes, those ARE CRAP.
I lived in Park Ridge until I was 15, near the intersection of Touhy and Greenwood Aves.. I have to agree that Park Ridge is a real suburb, unlike an isolated McMansion development with a strip mall 2 or more miles away, and thus not crap. It's a real town with a history and real neighborhoods and an "uptown", not to mention the Pickwick, an excellent public library, quick easy access to the city via Metra or CTA, and of course Wally's, to name a few things.
Ah and who could forget the summertime evening concerts on the steps of city hall? Do they still have those? Nostalgia...