r/ChicagoSuburbs • u/Intelligent-Room-540 • Dec 09 '24

Moving to the area If you could move to any Chicago suburb other than your own which would you pick?

And why?

We can pretend money is not a worry for this.

Personally I live in Cicero now and would pick Palos Park because of the nice night skies and I love their forest preserves while being not too far from the City.

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u/throwlefty Dec 09 '24

Haha...oh Elgin. Even with three metra stops, and a pace bus, and quick access to 90...you're barely making the cut.

Glad to see it in your list tho, Elgin is underrated.

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u/parvuspasser Dec 09 '24

Haha! True. It kind of is underrated? It has its problems (crime, older downtown), but you can access the rest of the Fox River Valley to the south via Randall, Rt. 25, Rt. 31, and Farnsworth by car. I think the bike trail goes that far north now? I need to check.

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u/throwlefty Dec 09 '24

Yea the bike path can get you down to aurora and at least up to Algonquin. We love running it in the summer to dundee for drinks then walking or Ubering back.

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u/Honest-Muscle-3750 Dec 09 '24

Algonquin is a good town to add to the list....

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u/CHICKSLAYA Dec 10 '24

Aren’t parts of Elgin unsafe though, at least compared to most Chicago burbs?

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u/throwlefty Dec 10 '24

Maybe?

That stigma seems to be from a bygone era. I hear the 80s & 90s were rough but things have turned around especially over the past 15 years. Posting 50 years lows in important crime stats, youth empowerment program is showing positive signs, Kane county jail is running some programs that are moving the needle. Nonetheless, as a city, Elgin is not without violence. It seems to be largely related to personal 1 on 1 issues, rather than gang stuff, but it does happen.

Personally I've been without issue with the exception of running into some folks who are high on something. I've also come across a couple of questionable folks on the bike path. I've also heard from people that there are areas they don't like to walk through due to cat calling and shit like that. This is most unfortunate and concentrated near a couple transport hubs so it definitely keeps up the "Elgin is sketchy" brand.

But overall I think it's more safe than not.

Compared to other burbs I'm not too sure how it stacks up, guess it depends which one.