Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
As for Joliet, Aurora, and Elgin - they certainly stand to benefit from Chicagoland's growth, and IIRC they control the water supply in their respective territories so they have some leverage to annex the sprawling growth to their west. All 3 are within a semi-reasonable commute of Chicago, and all 3 have direct Metra service. They also have casino revenue to supplement their tax base, so they've been able to do downtown reinvestment to an extent. If they could somehow get a boost to their school systems, I think upper-middle class families would jump at the chance to buy a reasonably priced home in a walkable, tree-lined neighborhood.
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add Waukegan to that list as well. it has all of the same except for a casino, but it does have a lakefront, which the others lack.
what's most interesting to me is how latino most of them have become.
waukegan is now an outright majority latino. elgin and aurora are now plurality latino in the 40s (and trending towards outright majority).
joliet trails a bit with non-hispanic whites still with a plurality, but even there latinos now dominate the old urban core of the city.
the symmetry-seeking part of my brain appreciates the fact that the downtowns of all 4 of these cities are roughly the same distance from state/madison:
- Waukegan, IL (pop. 86,075):
~35 miles NNW of downtown chicago (incorporated in 1849)
- Elgin, IL (pop. 110,849):
~35 miles WNW of downtown chicago (incorporated in 1854)
- Aurora, IL (pop. 197,757):
~35 miles WSW of downtown chicago (incorporated in 1845)
- Joliet, IL (pop. 147,344):
~35 miles SW of downtown chicago (incorporated in 1852)