Why is Kankakee so poor? (Chicago, Naperville: low income, crime, home) - Illinois (IL) - City-Data Forum

StarsandStripes79 · 10-08-2012, 03:46 PM

I was in Kankakee recently and man this town has really gone downhill. What is the deal? Everyone is on food stamps there.

urza216 · 10-08-2012, 06:11 PM

MOST people with money either moved to outlying areas (like Bradley and Bourbanais), certain pockets of Kankakee city or got the hell out of Kankakee County entirely.

ShampooBanana · 10-08-2012, 06:26 PM

I have family roots there going back at least 100 years. I was born there, my mother and father were born there, grandfather was born there, and great grandmother and father were born there. It used to be a great river town with lots going for it, but then things changed starting in the late 60's-early 70's and it's been a gradual decline ever since. We moved away when I was 8 to the Chicago burbs and most of my family that was there moved away to places like Bourbonnais, Manteno, Peotone, Normal, and the suburbs. I think it started with "white flight" and once the people with money started leaving there was nobody left to invest in the town and keep it alive. Meadowview opening was the early death knell for downtown Kankakee and then when the mall opened up in Bradley at I-57 and US50 that was the nail in the coffin.

urza216 · 10-08-2012, 06:51 PM

River town? There are many other more modern ways to transport goods. Like railroads. Or TRUCKS on interestate highways.

And what goods? K3 had many great factories like the one my grandfather on my mother's side worked at. But they've mostly closed. The jobs are gone. The economic signicance of the area is mostly gone.

And it's not just "white flight". There are pleanty of broke ass white people in K3 too. K3 is home to some of the most ghetto white people you'll ever meet.

Everyone in the area was affected by this decline. Whites weren't magically unaffected. Bradley-Bourbanais might have less crime and more big box retail but it's no better.

Drover · 10-09-2012, 02:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StarsandStripes79

Why is Kankakee so poor?

Because the residents are broke.

mar121y · 10-09-2012, 04:42 AM

You leave the chain restaurants we have so many of in the Kankakee area .

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linicx · 10-09-2012, 06:05 AM

Kankakee is a county seat. It is poor because residents have limited education and low income jobs. Its been that way for a very long time. When you can't afford to live on the poor south side of Chicago where do you live? Bradley and some of the other towns may be better off because they were/are farming communities. Not all county seats are wealthy like Chicago. More than a few are dirt poor like Kankakee.

StarsandStripes79 · 10-10-2012, 10:06 AM

I have a question.....

If it was such a great river town, why did they eventually allow the town to go to hell? Wouldn't you think the Mayor of the town would have done everything he could to bring new business in to keep the town strong? If in fact the factories were closing? Why would you as mayor, or on the board for Kankakee county, not make it so companies would want to be in Kankakee? Why would you just let your town turn into a slum? Cause from what I saw when I recently visited Kankakee, the majority of the town is a slum and there are bums walking the streets and even prostitutes. Who in their right mind would allow that to even happen in their town which was once upon a time a nice place to live and raise a family?

Look at towns like Naperville and Wheaton. They don't allow their town to turn into a slum. If you look at a cop the wrong way for christ sake you get pulled over and they ask you where you are from and what you are doing. So why in the world did Kankakee allow their town to turn into a slum? They have every opportunity to keep the trash out of their town but they obviously have allowed it to enter and keep coming.. What is the deal?

cubssoxfan · 10-10-2012, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StarsandStripes79

I have a question.....

If it was such a great river town, why did they eventually allow the town to go to hell? Wouldn't you think the Mayor of the town would have done everything he could to bring new business in to keep the town strong? If in fact the factories were closing? Why would you as mayor, or on the board for Kankakee county, not make it so companies would want to be in Kankakee? Why would you just let your town turn into a slum? Cause from what I saw when I recently visited Kankakee, the majority of the town is a slum and there are bums walking the streets and even prostitutes. Who in their right mind would allow that to even happen in their town which was once upon a time a nice place to live and raise a family?

Look at towns like Naperville and Wheaton. They don't allow their town to turn into a slum. If you look at cop the wrong way for christ sake you get pulled over and they ask you where you are from and what you are doing. So why in the world did Kankakee allow their town to turn into a slum? They have every opportunity to keep the trash out of their town but they obviously have allowed it to enter and keep coming.. What is the deal?

Wheaton and Naperville are primarily middle income and upper middle income. They transformed from small towns on the train line into Chicago suburbs as people with jobs and income moved there. Then companies starting locating along I-88 bringing jobs there as well. If your town is primarily manufacturing and those jobs go away, what else do you expect to happen unless there are other nearby jobs? Yes it's sad, but unless you can bring in work and the incomes that follow, an area is going to decline when jobs leave and aren't replaced.

StarsandStripes79 · 10-10-2012, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

Wheaton and Naperville are primarily middle income and upper middle income. They transformed from small towns on the train line into Chicago suburbs as people with jobs and income moved there. Then companies starting locating along I-88 bringing jobs there as well. If your town is primarily manufacturing and those jobs go away, what else do you expect to happen unless there are other nearby jobs? Yes it's sad, but unless you can bring in work and the incomes that follow, an area is going to decline when jobs leave and aren't replaced.

So why in the world didn't the mayor of Kankakee or the board demand that the Metra rail come to their town? This would lead to people wanting to commute to the city for work, which would lead to better job opportunities and income.