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I'm putting feelers out there on moving to the Chicagoland area. I've lived most of my life in eastern Iowa in most of the cities (Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls/Waterloo ect). I've always wanted to move either out west (California) or, preferably the Chicago area as my family is mostly in the midwest. My gf lives in Aurora. I spend a lot of time there naturally and really like it there, she lives near hwy34 so close access to everything- and still a short drive to Ikea or Frys, Microcenter or whatever my heart could desire. Though it was kind of funny how the suburbanites were jumping all over the still relatively new Sonics out there, we've had those in IA forever.
I did find some amazing root beer (Dog n Suds) that I found at Angelo Ca****s.
Outside of simply moving in with my gf, how would you recommend moving to the area, without a job already? Is this a terrible idea? I'm finding I don't get nearly the attention in the area from employers without living there (though I have gotten some attention by putting her address down, the wages/salary offered have been less than I make in Iowa). I work in IT, I have a BA and (IMO) a great resume with international experience. I feel I can compete with a lot of people in the Chicago area, and willing to do it at a lower salary point than someone with similar credentials. My focus isn't really on money or status but on happiness/fulfillment.
I think I have a job offer coming very soon from a company in the Quad Cities. But I think now is the time that I need to make a move to Chicago, so I might turn it down and simply make my move. If I stay in Iowa, I would probably prefer Des Moines, as I have a lot of family and friends there (I know no one in the QC).. yet I love Chicago and believe someone who needs to be intellectually stimulated and have new things surrounding me, would be very content there. Everytime I leave, my heart breaks. That happens everytime I travel anywhere though, I get bored. I would already be living in Europe, but I don't want to leave my family which is in the midwest.
Any recommendations, perhaps for IT or a related field for jobs? All I usually hear from people is gloom and doom, the negativity is getting a little old hat. Suggestions stay in the midwest (outside of Chi) but I'm a risktaker and not afraid to do this, just would like more suggestions on how to go about this.
If I initially take a low-pay job to survive, can I survive well in Aurora? I know what her rent is, and it's "ok". Do-able but I'd want to attain a decent salary and buy a home ASAP.
I'm pretty stubborn, and tend to simply make things happen when I want them.. so I'll probably forge ahead where and with what I want regardless. But I'm eager to hear your wise words and suggestions from natives as it will affect my decision in some way. The 'bad parts' aren't as bad as some people suggest, walk through the slums of Moscow at night and west of the river in Aurora feels like home sweet home. I would never move to Naperville.
By the way Aurora folk... I love Phillips Park.. what a great place. Love the diversity. Love your community.
I know I was all over the place with this post. So new immigrant to Aurora, yay or nay? Any places hiring? I wish I had more connections in the area, most of my job networking connections pertain to Des Moines outside of there I'm just another guy. Looking forward to your thoughts.
edit to add- I should note that I already looked into buying a home there. Preapproved for the mortgage with an agent out of Plainfield, and looked at a couple homes, been keeping my eyes on the property taxes though.. some of the homes are reasonable in that regards and others (while the home seems like a decent value itself) are outrageous. Buying a home to use temporarily as a rental made the financials a little more difficult than it will be if I moved in immediately.
I'm in Churchill Club in Oswego, which is at Ogden and Douglas.. They are still building here and it's a pool/club house community.. (We like it). But, the job market everywhere is BAD. I know people with masters degrees sending out 100's of resumes over the past year and not one single response.
I'm putting feelers out there on moving to the Chicagoland area. I've lived most of my life in eastern Iowa in most of the cities (Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls/Waterloo ect). I've always wanted to move either out west (California) or, preferably the Chicago area as my family is mostly in the midwest. My gf lives in Aurora. I spend a lot of time there naturally and really like it there, she lives near hwy34 so close access to everything- and still a short drive to Ikea or Frys, Microcenter or whatever my heart could desire. Though it was kind of funny how the suburbanites were jumping all over the still relatively new Sonics out there, we've had those in IA forever.
I did find some amazing root beer (Dog n Suds) that I found at Angelo Ca****s.
Outside of simply moving in with my gf, how would you recommend moving to the area, without a job already? Is this a terrible idea? I'm finding I don't get nearly the attention in the area from employers without living there (though I have gotten some attention by putting her address down, the wages/salary offered have been less than I make in Iowa). I work in IT, I have a BA and (IMO) a great resume with international experience. I feel I can compete with a lot of people in the Chicago area, and willing to do it at a lower salary point than someone with similar credentials. My focus isn't really on money or status but on happiness/fulfillment.
I think I have a job offer coming very soon from a company in the Quad Cities. But I think now is the time that I need to make a move to Chicago, so I might turn it down and simply make my move. If I stay in Iowa, I would probably prefer Des Moines, as I have a lot of family and friends there (I know no one in the QC).. yet I love Chicago and believe someone who needs to be intellectually stimulated and have new things surrounding me, would be very content there. Everytime I leave, my heart breaks. That happens everytime I travel anywhere though, I get bored. I would already be living in Europe, but I don't want to leave my family which is in the midwest.
Any recommendations, perhaps for IT or a related field for jobs? All I usually hear from people is gloom and doom, the negativity is getting a little old hat. Suggestions stay in the midwest (outside of Chi) but I'm a risktaker and not afraid to do this, just would like more suggestions on how to go about this.
If I initially take a low-pay job to survive, can I survive well in Aurora? I know what her rent is, and it's "ok". Do-able but I'd want to attain a decent salary and buy a home ASAP.
I'm pretty stubborn, and tend to simply make things happen when I want them.. so I'll probably forge ahead where and with what I want regardless. But I'm eager to hear your wise words and suggestions from natives as it will affect my decision in some way. The 'bad parts' aren't as bad as some people suggest, walk through the slums of Moscow at night and west of the river in Aurora feels like home sweet home. I would never move to Naperville.
By the way Aurora folk... I love Phillips Park.. what a great place. Love the diversity. Love your community.
I know I was all over the place with this post. So new immigrant to Aurora, yay or nay? Any places hiring? I wish I had more connections in the area, most of my job networking connections pertain to Des Moines outside of there I'm just another guy. Looking forward to your thoughts.
edit to add- I should note that I already looked into buying a home there. Preapproved for the mortgage with an agent out of Plainfield, and looked at a couple homes, been keeping my eyes on the property taxes though.. some of the homes are reasonable in that regards and others (while the home seems like a decent value itself) are outrageous. Buying a home to use temporarily as a rental made the financials a little more difficult than it will be if I moved in immediately.
It is funny how sonic was such a big deal, I went to school EIU so we had one down there. THe reason it was such a big deal is we've had sonic commercials played here for the past 10 years and there wans't a sonic within like 3 hours of here.
I think there's a chick filet opneing up around dec in Aurora so that should be a big deal as well...lol.
As for Aurora, in this post I predict you'll have lots of people suggesting Oswego, North Aurora, Plainfield to you. I think Aurora is great, dont think there's anything wrong with it. Do you want to rent or buy? SFH, Duplex,condo?
If you like phillips park and things going around downtown there's a place called downers lofts. I beileve you can rent or buy. A few blocks from the station station incase you wind up finding work in the city, not too far from your gf, nice lofts, high ceilings, rooftop deck, etc pretty good amenities. There's also the riverplaza condos just a few blocks away. Right on the river, retail shops and restaurants on the ground floor two floors of condos above, very nice.
Nothing wrong with downtown Aurora,its getting nicer, brand new waubonsie campus, nice irish pub, new restaurants, and stores. Its still up and comming though. You may love it but you also may find you'd rather go down during the day to enjoy that stuff rather than living in that area.
There's also some really cheap condos over by the mall and the foundry. They are dirt cheap but associatiun fee is probably higher than a mortgage on these places would be I believe 390.
Aurora has a lot to offer, you just need to really be aware of the area that you are looking into. the near east side has some problem areas. Aurora is a large city and very diverse. your best bet is to spend some time driving around and actually looking into the neighborhoods yourself. The area has taken a hit with IT-type jobloss, but you can always look. check out alcatel-lucent, tell-labs etc. there are also usually IT jobs at the large corporations in oak brook..like McDonalds etc. maybe even touch base with a head hunter to help you out!
Aurora truly is a cesspool. The Government is as corrupt as it comes, the police are some of the highest paid in the nation and have a major attitude, the folks on the far east side of town always tell people they are from the Naperville area and the city over to the far west had a major fit that they would have an Aurora IL zipcode and for good reason.
Aurora will be Cicero in 2 decades. I have unfortunately lived here most of my life and the city gets worse and worse. The taxes are outrageous and for the 2nd largest city in IL the quality of offering is dismal at best.
Most of the people on the west side of town actually travel out of town to get a decent meal as there is very little on the west side. You have to travel to the far east side (30 minutes) in order to get the main chain fare, so most people go north or south to other communities.
The city is overrun with gangs, drugs are literally everywhere, a lot of prostitution and the school are falling fast.
The city keeps starting one program after another they cannot pay for to assist lower income folks which attracts them in droves.
Naperville charities actually buy homes in Aurora to relocate their indigent and refugees to get them out of their communities, resulting in a great deal of expense for the local schools. The suroounding cities fund Hesed House, the bane of the west side, which is a essentially a palce that all surrounding communities can dump their poor, mentally unstable, and undesirables. A nice coupel (man and woman) from Hesed House recently repeatedly stabbed a Liquor store employee in a robbery attempt.
It is scarey watching these folks migrate from the shelter into the downtown and parks during the day only to return at night each and every day. They have made the downtown library a rat trap. Aurora also has had an outbreak of TB due to the influx of illegal aliens and Hesed House. The librarians recently demanded to be tested as they feared infection because of all the homeless in the downtown library.
I will say one nice thing, if you like Mexican food this is the city for you. I travel all over this country (which is part of why being here matters little to me as I am only home Friday and Saturday) and can tell you there is no finer low end Mexican food anywhere in the country.
Also there is a pizzeria called Ach-n-Lous which is excellent.
In the end I cannot recommend anyone moving here. All the surrounding communities look down on Aurora and with good reason.
Aurora truly is a cesspool. The Government is as corrupt as it comes, the police are some of the highest paid in the nation and have a major attitude, the folks on the far east side of town always tell people they are from the Naperville area and the city over to the far west had a major fit that they would have an Aurora IL zipcode and for good reason.
Aurora will be Cicero in 2 decades. I have unfortunately lived here most of my life and the city gets worse and worse. The taxes are outrageous and for the 2nd largest city in IL the quality of offering is dismal at best.
Most of the people on the west side of town actually travel out of town to get a decent meal as there is very little on the west side. You have to travel to the far east side (30 minutes) in order to get the main chain fare, so most people go north or south to other communities.
The city is overrun with gangs, drugs are literally everywhere, a lot of prostitution and the school are falling fast.
The city keeps starting one program after another they cannot pay for to assist lower income folks which attracts them in droves.
Naperville charities actually buy homes in Aurora to relocate their indigent and refugees to get them out of their communities, resulting in a great deal of expense for the local schools. The suroounding cities fund Hesed House, the bane of the west side, which is a essentially a palce that all surrounding communities can dump their poor, mentally unstable, and undesirables. A nice coupel (man and woman) from Hesed House recently repeatedly stabbed a Liquor store employee in a robbery attempt.
It is scarey watching these folks migrate from the shelter into the downtown and parks during the day only to return at night each and every day. They have made the downtown library a rat trap. Aurora also has had an outbreak of TB due to the influx of illegal aliens and Hesed House. The librarians recently demanded to be tested as they feared infection because of all the homeless in the downtown library.
I will say one nice thing, if you like Mexican food this is the city for you. I travel all over this country (which is part of why being here matters little to me as I am only home Friday and Saturday) and can tell you there is no finer low end Mexican food anywhere in the country.
Also there is a pizzeria called Ach-n-Lous which is excellent.
In the end I cannot recommend anyone moving here. All the surrounding communities look down on Aurora and with good reason.
Aurora is not Naperville, its not perfect but you just desribed Somalia or something, not quite that bad.
Corruption is worse in the city of Chicago, worse in Cicero, worse in Harvye, worse in Chicago Heights and probaby most other south burbs.
As for Aurora cops being the highest paid. I dont have the stats but I'd guess Naperville is higher paid. Aurora is a decent size city so has more real problems to deal wth. Naperville officer gets paid over 50k starting to give teenage girls underage cigarette tickets. Not to paint aurora as a gang town as its not but it does have problems in certain areas and aurora cops at least deal with real issues and earn their high pay.
I sorta agree with your point though. On my property tax breakdown a huge amount goes to aurora city pension more even than schools.
Also agree with the point about aurora people claiming naperville there was a huge fight with white eagel over zip codes and which schools they would go to.
to someone moving to aurora though most people will be on the east side near naperville, near the mall and never encounter the problems you mentioned. most will do shopping in naper, send kids to naper schools, etc.
again gangs drugs and prostitution are in a few areas, most people on here moving to aurora are talking about auror/naperville, not the bad parts.
as far as the tb comment i havnt heard or read what you claim but believe it, we have no border control in this country anyone can come in with no screening so illlnesses that have been gone from the us for 50 years are comming back.
Ironically, all this negativity and talk about TB reminds me of what was said about Irish and Italians bringing disease and crime. The majority population of Chicago. Nothing ever changes.
Two residents of an Aurora homeless shelter have been charged with attempted murder after a stabbing incident outside a liquor store, police said today.Sean R. Parker, 42, and Bridget A. Ivanov, 38, were charged with attempted murder and aggravated bat... »
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With two more cases reported this month, the tuberculosis outbreak linked to Hesed House continues to grow. But Ryan Dowd, executive director of the Aurora homeless shelter, said that for Hesed, the immediate crisis is over. »
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March 24, 2010 9:21 PM | No Comments (http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/03/cdc-helping-kane-county-manage-tb-outbreak.html#comments - broken link)
Medical experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are in Kane County this week, assisting health officials in managing an outbreak of tuberculosis among homeless individuals who were clients at an Aurora shelter.
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Reflecting another national trend, the majority of cases in Illinois are among individuals born in foreign countries where TB is more common, including Mexico, India and the Philippines, the department said in a release on Wednesday, designated as World TB Day.
I'll conclude this by stating this. I am fairly well educated (multiple college degrees in several disciplines) and a small business owner and consultant with a six figure income and seven figure net worth. I state this so you will have context in which to frame the next comment. My body carries multiple wounds from a knife and one gun shot wound. How did this happen, well I was simply jogging down the road getting exercise when I was involved in a presumed drive-by gang initiation. The knife wounds came when I was walking home from the library after studying for exams when home over Easter break.
So the idea that this is confined to the bad areas of Aurora is a misnomer.
And I stand by my comments about the corruption on the city council. I know several of these guys and the types of shenanigans they engage in. Remember Meisch, that was just the tip of ice berg and a give away to satiate the public.
Byline: Michael Higgins
Oct. 2--A federal jury Friday found a real estate developer guilty of using bribes to help boost his projects in Aurora, rejecting a defense that said payments to an alderman had been innocent gifts.
Jurors deliberated for about four hours before finding Gerald E. Anderson, 71, guilty of fraud and bribery in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
Federal prosecutors said Anderson paid former Ald. John N. Meisch about $6,000 to support his projects from 2001 to 2003--a time when Meisch was chair of the City Council's Planning and Development Committee.
One more thing, I have never seen a more complacent, uninvolved citizenry than the citizens of Aurora IL. The city Council Meetings are almost always ghosts town and this is the 2nd largest city in IL and no one is there. The Mayor often points out at the meetings how no one cares as no one usually shows up at public hearing meetings.
BTW, I should mention the APD covered up for one of the Aldermen when he was first running for office, he was involved in an extra martial activity involving drugs and an auto accident. But he had cozy relationship with the then head of the police union.
In the end I have done business in Detroit, in Philly, in Pittsburg, in Providence, and Boca Raton and I have never seen anything as corrupt and incompetent as the City of Aurora.
My husband and I moved to Aurora a year ago and we love it. Our neighborhood is great. The neighbors are friendly, it's quiet and peaceful, everybody takes good care of their property, and I feel very safe here. The majority of my neighbors have been here for decades. A few of the younger couples in this neighborhood grew up here, and then bought here because they enjoyed it as kids and wanted to raise their own families here.
I'm glad I didn't listen to people like usagisan when I was looking for a house. I had heard nothing but negative things about Aurora, and I decided that I should drive through and check things out. I saw lots of different neighborhoods; some good and some that I wouldn't want to live in, but nothing that I would label "cesspool"! Comparing Aurora to Detroit? Come on!
Yeah, I think it's a little over the top too. Yet I believe 100% of all the things being stated. Unfortunately it's anecdotal evidence and not indicative of the reality of living in Aurora as most of the posts state they have never been firebombed yet.
I've seen as much crime from "good cities" committed by wealthy people who think they are superior than people who never had much of chance in life.
Sounds like a good family/background/situation who had some bad luck. Maybe jogging at night or dusk (something I wouldn't do anywhere in the world). People become victims if not fully aware of their surroundings, there are few places in the world you can waltz around willy-nilly.
No need to pontificate on it at all, there's a lot of people living in Aurora that are -not- running for the hills from these AK47s that ring out night and day. Things happen in cities over 100,000. If people dislike the place so much, I have noticed there is a privileged community, where most people are born 10 feet from the finish line in life and feel they accomplished something in life, just a bit east called Naperville.
The families and homes around Phillips Park seem fine, just families having birthday parties, trying to enjoy and have a good life, respecting their elders. Seem like my kind of people, more so than some of the friends I have from far wealthier areas who upon closer moral examination are scumbags.
Also, having spent some time in Aurora and having never ducked for cover or chased with a battle axe, I feel it is beyond acceptable. Also, fairly affordable from those of us who weren't handed much for free. I'm looking at Aurora because it appears to be a nice city with the affordability a guy from a middle class background can afford.
The immigrants in Aurora are good immigrants, we have a sizable hispanic community here too and would trade a lot of the current citizenry for the genuine, less judgmental hispanic friends anyday. I'm glad they are here, we couldn't ask for better immigrants. With or without health issues which are unfortunate.
The Detroit reference is complete crap. I have family in Detroit and I'll take the worst part of Aurora everytime over Detroit. I haven't been there since before the economic collapse of 2008, but I'm sure it hasn't gotten any better.
Last edited by yenic; 08-06-2010 at 06:54 PM..
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I would already be living in Europe, but I don't want to leave my family which is in the midwest.
N
Nothing ever changes.
