The decline of Carol Stream (Naperville, Wheaton: crime, house, neighborhood)

[pnwmdk]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Carol Stream suffers, like many towns with a majority of moderate income residents, from the increasing polarization of the US into those that have top flight education and earn commensurate incomes and those with no real concept of productive work that exist on the largess of handouts with fewer and fewer options for those in-between.

In case you hadn't noticed... It is the "middle class" that produces the wealth in this country... which is why we're broke. There is simply ever less of it.

The highly educated feed off what the middle class produces - since they (highly educated) rarely produce wealth - and the politicians siphon it off to buy the votes of the dependency class, all the while trying to find ways to buy the votes of the middle class, too, to make them into a European style dependency class (the reason for Obamacare, for instance)

The complaint that a town doesn't cater to the indulgent class is quite the comment. America runs on "boring" , and wishing it to not be boring will mean even faster economic decay.

[Hazel W]

Originally Posted by pnwmdk

In case you hadn't noticed... It is the "middle class" that produces the wealth in this country... which is why we're broke. There is simply ever less of it.

The highly educated feed off what the middle class produces - since they (highly educated) rarely produce wealth - and the politicians siphon it off to buy the votes of the dependency class, all the while trying to find ways to buy the votes of the middle class, too, to make them into a European style dependency class (the reason for Obamacare, for instance)

The complaint that a town doesn't cater to the indulgent class is quite the comment. America runs on "boring" , and wishing it to not be boring will mean even faster economic decay.

But you want the highly educated to move into your town? There is something amiss there but I can't put my finger on it.

Ah well, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It's a fact.

[chet everett]

I don't think "catering to the indulgent class" enters the picture, and I am not even sure what that means.

I do know that when there were more solidly educated machinsts and technicians working in some of the more modern industrial facilities in Carol Stream the town was not all that economically different than areas that may have had more white collar workers nearby.

As the pool of technicians and skilled mechanicallly oriented workers dried up the spaces that once did manufacturer precision goods have largely shifted toward warehouses and distribution of good made elsewhere. In my view the most prudent plan is to improve the quality of education at all levels and re-invest in the kinds of skill building that would the area attractive to manufacturers that have a need to produce higher value goods.

[Lookout Kid]

Didn't Carol Stream once have a more white-collar populace when it was first getting built out in the 1950's?

One problem that a lot of the older post-war suburbs have is that the 1950's housing stock is just not popular with modern home buyers. Buyers may put up with a tacky 1,300 square foot ranch in a place like Hinsdale because of the other amenities the town has, but take away the top-notch schools, metra, and prestige, and who is going to buy that house if they can afford better?

[chet everett]

I don't think it was ever as white collar as Wheaton or Elmhurst. There were moderni-ish factories / assembly facilities there through the 90's, some still exist. The difference is that the higher skill stuff has fallen way off-- used to see lots of help wanted ads for engineers , tool makers, prototype assemblers. The shift toward warehouse stuff has driven down wages...

[pnwmdk]

Originally Posted by Hazel W

But you want the highly educated to move into your town? There is something amiss there but I can't put my finger on it.

Ah well, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It's a fact.

As for me? I don't care if the people who move into my town are "highly educated".

I only care if they're responsible, not criminals, and intend to be productive.

[ihatesection8]

Originally Posted by pnwmdk

As for me? I don't care if the people who move into my town are "highly educated".

I only care if they're responsible, not criminals, and intend to be productive.

I just discovered this post and I know "highly educated" is code word for white possibly Asian. You see the more "highly educated" people you have the less brown and blacks you have. This is what the people here are saying. Unfortunately this town offers nothing for this group to attract them here. Lower class, working class, and blue collar whites are going to have to get used to living with minorities because you don"t have the upscaleness and high property values to keep them out. sarc.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by ihatesection8

I just discovered this post and I know "highly educated" is code word for white possibly Asian. You see the more "highly educated" people you have the less brown and blacks you have. This is what the people here are saying. Unfortunately this town offers nothing for this group to attract them here. Lower class, working class, and blue collar whites are going to have to get used to living with minorities because you don"t have the upscaleness and high property values to keep them out. sarc.

Have you ever been to a working class town that was majority white? I grew up in two of them, and they are quite different from the Hinsdales, Elmhursts, and Glen Ellyns of the world.

So no, this is NOT a code word for "white", as there are many majority white areas that don't fit the bill. Chicagoland once had a very strong working class white population that extended in to many suburbs, and it still exists in places like Carol Stream. What we're talking about here is upper middle class people (who are mostly white or asian), but in contrast to a more working class vibe that has existed in Carol Stream for a long time.

[reppin_the_847]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Have you ever been to a working class town that was majority white? I grew up in two of them, and they are quite different from the Hinsdales, Elmhursts, and Glen Ellyns of the world.

So no, this is NOT a code word for "white", as there are many majority white areas that don't fit the bill. Chicagoland once had a very strong working class white population that extended in to many suburbs, and it still exists in places like Carol Stream. What we're talking about here is upper middle class people (who are mostly white or asian), but in contrast to a more working class vibe that has existed in Carol Stream for a long time.

Wasn't Elmhurst a more middle class or affordable town at one time (compared to today)? I know Hinsdale was always a wealthy town.

[ChicagoMeO]

Originally Posted by Hazel W

I know nothing about Carol Stream other than my AT&T payments go there - slowly. And I do mean slowly. It takes close to two weeks for a check to clear my bank. That's how I happened here - to find out exactly where Carol Stream is. I found your notes about your town and started reading.

.

Use online payment service either from your bank or AT&T website itself. saves postage too.