Why is Kankakee so poor? (Chicago, Champaign: schools, universities, taxes)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
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.
Because the people of Kankakee County didn't want to be a part of "Chicagoland".
There have been plans for the Metra Electric to be extended down to Kankakee... for quite some time now.
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.
Yes it is a river town, because it has a river running through it and that's how the town got started. Just like Peoria, Quad Cities, and even St. Louis are river towns.
Correct that most of the factories are gone. That is a factor of economics. They no longer chose to remain. One closes and people who worked there mvoe elesewhere for work, leaving fewer people to shop at the businesses, causing some of those to close, making it less desirable for existing businesses to remain there, so they close, and the cycle continues...
I said "white flight" knowing that yes, not all of the white people moved, but the majority of those with means to move who did WERE white and they moved to neighboring communities or up to Chicago. It's a sad fact. And yes, many who remained were the poorest aka "ghetto white people". I would also venture to say that Bradley and Bourbonnais ARE much better than Kankakee. They have much nicer, more stable residential areas for the most part, better schools, and now most of the business activity. Manteno suffered for a while after the state mental hospital closed (where many of my relatives worked for years) but it's picked right back up as a "bedroom community" to K3, Bradley, and Bourbonnais with better schools and more family friendly.
StarsandStripes79 - It's not that simple as you make it out to be. A Mayor and the townspeople alone can't keep a town from sliding. When jobs leave and the poor people are left, who elects the new leader? Property taxes decline and where does money come from to rebuild and make it nicer? It can be done but the Mayor alone has little power...it usually take outside assistance to really turn a city around. in the form of companies deciding to locate there and investors willing to invest.
The County and City are separate entities. Real Estate taxes support schools, hospital, public libraries, parks, and county buildings, city and county service courthouse, county jail, county employees, county roads, county fire and police. City taxes support the city. The state and feds also support the schools, some roads, some bridges, and some police protection. When a city does not have enough money to exist it becomes another Ford Heights. If there is no money to clean up the streets, the streets are not cleaned. If there is no money for city police, the county must step in. If there is no money for city services, the library, and parks, are closed, hours are cut back, departments are eliminated. When the post office, bank and last grocery store leaves, it's a death knell. Kankakee doesn't have a large college with 25K students in town like Normal. It did not have companies like State Farm in Bloomington that could very easily quit and move over seas. SF has 14,000 employees plus many acres of land and buildings it pays real estate taxes on every years. Peoria had CAT, but it had an advantage. It knew how to reinvent itself. This is exactly what it was doing when Caterpillar installed the first mainframe in East Peoria 44-years ago. Today there are CAT buildings and employees in Peoria and Tazewell counties in six locations. CAT it is not the same company. Peoria is not the same city; it is far more interested in STEM, research and education today than it is in resurrecting the dead.
Kankakee is stuck in the past in a vise. It doesn't have the money to clean itself up to attract business, and even if it could borrow money and clean up there is no guarantee any new business would take a risk because of the reputation. It is betwixt and between. ESL had been in the same sad state at least 30 years or longer with no hope.
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 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?
Because the people of Kankakee County didn't want to be a part of "Chicagoland".
There have been plans for the Metra Electric to be extended down to Kankakee... for quite some time now.
I don't entirely agree about Kankakee County not wanting to be a part of "Chicagoland". When the housing market was booming, many of the newcomers in places like Bourbonnais and Manteno came from southern Cook County in search of lower housing costs and taxes. Their ties to their old places of residence are still strong. You're more likely to find these people going to areas like Frankfort/Mokena, Orland Park/Tinley Park, and to a lesser degree, Matteson, far more regularly than Kankakee. Many of these people still work in southern Cook County, so there's a significant economic linkage there. Some of the old timers may think the way you describe about "Chicagoland", but I don't think that belief is what it once was.
As for the Electric Line extension, I'm not exactly sure where things stand, but I don't believe it was ever anywhere near "shovel ready". I'm pretty sure there was a lot more planning work that needed to be done. The post-2008 economy has probably put this work on hold.
Most previous posters have hit on reasons I agree with regarding the state of Kankakee. Significant portions of the community seem to cling to the false hope that the kind of manufacturing once so prevalent here will someday come back. Other than health care, the community does not have much that will help it compete economically in a post-manufacturing economy. Sadly, discussion in the community about how the local economy could be retooled seems to be entirely absent.
I don't entirely agree about Kankakee County not wanting to be a part of "Chicagoland". When the housing market was booming, many of the newcomers in places like Bourbonnais and Manteno came from southern Cook County in search of lower housing costs and taxes. Their ties to their old places of residence are still strong. You're more likely to find these people going to areas like Frankfort/Mokena, Orland Park/Tinley Park, and to a lesser degree, Matteson, far more regularly than Kankakee. Many of these people still work in southern Cook County, so there's a significant economic linkage there. Some of the old timers may think the way you describe about "Chicagoland", but I don't think that belief is what it once was.
As for the Electric Line extension, I'm not exactly sure where things stand, but I don't believe it was ever anywhere near "shovel ready". I'm pretty sure there was a lot more planning work that needed to be done. The post-2008 economy has probably put this work on hold.
Most previous posters have hit on reasons I agree with regarding the state of Kankakee. Significant portions of the community seem to cling to the false hope that the kind of manufacturing once so prevalent here will someday come back. Other than health care, the community does not have much that will help it compete economically in a post-manufacturing economy. Sadly, discussion in the community about how the local economy could be retooled seems to be entirely absent.
Notice how my post was past tense. We were talking about a time long long ago in a galaxy far far away when K3 fist started to "decline".
I don't entirely agree about Kankakee County not wanting to be a part of "Chicagoland". When the housing market was booming, many of the newcomers in places like Bourbonnais and Manteno came from southern Cook County in search of lower housing costs and taxes. Their ties to their old places of residence are still strong. You're more likely to find these people going to areas like Frankfort/Mokena, Orland Park/Tinley Park, and to a lesser degree, Matteson, far more regularly than Kankakee. Many of these people still work in southern Cook County, so there's a significant economic linkage there. Some of the old timers may think the way you describe about "Chicagoland", but I don't think that belief is what it once was.
As for the Electric Line extension, I'm not exactly sure where things stand, but I don't believe it was ever anywhere near "shovel ready". I'm pretty sure there was a lot more planning work that needed to be done. The post-2008 economy has probably put this work on hold.
Most previous posters have hit on reasons I agree with regarding the state of Kankakee. Significant portions of the community seem to cling to the false hope that the kind of manufacturing once so prevalent here will someday come back. Other than health care, the community does not have much that will help it compete economically in a post-manufacturing economy. Sadly, discussion in the community about how the local economy could be retooled seems to be entirely absent.
Notice how my post was past tense. I said the people of Kankakee County "DIDN'T want to be a part of Chicagoland" not "DON'T want to be a part of Chicagoland". We were talking about a time long long ago in a galaxy far far away when K3 first started to "decline".
So what is it about the people that live in Kankakee, that show no interest in restoring their town?
Possibly the fact that the majority of the current residents relocated to Kankakee from areas such as Englewood and the projects in Chicago, and think Kankakee is much nicer than where they came from?
Most of the people that had money who grew up in Kankakee moved away. So when you have the majority of people that live in Kankakee nowdays thinking its heaven compared to where they came from, you can't tell them that the town needs improvement and that they have to pay higher taxes.
Your thoughts?
P.S. In my opinion the people that lived in Kankakee are at fault for allowing this to happen. Back in the day they had the opportunity to have University of Illinois in Kankakee. I wonder how many people wish that would have happened now? If that would have happened, the town would be much better than it is now. Do you realize how much nicer the town would be to live in if you had U of I in Kankakee? People's kids would be going to school here and they would not want them living around a town that is full of crime and run down like it is today. The people paying for their kids to go to school would not allow that to happen. Kankakee would more than likely be just like Bourbonnais is.
Reality check. Kankakee is far more likely to have transplants from rough neighorhoods in Harvey or Chicago Heights than the projects in Chicago.
As if Kankakee needs transplants to make it a really rough town. When Matteson was 90 percent white, Kankakee was a (generally speaking) a very rough place to live. When Cabrini was being built, people were getting shot down in Kankakee..
In my opinion the people that lived in Kankakee are at fault for allowing this to happen. Back in the day they had the opportunity to have University of Illinois in Kankakee. I wonder how many people wish that would have happened now? If that would have happened, the town would be much better than it is now. Do you realize how much nicer the town would be to live in if you had U of I in Kankakee? People's kids would be going to school here and they would not want them living around a town that is full of crime and run down like it is today. The people paying for their kids to go to school would not allow that to happen. Kankakee would more than likely be just like Bourbonnais is.
Yep! My mom told me about this. It's things like this that made her hate the town back when it was a "nice place to live".
You are absolutely right that today's residents would jump at an oppurtunity like that - with hopes of restoration.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The deal is?
