Sorry Andreas but Chicago is the cause of at least 90% of the problems this State has to deal with. It's been that way for over a hundred years.....
3 comments from folks who don't live in Chicago. Go figure. Last time I checked Illinois' govt was in Springfield.
Andrea, is it really? Knowing Chicago, Cook, and Illinois politics. And I live in all three, LOL or poor me? Time to Move! Save a place down there Mike, my friend down there already wants me to move when I mentioned you were moving there.
Not to pile on Andreas, but AFAIK, he is single. most of the "Down with ILL" posts have been from family guys. It ain't easy being the provider, and ILL makes it all that much harder, as compared to many other places. The cart is getting heavier and heavier! Again, I will always love the city of Chicago for what it is: one of the biggest, friendliest cities on the planet. Some amazing features. But, it is not enough anymore. I will miss it a lot!
FWIW I admire people like you that can do this. I've wanted to do this with my family for some time but cannot do it due to the roots we have planted. Best of luck to you and your family on the amazing move!
Not really but we don't have children (and therein probably lies the difference). In fact all our friends who live in the city (and love it) don't have any young kids. Totally agreed on that one and not many other places like it.
Im doing the very same thing as you. We chose NC as our new home and NC made a nice offer to my company to call it home as well. We are keeping our IL home for commuting and then turn it into a rental property because the current market is too low to sell it for what its worth. My company has been in IL since 1952. I have 15 on my payroll and 20 more as subcontractors. IL will lose all 35 to NC and millions in tax dollars because the local govt decided small businesses is the answer in bailing out their poor spending habits. I wont stand for it anymore. I have 5 to provide for, not hundreds of thousands on welfare, corp or otherwise. The move is going to be long, expensive and potentially harmful to my health but worth it in the long run. I support your decision wholeheartedly, i had to make the difficult choice as well. Good luck and you will be just fine.
Since 1984 I've repeatedly and steadfastly balked on numerous promotions due to not desiring to live in ChicagoLand. There it is.
Congrats on getting a job in Austin! I've heard great things about that city...the F1 track is icing on the cake. Another cool thing is that Google Fiber was recently announced to being offered there (100x faster than regular internet and very inexpensive). I'm sure as you know, TX has a good legal system when it comes to medicine with no state income tax as well! The only thing I wished they had like FL was no emissions requirement for cars. Then again we have hurricanes come through and suck all the bad air away. Anyway, I hope you and your family enjoy it. Hopefully in 5 years after residency I can get a gig in Texas for fellowship and maybe a job in Austin after that. Take it easy. Edit: Took me a while to find this thread as I assumed it would be in the regional subforum "north midwest." Didn't realize Chicago has its own regional forum...the only city that has one on Fchat!
the older the kids get, the more expensive they get! I'm confident I'll be more than fine! I really feel that an enormous yolk has been lifted off my shoulders! my housing costs are going down 50%! (and we are buying a big, beautiful, 3 y/o house!), my property taxes are going down 35-40%! Every day, I'm more and more excited! my father in law has a small architect business in central ILL. Unfortunately, he has no "juice", is not a millionaire (well, not by "logical" standards, but maybe by the bone-head in chief standards!), so, he has to suck it up with the new taxes. Can not buy the influence that CAT, Motorola, etc. did!
The Med Mal thing is DEFINITELY a factor (a thread is brewing on that...) Residency? in what? Best of luck with that!
Year round driving is very nice. I moved from Cleveland (30 years) to Chicago to Cleveland then to San Diego. No comparison, if you're a car guy. I love Chicago and Boston, but would never live in either. BTW, California is in much better shape budget-wise due to budget cuts and a tax rise. But real estate here is worlds more expensive than in Austin, so I can't say I blame you. Good luck!
If I decide to go this year, I will definately look you up. Someone else asked if I was heading out there, but found out she's closer to San Antonio, but still within 60 miles of the track. Stay in touch buddy and wishing you and family well.
The governator needs to be fired and replaced by someone who likes helping business large and small. Any bets on how many years he will end up spending in prison??? It's an Illinois tradition. Having said that y'all enjoy that Texas summer now. If the tornado's don't hit you the 2 months of 100+ degree weather will. Airconditioning is a wonderful thing. You will also be suprised at how crooked Texas is. By the way, a tornado has not hit downtown Chicago since the 1800's so Andreas is safe. That does not include microbursts.
+1 He is a tool and not a leader. Illinois' budget should have been balanced a long time ago. Then again this is easier said than done given the two parties fighting each other. Illinois is no different than Washington DC. Sadly. Not to rain on Mike's parade but for the life of me I wouldn't want to move a state, which is that hot. The two weeks of triple digit temps we get in Chicago is enough. Now if you could live in both states alternating with summer and winter, then you're actually up to something. Had one of those a few years ago. Ripped the roof off our high-rise. I saw a chair flying by my window. On the 15th floor...
I met a guy in Feb while skiing in CO Said he was "the bottle cap king", claimed that his company produces a large % of the bottle caps used for packaging. Then proceeded to tell me that he is moving most of his company's jobs from ILL to existing plants in IN and IA, due to taxes, and not just direct ones. Apparently there are some hefty "power consumption" taxes, outside of the bill for the power itself. Brilliant.... I'm certainly not going to miss the endless winters. On the north shore, in the 11 years I've been here, we've has at least 2 "hundred year floods". Funny how they were so close together. Bring the heat! I'd much rather be hot than cold, with that eyeball freezing wind blowing thru every other oriface!! Done! Plus, I can get that old white Caddy convertible I've dreamed of, and put some long horns on the front!
FYI.........when they blow the tornado sirens in Texas you had better run for the basement. In Chicagoland they blow them all the time for nothing. I have alot of friends who live in Texas who have all told me when they blow down there you have 5 minutes to run. I will never forget the pictures last may in the DFW metroplex when trucks were flying thru the air like toys. I am sure that never happens in Austin though.......... It's to bad Illinois makes people move mainly due to taxes, but moving to central Texas for the weather is pretty funny.
Are you ****ting me? I went to high school in Urbana. Great gawd almighty, that was the worst summers I have ever experienced, and I'm a southern boy. Plus, in the summer, the Windy City is not so windy. Dale
Lets see... In IL it gets cold around Holloween, and stays frigid until June. Then 100 degrees through Sept. So thats 3 months of TX heat and 9 months of freezing your arse off No thanks, Id rather sweat than shivver, lifes too short to be wearing coats all the time.
Not Texas, central Texas. Houston although hot does not have the same weather problems Dallas and central Texas has. I also forgot hail. It's hard to find in central Texas a 15 year old car without hail damage if it was parked outside alot. I have lived around the Chicago area for years and have never had more than a branch fly off and have had no hail damage on any of the cars I park outside everyday. One more point on Texas, they have alot of underfunded public infastructure projects. At some point they will need to come up with the money. Unless they keep or even increase their growth rate to pay for it they will have to start taxing more....Age costs money. Let's face it, you would not be leaving if you could make a great living in Chicagoland without being taxed to death. Illinois needs to change its attitude towards small business and fast.
