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2002-04-23 - 12:52 p.m.
On the bright side there appears to be plenty of affordable (for me) housing in the Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka area, and I think that�s where I�m going to move. I just want some peace and quiet. I want to be away from all the crazy people in Chicago, the homeless, the rude, the inebriated, and the manic. Don�t think I�ve gone all Republican, I haven�t. Maybe if I could afford a really nice place in a quiet neighborhood with safe parking I�d still consider it. But where�s the benefit? That�s going to take me farther from work and I lose the quick commute.
Do I really want to have access to all of Chicago�s urban charms? Like what? I�m not much of a bar person, so I won�t miss the bar scene. I�m not interested in music much anymore, so I won�t miss the music scene. I don�t do restaurants all that much, so I won�t miss that�
If it sounds like I�m trying to justify the move to the suburbs, it�s because deep down inside I still have reservations. For years I�ve had nothing but contempt for the suburbs, and basically the people who live in them. A lot of the suburbanites I�ve met over the years have been provincial twits. Small minded and ignorant. Disrespectful and rude. (Not that that�s unknown amongst the city folk).
A perfect example is the Cub fans. They come into the city to see the Cubs at Wrigley Field. They have no plan for parking, and are surprised that parking is at a premium in Lakeview, a community of apartment buildings full of young urban professionals*, and parking zone stickers. Outraged that parking costs $10-20, they park wherever, and end up lining the pockets of Lincoln Towing.
Then, after the game, drunk from the Old Style at Wrigley, and a few more MGDs at the Cubby Bear, they wander through the neighborhood pissing on peoples� lawns, and in gangways. Break bottles on the sidewalks and in the streets. Knocking over garbage cans in the alleys, and generally mis-behaving. After all, it�s �the city�. No real people live here.
If you tried to pull stunts like this in Schaumburg, the cops�d have you busted so quick your head would spin.
So as you can imagine, I�m not so keen on joining the ranks of the suburbanites. Oh I know, this is all a big generalization. Not everyone from the suburbs is like this. Sure I know. Most people I know have come from the suburbs. So I know not all suburbanites are jerks. And yeah, I know all those nasty Cub fans come from Villa Park. But it gives you pause.
*Themselves temporary urbanites who will move back out to the suburbs as soon as the first child is born. Leaving behind sky-high rents and property values that the former working-class inhabitants of the neighborhood couldn�t possibly afford. And a string of closed neighborhood bars, bars that they themselves frequented before they got pregnant and decided to become self-righteously active on the local neighborhood council and close 'em down because they're too noisy for a residential neighborhood. Never mind that the bar's been there longer than they've been alive, and the neighborhood wasn't residential until they converted the lofts and built the townhouses near the bars so they wouldn't have so far to go when they stumble home drunk.
And as soon as their Gap Kids get old enough to go to school, they jump ship claiming Chicago Public Schools aren�t good enough to instill the sense of entitlement that their kids should have. Fuckers!
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So, how do you like them apples?