Carbondale, Illinois SperlingViews

All of the comments are negative here and seem to me to be misleading. The idea that you have to have a lot of money in Carbondale is ridiculous. The price of cultural events at the University pale in comparison to cities like St Louis and Chicago. For one of the commentors the fact that there is only one small museum at the University weighed into their disatisfaction, do you know what it costs to enter the Field museum in Chicago. Wake up people when you have no money it is hard to be happy and believe me you would be more unhappy if you were living in another city with a higher cost of living. If you are looking for a cheap place to have fun with no money you might want to try Bangladesh or something.

I also went to school in at SIU and had a life changing experience that has driven tremendous success and happiness for me in my life and career. I have lived and worked all over the world and one of the best places I have lived is Carbondale. I get back all the time for events and contribute to the University Foundation every year. I did not come from the privleged background and paid for my own education. My wife and I look forward very much to retiring to the Carbondale area some day with it's low cost of living, natural beauty, cultural and sporting events and relatively low taxes for Illinois. In the the 4th Quarter of my life I plan to give back to the place that gave so much to me and my family.

As far as homeless people try walking around St Louis, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle etc. Any of you that feel stuck in Carbondale my suggestion to you is move somewhere else and you will realize that you don't know what you've got until it is gone.

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re: - 3/5/2008
have to agree - have been looking around in quite a few states and still come back to look at carbondale for retirement in the near future - you sure get a lot more house for your money - plenty of entertainment around the college - great medical facilities - beautiful nature and scienery - can't wait to be able to "fish with the loacals" !!

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The Dale - 7/15/2008

I like Carbondale. It is relaxing and an easy way to go about getting a college degree. It has its ups and downs, mainly with the people in the town not recognizing the fact that most of them would have jobs with out the college. The land lords are horrible too, especially heartland properties, do not rent from that jack off. I guess Carbondale would be a lot better if the college kids were catered to more.[read more...]

Disagree with the other opinions - 2/29/2008

All of the comments are negative here and seem to me to be misleading. The idea that you have to have a lot of money in Carbondale is ridiculous. The price of cultural events at the University pale in comparison to cities like St Louis and Chicago. For one of the commentors the fact that there is only one small museum at the University weighed into their disatisfaction, do you know what it costs to enter the Field museum in Chicago. Wake up people when you have no money it is hard to be happy and believe me you would be more unhappy if you were living in another city with a higher cost of living. If you are looking for a cheap place to have fun with no money you might want to try Bangladesh or something. I also went to school in at SIU and had a life changing experience that has driven tremendous success and happiness for me in my life and career. I have lived and worked all over the world and one of the best places I have lived is Carbondale. I get back all the time for events and contribute to the University Foundation every year. I did not come from the privleged background and paid for my own education. My wife and I look forward very much to retiring to the Carbondale area some day with it's low cost of living, natural beauty, cultural and sporting events and relatively low taxes for Illinois. In the the 4th Quarter of my life I plan to give back to the place that gave so much to me and my family. As far as homeless people try walking around St Louis, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle etc. Any of you that feel stuck in Carbondale my suggestion to you is move somewhere else and you will realize that you don't know what you've got until it is gone.[read more...]

boring, boring, boring, especially if your low-inc - 11/19/2007

Most depressively I've had to endure living in this boring town for 29 years except for 1.5 yrs I lived in a somewhat similar college town although bigger called Chapel Hill, NC. Except for with Chapel Hill if you have a car you don't have to travel 2 hours to get to more interesting places. Anyways I've been pretty unhappy here and since I was poor I couldn't afford to relocate. I did attempt to relocate about 5 or 6 times and ended up having to return here. If you've money you can attend plays and various activities going on at Southern Illinois University. Now if you love hunting and fishing you'd probably like it here. There is a major lack of fun activities to do here. Only 1 museum that I know of in Carbondale and that's a small one at the university. There is a stable way up Giant City rd if you like to ride horses. There's a beautiful state park called Giant City State park that has a lodge you can eat good food at and cabins you can rent to stay in. But Carbondale is a small city of only about 25,000 people and very lacking in fun things to see and do. Of course there's church and all the bars. lol I finally am going to be able to relocate. Anybody know of a city that's not to large like under 100,000 that has plenty of fun things to do or is closer to a bigger city with a zoo and other fun things? Thanks! Now a good thing about this city is crime isn't to bad and is pretty low. There is a bad side of town just like any other town/city.[read more...]

you're right; Carbondale never changes - 9/10/2007

I've been stuck here for 29 years minus 1.5 yrs I lived in another not so exciting city. The person that wrote the comment Carbondale never changes couldn't be more right. It has changed a little but as far as the same types of people; no it hasn't. It still has it's hand full of unfortunate homeless people that hang out right outside a liquor store downtown bumming money off people or sitting on the curbs of the strip which is the main rd downtown. All I can say for this city is boring, boring, boring but yet one good thing about it is I feel safe. Now if you got lots of money to spend there's fun you can find to do here. Or if you like nature there's lots of natural beauty you can experience.[read more...]

Where's a good mid to large city to move to? - 9/9/2007

Hi, I've lived here for about 27 years and I've not been happy for quite a few of them. I've tried to relocate about 6 times and I did make it to a similar city I found I wasn't so thrilled with for 1.5 yrs. I had to come back here 2.5 yrs ago for family reasons but now I'm wanting to relocate again. My son and I lived in Charleston, SC several yrs ago (9 or 10 maybe) but we didn't have enough money and had to return here. It seemed very hot there in May and the Black folks there (are very nice/friendly) said for me to wait till July and see how hot it gets there in Charleston, SC. Now we finally have the chance to relocate again and my son would love Charleston but I'm afraid I won't be able to handle the heat. Anybody know of any great place to live that has lots of activities/attractions, natural beauty, historic, not so bad on the crime and a zoo would be great. So anybody know of a great place like that to live? And not a super big city but mid to large would be OK. Back to Carbondale, IL. You can walk in all but a couple areas in this small city and not have to worry. This one crime scale I was suprized said Carbondale was a little high especially property crime. This is a university city. I've never had the money but if you can afford concerts, plays/musicals, even dance ballots come into town you could have a pretty good time here. They have music and wine festivals if you've good transportation. They have good hiking/fishing/camping/hunting if you're into that. Other then that Carbondale doesn't offer a whole lot. I never had money to enjoy the things it does offer so I've been very bored. As far as restaurants Carbondale doesn't have allot but Marion, IL is down the road about 15 miles and has plenty restaurants. There are some very nice brand new hotels built here just a few miles out side of town down highway 13 that heads to Marion, IL. Carbondale has a state park called Giant City. So IL in general has some beautiful natural areas worth visiting. As far as attractions and things to do in my opinion there is a pretty big lack thereof.[read more...]

The Place Never Changes - 3/19/2007

I went to college at SIU in the 1970's with all the long haired hippies with liberal values, streaking, and Vietnam vets. The place never changed and the old timers never left. It is scary![read more...]