I am about to retire and cannot afford to continue
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4/22/2014
I have lived in this beautiful, midwest, lakeside city most of my life, with a few forays into Chicago city living. But I always returned back here. The streets are clean, tree-lined, and dotted by million dollar homes. The public schools are still good. Our grand and glorious NU (Northwestern University) has been allowed to buy many properties in the city and remove them from the tax roles. Hence the individual homeowners and renters are left to bear a huge burden of property tax. A newly constructed 2 bedroom rental apartment will cost you close to $2000K per month. I understand that NU has one of the richest endowments of any US university, but fails to pay its' fair share to the city that it exploits...enough negativity here, this has been a host/parasite relationship for decades and unlikely to change.
So I will retire soon, and move to a state where there is no tax on retirement pensions, and where the weather is good most days, and where I can afford to pay my rent, car note, utilities, and food/medicine bill - with a little left over for travel and enjoyment. Although I will leave most of my family here, it is well understood that the elders of this family might be retiring elsewhere. Farewell, my sweet Evanston, IL. My children and grandchildren will stay until they decide they can no longer afford this beautiful city.
Rose | Evanston, IL