High taxes
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12/29/2019
Pros - close to Chicago, has Parkland community college and lots of places to eat. There is a train station downtown that is really good. Beautiful deciduous trees and old houses.
Cons - close to Chicago because this also means the influx of gangs, nothing really much to offer if you are an avid outdoor person. Property taxes are so high. Lots of big beautiful houses but check what the property taxes are before you buy. Urbana is even worse. There was a great downtown when I was a kid but Market Place Mall killed that. Now Market Place Mall is having trouble. They are trying to bring a Chicago gentrified vibe into the downtown. So it’s better then it was but still struggling. Parking is hard to find.
I grew up in Champaign and it’s not a great place to grow up. The school system is poor, theres lots of crime. Central High School is the worst! There were gang fights when I went there and no facilities like a track for kids. We used to have to go to west side park for PE. The town is pretty much divided into three sections. The north end - primarily African American (actual daily gunfire and gang activity), the transitional section which is where I lived (getting to be a mix of rentals and getting run down) and the McMansion section. Crime rate is very high, based on FBI data. It ranks higher then 88% of towns similar in size. Most of the housing in the transitional section is being bought and turned into rentals for the U of I students.
The only thing keeping the town alive is the U of I.
Katherine | Pagosa Springs, CO