Since it is currently 7 degrees and snowing here right now, let's start with the climate. During the winter we routinely have snow storms, ice storms, sub-zero temperatures and high winds lasting from October until April. I have seen snow storms as late as the middle of May before. You would think that with such brutal winters we would have nice, mild weather during the summer months. You would, however, be wrong. It is not unusual to have temperatures exceeding 100 degrees during the summer with high humidity. We also get the summer storms, which bring us those nice tornadoes. Well, at least we don't have earthquakes right? Wrong! We get those too, although nowhere near the frequency and severity as places like California. Then again, they probably don't have to shovel their driveways.

Well, at least with a climate like that it should be pretty cheap to live here. Should be, but it isn't. The average starting price of a home is around $100,000. Gasoline prices are some of the highest in the country. Real estate taxes are high enough that banks require homeowners to pay it monthly as an addon to their mortgage. There are tolls on most of the major highways, which are usually plagued by either snow plows or road construction. The reason that most Illinois retirees move to other states is because they cannot afford to live here on their pension.

Well, a place that is that expensive to live in must be really tough on crime huh? Nope! Unfortunately the prosecuting attorneys here are more worried about their win/lose ratio than about putting criminals in jail. This means that if they are not absolutely 100% sure that they can win a case, they won't even have the person arrested. When you take into account their ineptitude, this means that most criminals are never even arrested, much less sent to jail. Of those who are actually arrested, a majority are plea-bargained out on lesser charges, which means that their penalty is far less than it should be for the crime they committed.

In short, if you are randomly searching for a nice place to move to by throwing darts at a map of the U.S., draw a big circle around the entire Chicago area and fill it with black marker. If the dart lands in the circle, stay where you are. It's gotta be better than this place.

If you disagree with me, write to me with your opinion and I will post it on this page.