City of Danville, Illinois

"Danville has several amazing restaurant options - usually hidden gems because of the sheer number of fast-food options available. Buen Apetito on North Vermillion Ave, Rich's Deluxe on North Street downtown, and The Little Nugget on Henning Rd, just to name a few. With several parks that can boast great accommodations and activities such as the skate park portion of Douglas Park, the yearly events such as the Illinois Renaissance Festival held annually at Elssworth Park, and the Friendly Town safety education area that has been in use since 1970 at Lincoln Park to educate small children about safety are just a few examples. The cost of living in Danville means that you see a diverse mix of people living here, a large number of them retirees in quiet neighborhoods, as well as younger adults buying their first houses because the cost of buying is far below the cost of renting in most other places. We have a nearby Winery that regularly has live music, there is live music in the heart of downtown every weekends when the weather is nice, a classic downtown theater that hosts special events and shows the classics, as well as a normal theater at the Village Mall - which has actually gained more stores and entertainment options after the original lockdown, where most places lost businesses instead. Often listed in the top-ten most dangerous cities in the US, you would think Danville is a den of crime. However, those statistics are generally calculated via 'violent crime per capita', and it is almost entirely weekenders from Chicago using violence against other weekenders from Chicago that maintain a Section 8 rental in the project housing neighborhood for various reasons, or tend to visit the family and friends who do. The people who actually live and work here full time don't actually see or hear much of any sort of crime outside of reports from those same projects. It is unfortunate that Chicago aid offices refer people here because we do have a plethora of Section 8 housing, as well as the very cheap bus that circulates between Danville and Chicago every weekend, but the people committing violence generally only associate with their fellow Chicago residents while 'visiting' and keep it between themselves. But, numbers are numbers, and it counts against us in such statistic sheets. I've lived in Danville for over a decade now, and this is where I chose to buy a house (for an exceedingly reasonable price), and settle down because my grandparents lived their entire lives here, and no one in my family has ever had an actual criminal issue. Is it perfect? No, of course not - there isn't such a thing as a perfect city. However, Danville is a good step better than most - especially in Illinois/Indiana. The current Mayor is very passionate about making Danville a wonderful place to live and every time I have a chance to talk to him, I leave feeling glad that we have someone that loves the city making decisions on its behalf. All in all, you get all the conveniences of city life, but with enough space to have your privacy, and close enough to several smaller towns that you'll never feel like you're stuck in a 'big city', with a staggering number of options for dining out, as well as a lot of local events at various locations and businesses that you can always find something fun to do most weeks."

"The mayor needs to get more stores in the mall the mall is a ghost town even if you can call the mall there’s only four or five stores left GNC just close down any more anchor stores and stores back in the 90s they used to have a whole bunch of stores in the mall was booming"