It's been a surreal decade in the suburbs
It was a heckuva decade. The 2000s were filled with moments that made us cheer, weep in despair and exclaim, "What the heck?" We witnessed many of them as a nation, but there were plenty of unbelievable moments unique to the suburbs. As we look back on the decade, we recall the Top 20 things we never thought we'd live to see. Examples:
1. The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The single most noteworthy event of this decade - and probably this generation - changed the lives of everyone in the suburbs as well as across the country. Many suburban residents witnessed the horror and others lost loved ones when the terrorist group al-Qaida hijacked and crashed four commercial airplanes, killing more than 3,000 people.
The attacks were followed by the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has cost another 5,000 American lives, according to the Defense Department.
Whether it's slogging through airport security or developing a deeper appreciation for what's really important in life, we'll never be the same.
2. A black man from Chicago elected president.
At the beginning of this decade, hardly anyone knew who Barack Obama was. Today, we call him Mr. President.
3. Closure in the Brown's Chicken and Nicarico murder cases.
After nine years of investigation into the murders of seven Brown's Chicken & Pasta employees in Palatine, it appeared the case had gone cold. But then one day in 2002, police got a tip that led to the arrest of Juan Luna and James Degorski. Luna was convicted in 2007, while Degorski was found guilty in 2009. Both were spared the death penalty and sentenced to life without parole.
Also, 26 years after 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico was abducted from her Naperville home and murdered, and after three people were wrongly convicted of the crime, convicted killer Brian Dugan was charged with her murder in 2005. In 2009, he was sentenced to death for the crime.
4. A deadly school shooting in our own back yard.
We watched it happen at Columbine, Virginia Tech, and other schools around the country. But when five innocent college students were randomly shot to death in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, the horror hit home. Twenty-one others were hurt before the gunman, who grew up in Elk Grove Village, turned the gun on himself.
5. A moratorium on the death penalty.
In 2000, then-Gov. George Ryan issued a groundbreaking moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois, which still holds today. While some suggested Ryan simply wanted to polish his image as an investigation into scandal closed in, others praised the move that spurred nationwide discussion on this controversial topic.
6. The end of the O'Hare expansion fight.
Decades of turbulence between the city of Chicago and the suburbs around O'Hare International Airport ended in 2009, allowing the city to proceed with its runway expansion plan. Bensenville struck a deal to get $16 million in exchange for dropping lawsuits against the project. Elk Grove Village even took out an ad thanking Mayor Daley for dropping plans to build a road through a local business park and instead working on expressway bypass projects.
7. A record number of foreclosures in the suburbs.
When real estate prices tanked along with the economy in 2007, suburban foreclosures hit record-high levels. By 2008, one out of every 42 homes in the nine-county area around Chicago had fallen into foreclosure.
8. Two Illinois governors facing federal corruption charges.
One is already in jail, and the other is awaiting trial. Former Gov. George Ryan was sentenced to 61/2 years in prison in 2007 for racketeering, conspiracy and fraud for awarding lucrative contracts to friends and family in exchange for gifts. In 2008, Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges for allegedly trying to sell an appointment to Barack Obama's former Senate seat, among other allegations. His trial is set to being in June 2010.
9. We'd be free of toll booths.
We're still not free from paying tolls, but at least now we don't have to stop to pay them. Open Road Tolling debuted in 2005, allowing people to pay their tolls with an electronic IPASS device that automatically deducts the toll from a prepaid account.
10. We'd get traffic tickets from cameras.
Until this decade, the only machine drivers feared was the radar gun. In 2007, red light cameras began recording the traffic at major suburban intersections. While lawmakers touted the safety aspects, a Daily Herald investigation showed many of them were simply revenue-generating devices that had little or no impact on safety.
11. Illinois' former first lady on a reality TV show.
Dozens of suburban residents were featured in reality TV shows this decade, ranging from Naperville's Gina Glocksen on "American Idol" to Wheaton's Kelly Jo Kuharski on "The Bachelor."
But no one expected former first lady Patti Blagojevich would star on the B-list show "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" She filled in for her husband, then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who the court barred from flying to Costa Rica to film the show amid his federal corruption charges. Patti lasted for 23 days on the show, and in one cringe-worthy episode, ate tarantulas.
12. More than 120,000 people attending a women's golfing event in Sugar Grove.
A record-sized crowd filled the Rich Harvest Farms golf course in Sugar Grove during summer 2009 when the Solheim Cup came to town. The top European and U.S. female golfers squared off, and the U.S. team took home the Cup.
13. We'd communicate virtually.
Wanna talk to your friends? Or promote your business? Then text a short message from your cell phone, or write a sentence or two on a social networking site like Facebook, MySpace or Twitter. Social networking exploded this decade, and is now among the most popular ways to communicate.
14. A hockey game being played at Wrigley Field.
The friendly confines were converted to an ice rink for a game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 1, 2009.
15. The Chicago Blackhawks spending the entire salary up to the cap and breaking attendance records.
The 2007 death of stubborn Chicago Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz paved the way for a revival of Chicago's professional hockey team. Two months after his death, the team began broadcasting the games on television and investing in players, and soon there was record-setting attendance.
16. The Breeders' Cup run would be run at Arlington Park.
The Arlington Heights racetrack landed the "Super Bowl of Horse Racing" in 2002, and the sellout crowd of nearly 25,000 people provided a $50 million boost to the suburban economy.
17. The loss of so many businesses.
Randhurst Mall in Mount Prospect was torn down in 2009 to make way for a new mall, but before that, dozens of large businesses filed for bankruptcy or abandoned their suburban retail locations. The casualty list included Kimball Hill homebuilders, Kirk Homes, Benchmark Bank, Linens 'N Things, Bennigans, Wickes Furniture, Circuit City and Expo Design Center.
The closings cost the area thousands of jobs, and unemployment in Illinois peaked at 11 percent in 2009, the highest level since 1983.
18. So many suburban athletes getting a chance to compete - and win medals - in the Olympics.
Dozens of suburban natives rose to the top of their sports in the 2000s and have the hardware to prove it. Mount Prospect native Laura Osterman won two medals on the U.S. Women's Softball team (gold in 2004, silver in 2008); Downers Grove's Nancy Johnson won a gold medal for the Women's 10-meter Air Rifle in 2000; Naperville's Candace Parker was part of the gold medal-winning U.S. Women's Basketball Team in 2008 ... and that's just a few of the athletes who deserve mentioning.
Be sure to keep an eye on Naperville's Evan Lysacek in the men's figure skating competition in 2010.
19. Tiger Woods leaving golf and going into hiding just a few months after winning the FedEx Championship in Chicago.
His extramarital "transgressions" came back to haunt him in 2009, tarnishing the image of one of the world's most popular athletes.
20. That we'd make it to 2010.
These last few years have been rough for everyone, but we're still standing. Not only is that an accomplishment, it's a blessing. Now if we can just get through the 2010s.