Karli Johnson got to live the Chicago experience for eight years. Johnson, whose pronouns are she/they, lived downtown with Buckingham Fountain in view. She lived in Lakeview. She even set up residence in Aurora. And while Chicago holds a special place in Johnson’s heart, she put Chicagoland in her rearview mirror when she moved to Peoria in October 2021.
“Do you know how many parking tickets I got?” Johnson asks. “It is so expensive. The winters … it’s so much work. I remember getting in fights over parking spots.”
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The Girard, Illinois, native was going through a divorce and didn’t want to move back to her hometown, but couldn’t afford living in Chicagoland solo, either. For a single mom who identifies as pansexual/ bisexual/queer, affordability and a community to offer support were necessary. A friend from Peoria suggested Johnson follow Angelica Ostaszewski’s TikTok channel and her videos in support of relocation to Peoria. That’s when everything fell into place.
Ostaszewski, aka Angie, has been an outspoken cheerleader about Peoria’s greatness since the fall of 2020. On her channel, she shares residential listings (and gives virtual tours of them), clues viewers into inclusive Peoria events, and is a host like no other when it comes to bringing new Peoria transplants to her new hometown. And no, she’s not a real estate agent. Her day job consists of running diversity, equity and inclusion and energy-efficiency programs for the utility Ameren Illinois.
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“I think Peoria is really special because it’s a large town outside of Chicago in a very progressive state,” Ostaszewski said. “We have a diverse landscape with bluffs and a large river, but it’s also still small enough that you can find your people, but big enough that there’s going to be something to do every weekend. I feel like it’s Goldilocks and the Three Bears, finding the perfect, happy medium of cities.”
Ostaszewski, who identifies as bisexual, moved to Peoria from Bloomington nine years ago for love. The Louisville, Kentucky, native remembers being excited to go somewhere new, and how she wanted to be intentional about who and how she connected with the people around her.
Almost a decade in, Ostaszewski said the city’s riverfront and downtown civic center is going through a revitalization with weekend concerts and events and a lot of new small businesses. Ostaszewski said many of the transplants have moved to Peoria for jobs, especially those in the medical field and in startups.
“People that come here, like me, we don’t have any expectation,” she said. “We’re just looking for somewhere we feel safe, that we can find our peace. There’s a lot to embrace here.”
What started as three videos she posted during her COVID-honeymoon turned into thousands of TikTok followers. She took the hint and used her love of looking at Peoria homes on real estate sites for the betterment of her community by trying to woo more people to the city to live. That means helping people plan weekend itineraries, talking to first-time homebuyers and serving as a resource for others in the LGBTQ community. According to Ostaszewski, her efforts have garnered relocations. (When folks make the move, they often share the news with her on TikTok.)
“I moved here in my mid-20s as someone with very little income, no savings, someone who’s queer and a woman of color, built up my credit and was able to purchase a $33,000 home before I turned 30,” Ostaszewski said. “It’s a lot easier to have fun when you’re not living paycheck to paycheck. I see that with a lot of people that move here. They see someone who’s diverse in a way that resonates with them, who has stability that they didn’t think was possible. And so I do see a lot of people in their 20s and 30s, who are part of marginalized communities relocating here, and they have homeownership.”
When new residents arrive, Ostaszewski stays in touch by programming events like crafting meetups and kickball games through a Peoria Transplants Facebook group. She recently organized an all-ages drag event for Pride with one of her best friends at Peoria’s vegan restaurant, Radish Kitchen.
“People say, ‘I’m scared of being lonely and I’d like to connect.’ It’s powerful to find that space and to share that together. My entire community here is queer, and I’ve never had that before I lived in Peoria. I don’t think people expect that here,” she said.
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“I love being able to help them take that first step because that was me as well. I’m approaching a point where I’ve talked to a lot of people who have been here over a year — that makes me emotional because hearing them say: ‘I feel safe, I feel happy, I have time with my partner because we don’t have to commute or my partner and I used to fight all the time, but now that we’re not living in such a stressed financial situation, we’re closer than ever.’
“I hear those stories all the time and they resonate with me because I feel people deserve that, people deserve affordable housing. I wish housing was affordable everywhere, but since it’s not, I feel like this is the closest I can get and I’m trying to connect people with something that can help them.”
Among the transplants, Ostaszewski said two-thirds come from major cities and a third are people coming from the South who are scared about the overturning of Roe v. Wade. She said many are increasing the speed of their move because of Illinois’ progressive policies, such as abortion rights protections, legal marijuana, no bail bond and safeguards for LGBTQ+ people.
Nicole Livsey, president of the executive board of Peoria Pride, said she loves to see people like Angie promoting the area. She said it’s their responsibility as a nonprofit and network of queer-supporting agencies to make sure that the area lives up to the hype.
“It seems we have an increase in traffic as far as folks looking to come to the area,” said the Joliet transplant. “The family friendly atmosphere is good. … We have a Chamber of Commerce that has a minority business program that includes LGBTQ and queer businesses in that designation. And we’re always looking for different ways of engagement.”
Livsey, who moved to Peoria for work in 2012, said that when Peoria Pride gets inquiries, it’s always been: “Hey, we found Peoria on the map and we were hoping for a little bit of local insight” on whatever it might be — real estate, school, neighborhoods, etc.
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Peoria made U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 list of best places to live in the country, with an overall listing of 50, and a No. 9 ranking on the best affordable places to live. And according to the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index, a tool that demonstrates the ways cities support the LGBTQ+ population who live and work there, Peoria has a score of 74 out of 100. Measured metrics include efforts of the city to ensure LGBTQ+ residents are included in city programs and services and city protections and benefits for LGBTQ+ employees and their partners, among other things. Chicago has a score of 100.
“It’s got a river-town feel,” she said of Peoria. “It doesn’t feel small town, it doesn’t feel college town. We want to feel like a big city, so if you want the city vibe, but not the actual city hype and expense and be able to own your car and be able to drive from place to place. … We have worked really hard to make sure you can get pretty much anywhere in town within 15 minutes, whether biking, walking, whether that’s downtown, trail systems, so that’s been a big draw to the area.”
Johnson was in a transitional phase of her life and she saw the draw when she chose Peoria to raise her son Oliver, 4.
“I joke that I walk into my favorite bar, Bearded Owl Brewing, and they’re like, ‘Hey, Karli!’ It’s like ‘Cheers.’ They know my name. But then I can go to a huge concert. There are conferences around all the time. We have a zoo. We have a children’s museum, we have memberships to a rock-climbing gym,” Johnson said.
“There’s so many organizations and events for parents. I have a skyline — yes, nothing can compare to Chicago — but I drive over the hill and I’m like, ‘Wow, I live in a city that I can afford. I live in a four-bedroom house.’ There’s no way I could have it in Chicago.”
Ostaszewski has already convinced two of her three siblings to relocate to Peoria — one from Atlanta, the other from Louisville. She said it took her about three years to convince them, but she made it happen. For the first time as adults, the siblings live blocks from one another. Now they have monthly sibling movie nights.
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“My oldest sister has a lot of commitments with her children and relocating just isn’t the right fit for her, but I’ve got two out of three which I think is pretty good,” she said.
Johnson said Peoria is all about quality of life for her and her family. She feels she has more time and she can’t stress affordability of the area enough. She admits she couldn’t have made the move without the support of Angie and the group of transplants.
“She’s not just somebody trying to get a bunch of people to move here,” Johnson said. “We need progressive people who want change, who are going to support each other. I wish you could have come to our last transplant party because you walk in and there’s people of every shape, size, color, background. I got one person a job. Another couple, they’re friends of ours, we go get drinks all the time. These are people I wouldn’t have met if it wasn’t for this transplant group.”
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