Should I move to Tinley Park or Oak Lawn (school, university)

[fusillirob1983]

Originally Posted by SusanLafine1

Oak Lawn is NOT where you want to move. Unless you like crime. There is a one-to-one ratio of cops to firemen. Oak Lawn also likes to 'forget' about more serious crimes when reporting in the blotters. They report retail thefts and exclude home invasions. How do I know? I live 2 blocks form the police dpet and I have been terrorized in my home by teenagers for the last 4 years! First eggs, then paint balls, then graffiti, and this week they graduated to robbery. Yes my house was broken into. 2 blocks from the PD for 4 years. Tinley Park gets my vote!

Are these the same teenagers each year? Sorry to hear that it happened. It sounds like isolated incidences though/really bad luck.

[ajolotl]

Not to discount someone's bad experiences, but in the bigger picture I think Oak Lawn is pretty safe.

It does look dated, though, and for the current generation of middle-class white home buyers it would seem to get squeezed out between spiffier places with better schools to the southwest and more interesting places closer to the loop. In Chicago that usually means that it will become consistently more black and/or Mexican. This usually means crime goes up and school performance decreases, and the cycle feeds itself. Probably twenty years later the trend will reverse.

I live just to the east on the Chicago side (Beverly). Beverly is a relatively large historic district and has a more obvious upside for this generation's middle and upper-middle-class home buyer. Thus, it is far more likely to stay integrated. It is more expensive, though.

Tinley looks to me to be the kind of place that will be like Oak Lawn in about 20 years.

[REDEEMER]

As a lifetime resident of Oak Lawn, I strongly urge anyone considering moving here to run and never look back. Maybe in distant years past, Oak Lawn was a decent suburb to live in, but it has gone to hell in a handbag.

Students of the Oak Lawn Community High School are generally stupid and on the verge of becoming criminals, gang activity is on the rise, you can find litter spread all over the side of the roads, etc. The mayor(who was recently re-elected) is a crook and deserves to be sitting in a jail cell... Residents have increasingly become more rude and unfriendly, and considering all of the bars, there are quite a lot of drunks. If you plan to take an evening walk outside, expect obscene things to be yelled at you out of car windows. If you go to restaurants or convenience stores, expect poor service and a general "I really don't care about my customers" attitude from employees. The waste management drivers have repeatedly been reported by residents to skip over houses(not pick up their garbage) for no apparent reason, and my home has personally been victim to this at least 4 or 5 times. (I witnessed the worker laughing when they finally did empty our can into their truck.) These are just a few examples of the Village's deterioration in past years.

I can attest to the fact that there are MUCH nicer towns in the Chicagoland area. Tinley Park, Orland, Willow Springs, just to name a few. Avoid Oak Lawn at all costs. I can't wait to move.

[fusillirob1983]

Originally Posted by REDEEMER

As a lifetime resident of Oak Lawn, I strongly urge anyone considering moving here to run and never look back. Maybe in distant years past, Oak Lawn was a decent suburb to live in, but it has gone to hell in a handbag.

Students of the Oak Lawn Community High School are generally stupid and on the verge of becoming criminals, gang activity is on the rise, you can find litter spread all over the side of the roads, etc. The mayor(who was recently re-elected) is a crook and deserves to be sitting in a jail cell... Residents have increasingly become more rude and unfriendly, and considering all of the bars, there are quite a lot of drunks. If you plan to take an evening walk outside, expect obscene things to be yelled at you out of car windows. If you go to restaurants or convenience stores, expect poor service and a general "I really don't care about my customers" attitude from employees. The waste management drivers have repeatedly been reported by residents to skip over houses(not pick up their garbage) for no apparent reason, and my home has personally been victim to this at least 4 or 5 times. (I witnessed the worker laughing when they finally did empty our can into their truck.) These are just a few examples of the Village's deterioration in past years.

I can attest to the fact that there are MUCH nicer towns in the Chicagoland area. Tinley Park, Orland, Willow Springs, just to name a few. Avoid Oak Lawn at all costs. I can't wait to move.

My cousins, who are currently at Oak Lawn High School are definitely criminals/ gangbangers, no doubt about it. My friend's brother, who is a junior at Northwestern and graduated from Oak Lawn 3 years ago..... also a big time gangbanger, oh yeah.

I'm just kidding about all that. None of them are gangbangers.

I don't think I've ever seen a drunk walking down the street in Oak Lawn either. I don't think I've been treated any differently in stores or restaurants in Oak Lawn either. Maybe it's my scary 5'4'', 130 lb. frame that scares people into being nice to me though?

The garbage thing is pretty inexcusable though.

[nJohn]

My assessment: Oak Lawn is fine. It's not a "Tier 1" suburb but it gets the job done . . . whatever that is. If you think Oak Lawn is going down hill then I suggest moving to the moon were you can't be harmed.

[jmccar01]

TInley Is Wonderful Community Been here 10 Years now moved From Bridgeport and I love Tinley it is the Best run Burb and We Have One 3 Major Awards that I know of, #1 Being Business Week National Magazine, Voted Tinley As Best Place to Raise Kids in the Entire Country! Chicago Magazine Named Tinley Park One Of the Best Neighborhoods in Chicagoland Only 2 other South Suburbs got a nod and we enjoy the best of Both worlds here we Boarder Will County So Our Larger Companies get lower taxes on the Will Side and we enjoy the Benifits of Good Paying Jobs here. Many Oak Lawn Companies keep Moving to TInley.

Also about 2 Years ago we Won another National Award by the US department of Commerce #1 over many Major Cities Nationally, yes #1 for best place to have a business. Wow Choose Tinley, we also have great schools a recent Olympic Medalist Christine Magnuson, Andrew HS and TInley Park High Schools Both Rank very high and the Elementary Schools are Superb.

John- TInley Park il

[prairiestate]

Originally Posted by nJohn

My assessment: Oak Lawn is fine. It's not a "Tier 1" suburb but it gets the job done . . . whatever that is. If you think Oak Lawn is going down hill then I suggest moving to the moon were you can't be harmed.

Let's see, I'm sitting in my condo in Oak Lawn now, and a car just drove past playing LOUD MUSIC!!!!! Don't tell me this town isn't going down hill!

[LIS123]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

Not to discount someone's bad experiences, but in the bigger picture I think Oak Lawn is pretty safe.

It does look dated, though, and for the current generation of middle-class white home buyers it would seem to get squeezed out between spiffier places with better schools to the southwest and more interesting places closer to the loop. In Chicago that usually means that it will become consistently more black and/or Mexican. This usually means crime goes up and school performance decreases, and the cycle feeds itself. Probably twenty years later the trend will reverse.

I was in Oak Lawn regularly for 1 month or two a few years back and strongly agree with the statement in bold above. While some of the more recent developments (Metra Station, strip mall, Pot Belly, etc) had been built by the time and were a nice addition, I couldn't help but think that OL was WAY past its prime.

At least along 95th Street, I felt as though OL was pretty old and unappealing. Tinley is definitely more modern and less dated than OL, though it has (and will continue to) suffer from 'growing pains' of traffic, overall congestion, rising costs, etc. I'd definitely go with Tinley first, though.

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by prairiestate

Let's see, I'm sitting in my condo in Oak Lawn now, and a car just drove past playing LOUD MUSIC!!!!! Don't tell me this town isn't going down hill!

I was about to respond to your post and be like "really???" but then I saw the "" and laughed...you are absolutely right though! People just assume that (and I am being stereotypical here):a 2010 Escalade on 24 inch rims playing loud music means a place is going downhill. But put that same vehicle and music blasting just as loud in Winnetka, then it turns into "harmless rich kids who are just clownin' around"...I'm going to assume that we all know that the only difference, who is in the driver's seat, is really what leads people to believe a place is going downhill

I need to remember to lockdown my house if I hear a car drive by playing: ♫...You can have whatever you like...♫

[dogman3]

You can live on the south side of 99th street and be able to attend Richards High school. Richards is a former blue ribbon school award winner for academics on both the state and federal level.Also the Athletic programs for both boys and girls is outstanding at Richards. A new 250,000 weight room and a new wrestling room.A great academic and a great sports school for both boys and girls.