Is Chicago Heights as "rough" as some paint it as? (hotel, roofing)

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

As James T Harris said: "It's the culture stupid". I am willing to bet that most of the people in that video don't even think their behavior is a big deal and they don't see anything wrong with it. I am a big fan of city living whether it's Chicago or Milwaukee or any big city but as I grow older I can now see why people move to the suburbs.

The places being discussed are suburbs.

[dudenamedric]

Originally Posted by urza216

Come on, now. It's no secret that things like that happen in Da Heights. But that's not the entire question.

BTW: 17th Street is almost entirely on the East Side. This is the worst part of town and not actually representative of the entire town.

Chicago Heights is crawling with cops around Saint James and Prairie State. But they're nowhere to be found here, huh?

this was filmed in the beacon hill area

[urza216]

Originally Posted by dudenamedric

this was filmed in the beacon hill area

That's not too surprising either. I'm glad they stayed off Beacon Boulevard.

The houses don't look like Beacon Hill to me (they look uniform). But I don't drive down 17th.. I know how to get to my friend's house from Western Avenue, from Chicago Road and from Lincoln Highway but I never drive down 17th. I've never even seen that dome before..

My criticism of the Chicago Heights PD absolutely applies to Beacon Hill as well.

[Milwaukee City]

Originally Posted by ChiNaan

The places being discussed are suburbs.

I know what you mean, what I meant was like a traditional suburb like a barrington hills , while suburbs like Cicero, elmwood park, blue island are technically burbs but they aren't like what people think of in a suburban environment and do most people really consider them suburbs or is it like yeah your in the suburbs but you're basically still in the city.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

I know what you mean, what I meant was like a traditional suburb like a barrington hills , while suburbs like Cicero, elmwood park, blue island are technically burbs but they aren't like what people think of in a suburban environment and do most people really consider them suburbs or is it like yeah your in the suburbs but you're basically still in the city.

No. Chicago Heights is definitely not the city, metaphorically or literally. It's a good hour from downtown. It's more likely to be called "downstate" than "basically still the city".

Even Harvey is like 159th and Halsted. The city limits don't extend too far past 119th on Halsted. Definitely not the city. 159th also goes through Tinley Park.

NOT A SINGLE ONE of the south suburbs east of I-57 are anything like Barrington Hills. Sorry.

I'll take it as a compliment - suggesting that south suburbs are more like the city. By and large, they're actually less developed than the north and west burbs.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

I know what you mean, what I meant was like a traditional suburb like a barrington hills , while suburbs like Cicero, elmwood park, blue island are technically burbs but they aren't like what people think of in a suburban environment and do most people really consider them suburbs or is it like yeah your in the suburbs but you're basically still in the city.

What makes Barrington Hills more "traditional" than Chicago Heights? It sounds to me like you're trying to avoid saying "White suburb" or "affluent suburb."

As urza pointed out, nobody would consider Chicago Heights to be "basically still in the city." It's as far from the Loop as Gary, Naperville, or Lake Forest.

[Army_Guy]

It's stupidity like that that makes people not want to live in that city in general. At least if they were people who didn't want their kids to grow up in an environment like that, they wouldn't want to live there. Unfortunately, a lot of the south suburbs are lumped into groups like that. IMO, Park Forest and Matteson are still pretty nice places to live. They're reasonably priced, crime is relatively low as well.

What that video needed was someone with a 12 gauge to scatter the crowd. How can any responsible adult not only egg it on but also video tape it? Just disgusting. You don't hear too much about things like this happening outside of the black community. Does it happen in other communities? Maybe but we sure don't hear about it as much.

[Just1Fan]

Originally Posted by urza216

there are plenty of heavily black areas right here in the south suburbs where this s*** doesn't happen. And if it did, the police would be on the scene.

I agree with you. But, in this case, where is Five-Oh? No wonder violent offenders have a disregard for the law. Obviously [in some cases] they don't have to answer to nobody.

Either they don't know...don't show...or don't care about what's goin' on in the 'hood ~ Doughboy

[artillery77]

I saw this thread, and I'm thinking of taking a good position that would be in Chicago Heights.

I grew up in a small rural town of 800 people. I was so isolated from diversity that I didn't even understand racial jokes because I didn't even know how many races there were.

I lived in Chicago for about 11 years while going to DePaul and tried to stay in the up and coming neighborhoods near the El and then eventually settling in Humboldt Park. Honestly, I really liked that area at the time. There were gangs, totally wacked family situations, the occasssional gunshot and I wasn't the same race as most of my neighbors, but that didn't stop me from meeting some cool people in the neighborhood.

Now I'm married and in San Jose. Wife is asian, I'm white. When I go trick or treating with my daughter, I know that I'm one of 2 households on the block that has a white person in the family. Most of the area is asian and the neighborhood is affluent, but probably 1/3 of the garages have families in them as well. It's very safe here, but it definitely takes time for the neighbors to trust each other if races are different. The schools are good.

Now, we can pretend race doesn't matter and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it does, but it's not bad. But sometimes, it matters a lot and you really shouldn't make a mistake. There was a time, not so long ago, that Ukranians stayed on one side of Western Ave and the Polish stayed on the other...forget that they're both white. That same area today has Puerto Ricans and Ukranians and everyone gets along.

So if I'm looking for a safe neighborhood that has a healthy diversity, decent schools, low crime and a good outlook, can one be found in Chicago Heights? Is there a park I can take my little one to that doesn't have an army of homeless drug addicts? I'm sure there are bad ones, but are there good areas?

[urza216]

Originally Posted by artillery77

I saw this thread, and I'm thinking of taking a good position that would be in Chicago Heights.

I grew up in a small rural town of 800 people. I was so isolated from diversity that I didn't even understand racial jokes because I didn't even know how many races there were.

I lived in Chicago for about 11 years while going to DePaul and tried to stay in the up and coming neighborhoods near the El and then eventually settling in Humboldt Park. Honestly, I really liked that area at the time. There were gangs, totally wacked family situations, the occasssional gunshot and I wasn't the same race as most of my neighbors, but that didn't stop me from meeting some cool people in the neighborhood.

Now I'm married and in San Jose. Wife is asian, I'm white. When I go trick or treating with my daughter, I know that I'm one of 2 households on the block that has a white person in the family. Most of the area is asian and the neighborhood is affluent, but probably 1/3 of the garages have families in them as well. It's very safe here, but it definitely takes time for the neighbors to trust each other if races are different. The schools are good.

Now, we can pretend race doesn't matter and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it does, but it's not bad. But sometimes, it matters a lot and you really shouldn't make a mistake. There was a time, not so long ago, that Ukranians stayed on one side of Western Ave and the Polish stayed on the other...forget that they're both white. That same area today has Puerto Ricans and Ukranians and everyone gets along.

So if I'm looking for a safe neighborhood that has a healthy diversity, decent schools, low crime and a good outlook, can one be found in Chicago Heights? Is there a park I can take my little one to that doesn't have an army of homeless drug addicts? I'm sure there are bad ones, but are there good areas?

Most of the people who work in Chicago Heights don't live in Chicago Heights, anyway.

Yes, you can though. The rule of thumb when home-buying in the Heights is to look north of Lincoln Highway and west of Halsted. The area north of Vollmer and west of Chicago Road is the "nice" part of town.