Calumet City, so very sad! (Chicago, Orland Park: gated, income, rental)

[NYrules]

I see another Dixie Square Mall coming to a Cal City near you in the not too distant future.

[skyeINIL]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Get your family out of there before the housing value and their safety drops even more.

I cant comment on the comments that were edited since I never saw them.

Your post is a rant and it is at least paritally justified and true. However, instead of complaining about it, do something about it that is positive in whatever way works best for you and everyone else.

The Iraq comment is in poor taste, but I do know what kind of analogy was trying to made. I dont think something like that should be censored.

Censored? Absolutely not. Although, he definitely should be called on what he says. In fact, I wish the other comment had not been cut. It would have been interesting to see how many other posters, if any, would have objected to it.

[skyeINIL]

I thought about this thread last night. I ride a bus everyday that goes through much of Cal City. I had to get off the bus earlier than usual to run an errand on Sibley yesterday evening. As I walked down the street (after sunset), I thought about the assertions that CC is a hole and a warzone and wondered if the people making those claims have ever been to, or even through, Calumet City. On the surface, it looks like any normal town. No boarded up houses, no garbage in the streets and on the sidewalks, no thugs or gangbangers hanging out. I felt no threat to my personal safety. I would not live there, but I still stand by my previous statement that CC is nowhere near as bad as Harvey.

[misspetite]

Originally Posted by skye1974

I thought about this thread last night. I ride a bus everyday that goes through much of Cal City. I had to get off the bus earlier than usual to run an errand on Sibley yesterday evening. As I walked down the street (after sunset), I thought about the assertions that CC is a hole and a warzone and wondered if the people making those claims have ever been to, or even through, Calumet City. On the surface, it looks like any normal town. No boarded up houses, no garbage in the streets and on the sidewalks, no thugs or gangbangers hanging out. I felt no threat to my personal safety. I would not live there, but I still stand by my previous statement that CC is nowhere near as bad as Harvey.

I agree and not even on the same level as Riverdale either. Now that's bad! I go to Cal City all the time with no problems.

[doublenickels]

There are several cites on the the web, where disgruntled, majority folks, of lower economic status, routinely post derogatory comments about Calumet City, Illinois. The people doing the complaining are economically BROKE. They either can't "flee", or have "fled" under strained conditions. Who's fault is that? The originator of this thread, claims to have moved to Las Vegas. That says it all, about that person's character...moved to a city full of transients, most of whom move on, and most of whom are financially strapped. Original poster moved to Las Vegas, because s/he couldn't afford to move two blocks across the Illinois-Inidiana line, into a decent home and neighborhood among her own kind.


[quote=I_HATE_Cal_City;2550393]I'm 22 years old and I, until very recently, lived in Calumet City for the better part of my life. My family and I moved to Calumet City when I was about 5 years old.

It was such a nice place to live when we first moved there. It was mostly older retired indaviduals.

...however

quote]

[HsvMike]

Now, I used to work at the Dominick's on Sibley so I know first hand about Cal City. I got a gun pulled on me once and we all thought a guy was dead behind the strip mall there. We called the cops and ended up that he passed out from drinking hairspray (yes hairspray, drank a few of them, out of a pump kind of container) just for the alcohol content.

It isn't as bad as Harvey and Riverdale, but it's heading that way if things don't change.

[Preaching2thechoir]

I owned a home in Dolton about 12 years ago and while the racial makeup had changed significantly, it was still a nice place to live. I sold it and moved to Texas in 1996 and returned to Illinois in 1998. I immediately noticed the negative effects that had taken place in that short period of time. It too has suffered as a result of government corruption, and as a result of the low income families moving from the Chicago to Dolton, the crime rate has soared.

I have to agree that Calumet City along with Dolton have changed drastically and neither for the better. Crime was virtually non existent in either of those suburbs as late as the 1995. Harvey, however, has been a cesspool for more than 2 decades.

[werinshades]

Growing up in Hegewisch, we used to shop River Oaks frequently during the 70's. Mom used to work in the A & P right next door to Venture when R.O. West was brand new. That was the only two stores there. I no longer live there, but Cal City has definitely turned into a cespool of "victims". Can't blame all the city for it, but definitely contributed. This has spread to other burbs as well, as we keep creating the "victimed society". OP says he was 22 and Cal City "recently changed". Um no, you have been coming out of your cocoon young man..it has turned in the 80's..

[skyeINIL]

So now I'm confused...

Preaching2thechoir says, "Crime was virtually non existent in either of those suburbs as late as the 1995."

then

werinshades says, "it has turned in the 80's".

So which is it?

[LIS123]

It's hard to believe that the area had essentially no crime as recently as '95. On the other hand, there probably were some shifts that began in the 1980s.
Having lived in NWI for 20+ years, my sense is that the last 10 years have been very difficult for the Cal City area, including many surrounding communities. It started to decline before that time, but things have really gotten a lot worse in the recent past. It's sad how that area in general (including S Holland, Lansing, Lynwood, etc) has declined in a relatively short time span. There are a LOT of people here in NWI who used to live there and they seem very happy to have left.