Elmwood park , What is happing to it? (Chicago, Bloomingdale: foreclosed, rent)

[Humboldt1]

East Garfield Park has already emptied out, going from 60,000 residents to less than 19,000 over the past 40 years. Humboldt Park, by contract, has 65,000 residents. Humboldt Park has remained fairly stable population-wise though the ethnographics have changed over the past 40 years.

I don't see the west side of Chicago turning into Detroit anytime soon, though there will be challenging areas, such as those around the former Brach's factory (very cool seeing it partially demolished in Dark Knight). NAFTA, btw, creating this situation, by encouraging the candymaker to go south to Mexico for their labor.

I see more Latinos than Eastern Europeans coming into Elmwood Park or River Grove in the future. I believe Eastern Europeans will choose Norwood, Harwood Heights, Mount Prospect, and other northwest areas first. I agree that the hispanic influence will be stronger than the black influence in Elmwood Park/River Grove in the future.

[Johnny Northside]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

I see more Latinos than Eastern Europeans coming into Elmwood Park or River Grove in the future. I believe Eastern Europeans will choose Norwood, Harwood Heights, Mount Prospect, and other northwest areas first. I agree that the hispanic influence will be stronger than the black influence in Elmwood Park/River Grove in the future.

Elmwood Park already has a significant eastern European population -- including Polish and Ukrainian in many parts of town and Albanian in the northeast part of town. In addition to moving up Milwaukee Avenue, the Polish population seems to be extending west along Belmont (you can see this when Belmont is JAMMED during the Polish independence day celebrations). The westward Hispanic migration is more along Diversey and Fullerton.

[concerned resident]

Meanwhile, where have all the Italian Americans gone. Many traveled to Dupage county such as Bloomingdale, Itasca, Addison, Roselle, Woodale, Medinah, and Elmhurst.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by concerned resident

Meanwhile, where have all the Italian Americans gone. Many traveled to Dupage county such as Bloomingdale, Itasca, Addison, Roselle, Woodale, Medinah, and Elmhurst.

And Carol Stream,Lombard,Oak Brook,Elk Grove, etc...

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by concerned resident

Meanwhile, where have all the Italian Americans gone. Many traveled to Dupage county such as Bloomingdale, Itasca, Addison, Roselle, Woodale, Medinah, and Elmhurst.

Or they've married non-Italians and merged into the general Euro-mutt "White" category like most other white Americans.

[BigTed]

I needed to stop for gas earlier tonight at the gas station on Diversey and Harlem and ironically there was a gathering of 4-5 thug-looking black kids (i.e. shirts down to their knees w/ baggy jeans and 3 had hats cocked to the side) and 3 squad cars there basically watching them. It made me think of this thread. Not sure how many, if any, of the kids live in EP but Chicago is right across the street so it's possible they were just hanging out there. Maybe it's mainly the north side of town that is getting worse? If anyone has had any bad experiences in EP or seen anything lately feel free to chime in as I'm obviously interested in hearing about it.

[concerned resident]

There are few blocks that have not changed for the worse in Elmwood Park over the past few years. Too many apartments are the first problem. A very high rate of foreclosures is the second problem. Many houses, especially the bungalows on the the north side of town have been foreclosed. Houses that were well over $300,000 just a couple of years ago are now selling in the low 200,000's. This leads to many negative things. Some of these foreclosed houses are bought by investors who don't care what direction the town is headed. These investors will then rent these homes, either conventionally or even worse through section 8, and these investors wont sell these homes until the market comes back. This leads to a transient community- no longer tight knit. Also, some of these foreclosed properties are bought by lower income homeowners who may have not been able to buy in this town before this real estate crisis. I have witnessed homes in the recent past not kept up- grass over a foot long due to rented homes or foreclosures. With these changes, new crimes such as gang activity and 2 recent shootings are new to this area. Do I have an answer to these problems- no. But the E.P. police better find a quick solution before this town turns into Melrose Park overnight.

[bungalowdweller]

Originally Posted by Johnny Northside

The nicest parts of those communities are on the south end -- Berwyn definitely around the Burlington railroad tracks and Cicero to a lesser degree northwest of the intersection of 39th and Central.

In Cicero, the north end, from 16th Street to 22nd (Cermak) and Central to 61st Avenue was always the best. That's where the engineers from Western Electric lived. And it was the prettiest stretch of Austin Blvd with some outstanding homes.

It's all worse for the wear today, but it's still considered the most desirable by the people who live there.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by concerned resident

Many houses, especially the bungalows on the the north side of town have been foreclosed. Houses that were well over $300,000 just a couple of years ago are now selling in the low 200,000's. This leads to many negative things.

And it could also lead to positive things. One advantage of the housing bust is that it has largely removed the marginal home buyers from the mix. From the late 1990s until maybe 2006, otherwise sophisticated financial institutions temporarily lost their marbles and we had all of these "no doc," zero down, 2-year ARMs, interest only and other "creative" financing tools floating around out there. They made home ownership accessible to those who previously would have been excluded but also had a nasty tendency of putting unsophisticated families (many of whom spoke little to no English) making $25-30k per year into $250-300k houses. While you have to applaud anyone seeking the American dream, there was no way in hell they were going to be able to afford what they were buying over the long haul.

That's possibly why you're seeing all of those bungalows on the north end in foreclosure. To someone who was living in a dumpy apartment in Little Village or Maywood, those little homes probably looked like a cross between Tony Rezko’s sprawling mansion in Winnetka and Kevin Costner’s corn field in “Field of Dreams.” And there were plenty of unscrupulous realtors and mortgage brokers tripping over themselves to “help them out” too. Unfortunately, they most likely could barely afford the “introductory” payment, much less maintain the home or put any money into the business community.

It stinks that they're in foreclosure and that they were taken advantage of so callously. I feel for those folks, I really do, but you live and learn. Painful lumps are part of the road to prosperity. And the bust could lead to positive things in the long term insofar as communities are concerned too. People who are buying now generally have to have decent credit and put some "skin" in the game, even at the lower price points. That’s going to yield a better quality homeowner, albeit with some short term pain as the market scrubs off some of the artificial price run up and adjusts to cover for all the foreclosures on the market now.

[BigTed]

To anyone who can answer, where specifically have you seen thugs or shady people hanging out i.e. what streets and in the North or South part of town? I'm just interested to know because I haven't seen what you're seeing with the exception of at the gas station that is right across from Chicago. I've seen some suspect people driving around town but I assume that they're from Chicago and just driving through the neighborhood to check it out. I'm close to North Ave and all I see around here are white people.