Safety walking in Maywood/Riverside area (Chicago, Brookfield: renters, crime, house)

[KCWKEN]

I'll be new to Chicago and starting a job at Hines VA. I'm thinking of taking the Metra to either Maywood or Riverside and walking from the station to work. How safe is that area in the typical morning/evening commute hours 7am/6pm. Don't mean to offend anyone, but I really don't know the area. E.G. could my wife/kids walk there and not feel threatened?

Thanks,

Ken

[Drover]

First of all, Maywood is an all-out combat zone. You don't want to be walking through it. You definitely don't want your family walking through it. Second, while it may look close on a map, I don't think you have any conception of how far a walk it is from either the Maywood or Riverside train stations to the hospital. Each walk is 2 miles minimum. That would especially suck on days like yesterday that never got above zero degrees.

There is a bus that runs straight from the Maywood station to the hospital. Other than just driving from wherever you end up, that will be your best option. It's Pace bus #331 (Pace is the suburban bus service versus CTA for city service). For a schedule see http://www.pacebus.com/pdf/schedules/331sched.pdf The "5th/Lake St." stop is close to the Maywood train station; that should help you determine when you'd be able to pick up a bus at the station and how long it will take to get to the hospital.

[KCWKEN]

DROVER, Thanks so much for your candid response. It's a little intimidating to be moving from small town Missouri to Chicago. I guess you really can't judge a book by it's cover. Driving through Maywood, Riverside areas it looked like a lot of the "gentrified" areas of St. Louis (brownstones etc.). And you're right, the walk from the stations on the map looked quite a bit closer, I was thinking under a mile, which in nice weather wouldn't be a bad morning walk.... but not through a "combat zone".

Thanks,

Ken

[mdz]

Maybe you remember Riverside a bit more, it is astronomically a better and safer place to live than Maywood. It's really a shame, there are some beautiful old homes in Maywood and it would be a great place to live if the crime wasn't so bad over there. Hopefully it can get turned around. The way it is now I'm not sure I'd even want to be waiting for the bus over there.

[Steve-o]

Yes, Maywood is not a safe place at all. Ive had the misfortune of getting lost there once, it was NOT pretty (took 20 West from Chicago). I didnt get bothered, but you never know what can happen.

If youre coming from smalltown Missouri, be prepared for one of the biggest culture-shocks of your life. I vacation down near Nixa/Joplin/Gainesville area often and I can tell you that youre gonna be in for a shock! LOL Spend some time getting to know the areas and ask questions and youll be ok. Chicago has LOTS to offer and Im sure if you take advantage of it, youll fall in love with it like the millions of other people who call the area home.

[oakparkdude]

Maywood can get pretty sketchy. I agree that I wouldn't want my wife or child walking around there at any time of day. I've personally taken the Metra to Maywood in the daytime then transferred to Pace 331 and didn't think it was so bad. There's generally a lot of traffic and pedestrians around so I never felt in danger. It could feel more dangerous at night, and, of course, everyone has a different comfort level for gritty urban environments.

Riverside is a lovely suburb and should be perfectly safe, but there's no bus from there to the VA. The same Pace 331 bus does go to the Brookfield Metra station, however, and Brookfield is also generally considered to be safe.

[irie1972]

woudl anyone ever buy a place in maywood if the house was huge, in great shape and at agreat price? I am a 1st time homebuyer and will not find a house like this for the price anywhere.

[OakBrookMom]

The only way Maywood will get better is if people invest their money into it. There's a reason it is so much cheaper than the surrounding areas. There are lots of renters and people who inherited property so it wasn't their blood, sweat and tears and they treat it accordingly. Crime is quite high and the beautiful little town it used to be is no more. It's better than many of the alternative places in the city but it could be so much more, especially with its close proximity to the City and the Metra service. My father went to Proviso in Maywood and can't believe what it has become. A good kid would be seriously challenged there, with bad influences all around. It is only slightly safer in the schools than on the streets and it is so sad. I have a friend that taught in Maywood and she said when she called the parents to talk to them about their kids and develop a plan of action almost all of them were totally disinterested. Many even blamed her and said it was totally her job, not theirs. It was like she was bothering them and all she was doing was trying to help the kids. As anywhere there were a few rays of hope. One of her former students got a scholarship to college. If you look at the stats for the other schools in the area you will see what I'm talking about.

[Southside Shrek]

why do they usually tend to put VA hospitals in bad neighborhoods? not sure if the VA hospital on S. Damen is still there but it probably is.

[mdz]

The Jesse Brown WestSide VA is indeed still there, right across the street from U of I hospital and Cook County. The Lakeside VA is in Streeterville, but right now it's only an outpatient facility. So that's a nice area.

Maybe one of the old-timers can correct me, but I think Maywood wasn't so bad a place to live say 30-40 years ago when the Hines VA was built.