What do you think the next suburb to experience white flight will be? (Cicero: vouchers, safe)

[fusillirob1983]

Originally Posted by Pacheen

I have lived in the aformentioned area for 20 years. It is quiet, convienent, and safe. We can take the dog for a walk at night without danger of being mugged. The Target is up the street, and the Jewel is a few blocks away. Two bus lines intersect at 95th and Pulaski. It is a couple miles from 2 Metra trains, the Rock Island to the east and the Southwest line to the west. District 123 is the school district, where my two kids recieved an excellent elementary education. Oak Lawn High is ok, but we sent them to Brother Rice and Mother McAuley. My neighborhood is diverse, and believe it or not some of my non caucasion neighbors have been here for years.

I personally have been through the white flight phenomenon, so I'm not naive to it, but it just did not take hold in my little corner of Oak Lawn. I'm sure the tanking economy will put white flight on hold in vulnerable neighborhoods.

Agreed on all accounts of that area. My Indian friend's family lives over there. They have one of the largest houses on his street and the bought it from another Indian family who lived there for over 20 years. Their next door neighbor is Hispanic, there's another Hispanic family across the street, another Indian family a few houses down, and a Black family a few houses in the other direction. They all have pretty nice houses.

[bungalowdweller]

Originally Posted by fusillirob1983

Agreed on all accounts of that area. My Indian friend's family lives over there. They have one of the largest houses on his street and the bought it from another Indian family who lived there for over 20 years. Their next door neighbor is Hispanic, there's another Hispanic family across the street, another Indian family a few houses down, and a Black family a few houses in the other direction. They all have pretty nice houses.

I always thought that it's a good area. I hope that it doesn't succumb to "Wealth flight" as an earlier posted mentioned.

[Pacheen]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

Two questions:

1. What is the racial breakdown in your neighborhood?
2. Are young white families still moving there?

I'm at that Target and Home Depot all the time. The neighborhood seems very safe to me.

The area is majority caucasion, with some pockets of Arab families, and a few Indians and Asians here and there ( the doctors that used to populate the area have mostly moved to the west suburbs, although there are a few that stayed) There have been a lot of Hispanics moving in. There are five black families on my block, and three of them have been here for at least seven to eight years. We have a couple of white families with kids across the street who moved in within the last five years. There are more kids it seems on 91st Place. When the weather is nice I see all these white people with baby strollers and I do wonder if they actually live in the neighborhood (the condos on 93rd, maybe, or perhaps Hometown). There were never that many kids in the neighborhood to begin with, maybe because people here tend to hang on to their houses until they die or can't live alone anymore

Despite the great housing stock and the amenities ( forgot to mention the park at 93rd and Keeler) I don't think this neighborhood is that attractive to white ethnics because of the lack of a grammar school or a Catholic parish that the neighborhood can call its own. The official parish is Our Lady of Loretto in Hometown, but some choose St. Germain's. The k-6 school is Hometown. So there has always been a subtle difference between the "haves" and the "have-nots" and also a lack of a sense of community because everyone is a different religion, a different race, and a different culture ( maybe this is the down side of diversity).

[Baroness-Ann]

I always travel to Chicago Ridge to shop at the mall there. Good to see that town along with Oak Lawn, keeping its safe, small-town, quiet atmosphere. But the southern suburbs in general are a joke! Calumet City use to be utopia! South Holland's deteriorating with it! Sauk Village is as well. Why do so many bad people from the worst sides of Chicago have to move to beautiful, quiet, safe areas and tear them completely apart? I'm just going to pray that OakLawn, Chicago Ridge, and their surrounding communities won't be next.

[crbcrbrgv]

Originally Posted by Baroness-Ann

I always travel to Chicago Ridge to shop at the mall there. Good to see that town along with Oak Lawn, keeping its safe, small-town, quiet atmosphere. But the southern suburbs in general are a joke! Calumet City use to be utopia! South Holland's deteriorating with it! Sauk Village is as well. Why do so many bad people from the worst sides of Chicago have to move to beautiful, quiet, safe areas and tear them completely apart? I'm just going to pray that OakLawn, Chicago Ridge, and their surrounding communities won't be next.

In South Holland it looks as though the crime stats and amount of residents with Bachelor Degrees has held pretty steady for the last 10 years if you actually look at the stats. Of course in the Chicago area, many choose to look at the color of the people instead and make blanket assumptions.

[Chicagoland60426]

Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv

In South Holland it looks as though the crime stats and amount of residents with Bachelor Degrees has held pretty steady for the last 10 years if you actually look at the stats. Of course in the Chicago area, many choose to look at the color of the people instead and make blanket assumptions.

True. Over 80% of South Holland residents still own there homes. The crimes stats for South Holland is below average according to the stats and about the same as Homewood. The only thing I see thats a little lacking is some of the schools.

[vester72]

The problem with South Holland is that Thornwood used to be a very good high school years ago, but now it is terrible.

My wife grew up in South Holland and the downfall for Thornwood started when the neighborhood started 'turning', then people moving in felt it necessary to have relatives send their kids to South Holland schools from the city using their addresses. Problem was, the kids were from the hood and the school went to s$%t fast because they, regardless of the school, had no respect for anything they could not smoke, eat, drink or f#$%.

Funny part was my wife's family knew it was time to go when their black neighbors moved to Homewood and told them it was time to go because the xxxxxxx were moving in. Yes, that is what they told my father-in-law.

At Thornwood had to bring in metal detectors, violence became quite prevaltent (I know this for a fact), then the whites bailed. Reported crime in South Holland may or may not have changed but the neighborhood is a far cry from what it used to be - and the schools for some odd reason have gone into the toilet.

[promis1]

Originally Posted by vester72

The problem with South Holland is that Thornwood used to be a very good high school years ago, but now it is terrible.

My wife grew up in South Holland and the downfall for Thornwood started when the neighborhood started 'turning', then people moving in felt it necessary to have relatives send their kids to South Holland schools from the city using their addresses. Problem was, the kids were from the hood and the school went to s$%t fast because they, regardless of the school, had no respect for anything they could not smoke, eat, drink or f#$%.

Funny part was my wife's family knew it was time to go when their black neighbors moved to Homewood and told them it was time to go because the xxxxxxx were moving in. Yes, that is what they told my father-in-law.

At Thornwood had to bring in metal detectors, violence became quite prevaltent (I know this for a fact), then the whites bailed. Reported crime in South Holland may or may not have changed but the neighborhood is a far cry from what it used to be - and the schools for some odd reason have gone into the toilet.

What do you have to say about that Houston?

[At1WithNature]

Originally Posted by Chicagoland60426

True. Over 80% of South Holland residents still own there homes. The crimes stats for South Holland is below average according to the stats and about the same as Homewood. The only thing I see thats a little lacking is some of the schools.

see the National Average is skewed by very poor towns, such as Harvey. The average is bad and not something that should be looked upon as an actual accomplishment or something to be proud of. Even within 100 points of the national average is bad compared to the good towns.

[bungalowdweller]

Stickney and neighboring tiny Forest View are ripe for white flight as hoards of undesirables from Pilsen and points east bring their gangbanging and other criminal activities with them. Both were nice, quiet, working class towns for decades. Forest View, in particular, is a retiree's paradise. No mo'!

It's adios muchachos. And it's a shame.