Berwyn YES or NO... fill me in!!! (Chicago, Cicero: middle-class, houses)
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To an extent, but it is isn't very large. Berwyn is a still a solid blue collar community. Schools are decent, not the best, not the worst. There are so artsy people that were priced out of Oak Park, but don't want to live in the city. I wouldn't yet label it a haven.
So now that I've read the entire 17... I did some research on the area. You all have attracted my attention to the area.
I live in Elmwood Park, and find it a tad expensive for what you get for the money. Especially when I saw our property tax bill. Someone mentioned homes with more character in Berwyn, so I took a look at what's for sale online. Pretty nice homes - many resemble that of Oak Park. 250k will get you a nicely done rehab.
Does anyone know the property tax % rate there?
One thing I read upsetting...the 'spindle' was torn down! For a Walgreens??
Property tax rate is about 2% I believe. Tax bills are commonly in the 4-5k range. And yes, there are artists who live here. Haven? That's a pretty relative term so I have no comment. I'd just say there seem to be more than a few.
So now that I've read the entire 17... I did some research on the area. You all have attracted my attention to the area.
I live in Elmwood Park, and find it a tad expensive for what you get for the money. Especially when I saw our property tax bill. Someone mentioned homes with more character in Berwyn, so I took a look at what's for sale online. Pretty nice homes - many resemble that of Oak Park. 250k will get you a nicely done rehab.
Does anyone know the property tax % rate there?
One thing I read upsetting...the 'spindle' was torn down! For a Walgreens??
Berwyn doesn't hold a candle to Elmwood Park when it comes to crime rates and Hispanic takeover. Berwyn's schools are comprised primarilly of Hispanic children and there are at least 7 known gangs in Berwyn, mostly in North Berwyn. Elmwood Park is still a much safer place to live and the higher property taxes are worth paying for a little safer place. I agree that Elmwood Park could turn into Berwyn, but with this new organization, The Elmwood Park Neighborhood Civic Organization, they have put much needed pressure on the village to hold them accountable and to reignite the spirit and fire in the neighborhood.
Berwyn doesn't hold a candle to Elmwood Park when it comes to crime rates and Hispanic takeover. Berwyn's schools are comprised primarilly of Hispanic children and there are at least 7 known gangs in Berwyn, mostly in North Berwyn. Elmwood Park is still a much safer place to live and the higher property taxes are worth paying for a little safer place. I agree that Elmwood Park could turn into Berwyn, but with this new organization, The Elmwood Park Neighborhood Civic Organization, they have put much needed pressure on the village to hold them accountable and to reignite the spirit and fire in the neighborhood.
ISP crime stats for the area communities for 2008 (from lowest to highest)
Elmwood Park 1,914/100k, 462 index (more serious) crimes
Riverside 2,099/100k, 175 index crimes
Cicero 3,090/100k, 2,502 index crimes
Berwyn 3,119/100k, 1,570 index crimes
Oak Park 4,143/100k, 2,066 index crimes
River Forest 4,479/100k, 497 index crimes
Forest Park 5,306/100k, 813 index crimes
Maywood 5,730/100k, 1,447 index crimes
North Riverside 14,226/100k, 894 index crimes
So you're right, EP has the lowest crime rate of these area communities, but what might concern me is the 18% increase from 2007 (in both the regular crime rate and index crimes). Berwyn's ticked down a little bit from 2007 and has always been in that 3,000/100k range. Hopefully, EP's 2008 crime rate was an anomaly and it will go back down for 2009.
You're also correct in that Berwyn's school districts are majority Latino. But Berwyn's Emerson elementary school outscored Elmwood Park Elementary and John Mills Elementary on the ISAT (89% v. 82% v. 79% respectively). Berwyn's Irving elementary was right behind EPE and tied with JME at 79%. So that's not automatically an indicator of poor school quality. Berwyn elementary and middle schools are doing a good job with that group.
Also, EPE is 32% Hispanic, which is up from 10% in 2000 and JME is 34% Hispanic, up from 15% in 2000. Will the EP elementary schools be able to maintain their scores if the Hispanic/low income population grows further?
I can't tell if you're saying to avoid Berwyn because of its larger Hispanic population. But if that's your advice, then I don't know if I'd bet on EP either to be honest. Berwyn has had a large Hispanic population for quite some time now – it was 38% 10 years ago (2000 Census). So most of those who were going to flee have done so already, and those non-Hispanics moving here and those who have stayed have accepted the fact that Berwyn has a large Hispanic population. I'm not so sure that's the case in EP from what I'm hearing, so you could end up with a flight situation where the demographics change rapidly over a short period of time. I doubt you'll see that in Berwyn at this point.
It's great that EP has the Civic Organization (so long as it's not a modern version of the KKK). Berwyn residents formed CARES (Citizens Aligned to Renew Education for Students), the Berwyn Arts Council, DACEE (a committee of residents to recommend improvements D100 in south Berwyn, including a possible magnet school), a good Neighborhood Watch group and the Citizens Police Academy. I'd say that Berwyn is doing pretty well too when it comes to community involvement.
Why is River Forest crime so high? I know it has less people but I would hope that the police would do a better job of keeping the riff raff from maywood out
Why is River Forest crime so high? I know it has less people but I would hope that the police would do a better job of keeping the riff raff from maywood out
The police department has been rocked with lots of changes in the past few years. I think that the crime spike was totally unexpected and caught them unaware. And doncha know, the riff raff has rights?????
Why is River Forest crime so high? I know it has less people but I would hope that the police would do a better job of keeping the riff raff from maywood out
I did a triple take on that myself. I went back to 1997 and it's always been over 4,000, sometimes exceeding 5,000. The exception was 2005-07, when it was in the mid-3000s. So '08 actually seems in line with historic norms.
I don't know the reasons why. North Riverside's astronomical rate can largely be explained by the mall. Berwyn's probably gets bumped up a bit by Cermak Plaza. I don't think RF has any large retail areas that would account for this however. Could be spillover, yes.
I am guessing it is almost all property crime, with people from maywood and other lower income areas robbing those in river forest. I can also see some spillover south of the tracks bordering forest park. There seems to be a fair amount of riff raff around harlem and washington. There is also a fair amount of riff raff at tgifridays and dennys, which border river forest on harlem. This could explain some of the higher per capita numbers.
Those numbers for Oak Park are surprising. It must be the spillover from Austin because they price the thugs out there in OP. Likely more crime east od Ridgeland than west of it. I work in North Chicago with many blacks and they tell me they wouldn't live in Austin in you payed them! My Aunt grewup near Laramie and Washington she said her last five years there from 1970-1975 were very scary. She went to school at St Thomas Aquinas on Washington near Central in the 60's. She had alot of Irish cops in her family so that helped because they were always going in and out.
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