Top 5 Suburbs and Bottom 5 Suburbs (Chicago, Calumet City: neighborhoods, prices, stats)

[Venom]

Best:
Maywood
Melrose Park
Stone Park
Berwyn
Cicero

[Opkl]

Originally Posted by Venom

Best:
Maywood
Melrose Park
Stone Park
Berwyn
Cicero

Thats sad. You need to get out more. That is unless you were joking.

[Opkl]

Originally Posted by skyeINIL

So you're going to tell me that Lansing is worse than Riverdale, Dolton, Hazelcrest, Phoenix, Posen et.al? That tells me that you really don't know much about the south suburbs and, again, you add Lansing out of spite.

I think a lot of people just say Lansing is ghetto just because of that "Lansing going down the dumps" thread. Then you have your followers who never even been to Lansing that just go off of what others say and call it a future Harvey/ Ford Heights. If it wasn't for that thread, I don't think people on here would ever describe Lansing as a ghetto. Their going to say the same thing about Oak Forest and maybe even Crestwood in a few years. Just wait!

[Lookout Kid]

It's clear to me that the most prestigious Chicago suburbs are (drum roll please):

1. Mooseheart
2. Steger
3. Youngsdale
4. Almora
5. Trout Valley

No, I've never heard of them either. But I'm guessing Steve-O knows them frontwards and backwards.

[skyeINIL]

Originally Posted by Opkl

I think a lot of people just say Lansing is ghetto just because of that "Lansing going down the dumps" thread. Then you have your followers who never even been to Lansing that just go off of what others say and call it a future Harvey/ Ford Heights. If it wasn't for that thread, I don't think people on here would ever describe Lansing as a ghetto. Their going to say the same thing about Oak Forest and maybe even Crestwood in a few years. Just wait!

Dear Humboldt1 and I have a long-standing feud over this topic. He knows nothing about Lansing and decided to go with the flow of the thread you mentioned and call it a bad town. I just won't let it go because I know that town well and it is nothing like the armchair quarterbacks like Humboldt describe.

Oak Forest and Crestwood don't have enough black people for them to describe it as a ghetto. That seems to be the only yardstick some people use these days.

[ajolotl]

I agree. If you need 3 strikes to qualify as a ghetto, being a mostly black gives you 2. If everyone looks like the Obama's and the Huxtables then you will avoid strike three, but blacks who dress and look comparable to whites will qualify as scary. Sorry, I've seen it too many times to believe it's something more substantial than that.

Originally Posted by skyeINIL

Dear Humboldt1 and I have a long-standing feud over this topic. He knows nothing about Lansing and decided to go with the flow of the thread you mentioned and call it a bad town. I just won't let it go because I know that town well and it is nothing like the armchair quarterbacks like Humboldt describe.

Oak Forest and Crestwood don't have enough black people for them to describe it as a ghetto. That seems to be the only yardstick some people use these days.

[Chicagoland60426]

Originally Posted by skyeINIL

Dear Humboldt1 and I have a long-standing feud over this topic. He knows nothing about Lansing and decided to go with the flow of the thread you mentioned and call it a bad town. I just won't let it go because I know that town well and it is nothing like the armchair quarterbacks like Humboldt describe.

Oak Forest and Crestwood don't have enough black people for them to describe it as a ghetto. That seems to be the only yardstick some people use these days.

It seems like that is what its coming down to. Ironically, Hyde Park is over 30% black, but rarely get called ghetto. It look like its a double standard as what is qualified as a ghetto between the city and suburbs.

[Chicagoland60426]

Originally Posted by US-Traveller

Best

1. Kenilworth
2. Glencoe
3. Lake Forest
4. Winnetka
5. Glen Ellyn
6. Wilmette
7. Hinsdale
8. Evanston
9. Glenview
10. Northfield

Worst

1. Harvey
2. Dolton
3. Gary
4. Calumet City
5. Hammond
6. Berwyn
7. Lockport
8. North Chicago
9. Waukegan
10. Whiting

Gary and Hammond is not looked at as a suburb.

[ajolotl]

I don't know ... Until not too long ago people very much called Hyde Park a ghetto. Now there is a lot more wealth mixed in and property values are beyond belief. It would be hard to call a place this expensive (i'm in HP now) an unqualified ghetto, city or burbs. Many people do so that it is "too ghetto for them" and similar things.

[Humboldt1]

Skye,

You are one I disagree with but would gladly buy a beer if I were ever to meet you.

That being said, I have been to Lansing a number of times as my handyman owns a home there and we have actually gone to a few of the local bars and a couple of the liquor stores. Great prices.

Lansing is certainly not the worst. Actually, to be fair, it may not even be in the top 10 worst suburbs. It is certainly not one of the nicer suburbs and is getting worse but it is still better than say Calumet City or Maywood. Perhaps there are suburbs that are worse than Lansing that did not make my bottom 10, but Lansing is certainly not a place I would ever raise a family and is certainly trending in the wrong direction.

Hyde Park being 30% black is like Oak Park (25% black). I personally know that many of the poorer blacks are centered in the apartments within a few blocks of Austin and some of the other subsidized housing in Oak Park. Many of the poorer suburbs have black majority populations. Also, the populations of Oak Park and Hyde Park tend to be more affluent and educated, regardless of race, so this skews things in a positive direction. You may have ghetto blacks in Oak Park (I don't know Hyde Park nearly as well) but you also have many black professionals. A good friend of mine is black as coal and his parents live near Oak Park and Augusta in house worth nearly $1MM. One parent is a doctor and the other is a lawyer.

Could someone enlighten me regarding the large housing complex just west of Dominick's on Lake? This may be a senior housing project.