Another "Where to Live?" Question from an NJ/IN/TX transplant..

[tribecavsbrowns]

Originally Posted by emathias

Honestly, with your suburban background and apparent lack of experience living in a real city, are you sure yo want to live *in* the city?

I mean, it's possible, but the fact that you don't like Wicker Park, which is one of the coolest, hippest neighborhoods in the country and that you want an apartment that's "part of a bigger complex" SCREAMS "suburbanite for life."

I mean no offense by this, but you either need:

1) nice suburban complex, perhaps near Schaumburg where you can commute to the Loop via Metra and easily get to O'Hare,

or

2) A HUGE attitude adjustment / reality alignment about what city living is really about, what the advantages are, the disadvantages are, and where your priorities really need to be if you want to learn to live in a real city.

I'm with you in spirit, but I don't think it makes sense to tell someone if she doesn't like Wicker Park, she needs to move to Schaumburg. There are plenty of places in the city that offer something approximating a suburban feel and/or amenities.

I do have a hunch that the OP would be happier east of the Kennedy, somewhere near the Brown Line. She could probably get everything on her list except for convenience to the airport, which would become a matter of taking a bus or cab to the Blue Line, or just a cab to the airport. No big deal. Actually, most of the people I know who fly a lot don't live near the Blue Line.

[chirack]

Originally Posted by tribecavsbrowns

I'm with you in spirit, but I don't think it makes sense to tell someone if she doesn't like Wicker Park, she needs to move to Schaumburg. There are plenty of places in the city that offer something approximating a suburban feel and/or amenities.

I do have a hunch that the OP would be happier east of the Kennedy, somewhere near the Brown Line. She could probably get everything on her list except for convenience to the airport, which would become a matter of taking a bus or cab to the Blue Line, or just a cab to the airport. No big deal. Actually, most of the people I know who fly a lot don't live near the Blue Line.

If you need to travel as often as she does cabbing it to the airport is going to get expensive. Alot of this depends on the details of how she needs to travel. I wouldn't care to lug luggage on the CTA unless I packed extremely light (i.e. no more than a backpack or a brief case). I think she really does need an area where she can keep the car.

Her company may reimburse her for travel expenses like parking and the ease of caring stuff in the car is not to be overlooked. Plus wicker park isn’t that far from places like Lakeview and Lincoln park if she wants to socialize with a different crowd.

Ravenswood might be the only other area I can think of without major parking problems and near the brown line but that is not as convenient to O’Hare as buck town. Although with traffic on the kennedy being further north might not be quite as bad a trade off.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by tribecavsbrowns

I'm with you in spirit, but I don't think it makes sense to tell someone if she doesn't like Wicker Park, she needs to move to Schaumburg. There are plenty of places in the city that offer something approximating a suburban feel and/or amenities.

I do have a hunch that the OP would be happier east of the Kennedy, somewhere near the Brown Line. She could probably get everything on her list except for convenience to the airport, which would become a matter of taking a bus or cab to the Blue Line, or just a cab to the airport. No big deal. Actually, most of the people I know who fly a lot don't live near the Blue Line.

She seemed scared or put off by Wicker Park. Given it's one of the spendier areas and has a better mix of old and new than many less expensive areas and is not that different from Lincoln Park anymore, I don't know what neighborhood in the city you think she could a) afford and would b) meet her other criteria.