France warns its citizens to avoid South and West Side (Chicago: violent crime, limousine)

[North Side Brandon]

The West Side has some livable areas think Wicker Park, the Grand & Western Patch, Ukrainian Village, West Town and the Near West Side east of Ashland. The South Side has Mount Greenwood and Beverly south of 59th street those are very fine areas. Oh yeah and North Englewood goes up to Garfield Blvd 55th street and north of there you have Back Of Yards another War Zone. You have Fuller Park north of 59th which is also a lousy neighborhood, Wentworth Gardens and east of Ryan is still pretty bad especially south of Pershing Road. So the French a little off.

[jonnynonos]

They can't delve into every caveat. Most of the neighborhoods you are saying as "west side," most people would consider "near west side."

Beverly and Mt. Greenwood are fine, but, as stated, what interest would a tourist ever have in visiting them.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

They can't delve into every caveat. Most of the neighborhoods you are saying as "west side," most people would consider "near west side."

Beverly and Mt. Greenwood are fine, but, as stated, what interest would a tourist ever have in visiting them.

You got to keep up with the times --

http://www.city-data.com/forum/32295109-post21.html

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Drover

It's the French Foreign Ministry for chrissake, not Frommer's. They're not writing a tour guide; they're trying to keep their citizens safe when they travel abroad.

The two work hand in hand. Someone is going to look at events and places to go in Chicago, and the minute they see that, they're going to say "oh **** they told us don't go down there" i.e. the South Side Irish parade/festival. That's the point. Think about it. Chances are it won't happen often, but there are some places/events south of 59th, believe it or not, that some tourists actually do know about or every once in awhile become aware of.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by marothisu

The two work hand in hand. Someone is going to look at events and places to go in Chicago, and the minute they see that, they're going to say "oh **** they told us don't go down there" i.e. the South Side Irish parade/festival. That's the point. Think about it. Chances are it won't happen often, but there are some places/events south of 59th, believe it or not, that some tourists actually do know about or every once in awhile become aware of.

Oh stop it. It's not the French Foreign Ministry's obligation to make its citizens feel comfortable enough to attend a parade in Beverly; it's a traveler's responsibility entirely to seek detailed information about the place they're visiting from sources whose business is to provide that very information.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Drover

Oh stop it. It's not the French Foreign Ministry's obligation to make its citizens feel comfortable enough to attend a parade in Beverly; it's a traveler's responsibility entirely to seek detailed information about the place they're visiting from sources whose business is to provide that very information.

That's very true, and I think someone pointed out their more detailed stuff which is more important. They say to do homework on neighborhoods and areas of town. I think that's sound advice for anywhere you go in the world.

[eevee]

Originally Posted by chet everett

You got to keep up with the times --

http://www.city-data.com/forum/32295109-post21.html

Yeah hon, no offense to these lovely people, I'm sure their product is great, but no one from France is traveling across the Atlantic to the south side of Chicago for some wine and honey mead. There are people in this city who won't travel across the Chicago River to the south side for some wine and honey mead. I doubt there is international fervor to try this stuff and I'm sure it's not enough of a draw for tourists from one of the biggest wine producing countries in the world.

[jonnynonos]

LOL @ eevee!

Yes the idea of Frenchmen traveling to Beverly for a wine tasting is rather humorous.

Chet, it's your prerogative if you want to be contrarian and sing the praises of some Beverly winery or Mt. Greenwood donut shop or a particularly interesting gas station in Hegewisch.

I think some people are missing or intentionally confusing the point that, you know, French people who are really curious about Chicago neighborhoods are probably capable of doing a little bit more research and won't necessarily feel iron-bound by the one sentence rule of thumb on the embassy's website.

I have a feeling any French person who knows enough about the city to even know what Beverly is will probably be able to ascertain that there may be exceptions to the offhand embassy advice.

[SouthsideTillIDie]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I agree with MtMemphis though. At least they know better than many north side people who will never go south of Roosevelt (wtf no Chinatown even?)

Yeah that's true, a lot of Northsiders really don't know shyt about their own city. I work as a youth leader at a Southside non-profit and outside of community organizing I don't see Northsiders down here a lot, the only Northsiders who come down here a lot are community organizers and they don't count because they aren't typical. The Northside is a warped reality and a lot of outer towners prospective on the Southside and Westside comes from Northsiders and they themselves don't even come out here. For example I once had a man tell me that the Chicago Cubs were more popular than the Chicago Bears and Chicago Bulls, but yet there's vast parts of the city where the Cubs are literally irrelevant and where you don't even see people wearing Cubs apparel and memorabilia. It makes you wonder if these people ever get out of their warped reality. Stop extending what goes on in your Northside community to the entire city, and stop thinking that because you live up North that you speak for the entire city. That's a small example but it just goes to show the disconnect that people have with the city in it's totality.

And the reason that I mentioned such a minor example such as sports is this: if you can't even rank the sports franchises in your city accurately what else is it that you don't know about your own city? Just sit back and think about that question. Just examine if that same person was put on the spot and had to stand up and speak for the entire city on a MAJOR political issue of importance? Could we trust him to be a good representative for us? The answer is no, because he lives in a warped reality where he thinks his Northside community reflects the entire city. I live on 79th Street, hang out a lot on 63rd Street, lived on 81st, 76th, 99th, and Jeffery Manor in the past and all my life I've rarely seen random guys or women from the Northside walking around mixing with the people. But then these are the same people who tell outer towners about the Southside/Westside.

[chet everett]

I should have put the ol' on my previous reply to johnnynonos -- that was more a little a tweak to some of the snobby oenophiles on the board that have delved into the scientific classification of components of wines in the NW...

The larger point, however, is that if parts of Chicago that do not get the "mainstream" coverage that typical northside, near-to-the-lake areas do that really does hurt little guys much more than "mega corps". It is because of the harm to small business that I find advising people to "stick to Navy Pier & Millenium Park" offensive coming from the French Foriegn Ministry or some idiot writer whiner writing in a NY magazine or some clueless newbie that "has a passion" for their new condo over a microbrewery...

I do think that there are some valid points even in "rantish" replies like SouthsideTillIDie above -- the fact is when there is loss of balance in not just day-to-day poltics as demonstrated by Rahm but also certifiably lopsided spending on schools WITHIN the city, AND parks, AND police, AND EMS responders then any criticisms of perceived safety issues are more than just a "hot button" but one of the bad feedback loop situations -- "well of course we have to expand Payton Prep, things are not safe enough for any of the southside high schools, well of course we need more green space in West Lakeview, it is the only part of the city safe enough for families, well of course we have to keep shoppers and tourists safe on Michigan Ave, well of course it takes longer to get paramedics from the site of shooting to hospitals on the soutthside... How long before some do-gooders think it makes sense to plow under dozens of blocks on the southside for "sustainable urban agriculture" ... http://ideas.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/...into-farmland/