Upper middle class African American Seeking Diverse Housing in Chicago (Arlington Heights: house, neighborhood)

[soxfan2005]

Humboldt1,
Your right Park Forest should be Oak Forest but first they have to get rid of their gang problems and crime.Oak Forest has one of the best high schools in the state, as well as, one of the best park districts in the south side. I don't know where you got your info. but it is way wrong. O.F is nearly 90 percent white with very little crime besides teenage drinking parties.

[oldhousegirl]

There are affluent Black people in Beverly, Chatham, Flossmoor, and more moving into the Orland area.

[Humboldt1]

Chatham isn't that nice and appears to be getting worse. I think in 10 years it will look like Calumet City. The area is suburban but has not improved over the past few years. I am not the biggest fan of Schaumburg as I consider it to be boring but Chatham only wishes it were like Schaumburg.

Are there a lot of blacks moving into Beverly? I honestly don't know but know that there are no blacks at the country club I sometimes go to in Beverly.

One of my customers just sold their factory in Oak Forest. They had 3 vans stolen within the past two years. I financed their new facility in Schaumburg and they have had no problems. Those are 2000 stats I assume for Oak Forest. What are the 2005 stats?

[Drover]

Beverly is about 25% black, mostly on the eastern side. And yeah, Chatham is one of those places that looks nicer than it really is.

[skyeINIL]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

Chatham isn't that nice and appears to be getting worse. I think in 10 years it will look like Calumet City. The area is suburban but has not improved over the past few years. I am not the biggest fan of Schaumburg as I consider it to be boring but Chatham only wishes it were like Schaumburg.

Are you confusing Chatham with Burnham? Chatham is a south side neighborhood in the city and has no suburban feel whatsoever.

Burnham is a suburb right by Calumet City and already looks like Calumet City.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by skye1974

Are you confusing Chatham with Burnham? Chatham is a south side neighborhood in the city and has no suburban feel whatsoever.

Calumet City has no suburban feel either these days I'm afraid.

[skyeINIL]

Originally Posted by BRU67

Calumet City has no suburban feel either these days I'm afraid.

I guess that depends on how you define suburb. It still feels suburban to me.

[zzguy2]

Well as a mixed white and black person who grew up in the almost 100% white southwestern suburbs, I don't think you'll have a problem. A lot of racism nowadays I think it more classism, actually. I've been in Orland Park 100's of times and have friends there and never once felt like someone was being racist against me.

However, one of my high school teachers told me about this one time when he was driving in Orland Park and saw a car pulled over--all black males--and the cops had them on the ground. Personally, I think what happened is that they may have come off as "ghetto." To be honest culturally I am very white and better educated than most white people, so I am not threatening in any way.

In conclusion, from personal experience as a person of color in the southwestern suburbs, please do not right them off. Down there it's more of a class/cultural thing of trying to keep the "ghetto" from expanding. You may however encounter some peole who are unknowingly offensive or insensitive, but that is more ignorance.

Hope that helped

[JohnDoe2008]

southwestern suburbs are heavily Palestinian. They always put prejudice people in check right away and do not tolerate it at all, so I would not worry much about prejudism. I would stay away from any other suburbs though.
I didnt read the post, but I would suggest living in the city, you sound like you would LOVE certain areas in the city. Just not all white like lincoln park and wrigleyville, or all black like englewood or pullman, or all mexican like little village. Other than that, theres parts of the west side and south side that are low income and you can check these boards for them, every thing else is ok. The north suburbs and west suburbs(not near west suburbs though) are a definetly filled with prejudism. especially the north and northwest suburbs. youd go crazy I bet.
but some near west suburbs like Berwyn and Cicero are good for diversity and class.
nothing beats what I said about the city. The downtown and immediate areas around it like the south loop and west loop and anywhere before lincoln park, are diverse and about class, not race.
good luck, you cant not love it here, but in the suburbs you could easily not love it. its so boring out there, and gas prices, and the commute, oh my. and the damn lawnmowers everysunday, youd think your in anywehre USA, be unique, live in chicago. your address is more known and prestigious when it says chicago, IL than anything else, IL, and your number would be a 773 or 312. I am a strong anti-anywhere-unless-its-chicago.
Let me also add that big or even medium sized detached houses feel creepy and empty to me, especially when theres zero foot traffic or car traffic around. I was born and raised in dense urban areas, so that is me again.

[MannheimMadman]

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2008

southwestern suburbs are heavily Palestinian. They always put prejudice people in check right away and do not tolerate it at all, so I would not worry much about prejudism. I would stay away from any other suburbs though.
I didnt read the post, but I would suggest living in the city, you sound like you would LOVE certain areas in the city. Just not all white like lincoln park and wrigleyville, or all black like englewood or pullman, or all mexican like little village. Other than that, theres parts of the west side and south side that are low income and you can check these boards for them, every thing else is ok. The north suburbs and west suburbs(not near west suburbs though) are a definetly filled with prejudism. especially the north and northwest suburbs. youd go crazy I bet.
but some near west suburbs like Berwyn and Cicero are good for diversity and class.
nothing beats what I said about the city. The downtown and immediate areas around it like the south loop and west loop and anywhere before lincoln park, are diverse and about class, not race.
good luck, you cant not love it here, but in the suburbs you could easily not love it. its so boring out there, and gas prices, and the commute, oh my. and the damn lawnmowers everysunday, youd think your in anywehre USA, be unique, live in chicago. your address is more known and prestigious when it says chicago, IL than anything else, IL, and your number would be a 773 or 312. I am a strong anti-anywhere-unless-its-chicago.
Let me also add that big or even medium sized detached houses feel creepy and empty to me, especially when theres zero foot traffic or car traffic around. I was born and raised in dense urban areas, so that is me again.

I'm in Romeoville right now, and there ARE lots of middle-eastern people here in the southwest suburbs. A lot of my friends are from Pakistan/India, and I love them dearly. I would otherwise not have found out about Tiffan's in Rogers Park

But yeah, growing up in Bucktown- I see the 773/312 as a cool little status thing. I've also never had the luxury of living in a home that was more than 1600 sq/feet, so I too would feel creeped out in a larger home. Luckily for me, this 900 sq/ft apartment I'm in now feels pretty roomy. I guess that makes me weird.

Oh, back to the point- If anyone had read my posts in the Beverly thread, they'd see that I was poking around that neighborhood for a better part of the day. I learned that mostly East Beverly is pretty diverse with black folks who keep a clean lawn and good looking lot. I'd have no problem at all living there, unless it was too close to Vincennes.