Division & Pulaski - After one year here, I just need to vent. (Chicago: safest area, school)

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by LSDetroit

I live down the street at Division and Ashland in Wicker Park. Supposedly this is a safe, upscale neighborhood but I've experienced several of the same problems. My apartment was robbed, mail is often stolen, I've often heard gunshots and have had prowlers on my balcony at 3AM. Everyone in my neighborhood seems to own loud, viscious pitbulls that keep waking me up all night. Local mexican gangs keep spraying the area with graffiti and occasionally brawl in the street.

It seems this entire city is one big ****hole no matter where you live or how much you pay in rent.

The worst thing about living here are the fact that the police are useless and the weapon/self-defense laws are ridiculous. It took the cops four hours to show up after my apartment was robbed. And when he got there, the guy seemed more concerned with a butchers knife I had out on the counter than investigating the shattered window.

I'm a pretty big guy, so I don't get bothered much in person. I would not recommend a single woman live anywhere in this city outside of a highrise.

Thanks for sharing. I can tell instantaneously that you're a newcomer to Chicago and are familiar with only a few parts of the city.

Wicker Park was pretty darn rough just a decade ago, and the area near Ashland/Milwaukee/Division still has a long way to go. The gentrification process is still shaking itself out. You are smack dab next to a large block of low-income housing along Milwaukee and in a huge high-rise. You have to realize that you are in an area of relative prosperity on the edge of a massive gang-infested ghetto (Humboldt Park, East Garfield Park, etc.). I too had crime issues in Wicker Park when I lived there a few years ago, and the police told me that our block was one of the worst for break-ins in the entire city. Why? Well put some people with money right next to a den of poor criminals, and the result is expected. Our place completed a triangle between an open-air drug market in our alley and a pawn shop down the street.

In spite of the residual sketchiness in Wicker Park (which just makes it cooler to the hipster crowd), much of this city is actually quite nice and liveable. Hundreds of thousands of people live in Chicago for years without getting robbed or burglarized. But you're in a big city now, so you have to expect some problems from time to time. For cryin' out loud, you're from Detroit of all places. Or are you one of those so-called Detroiters who was afraid to leave the suburbs?

[Bud Dickman]

Division and Pulaski! Are you crazy? White people aren't supposed to go their, let alone live their.

[JohnCU]

My two daughters (20 and 23) are on the verge of leasing an apartment at Division and Winchester. They both have reasonable common sense which hopefully they will employ....should I discourage them from this location?

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by JohnCU

My two daughters (20 and 23) are on the verge of leasing an apartment at Division and Winchester. They both have reasonable common sense which hopefully they will employ....should I discourage them from this location?

No, it's a great location right in the heart of all of the Wicker Park action. Lot's of restaurants, bars, shops, etc. They'll love it there.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by JohnCU

My two daughters (20 and 23) are on the verge of leasing an apartment at Division and Winchester. They both have reasonable common sense which hopefully they will employ....should I discourage them from this location?

No, it is much better over there.

[JohnCU]

That's great to hear, thanks. Based on the info on this thread I'll probably advise them to use the Damen blue line stop at night instead of Division. Their place will be just about equidistant from the two stops.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by JohnCU

That's great to hear, thanks. Based on the info on this thread I'll probably advise them to use the Damen blue line stop at night instead of Division. Their place will be just about equidistant from the two stops.

Yes, Damen is better to use. You seem to be able to pick and choose the better advice on this site.

[JohnCU]

LOL....discrimination is not always a bad thing.

[Humboldt1]

Lookout,

Not all of Humboldt Park is a ghetto though certainly areas south of grand are, especially as you go south into garfield park. East of the park (west town community, humboldt park neighborhood) is generally nicer than west of the park (humboldt park neighborhood and community).

Please don't think that my area (springfield and lemoyne) is anything like division and pulaski. My block is 90-95 percent hispanic and 5-10 percent black. Just a few blocks south it is 50/50 and south of division it is almost all black. Not all of Humboldt is ghetto, just the southern and western parts, which is largely a function of their racial mix (sorry but big difference between hispanics and blacks where I live).

Wicker Park is certainly nicer than my area.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by JohnCU

My two daughters (20 and 23) are on the verge of leasing an apartment at Division and Winchester. They both have reasonable common sense which hopefully they will employ....should I discourage them from this location?

Just to add to the chorus - that is a safe area. I moved to Winchester and Augusta (a few blocks south of Division) about 15 years ago and lived there for 10 years. Even back then it was not nearly as bad as the area being discussed.