Neighborhood Safety Gradient? (Chicago: crime, safe, residential)

[LakeShoreSoxGo]

Originally Posted by surlycue

You would have driven through South Lawndale at the west and Little Village on the eastern end. Lawndale is nothing to scoff at but it is much worse further north where it borders Garfield Park.

Yea I went thru cicero which did not seem bad, just a bit run down like most subrubs in the US whos hey day was 1960. Than the neighborhood went black for about a mile, than mexican, than kind of gentrified (on cermak headed towards sacramento) than mexican again. Didnt see too many shaddy types, save the people obviously just released from the Jail.

[rhawkins74]

Originally Posted by JoeyPants

The stats don't take into account who the violent crime is directed toward. So the safety level is different for different types of people. Much of the crime in Pilsen and Logan Square is directed towards gang members. As a non gang member, I feel safer in Logan Square and Pilsen then I do in Rogers Park or Uptown. I don't have the stats regarding Rogers Park, but I'm willing to bet they have more muggings or random violent crime then Logan Square or Pilsen does.

I agree fully with what you are saying here. I have been trying to tell people this for awhile. Just like I feel perfectly safe here in Roseland, but, not as much in Rogers Park.

[surlycue]

Originally Posted by JoeyPants

South Lawndale is Little Village.

Oh noes, must I bring up community areas? Little Village is a neighborhood (with distinctive boundaries) within the community area of South Lawndale. OP would have technically driven through Marshall Square as well and the community area of North Lawndale for a moment between Cicero and roughly Kostner on Cermak.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by JoeyPants

The stats don't take into account who the violent crime is directed toward. So the safety level is different for different types of people. Much of the crime in Pilsen and Logan Square is directed towards gang members. As a non gang member, I feel safer in Logan Square and Pilsen then I do in Rogers Park or Uptown. I don't have the stats regarding Rogers Park, but I'm willing to bet they have more muggings or random violent crime then Logan Square or Pilsen does.

I've heard this a lot of times before but I don't buy it. Where there are gang members, there are open air drug deals, burglaries by people who want to buy the drugs, turf wars, and shootings by people with bad aim. There is also the retaliation factor if you care about your neighborhood and call the police when you see crap going on such as taggings, drug dealing, loud obnoxious parties, etc. I wouldn't recommend living in a high crime area, whether you're in a gang or not!

[JoeyPants]

Originally Posted by BRU67

I've heard this a lot of times before but I don't buy it. Where there are gang members, there are open air drug deals, burglaries by people who want to buy the drugs, turf wars, and shootings by people with bad aim. There is also the retaliation factor if you care about your neighborhood and call the police when you see crap going on such as taggings, drug dealing, loud obnoxious parties, etc. I wouldn't recommend living in a high crime area, whether you're in a gang or not!

I've never witnessed open air drug markets in Pilsen or Logan Square, and the crack and heroin trade is minimal in those areas. If you are going to commit a burglary to sustain your habit, you are probably a crack or smack head, maybe meth. I've lived in both Pilsen and Logan Square, and never felt as though I might be a victim of a mugging. I can't say the same about Rogers Park.

[Avengerfire]

I came across this site today which has some cool graphs on crime and such (even if some of the data is from a couple years ago):

Chicago Crime Blog

[3divina]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

A lot of people ask "how safe is such-and-such neighborhood" on this forum. Since safety is relative, I figured I would post a neighborhood safety gradient (I know I'm going to get criticized for this). If we consider North Park to be close to the the safest and Englewood or Washington Park to be the most dangerous, every chicago neighborhood should fall somewhere in between, right? As an example, here's where I would rate Pilsen:

SAFE
North Park
Jefferson Park
Lincoln Square
Lakeview/Lincoln Park
Edgewater
Bucktown/Wicker Park
Uptown
Logan Square
Rogers Park
Pilsen
Humboldt Park
South Shore
Austin
Englewood
Washington Park
DANGEROUS

Where is South Loop/Near South Side? And Chinatown?

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by 3divina

Where is South Loop/Near South Side? And Chinatown?

Hey said "As an example, here's where I would rate Pilsen."

[3divina]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Hey said "As an example, here's where I would rate Pilsen."

Okay...

I guess I should have asked, "Why isn't South Loop/Near South Side on the list? What area on that list would it count as?"

[chirack]

Originally Posted by 3divina

Okay...

I guess I should have asked, "Why isn't South Loop/Near South Side on the list? What area on that list would it count as?"

Because the downtown Chicago area is about as safe as it gets. You might get robbed or your wallet stolen perhaps even rape, but not drive bys and drug dealing out in the open.

The main reason is that downtown Chicago just does not have all that much population(after office workers and tourist) and much of that population is not young(i.e. teenagers or young adults) nor very poor. It just has the wrong mix of income, and population and residential space to keep crime up and because it is the main business/tourist area of Chicago it is heavily paroled by police.

Chinatown is getting away from downtown's safety but still not dangerous. Near southside, reasoably safe but I wouldn't go much south of about 40ish th street unless you know the area.