Lincoln Park, Perfect Living

[i blame history]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I think raising kids in the suburbs is tantamount to child abuse. It's great when they're young, but when they hit that 13-16 year old age they are just stuck without a parent chaufering them around. They need to get out and be social and a little independent, but they can't. So they turn to drugs, inhaling household chemicals, torturing cats, and shooting up the school.

Alright, that was purposely extreme and slightly tongue-in-cheek, but it's no more extreme than the guy above who says you can't raise kids in the city! If you want some good info about raising kids in Chicago, join the Northside Parent's Network and look at their online forums. They can answer absolutely every city living with kids question you can think of.

Parts of Lincoln Park are very family friendly, by the way. But it's one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the city.

Joking aside, you are pretty much completely right. It doesn't matter how safe a suburb is when you have a group of bored 14-15 year olds. I was one of them not even 10 years ago, and luckily, I knew what sorts of punishment awaited me if I did anything stupid and for the most part I stayed out of trouble.

Of course, I spent my nights at home, in my bedroom, on the internet. I've never driven, didn't have a ton of friends, and my parents weren't about to cart me around more than once every other weekend or so.

When a big church in my town opened this huge youth center, the place was PACKED every Saturday night. Which means everyone was there, and by everyone, I mean anything that happened to roll in off the street. All kids within miles were bored, so they'd congregate, and it wasn't long before they found a guy and a girl doing--ahem--some rather objectionable deeds in an exercise room.

I don't want my kids to have the options of "go to the mall, go to Starbucks, or sit at home."

Then again, I didn't even have a Starbucks until college... my little town didn't even have one of those

[lincolnparker]

The area near North beach (north/amitage) is probably the most expensive part of Lincoln Park, which along with gold coast is the most expensive area in Chicago.

I'd recommend that you do a search on craigslist or look at listings of Apartment People or Chicago Reader. Since I live in Lincoln Park, I have a general idea of how much the housing costs are. Just my two cents:

For apartments:

In addition to private landlords listings, a look at how much major apartment buildings charge will give you an idea how far your money will go. Look at Welcome to 2555 N. Clark. Their one bedrooms currently go from $1590 and up. And that does not include any parking, or utilities.

On the other hand, $1700 will get you a two bedroom apt from a private landlord, but the apartment wont be pretty. It will most likely be a vintage unit with window AC and needs a ton of TLC.

For condos:

$1700 will get you a decent one bedroom condo.
Two bedroom condos in Lincoln Park usually go from the 2000s and up.
Cost of decent condos is usually $400/sf and up, to give you an idea.

Originally Posted by luauelvis

I just got back from a week in Lincoln Park, and I am now planning a move there. My wife, 2 children and I decided to drive cross country this summer in search of a new place to live. We currently live in Seattle Washington and it is great here, but it has been our home for 20 years now. I am from the Midwest (Minnesota) and have been wanting to move back there for years. The Midwest is the best place to raise a family IMO. We really fell in love with the Lincoln Park area.The volleyball at north beach, all the activities etc.. I am a teacher (8th grade English /Social studies and bartender (The Cheesecake Factory) My wife is a registered nurse. I do not see us buying a place downtown, but I thought it would be a great experience to rent downtown for a year or two and really enjoy the city and everything that it has to offer. I am looking for you smart folks who already live downtown (Lincoln Park, or within 3 miles ) I really would like to be near the Lincoln Park area, have I mentioned that enough times? I am hoping for some guidance is thee a neighborhood like Lincoln Park that may be more affordable? We are looking for a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment/condo/house near north beach for under 1700$ are we crazy? also any people living downtown with kids how is it? Do you recommend it? Thanks for any and all help

[jessiegirl_98]

Originally Posted by lincolnparker

The area near North beach (north/amitage) is probably the most expensive part of Lincoln Park, which along with gold coast is the most expensive area in Chicago.

I'd recommend that you do a search on craigslist or look at listings of Apartment People or Chicago Reader. Since I live in Lincoln Park, I have a general idea of how much the housing costs are. Just my two cents:

For apartments:

In addition to private landlords listings, a look at how much major apartment buildings charge will give you an idea how far your money will go. Look at Welcome to 2555 N. Clark. Their one bedrooms currently go from $1590 and up. And that does not include any parking, or utilities.

On the other hand, $1700 will get you a two bedroom apt from a private landlord, but the apartment wont be pretty. It will most likely be a vintage unit with window AC and needs a ton of TLC.

For condos:

$1700 will get you a decent one bedroom condo.
Two bedroom condos in Lincoln Park usually go from the 2000s and up.
Cost of decent condos is usually $400/sf and up, to give you an idea.

LincolnParker, I think we discussed how you can actually find really nice two bedrooms in Lincoln Park for less than $1700 (like $1600 ish); however, we have two different versions of "nice" (versus extravagent). I just wanted to point out that these prices are a bit inflated (eg.., you can get a nice apartment with central air that doesn't need TLC for $1600, you just have to look, but it's not going to be all stainless steel....etc)


All of that being said, there are plenty of areas that you can live in in the city that are family friendly and will be cheaper than LP (with easy access to LP). Finding an apartment in that price range to accomodate a family of 4 will be difficult. Not to mention parking, as we often discuss here, that can be upwards of $250/month depending on where you live!

I would also suggest that you read the first post in this forum, under the family friendly section

[JanuaryGirl]

I won't give you a strong opinion one way or the other, I think we have covered that here. However, I would just say to consider practicalities of day-to-day life, and whether the inconveniences are worth it or not. My husband and I (no kids yet) just moved out of the city after living there a long time, one of the things that struck us was that, for us at least, we thought it would be a huge pain to raise kids there, at least in our neighborhood (Lakeview, just north of Lincoln Park). In LP it can get very crowded, especially on weekend nights and during festivals... if you have a car and are driving, this can be frustrating and parking can be impossible if you don't rent a spot at/near your apartment. Grocery stores are usually small and crowded. The lakefront path is fast-paced, your kids will need to be careful. With kids, you will really want a parking spot, you don't want to be toting kids blocks away or having to leave early to go to your car for everything. Also, certain streets/areas can be LOUD if your apartment is near street-level... I would try to visit on a weekend night and during the day to see what it is like if your kids are young and sleep is important. So, I'm not saying this should deter you as my friends with kids have a great time living there, but you should think of these things.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by long101

why dont we start off by asking him how old his children are...?

We know they're young enough that he's looking to move here to raise them.

[cotyan]

I'm in a similar "boat". I'm moving from Atlanta suburbs to Chicago and we can't WAIT to get to the City and LIVE THERE with our four kids. Our youngest is in elementary school so no worries about strollers and diaper bags for us anymore. That's always a b*tch no matter where you live.

We are THRILLED to be getting back to the city and showing our kids what life is all about. The suburbs were great when they were small and they needed a place to play and a yard but now our kids love to visit museums, hang out at the park with us, go eat and try new foods. We just did a Thai and Vietnamese weekend last week, took them to try Pho and other great dishes. We had to go INTO the city to do it and then come back to the suburbs to go home and well, do nothing else.

Living in the city can be done and is quite easy to do if you're city people. We have friends who live in the city of Atlanta, yes their kids do private schools and yes they don't have a yard (big whoopee, my kids don't even PLAY in our yard anymore and this thing is HUGE!) but the experiences and things these kids have and the things they do as a family far out weigh what we do here on a day-to-day basis. I am sooooooooooo bored out here in the suburbs. If I don't go to Target or Starbucks, I'm stuck at home with the soccer moms on their bluetooth in their SUV's.

Someone here said if the parents are happy the kids will be happy and will soak up what their parents do. I believe that. We are not happy here. We were there in Chicago for the fourth, our entire family and my kids STILL talk about it to this day. My six-year old just said yesterday, "I wish we were back in Chicago" and yes, it's always easy to love what you're visiting but that's how much fun they had and that's how much they loved what they saw and that's how much of a difference that week trip was compared to their daily life here.

If you're a city person you will never be happy in the suburbs, you might adapt and sacrifice (like we have the last 4.5 years for our kids sake) but the city will always lure you back in. It did for us at least. Chicago is calling me like a crack calls a crack fiend. I always tell my friends, "mentally, I'm already LIVING in Chicago!"

[cotyan]

Oh, I forgot to add, we're considering Lincoln Park, Bucktown, Lincoln Square, North Center and West Town - you might want to check those out too! Good luck!

[brinegar312]

Having made the move from Seattle to Chicago myself, I will congratulate you for making the same move and feel free to pm me if you want some comparing, but keep an open mind about Chicago neighborhoods as Lincoln Park ain't the only game in town here. It's not like Seattle having only one really nice in-city neighborhood (Queen Ann) in Chicago as there are a lot more choices here. Look at Portage Park and Irving Park as I see lots of families here.

[p&c]

there are many, many people who love raising their families in cities. as one of them, i can tell you that i know many neighbors on my street. my sister, who lives in the suburbs in a big house, never sees hers. my kids know kids in the neighborhood because we see them on the playground. my sister's kids MIGHT run into someone they know at the huge mall. there are some fun blogs devoted to living in the city with kids. one of them is

ParentZing!

It's not necessarily all about useful tips although it does have some of those - it's also a good reality check in terms of humor. Obviously there are pros and cons to city life for anyone, adults with OR without children. but even if you don't end up moving there permanently, try it out for a year and at least have the experience. it might change how you think of cities forever!

[luauelvis]

So many great responses, I wish I could have gotten back on here sooner. We were in the process of driving cross country still. I have been reading these posts and checking other sites. By the way my kids are 9 and 4 I should have mentioned that earlier. This site is so great for info from people like you, I am so scared to make the wrong decision. It is great to have people to bounce questions off of. Thanks again.