Help me break my irrational fear of the south side...

[runninfree]

Well, I hope the OP has a dose of common sense to take with some of these replies. He asked for help in breaking irrational fears and then half of you add more irrationality to it all. If I didn't know any better, from these posts I'd think the entire South Side was full of drugged out zombies lurching towards anything with pale skin and a nice car. Get over yourselves.

I grew up in Roseland and have lived almost all over the South Side and honestly one of the posts was right. The South Side is more dangerous for black youth than for anyone else. People of other nationalities get a curious, second look because we don't see "others" walking down the street often. Will we attack you and strip you of all your valuables simply because you're not one of "us"? Don't count on it.

Carjacking? For realz?! I have never seen one nor heard of one in my neighborhood. I'm sure it could happen under certain limited circumstances. More likely is that your car is stolen while parked or broken into because you left something that looked valuable on the seat. Don't get your blood pressure up thinking that someone is going to smash your window and drag you out of your Honda.

Mr. with the Midway question. You will be perfectly safe going straight down 55th to the expressway. The midnight zombies will not smell you coming and set up roadblocks to slow you down long enough to steal your luggage. However, as another poster stated, you are not familiar with the area. That simply means that you shouldn't get creative about your route. Those rules apply anywhere.

[ajolotl]

Less like zombies and more like sleestaks.

Long before "Lost" in the mid-70s there was "Land of the Lost", and the cave that led to the passageway back home was lined with, if I recall, the oft-hibernating but incredibly dangerous sleestaks (except the nice one who spoke unaccented english). They were scary as hell to kids. If you are in your 40s you might remember. Great show for its time. Some people think the main roads through the south side are more or less like that cave. There's a pretty huge reality gap.

[ajolotl]

This might be true but I'm not convinced it gives the total picture either. Maybe in one local hotspot, but not overall. I remember a few years ago there was a shooting near my place in Woodlawn (the Hyde Park part of Woodlawn -- still a little shaky but pretty decent). A girl being interviewed by a reporter said it was nothing new, people get shot and killed on the block every day. Huh?

Some people aren't very rational and just say whatever when they get emotional. I can guarantee that there aren't shootings on the block every day. It is a fairly rare occurrence (once or twice a year). So you also have to consider the source. As bad as Englewood is (and it sucks by normal standards), if I sent you on a mission to find a shooting you'd probably search day and night for a month and come up empty. The norm is still just a bunch of poor and working class people going about their daily business, especially in the day and in the heavily trafficked areas.

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

It never ceases to amaze me how people can't admit how crappy their neighborhood is.

But then there are people that speak the truth:

Quoted from the link below:

"This neighborhood is exactly what it is, it's wild," said Cheri Ricardo, who lives across the street from the police building. "They still shoot up and down the street when they want to."

[allen2323]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

This might be true but I'm not convinced it gives the total picture either. Maybe in one local hotspot, but not overall. I remember a few years ago there was a shooting near my place in Woodlawn (the Hyde Park part of Woodlawn -- still a little shaky but pretty decent). A girl being interviewed by a reporter said it was nothing new, people get shot and killed on the block every day. Huh?

Some people aren't very rational and just say whatever when they get emotional. I can guarantee that there aren't shootings on the block every day. It is a fairly rare occurrence (once or twice a year). So you also have to consider the source. As bad as Englewood is (and it sucks by normal standards), if I sent you on a mission to find a shooting you'd probably search day and night for a month and come up empty. The norm is still just a bunch of poor and working class people going about their daily business, especially in the day and in the heavily trafficked areas.

I think woodlawn is an overall nicer area and has it's solid very nice parts. Yes, Driving along the busy parts of englewood like down halsted is not dangerous. I would not recommend stoping anywhere or even at the gas station, because I wouldn't do it anymore myself. I have had ivestments in englewood for years and the area has continued to get worse. The next door neighbor to one of my apartment buildings got his leg blown off just last year right in front of my building. I am a hands on person, but have had a few run ins in the area that have now made me very hesitant to even go over there. My car window was smashed out in broad daylight. Also, there is a group of young thugs that started hanging out in front of the entrance of one of my buildings and parking in front of the building that made it hard for me to safely come and go and show my units. Several resident have also complained. I have made several police reports and 911 calls about the disturbances. The police response has been less than helpful and showed me they could care less. They drove by a couple of times and told them not to block the entrance, thats it. I am sure this would not have been there response in almost any other neighborhood. I now use a property manager for my two buildings in the area.

[runninfree]

[/quote]Also, there is a group of young thugs that started hanging out in front of the entrance of one of my buildings and parking in front of the building that made it hard for me to safely come and go and show my units. Several resident have also complained. I have made several police reports and 911 calls about the disturbances. The police response has been less than helpful and showed me they could care less. They drove by a couple of times and told them not to block the entrance, thats it. I now use a property manager for my two buildings in the area. I am sure this would not have been there respose in most other areas.[/quote]


And therein lies the problem. Most people won't complain at all but when they do, the police response discourages them from doing it again. In your situation, those thugs could have retaliated against the residents for calling the police and the police would not have even bothered to get out of their patrol car.

I have had the pleasure of calling the CPD several times. The most ridiculous was when a pregnant teenager was being beaten up by her boyfriend. I live about 5 blocks from the police station. I called 3 times over a 20 minute period. They kept saying someone was coming and that I wasn't giving them enough time to respond. Finally neighbors broke it up and the boy sped off in his car leaving the girl sitting on the curb. The police never showed up.
And every week

Spoiler

Deadbeat

Daley was threatening to lay off more police officers. I can only imagine how they feel.

[deechee]

Originally Posted by Manigault

Why can't you befriend a south sider who will give you a tour? That seems reasonable and direct to me. It would provide you with some inside info, too.

Best suggestion

[williepotatoes]

If you are truly interested in learning the south side, I suggest you do what I do. Get in your car during late morning or the afternoon hours and travel the streets of the south side. The southside is a patchwork of good, decent and bad hoods. The overwhelming majority of folks are just going about their lives without malicious intent. Stay on the main streets and just observe the urban scenery. It helps if you have at least a few inklings of street sense also.

The southside is where most of Chicago's history lies. It also holds some personal history for me and I like to re-visit that sometimes.

[Hendu]

Has anyone ever been to Garifuna Flava? I really want to make the trip down after seeing it featured on Check Please.

Garifuna Flava - Chicago Lawn - Chicago, IL

[chicago103]

Stereotypes and buzz words are part of the banality of existence in this modern age. For instance if the only thing people know about Chicago is that the "south and west sides are bad" they would assume my neighborhood would have to be horrible. I live on the "south-west side", OMG south and west combined, it must be double bad!!!!

The reality is that I live west of Midway Airport near Archer and Harlem in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood which is one of the most stable middle class neighborhoods and has low crime (wait for a chicken little to insert a detailed dissertation of every crime report in my neighborhood to in the last 10 years to scare people). When people refer to "the south side" in typical stereotypical terms in general that means straight south on State Street south of 35th Street and a mile or two east and west of state to the southern city limits. The "west side" in typical sterotypical terms in general means straight west on Madison Street west of Western Avenue and a mile or two north and south of Madison to the western city limits. There are other bad parts of the south and west sides but those are the worst and largest concentrations of bad areas.

The south lakefront has patches of good areas like Kenwood and Hyde Park and other more sketchy areas where you pretty much don't want to go west of Lake Shore Drive or South Shore Drive. The stretch along the Indiana state line, the neighborhoods of East Side and Hegewisch are pretty safe places. Then you have Beverly/Mt. Greenwood on the far southwest side. Then the entire Archer Avenue corridor is pretty much safe from Bridgeport all the way to the city limits at Harlem Avenue with really only Brighton Park in the middle that would be considered sketchy in parts. 55th Street is fine until you go east of Western Avenue then its really bad until you hit Washington Park itself. Someone mentioned Pullman, well the core of the neighborhood meaning the Pullman historic district itself between 11th and 115th, west of I-94 and east of the metra tracks is fine especially for just walking around in and touring but it is surrounded by run down areas to the north west and south and desolate areas to the east (Lake Calumet).

[j_cat]

Originally Posted by chicago103

Stereotypes and buzz words are part of the banality of existence in this modern age. For instance if the only thing people know about Chicago is that the "south and west sides are bad" they would assume my neighborhood would have to be horrible. I live on the "south-west side", OMG south and west combined, it must be double bad!!!!

Haha, I totally assumed this at first. It really blew my mind when I found out SW was a "mild" direction.