Any info on the Austin neighborhood? (Chicago, Oak Park: middle-class, crime rates, house)
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In your last post you mentioned that the best parts of Humboldt Park were east of the park. I agree except in the areas between division and north, bounded to the east by California. Too many gangs and problems in that area. So many blue lights I felt like I was on a shopping spree at Kmart.
Also, anything east of the park is technically WestTown per the neighborhood map of Chicago. Humboldt Park goes from the viaduct on the west side near Cicero Avenue to the Park to the west. North of north avenue the eastern boundary is Rockwell. South of the Park the boundary coincides with the metra railway.
I actually have found it safer just west of the park than east of the park, so long as you stay north of division. South of division it is a different story. My experience has been that as long as you stay north of division and grand west of the park it is not fancy but livable. I am two blocks north of grand near pulaski and north and my area is okay. If you go just south of grand forget about it. Too many shootings and killings for my taste and I don't exactly live in the best area.
What's the verdict on areas just a few blocks west of Western, just north or south of North? I know there's a lot of flipping happening there, but I know well enough to know that that doesn't mean the neighborhood is safe...
North of north avenue is relatively fine. South of north avenue you run into problems via bickerdike and the like. These mini projects have loitering and a lot of gang activity including drugs and shootings. My advice would be to not buy not to one of those buildings south of north as the areas around them seem to have increased criminal activity. Also, you have Clemente High School not too far, which has all kinds of problems of its own.
You see alot of these public housing mini projects in the area between western and california and division and north. North of north avenue you have some, including the HHDC but I have seen fewer problems.
Yeah I've noticed them when looking at the street view of the some of addresses of rehabs. I don't have a strong desire to live next to a project, can't see those going anywhere anytime soon either.
Location: The great, formidable City of Chicago, Illinois
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Originally Posted by aragx6
Yeah I've noticed them when looking at the street view of the some of addresses of rehabs. I don't have a strong desire to live next to a project, can't see those going anywhere anytime soon either.
Wicker Park still has several of them too, and yes, they do cause problems. I had one behind me sharing an alley for a while, and the open-air drug market made using our garage pretty scary sometimes. It would get busted periodically, but then come back after a month or two. And this was a VERY nice block with million-dollar homes!
An interesting read is Logan Square: Split Personality. It was an article in the Sun Times about a month back. It is a great read for those looking to move into that area.
The split personality of Logan Square
As one part of the neighborhood gentrifies, more danger and poverty take up residence in ever-closer quarters on western edge
A memorial where Leonardo Otero was fatally shot. (Tribune photo by José M. Osorio / January 9, 2008)
In the center of Logan Square, artists eat tofu scrambles, joggers wear iPod nanos and pet walkers escort small dogs past million-dollar homes.
About a mile west in the same neighborhood, few were outside on a recent rainy morning, save the family and friends visiting the makeshift memorial for Leonardo Otero, a 15-year-old gunned down Monday.
Like other Chicago neighborhoods, Logan Square is a complex place that changes character block by block. Here, conflicting forces of gentrification and seemingly intractable crime have made Logan Square a place with two identities: a hot neighorhood and a crime hotspot.
Location: The great, formidable City of Chicago, Illinois
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Originally Posted by Drover
The thing about Austin is... that's what we heard 20 years ago. Makes you wonder if it's ever gonna turn around. You'd almost think it has to with so many assets in its favor, such as quick access to two CTA lines, both of which are in tip-top shape (unlike the mess unfolding on the North side), red-hot Oak Park literally across the street, lots of big beautiful houses on big lots that would easily be worth close to seven figures when rehabbed if only they were one mile west, et cetera. Austin's inertia has heretofore proved very difficult to overcome...
Austin will literally be one of the last places in the city to gentrify. Why?
1. It's not close to downtown.
2. It's currently one of the worst crime-ridden neighborhoods in the city, often mentioned in the same breath as Englewood, Woodlawn, Garfield Park, etc.
3. It's actually one of the more recent "white flight" flipovers. In 1960, Austin was almost entirely a white neighborhood, and it flipped to 90% African American EXTREMELY rapidly. There is nothing that points to any changing demographics there.
4. Crime crime and more crime! Get the point? It's one thing for a neighborhood with ten murders a year to flip over, but Austin still has over 30! It's an urban war zone.
5. There are no new jobs coming to Austin any time soon, and the poor residents there have few opportunities.
Wicker Park still has several of them too, and yes, they do cause problems. I had one behind me sharing an alley for a while, and the open-air drug market made using our garage pretty scary sometimes. It would get busted periodically, but then come back after a month or two. And this was a VERY nice block with million-dollar homes!
yeah there's a few along Milwaukee right? I've seen them, and they worry me a bit. I know that no neighborhood I would like will be perfectly safe (I like a bit of edge) but I guess I've been looking at too many apartments in the city because last night I had a nightmare about getting shot...
Austin will literally be one of the last places in the city to gentrify. Why?
4. Crime crime and more crime! Get the point? It's one thing for a neighborhood with ten murders a year to flip over, but Austin still has over 30! It's an urban war zone.
One thing you have to keep in mind is that Austin is the largest neighborhood population-wise so that also skews the murder cout upwards.
Location: The great, formidable City of Chicago, Illinois
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Originally Posted by aragx6
yeah there's a few along Milwaukee right? I've seen them, and they worry me a bit. I know that no neighborhood I would like will be perfectly safe (I like a bit of edge) but I guess I've been looking at too many apartments in the city because last night I had a nightmare about getting shot...
Those are technically south of Wicker Park in Noble square. But there are the little "scattered site" building dotted throughout Wicker Park proper. You can easily identifiy them because they are usually two stories tall and look like they were built in the 70s or 80s. The one that gave us trouble was on Wolcott, between Milwaukee and Damen, though there are many of them between Damen and Western as well.
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