Any info on the Austin neighborhood?

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by sukwoo

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.

In spite of that, it still has one of the worst violent crime rates--which takes population into account. It's amazing to me that eastern Oak Park doesn't have more of a crime problem, and a testiment to the Oak Park Police Department.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

In spite of that, it still has one of the worst violent crime rates--which takes population into account. It's amazing to me that eastern Oak Park doesn't have more of a crime problem, and a testiment to the Oak Park Police Department.

I've heard anecdotally that the parts of Austin near Oak Park aren't horrible, probably BECAUSE they're next to Oak Park. East of Central Ave is where it gets really scary.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

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.

For one, I don't think it matters that Austin is "not close to downtown." It's no further from downtown than, say, Andersonville. Distance hasn't kept Oak Park from exploding. It's not distance so much as travel time and convenience that matters, and that's well taken care of by two L lines and a Metra line.

For another, I don't know that it matters if there are no opportunities for the poor people of the neighborhood, since one of the effects of gentrification is to push them out anyway. Job opportunities in the immediate area is of little concern to the upper-middle-class professionals who are the driving force behind gentrification.

Obviously, the inertia of crime is the biggest obstacle. And there's just no telling if that inertia will ever be overcome by the forces of gentrification. But as one person said, be careful not to rely on raw numbers when declaring Austin to be the worst neighborhood in the city, since it's also the largest both geographically and in terms of population.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

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.

There's also that mid-rise on Damen just south of North Avenue (Damen and LeMoyne) and another lower-density building (12 units maybe?) just northwest of there on the corner of Pierce and Hoyne.