Family friendly Chicago neighborhoods? (Oak Lawn, Barrington: middle-class, crime, how much)

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by tomcho

12 miles is similar to 40 miles? Are you serious?

How many follks at a Bears, Cubs, Sox,Bulls or Hawks game do you think drove in from Highland Park, Deerfield, Barrington, Hinsdale or Naperville?
I wouod lay odds it great outnumbers any group of NW siders...

Ditto for pretty much all the plays, museums, concerts.

The region has a great synergy.

[uptown_urbanist]

You've also got to assume that if someone comes on here and says that they don't want to live in a suburb, that they want to live in Chicago, that presumably they have SOME idea of what that means.

I also think that if people want "family friendly" then they admittedly do need to clarify what that means. For me, that means being able to walk to a lot of places and having playgrounds and good public transportation. I don't care about parking, since we don't have a car. It would be nice to have a bit of outdoor space, but that can be a deck or some pots on the front steps, or a balcony or a shared rooftop deck. I don't want to have to get on a train or bus to access most interesting destinations, and I sure don't want to have to get a car just to do so. I know there are very nice Chicago suburbs, ones that are fairly urban in feel; I also want my husband to have a short commute, and I want to be able to get in and out of downtown easily and quickly with my kid. In short, I don't WANT to live in a suburb, however nice and however "family-friendly." If someone comes on here asking for family living advice for the city by all means point out that there are some nice suburbs, too, (and point out that some city neighborhoods are rather "suburban" in feel) but don't assume that they (a) don't know that, or (b) would choose to move there even if they did. Some people are perfectly happy raising their kid in the city. If down the road we want to investigate living in the suburbs then, well, there's an entire subforum devoted to them.

(and the "Uptown" in my user name does refer to Minneapolis' Uptown, which is, frankly, too quiet for me. It's the best Minneapolis has, though. I'm looking forward to returning to a more urban neighborhood when we move to Chicago)

(and totally on a tangent, but LA has wonderful "suburbs." Pasadena, for example.)

[chet everett]

...neighborhoods parents network ( NPN serving the Parent Community ) I have absolutely no problem directing then toward that. For folks in Lkaeview and other parts of the city where there are a substantial population committed to making things work for them and their kids I gnerally applaud heir realistic efforts.

When folks start crossing the line and claiming some non- existent economic edge to living inside Chicago is when I bring in the reality from the business I know and that is intended only to keep the DOLLARS AND CENTS of real estate in the realm of SENSE AND FACTS...

[uptown_urbanist]

I want walking distance (even if a long walk) from my husband's job, which is NOT located in Naperville. Yes, there are plenty of nice

And no, I don't know all Chicago neighborhoods. I look forward to learning more about them, as well as its suburbs. Edison Park, Garfield Ridge, and the other neighborhoods listed (or at least the ones on the list I've heard of) are similarly too far out, so they wouldn't be on my list. I've been to Evanston (and know people who live there) and it would be on my list IF my husband worked out that direction, or if I did.

I completely understand that there are nice suburbs that come complete with libraries, museums, restaurants, colleges, etc., but at this point in time I want to live within walking or short bus distance to places in the heart of the city. Getting in and out from Naperville (where my relatives used to live) would be a hassle. And similarly, I wouldn't choose a quieter, more suburban-style neighborhood, at least not at this point in my life. I've lived in neighborhoods representing a wide range, and I know what I like. Presumably the other posters on here do, too.

[chet everett]

...interesting things to do that will not require a long commute on poorly run public transit in those areas!

That is the whole point.

If folks would have said the same old "move to Lakeview or Bucktown or Ukarinian Village" shibboleths (which are just as tiresome as the 'Oak park & 'Evanston' are special) then I probably would have posted my mostly standard admonition that 'good schools are scarce in those parts, good luck jumping through the hoops to get I to one of the slots in a selective admissions school' but when someone suggested that the NW or SW sides are some magical place where acces to the delights of city is oh so quick, the schools are not quite as bad as in other reaches and it is cheap to boot (none of which is supported by facts...) then I probably would not have gone off on posting the listings of quite lovely and affordable places where taxes and / or purchase prices are both far more attractive...

[ajolotl]

Chet: You have great knowledge of the area and a useful perspective. You have to understand though that to some people a place like Naperville will feel cheesy and uninteresting. I'd personally rather have a place with some imperfections but also little bit of grit and soul. I'll take my condo in Woodlawn over Naperville any day. There are quite a few other people who think this way also. Taking a step back I would not condemn many of the neighborhoods you mention as having no advantage over certain suburbs. Really depends on what one values.

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by lickylicky

Why did you not mention what area your husband will be working in?

We are talking about northwest side neighborhoods because you are not the only person that asked for help in this thread.

I was responding to a poster who had responded to my post. In my earlier post I explicitely stated what I wanted and did not want, and said that I knew I wanted to be in the city, and that when I post, therefore, I have reasons for saying I want to live IN the city. I'm not looking for advice on this particular thread, just trying to give some perspective from the point of view from another family relocating to the city. I KNOW I want to live in the city, so I posted in this forum (and not the Chicago suburbs forum); presumably other posters do, too. As I also said earlier, by all means suggest that there is no strong suburb/city split once you step over city lines, but it also doesn't make sense to come at it with the perspective (which some posts seemed to do) that if only these poor families knew better than they would head out to the suburbs. I was simply trying to point out that a poster who specifically requests information on city of Chicago neighborhoods presumably does, in fact, want information on Chicago neighborhoods.

[uptown_urbanist]

On the school issue: I don't deny that there are a lot of terrible schools in Chicago, but a top 100 elementary school list in Illinois doesn't mean much. I also agree that researching schools in Chicago is more exhausting than just showing up to your local decent school in some suburban districts, but I wouldn't -- and assume many other parents wouldn't -- just assume that those schools would be the right match for my kid, either. Test scores can only get you so far, especially when -- as seems the case in many up-and-coming Chicago schools -- the change is slowly making its way up from the lower grades. You can call us crazy, but we're willing to take a risk and live in the city, but will be choosing our neighborhood with school in mind. And if it doesn't work out, we'll move. That's why I think people should never buy in a new city right away; renting first is the best way to get to know the areas for yourself, and not have to depend on the opinions of others (which are extremely useful, but also extremely personal. What works for me probably won't work for you, and vice-versa.)

[chet everett]

I completely understand some folks decisions to live in a given place are driven by a myriad of factors. The trade-offs that come with any neighborhood are always weighed against the unique pluses.

My argument is against those who have asserted that living inside Chicago is some kind of 'bargain', that simply living inside the city limits makes one's commute time signficantly shorter, that getting into a good school in Chicago is relatively straightforward, that cultural / entertainment options in far off Chicago neighborhoods are superior to those in suburbs, that living in the city is somehow morally perferable to living on the other side of the city borders and other nonsense...


So tell me, ajolotl, if you moved into Woodlawn what were some of the pluses for you? If you grew up there / have family I t think those are quite as relevant to a some one relocating into Chicago, but even that might be intersting. Do you consider Woodlawn ro be "family friendly"???

Originally Posted by ajolotl

Chet: You have great knowledge of the area and a useful perspective. You have to understand though that to some people a place like Naperville will feel cheesy and uninteresting. I'd personally rather have a place with some imperfections but also little bit of grit and soul. I'll take my condo in Woodlawn over Naperville any day. There are quite a few other people who think this way also. Taking a step back I would not condemn many of the neighborhoods you mention as having no advantage over certain suburbs. Really depends on what one values.

[chet everett]

...I never said there are no schools in Chicago where high performance is possible.

What I said, admittedly more than a little dismissively, is that the schools such as cited above are less bad than the typical CPS. If I was feeling charitable I might have said if you are willing to live way out where it might as well be a suburb then you might actually have a pretty good school.

Whipty doo...

Look, there are those that want to believe there is someplace called "Urban Tommorrowland" where a unique blend of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood mashed up with Barfly, toss in some "To Sir, with Love"' a smudge of "Sid & Nancy", a bit of Blues Brothers / The Dark Night, and bar the doors against any "Revolutionary Road" creeping in. Sorry, doesn't exist in Illinois...