why would anyone want to live in uptown? (Chicago, Lincoln: low income, condo)

[smallvillejane]

Just read about this shooting on bike article. What's going on in uptown (modern day chiraq)? why would anyone want to live there?!

[Alacran]

How does one shooting on a bike make Uptown comparable to Iraq's war zones?

[Lookout Kid]

Why?

There are only pockets in Uptown that are problematic. And the areas next to Andersonville, Ravenswood, and Lakeview are as nice as anything on the North Side. Most people don't even realize these areas are parts of Uptown.

It is bounded by Lake View, Andersonville, Ravenswood/Lincoln Square, etc. It's pretty convenient.

The housing stock in Uptown is actually superior to a lot of surrounding neighborhoods. And it's discounted. We would have paid $60,000 more for a condo comparable to ours if it had been south of Irving Park Road.

It is well-served by public transportation, including the Red Line and many Lakeshore Drive Express buses to the Loop.

It's a lakefront neighborhood directly adjacent to a LARGE beach, a massive park, a harbor for pleasure boats, the lakefront paths, and a golf course.

The crime rate in Uptown, while bad compared to Lake View, is actually pretty low by Chicago standards. Most years there are fewer than five murders. Usually the tally hangs around three per year. That's not really that bad or a neighborhood of nearly 65,000 people. People who think they are risking their lives in Uptown are exagerating the dangers.

[chet everett]

I think LK has a pretty fair assessment -- those 5 or so murders are an acceptable risk to those that choose to live there, though personally the hassles and petty criminal element are really what one has to weigh against saving $60K -- I mean the truly random "drive-by miss and hit an innocent" is incalculable but having a car broken into for a junkie that grabs your "meter quarters" or having some deranged soul shout obscenities has a finite chance of having -- in some blocks / routes from the El such an occurrence will probably be a routine almost "set your watch" event, while in other parts of uptown the neighbors will call the cops if suspicious characters wander over...

[Lookout Kid]

I don't really deal with any of the "petty" stuff where I live in the southeast corner Uptown. But many people call this area "Buena Park". We've actually had fewer problems here with petty crime than we've had in other more "premium" locations like Lincoln Park and Wicker Park. And I've been in this location for more than five years now.

Uptown is really a mixed bag. To be honest, there are only a few parts of the neighborhood I'd be comfortable living in--especially with the kids. But it really needs to be stated that there are parts of Uptown that are as nice as anything on the North Side. It's a big community area, and parts of it blend in seamlessly with adjacent neighborhoods. A large chunk of what people consider "Andersonville" is actually in Uptown, for instance. It's the central part of the neighborhood--with the bulk of the retail storefronts and the Uptown Theater--that is the most problematic area. Driving through, this is what people think of as "Uptown".

[lenniel]

Until Schiller is ousted, Uptown will continue to be the hood of the northside (competing with Rogers Park for the dubious distinction). When you combine that many social service orgs, methodone clinics, SRO dwellings, etc, you're going to create an environment that attracts a segment of society that most of us want nothing to do with.

[Lookout Kid]

Lenniel is correct as far as lakefront neighborhoods are concerned. Rogers Park is marginally worse than Uptown... In terms of crime statistics, anyway.

If you go west you get some much larger concentrations of gang activity than anything you might find along the lakefront. Neighborhoods like Albany Park and Logan Square have more violent crime than Uptown. Irving Park and Avondale have significant pockets that are problematic. And as you get further south into Hermosa and Cragin, you have some MAJOR problems (though these neighborhoods are more West Side, I suppose).

[xavier xerxes]

Uptown does continue to improve.
I wouldnt mind living there.
Living somewhere where things continue to worsen
is much scarier.

Some very large buildings have to be emptied out and redone.
The sommerset hellhole nursing home just closed.
The empty maryville buildings eventually will
be nice highrises.
I am a bit nervous about what the new low income housing
at wilson yard will affect the neigborhood.
Personally that is what disturbs me the most.
Hopefully it will turn out ok.

The popeyes at wilson and broadway is gone
and the storefronts there owned by the cta are being rehabbed.
So overall things are amazingly continuing to move in
the right direction.

A neigborhood with tons of potential.
That will continue to improve.
But will probably always have more than its fair share
of low income housing and psych cases and drug cases.

[MannheimMadman]

Was that supposed to be a poem?

[xavier xerxes]

I dont know why but my posts do end up
looking poetic.

Haha, you arent the first to notice.