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People travel to about four neighborhoods of Chicago, and think that they've gotten the whole city nailed down. If the only people you met were transplants...you're probably a yuppie, going to yuppie establishments. Sorry.
Those who say that the entire South Side is too dangerous to go to sound like suburbanites who only believe what they hear on the news to me. Guess what? The South Side has changed since you last stepped there, and there are, and have always been, nice parts of the south side,
There is crime on the south side of chicago...but unlivable is a stretch..most cases that crime only affects people who live that lifestyle. I am a resident of the southside and I have never been mugged or shot or robbed
Chicago ain't really a "huge city" after you live there. I mean this in the sense that so much of the city is too dangerous to live in. The southside of Chicago makes up 60% of the city. Let's face it, most of which is unlivable because of the crime.. Even the pockets that ain't dangerous, they're so far away from all the good stuff the city offers. And taking the El or a bus from those southside locations ain't exactly safe either.
Now, how far into the westside of Chicago do you have to go before it's becomes a crime ridden ghetto? So basically, Chicago consist of the northside. Now downtown Chicago is beautiful, but it ain't livable like Mannhattan is. It's more commerical than anything.
Now the northside of Chicago ain't small, but still, it don't feel "huge" to me. Chicago put too much energy into the northside instead of trying to build up the south and westside neighborhoods like they needed too. The crime in Chicago is beyond pathectic.
I don't mind the "all the eggs in one basket" approach if it results in an area as great as Chicago's northside (and downtown...I think they put a lot of effort into that area too). I wouldn't call the crime beyond pathetic though. Chicago has an average crime rate for a large American city. It's not as bad as Philadelphia or DC for instance, and is nowhere near the level of Baltimore. I think most of the worst crime is isolated to specific areas. The main difference between Chicago and NYC is not the absence or lesser prevalence of ghettoes in NYC (because they're plenty prevalent there), but that in NYC, the ghettos themselves are not as unsafe to be in (unless you count Newark).
I'm not sure if it's quite as bad as you describe though, like that it'd be unsafe to take the El or bus from downtown to Hyde Park (I assume that's the main area you meant when describing the "good pockets" of the southside).
I don't mind the "all the eggs in one basket" approach if it results in an area as great as Chicago's northside (and downtown...I think they put a lot of effort into that area too). I wouldn't call the crime beyond pathetic though. Chicago has an average crime rate for a large American city. It's not as bad as Philadelphia or DC for instance, and is nowhere near the level of Baltimore. I think most of the worst crime is isolated to specific areas. The main difference between Chicago and NYC is not the absence or lesser prevalence of ghettoes in NYC (because they're plenty prevalent there), but that in NYC, the ghettos themselves are not as unsafe to be in (unless you count Newark).
I'm not sure if it's quite as bad as you describe though, like that it'd be unsafe to take the El or bus from downtown to Hyde Park (I assume that's the main area you meant when describing the "good pockets" of the southside).
Of course NYC is going to have a lower crime rate. It's the most expensive city in the country. Most of the poor people have been pushed out of the city into neighboring cities or surrounding areas.
The same thing happens to any city that gentrifies.
What's with all the yuppie bashing? Almost all of Manhattan is filled with yuppies. There's nothing wrong with that. Somehow the "yuppies" in NYC are different than any other city though.
But on another note, how did this thread dissolve into an NYC vs. Chicago thread? And I know, I'm not helping but I've already started typing...ha ha.
Boston, Chicago, and NYC are all great cities. Their cultures are all completely different.
Chicago does have a pretty intense violent crime rate in its substantial rough areas in the south and west side. The crime rate's held steady for the last few years apparently, without much improvement. It's still a wonderful city though and I hope its citizens and government find a way to really deal with these issues.
Of course NYC is going to have a lower crime rate. It's the most expensive city in the country. Most of the poor people have been pushed out of the city into neighboring cities or surrounding areas.
I have to disagree with this, NYC is huge, there are plenty of working class and poor hoods in NYC, most of the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn are still working class neighborhoods. Look at the income stats for NYC vs. Chicago, they are very similar.
Just because it's "working class" doesn't mean it's affordable. There are putatively "working-class" neighborhoods in Chicago where that no working-class person could buy into today unless they got in on the real estate market back when you couldn't give away property in their neighborhoods and they can bring a pile of equity with them. But a first-time buyer? Forget it. And I'm guessing there are a lot more neighborhoods like that in NYC than there are here.
I realize it was a fictitious show, but I remember watching an episode of "All in the Family" when someone offered to buy Archie's house for the outrageous price $27,000, which is today's equivalent of about $115,000. Is it possible to buy a habitable house in any decent working-class part of NYC for anywhere near that? I suspect you could barely buy a boarded up shell in da 'hood for that much.
I thought we already went over that whole list months ago? Many people pointed out the flaws in their own cities - and it was pointed out that the #2 neighborhood that's in Chicago is actually a 6 block plot of empty land with a few houses on the southernmost boundry. So the population is like 15 people, and since it's surrounded by a very rough neighborhood, any crime on that land area make the crime rate seem inexplainable....
Anyway, the whole 60% of Chicago being too dangerous to even ENTER has to make you laugh. As if the ENTIRE south side is a horrible ghetto. There's definitely ghetto areas, but there are also tons of decent areas that people just gloss over for the most part because they're not making headlines. Also the southside might be the largest area....but look at a map sometime. There are many square miles of open land around Wolf Lake, as well as huge swaths of industrial land. I know the person was just trolling around, but at least research for 2 seconds before you post random links and make "true statements".
If you look into crime stats you realize that 25% of the violent crime happens in areas that hold 75% of the residential areas of the city, while the other 25% of people are having to deal with 75% of the crime. Hence the southside ghetto areas tend to have less than half the population density of many other areas of the city.
I am shocked that this post caused so little havoc, maybe we've all matured !?
Hopefully at least a little bit .
By the way, I just realized I said "the natives of Boston and Chicago may be very similar...", but I meant to say the natives of "Boston and New York may be very similar..."
To further clarify, I wasnt' meaning that Chicago is constantly trying to measure up to NYC...simply that some Chicagoans aren't shy about comparing themselves to New York (perhaps most of it is done on this site). That comment was directed at the people that were for some reason claiming that moving to Boston would be much too similar to New York and that Chicago would give you the more unique experience.
I think Chicago and Boston are both much, much different than NYC...and that's a good thing.
Chicago is fat, uneducated Rust Belt hicks (mostly whites) or Southside Thugz4Life (mostly African Americans).
Not EVERYONE, of course, but it definitely defines the Chicago personality. Ignorant and rude to the core.
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