Is Gary safe enough? (Hobart, Schererville: house, employment, university)

[summer22]

Someone else commented on Miller Beach here:

https://www.city-data.com/forum/8933176-post13.html

https://www.city-data.com/forum/8955637-post14.html

[magik]

miller has it's gang, drug problems like every other part of gary. but you say miller beach. i'd stick to miller BEACH then miller.

[lasttimewemove]

Originally Posted by ABQBound84

I am a single male looking to relocate to Chicago area from California. I have been looking at some pretty descent apartments in the Miller Beach area of Gary, which I suppose is the "nice" part of Gary. I was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on the Miller Beach area and if Gary has good access to the El train or whatever train that runs into Chicago and how long it takes to get into Chicago. Thank You

What part of Cali are you relo'ing from, that will help answer your questions. I lived in SD and LA, but grew up in NW Indiana...so i think I might be able to help in how you would perceive it. All in all, Miller Beach would be perfectly safe for a young single man with his wits about him. Unless you are coming from a small rural farming community in Cali, i am sure you are well versed in watching your back after night fall when you get off a train, bus etc. It is just street smarts, right? You are more likely to get chased by a raccoon than a gun wielding gangbanger in Miller Beach Indiana. There is crime in Gary, and once in a while it extends into Miller Beach. But it is all relative. I witnessed a LOT more crime in my 8 years in San Diego near the beach, thats certain. Miller Beach community in particular is thriving with 20-40 year old singles that happen to be pretty bohemian in nature. Lots of artists, liberals, healthy gay community, and also families and retirees that have lived there all their lives and raised their own kids there when the schools were better. You don't have kids, so really Miller Beach is (imho) a great choice for you. Cheaper than Chicago, but quick access. The beach gives you endless recreation from June till October. Lots of fun partiers in Miller Beach, and you only have to go down to the Flamingo on any given night and meet the whole town. Plus Miller Bakery Cafe is right there, and folks drive FROM chicago to eat there! You haven't mentioned whether you are ok with snow? Good luck!

[mtlogger]

Originally Posted by summer22

The Miller Beach beach --- I've been there several times and I've never been able to figure out whether its owned and operated by the city of Gary (there are really no signs indicating that) or if its a private party that has lake access and operates the parking lot and beach.

The beach is owned by the City and the parking lot is semi-private, tho it has city police patrolling - mainly b/c adjacent to military reserve unit.

Living in Miller, seems like it would be decent because the area is separated from the rest of Gary by train tracks and US 12/20, but you would still be what is called an "urban pioneer." There is a little commercial strip with a bakery and cafe on Lake Street on the west edge of Miller. There seems to be no commercial anything along US 12, even though that seems like it would be a logical and fairly safe place for development to come in.

In the 40 years, since I last lived in Tolleston-Miller Beach, nothing much has changed exc for some newer 500k homes.

The other beach is Marquette Park which also has the lagoon for fishing and in the winter ice skating.

[Lake County IN]

Gary's not as bad as the people on here make it seem.

I moved here in 1990 and have been in Miller ever since. I went to elementary, middle-school, and high-school here. Still live here today.

I've never been robbed, shot, shot at, or anything close to that. I played ball on 5th ave., knew a few gang members, but never had the type of experiences that everybody on here has where people are always being gunned down in the streets.

Gary's simple. If you're NOT a gangbanger, or involved in drugs, the odds of something bad happening to you are between slim and none and most of the things in the slim category are domestic violence type situations. I walk down the streets everyday and even at night and I've never had anything happen to me.

A lot of what you hear on here is racism simple and plain.

As for Miller,

Miller is like it's own city. The part wayyyy in the back near the beach is where the more "affluent" people live and in the front part, that's where the working class people live. There used to be a projects/ghetto here, but they tore it down. Mostly it's just people who work at Inland Steel and U.S. Steel and regular type jobs. It's really desolate, like the rest of Gary, but a lot less ghetto. It's more forest preserves and things like that. You're more likely to see a deer or an elk, than be shot at.

[Capt. Dan]

Originally Posted by Lake County IN

Gary's not as bad as the people on here make it seem.

I moved here in 1990 and have been in Miller ever since. I went to elementary, middle-school, and high-school here. Still live here today.

I've never been robbed, shot, shot at, or anything close to that. I played ball on 5th ave., knew a few gang members, but never had the type of experiences that everybody on here has where people are always being gunned down in the streets.

Gary's simple. If you're NOT a gangbanger, or involved in drugs, the odds of something bad happening to you are between slim and none and most of the things in the slim category are domestic violence type situations. I walk down the streets everyday and even at night and I've never had anything happen to me.

A lot of what you hear on here is racism simple and plain.

As for Miller,

Miller is like it's own city. The part wayyyy in the back near the beach is where the more "affluent" people live and in the front part, that's where the working class people live. There used to be a projects/ghetto here, but they tore it down. Mostly it's just people who work at Inland Steel and U.S. Steel and regular type jobs. It's really desolate, like the rest of Gary, but a lot less ghetto. It's more forest preserves and things like that. You're more likely to see a deer or an elk, than be shot at.

Your optimism is admirable. But Dept of Justice statistics prove you to be very wrong. Gary is corrupt and violent to the core. Rose colored glasses dont give a clear picture. Since you have only been in Gary since 1990 you have NO IDEA how bad Gary is compared to the 50's and 60's.

[Lake County IN]

Originally Posted by Capt. Dan

Your optimism is admirable. But Dept of Justice statistics prove you to be very wrong. Gary is corrupt and violent to the core. Rose colored glasses dont give a clear picture. Since you have only been in Gary since 1990 you have NO IDEA how bad Gary is compared to the 50's and 60's.

Yeah, 20 years is no amount of time to gauge how bad a place is that you've spent virtually every day of your life

Statistics aren't experience. And I've lived here most of my entire life. Statistics tell you someone got killed. They don't tell you who.

I know who. How? Because I live here. You read it in a paper as a statistic.

I know the person who got killed was either a gangbanger or drug addict or drug dealer, or a victim of domestic violence in the overwhelming majority of cases, because I knew the person. I didn't just read it in a paper.

Like I said, I've spent virtually everyday of the last 20 years living here. I walk the streets in the day. I walk the streets at night. Nothing has ever happened to me. My father was born and raised in Gary. He hasn't been shot, killed, or maimed either. Same thing for most of my other family, who weren't involved in drugs or gangs.

Statistics don't tell the true story.

And how are the 50's and 60's relevant to today?

Nowhere in America is what it was in the '50s and '60s. Only New York is probably safer than it was 40 years ago. Gary's not the only city that has crime in it. And Gary's a LOT safer than it was even 10 years ago. In 1995, we had 140 murders. This year. . . . . 36.

Yup, we have about a quarter of the murders that we had 14 years ago.

Stop feeding the Gary paranoia.

[Capt. Dan]

Originally Posted by Lake County IN

Yeah, 20 years is no amount of time to gauge how bad a place is that you've spent virtually every day of your life

Statistics aren't experience. And I've lived here most of my entire life. Statistics tell you someone got killed. They don't tell you who.

I know who. How? Because I live here. You read it in a paper as a statistic.

I know the person who got killed was either a gangbanger or drug addict or drug dealer, or a victim of domestic violence in the overwhelming majority of cases, because I knew the person. I didn't just read it in a paper.

Like I said, I've spent virtually everyday of the last 20 years living here. I walk the streets in the day. I walk the streets at night. Nothing has ever happened to me. My father was born and raised in Gary. He hasn't been shot, killed, or maimed either. Same thing for most of my other family, who weren't involved in drugs or gangs.

Statistics don't tell the true story.

And how are the 50's and 60's relevant to today?

Nowhere in America is what it was in the '50s and '60s. Only New York is probably safer than it was 40 years ago. Gary's not the only city that has crime in it. And Gary's a LOT safer than it was even 10 years ago. In 1995, we had 140 murders. This year. . . . . 36.

Yup, we have about a quarter of the murders that we had 14 years ago.

Stop feeding the Gary paranoia.

Yea! Gary being SO safe is the reason so many tourists are flocking to the area!

[Lake County IN]

Originally Posted by Capt. Dan

Yea! Gary being SO safe is the reason so many tourists are flocking to the area!

There's nothing here. That's why they're not flocking here.

People flocked to L.A., even at the height of the Bloods/Crips gang wars of the 1980s and 1990s, 800 murders a year, why?

Because L.A. has beaches, sun and fun, Hollywood, a music industry, a movie industry, and plenty of industries, and fun activities, plus the Lakers, Clippers, UCLA, USC, The Dodgers, and the biggest stars on earth.

Even when New York was having 2000 murders a year, people flocked there, why?

Broadway, The Yankees, the romanticism of New York City.

Please,

Brazil is one of the most dangerous countries in the world and Rio is one of the most dangerous cities, yet they just got the Olympics and people flock there.

If there is something to do somewhere, people will ALWAYS flock there, whether there's crime or drugs or whatever.

[spuncake]

Gary indiana is a bad memory to me.