Moving to Oak Park (Chicago, Evanston: sales, real estate market, foreclosure)

[Humboldt1]

Still, you must admit that Oak Park gets nicer as you go west and approach River Forest. North of Lake is nicer, but way more expensive. Same thing about being west of Ridgeland. As long as you are a few blocks west of Austin it is livable, but I would personally prefer to be west of Dominicks.

Huge difference between Dominicks in Oak Park and Jewel in River Forest. Both are comparable in size, just totally different demographics shopping at each store. Jewel in Oak Park on Madison is more similar to Dominicks in Oak Park, but much smaller. Dominicks in River Forest is smaller but more like Jewel in River Forest (I seldom go there as it is so small). I prefer Jewel in River Forest (always nice to see River Forest police car in parking lot just in case) as it has good selection and generally nice stuff.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

Still, you must admit that Oak Park gets nicer as you go west and approach River Forest.

I don't think you can really generalize like this. Some of Oak Park's diciest blocks are pretty far west. There are some pretty scummy apartment buildings just south of DTOP, and of course the old Y (on Maple I believe?). The area between Lake and Madison has consistently higher crime going all the way west to the River Forest border (but it also has a much higher population density and a high number of downtown patrons).

I think my rule for housing in Oak Park is to stay away from cheap rental buildings and give a buffer of a few blocks for Austin. And if you're single and not worried about kids, you can live pretty much anywhere.

[Rewind4]

Oak Park isn't horrible if you live farther east in it. There are a lot of single-family homes that seem to anchor the neighborhood. Even in the apartments; it's mainly people just wanting to live in a quiet area without being bothered.

[storey13]

I have lived in Oak Park (on Oak Park Ave, a couple blocks south of Green Line) since August.
Since we have moved here, our car was broken into inside our locked garage, our car has also been hit and run twice. Once in the front, and once on the side.

Despite these unfortunate events, we are loving Oak Park. My son really enjoys his classes and school mates at Brooks Middle School, and my wife loves taking our one year old to the Randolph tot lot. We enjoy walking to the Library, Scoville Park for free tennis, and George's restaurant on weekend mornings for breakfast.

I ride the green line about a dozen times a week for work and school, and I definitely see the questionable characters that get off at the stops before Austin heading towards Harlem.
From what I can tell so far, there are some nice places to live just a block or two west of Austin, and while you may occasionally have some petty crime, you probably won't have much else to worry about. Just be smart and safe.

[SonySegaTendo617]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

Still, you must admit that Oak Park gets nicer as you go west and approach River Forest. North of Lake is nicer, but way more expensive. Same thing about being west of Ridgeland. As long as you are a few blocks west of Austin it is livable, but I would personally prefer to be west of Dominicks.

Huge difference between Dominicks in Oak Park and Jewel in River Forest. Both are comparable in size, just totally different demographics shopping at each store. Jewel in Oak Park on Madison is more similar to Dominicks in Oak Park, but much smaller. Dominicks in River Forest is smaller but more like Jewel in River Forest (I seldom go there as it is so small). I prefer Jewel in River Forest (always nice to see River Forest police car in parking lot just in case) as it has good selection and generally nice stuff.

I agree with your post. And now that I'm remembering some parts of Oak Park all over again(thanks to your post), isn't there another Jewel in very southern Oak Park on Roosevelt near the Oak Park/Berwyn border that's like the small Jewel in River Forest? I can't remember if the one I'm thinking of used to be a standalone Osco Drug that became a CVS a few years back, or if it was just a Jewel store alone(believe it was the latter).

Another thing that I find interesting about Oak Park, when I've seen crime maps from the OPPD site: the crime seems to follow a sideways T pattern often focused along either Madison or Austin, but of course with some exceptions outside of there. The maps I've read from their site in the past(though I've been busy and unfortunately haven't had time to look at the crime maps from the last few months) seem to indicate the north half of town has less crime, although the south half of town has some safe parts as well(and the crime seems to be decreasing in that part of town).

[chet everett]

I agree that when people think about OP they are generally rhapsodizing over it's "Whole Foods & Yoga Dojo" mindset and not thinking of the folks that are SQUEEZED by taxes, crime, crumbling old houses, constant transportation cutbacks. THESE are the people that buy a half a bag of groceries in the Jewel off Roosevelt or trundle into Forest Park for even deeper discounts on staples...

Personally I understand that there are lots of towns that have "better and not so nice areas" but I try to recommend towns where even the less desirable areas are not fighting off decay / holding back a tidal wave of crime on a shoestring ...

Originally Posted by SonySegaTendo617

I agree with your post. And now that I'm remembering some parts of Oak Park all over again(thanks to your post), isn't there another Jewel in very southern Oak Park on Roosevelt near the Oak Park/Berwyn border that's like the small Jewel in River Forest? I can't remember if the one I'm thinking of used to be a standalone Osco Drug that became a CVS a few years back, or if it was just a Jewel store alone(believe it was the latter).

Another thing that I find interesting about Oak Park, when I've seen crime maps from the OPPD site: the crime seems to follow a sideways T pattern often focused along either Madison or Austin, but of course with some exceptions outside of there. The maps I've read from their site in the past(though I've been busy and unfortunately haven't had time to look at the crime maps from the last few months) seem to indicate the north half of town has less crime, although the south half of town has some safe parts as well(and the crime seems to be decreasing in that part of town).

[Hatchetman]

Once again, can't have an Oak Park thread without Chet taking shots! Dude has a very strange bitter fascination with the place. Wonder what the back story is.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by Hatchetman

Once again, can't have an Oak Park thread without Chet taking shots! Dude has a very strange bitter fascination with the place. Wonder what the back story is.

Yeah, I don't really get Chet's post. Constant transportation cut backs? Could we get an example or two of these constant cutbacks? Taxes high? Maybe, but I don't see them much different in comparable suburbs. Crime? Higher than Naperville, yes, but that's nothing new, and its not some kind of secret that we hide from newcomers. By the way, crime rates have been decreasing for 10+ years. Crumbling old houses? Definitely old houses, maybe not the most up to date, but crumbling? Again, I'd like to see some data to support this contention.

[Lookout Kid]

Chet's Oak Park seems to be the Oak Park of 1985.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by SonySegaTendo617

Another thing that I find interesting about Oak Park, when I've seen crime maps from the OPPD site: the crime seems to follow a sideways T pattern often focused along either Madison or Austin, but of course with some exceptions outside of there.

This is true. I have also noticed the "sideways T", with the horizontal part of the T cutting through the heart of Oak Park from a block or two north of Lake down to Madison. I'm not sure if crime is actually tremendously worse in this area, though, or if it's a function of density and frequency of use. There are a lot of apartment buildings between Lake and Madison, and the per capita crime rate probably isn't that bad. Also, downtown is where people congregate, so it makes sense to have more crime incidents there than on a quiet residential street.

But it could also be a function of income. Apartments tend to have lower-income residents than single-family homes.