The southern suburbs in the next 10-20 years. (Chicago, Park Forest: foreclose, mortgage)

[FleeTheRustBelt]

Originally Posted by urza216

Still, it's kinda sad when it's nothing but one race as far as the eye can see. The south suburbs are better in this regard.

A lot of the south suburbs have become one race as far as the eye can see, especially with the under 50 population.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by FleeTheRustBelt

A lot of the south suburbs have become one race as far as the eye can see, especially with the under 50 population.

Actually... No. You'd think that from the way a lot of white people talk but actually, no.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by FleeTheRustBelt

A lot of the south suburbs have become one race as far as the eye can see, especially with the under 50 population.

This is simply incorrect but I'm not gonna bother posting pie charts again. Harvey is less than 75% black. And that's the infamous Harvey.

If you came home and actually looked around, you find it to be incorrect..

[doodlemagic]

i dont really see the south burbs changing all that much. i see orland, tinley, oak forest, palos as still being nice, harvey and others as still being kinda dumpy and maybe things start developing a little further south like country club hills, mattson, etc

[dudenamedric]

i dunno, I lived in Steger and had to drive through Park Forest and Richton Park on my way to work, not to mention a good portion of my shopping, and I don't think I ever saw more than 5 people that weren't black in either of those communities. I don't know the demographics, and I'm sure there's more than 5 non-black people in both but that's just what I saw. Even Chicago Heights, did a lot of stuff over there, and the majority of the people I saw and/or encountered were black, lots of hispanics too. Not that I really gave a crap, but just reporting my observations lol

[urza216]

Originally Posted by dudenamedric

i dunno, I lived in Steger and had to drive through Park Forest and Richton Park on my way to work, not to mention a good portion of my shopping, and I don't think I ever saw more than 5 people that weren't black in either of those communities. I don't know the demographics, and I'm sure there's more than 5 non-black people in both but that's just what I saw. Even Chicago Heights, did a lot of stuff over there, and the majority of the people I saw and/or encountered were black, lots of hispanics too. Not that I really gave a crap, but just reporting my observations lol

There are blocks in Park Forest that still appear to be majority white.. The only bar in Park Forest is majority white. I go through those areas and hang out in those areas all the time and see plenty of other white people. There's always at least one other white person.. If you did your "shopping" over there and just didn't look at the people walking down Sauk Trail, you'd definitely be aware of that.

[Army_Guy]

Last time I drove through PF along Sauk Trail from Western to Richton Park, there were a decent number of houses abandoned, for rent, foreclosed. I grew up in PF and love the place but it's definitely different from when I lived there. I remember my grandfather taking me to the Sears snack bar after picking me up from Dogwood School back in the late 80's. Any of you guys remember Dogwood School? It burned down in '91.

Yeah, I'm old!

[gregbuck]

Originally Posted by Army_Guy

Last time I drove through PF along Sauk Trail from Western to Richton Park, there were a decent number of houses abandoned, for rent, foreclosed. I grew up in PF and love the place but it's definitely different from when I lived there. I remember my grandfather taking me to the Sears snack bar after picking me up from Dogwood School back in the late 80's. Any of you guys remember Dogwood School? It burned down in '91.

Yeah, I'm old!

You would have to be wearing blinders not to see that park forest has changed. Especially since the good old days that you are talking about. The biggest change obviously occurred over the past 5 years or so. Park forest suffered thousands of foreclosures. One of the highest foreclosure rates in cook county. And I feel that the neighborhood has permenantly changed because of this. Its hard to revitalize a homeowner base once it's gone. Not sure why the foreclosures occurred so heavily in park forest in particular. Now the area is being swamped with too many homes being rented out section 8. Just driving through park forest. You can see from the street. That many of the homes are visibly in disrepair. Most of the backyard fences have fallen over on the park forest side of the street along Lincoln highway. Very sad.

[gregbuck]

Originally Posted by FleeTheRustBelt

A lot of the south suburbs have become one race as far as the eye can see, especially with the under 50 population.

I really dont see race being the issue in the south suburbs. Black, white, brown, or whatever. The racial tension isn't there in any serious degree. The ghetto section 8 element that is swamping the area is dispised by homeowners of all races. Things need to be done to ensure economic balance in south suburban neighborhoods. The high rate of section 8 renters is very troubling. And doesn't bode well for a housing recovery in the southern suburbs. Areas like Flossmoor and Olympia fields are not immune to this problem. Do to the ever increasing low income student populations within school districts shared with heavy section 8 neighborhoods like Chicago heights, country club hills, and park forest. And the declining retail shopping areas. Which makes even the nice neighborhoods appear blighted. But i feel flossmoor and olympia fields in particular are fairing much better then the rest of south suburbs. I would include west matteson and homewood also. Home values are already starting to firm up a bit in Flossmoor for example. So I would not throw all of the south suburbs in the same boat at this point. It has more to do with economics.

[dudenamedric]

Originally Posted by urza216

There are blocks in Park Forest that still appear to be majority white.. The only bar in Park Forest is majority white. I go through those areas and hang out in those areas all the time and see plenty of other white people. There's always at least one other white person.. If you did your "shopping" over there and just didn't look at the people walking down Sauk Trail, you'd definitely be aware of that.

i just told you what i saw. i've gone shopping at the save a lot in RP quite a few times, and the CVS in PF plenty of times, not to mention driving through both on a daily basis. There may be blocks that are majority white, but those are the exception rather than the rule, and they won't be that way much longer. It's just a simple fact that's been happening for far longer than I've been alive. "There's always at least one other white person" sounds pretty weak IMO. Just because there's one white person doesn't mean that the area isn't majority black. I apologize for not seeing more white people, dude. Next time I'm in the area I'll try to adjust my eyes better.