Chicago mag article about best places to live city/suburbs (Naperville: best cities, 2014)

[drss01]

Chicago Neighborhoods and Suburbs | Chicago magazine | April 2014

Discuss.

[Lookout Kid]

The suburbs they picked are all nice places, but their criteria is pretty ridiculous, and frankly could include a lot more than 12 suburbs. They seem to shift around each time they do this, since they can't just keep putting out the same list. I'd call it a puff piece for sure.

[Doglover5]

Agreed.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

The suburbs they picked are all nice places, but their criteria is pretty ridiculous, and frankly could include a lot more than 12 suburbs. They seem to shift around each time they do this, since they can't just keep putting out the same list. I'd call it a puff piece for sure.

Many years back, when I was still working full time as a teacher, I met a nice couple that were former writers/editors at Chicago Magazine. I used to go to quite a lot of events for science teachers in the City and some of them were sponsored by folks that had designs on reform. The couple were very interested in "school reform" and other hard hitting educational topics but were told by their bosses at Chicago Magazine that their target demographic did not WANT to see the kind of investigative pieces that one sees in The Reader or the major dailies. The Chicago Magazine target is easily determined by the kind of "luxury goods & high end entertainment" that is the focus of the advertising.

Together with some other freelancers they were trying to get a more "consumer reporting / proactive journalism" type magazine off the ground. I think they may have actually got a few issues out back in the late 90s. I think I may have seen their byline associated with stories in the "free" newsprint magazines aimed at new parents / athletic endeavors. As I recall the couple sold their home in Lincoln Park and moved to Wheaton, they probably had kids before things picked up places like Blaine (back before email I would sometimes get things like Christmas cards from folks that I had met at professional events ...)

My point being that just like certain web sites seem to have their lead stories down to science to increase clicks for the kind of advertisers that like folks that a predictable flow of content (think HuffPo, Slate, Poltico,Gawker, etc...) the folks running Chicago Magazine have a nice cycle of affluent folks in their target demographic for high end clothing, jewelery, dining, nightspots, vacation destinations, theatre etc -- they come from a handful of nicer spots inside Chicago and the well known suburbs. Nothing too earthshaking...

[BRU67]

Well, that may be but I bet they sure didn't make any friends in Oak Park and Evanston by openly dissing the Villages' crime rates, LOL!! We probably won't see any Toyota Prius or Subaru ads in the magazine any time soon.

[cubssoxfan]

About as useful as Money Magazine's 100 best cities list; you know, the one that sends all newbies to Naperville

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

About as useful as Money Magazine's 100 best cities list; you know, the one that sends all newbies to Naperville

In my experience, working with families that were facing relocation and wholly unfamilar with the region, the value of being able to "cross compare" a place like Naperville to Lakewood CO or Allen TX or Cary NC does have some utility. Of course for a more complete view of what the various trade-offs of some of faster growing towns offer or pluses/minuses of places that do not have the size of a Naperville there is no better resource that our happy little forums ...

[chitownperson]

Originally Posted by BRU67

Well, that may be but I bet they sure didn't make any friends in Oak Park and Evanston by openly dissing the Villages' crime rates, LOL!! We probably won't see any Toyota Prius or Subaru ads in the magazine any time soon.

Which is funny considering Lincoln Park is recommended, where the crime rate is higher than both villages. The author this year obviously has a difference of opinion to the author 4 years ago, who put Oak Park in the very same column. It would be interesting to know where the differences of opinions lay, and how much analysis has gone into making the raw data meaningful.

[chet everett]

Well, they do lay out at least the criteria for eliminating some towns --

we eliminated suburbs with violent crime rates above their county’s average—which removed from contention such otherwise appealing places as Evanston (2.2 per 1,000) and Oak Park (2.7 per 1,000), both in Cook County (2.1 per 1,000)

This is not entirely unreasonable -- folks that live in other suburban areas of Cook Co apparently can enjoy a crime rate that is lower. You can't say it solely due to the proximity to Chicago as Oak Lawn manages a far lower rate of violent crime -- S Cicero Ave & W 95th St Oak Lawn, IL Neighborhood Profile

Personally I tend to agree that anyone that is willing to consider neighborhoods in Chicago like Logan Square ought not to have any issues with "crime" in places like Evanston or Oak Park -- Logan Square -- Crime in Chicagoland -- chicagotribune.com

[chitownperson]

Yet the author contradicts his own criteria by allowing Lincoln Park to be included, but eliminates the 2 towns with lower crime rates.

It's "unreasonable" judgement because there seems to be a lack of analysis around the "data". If the "reporter" did his homework, he'd know that the vast majority of "violent crime" in Oak Park (which is low, lower that lincoln Park) happens on sections of the village limits, and rarely affects the vast majority of the village. And if he research Evanston, he know that crime is not equally distributed around the town. You would not know this with only raw data, so it paints an unrealistic picture of "reality"... the problem without analysis and real knowledge of the place.

...And I tend to agree that anyone that is willing to consider "desirable" and "safe" neighborhoods in Chicago like Lincoln Park ought not to have any issues with "crime" in places like Evanston or Oak Park.

Fact is, publications today are obsessed with "lists"... top 10 best this, top 20 that... Even things like the US News "best colleges" lists are at times questionable. Fact is, top this or that type lists only serve as possible introduction, but real analysis is needed to actually determine "realities".