West side of Evanston safety (Chicago, Washington: homes, neighborhoods, middle school)

[Z1234]

Hello. We are looking to make the move from Chicago to Evanston, but to get what we want at the right price it looks like the West side is where we have to be. However, I've been reading some negative things about the West side.

We are deciding between 2 areas:
Near Dempster and Dodge
Near Emerson and Ashland

Would love some input on which of these two neighborhoods would be safer for a growing family, and has more potential to be appealing if we wanted to move at a later date. Thank you!

[chet everett]

I doubt that either has any real safety concerns. http://spotcrime.com/il/evanston

The nicer area aesthetically is almost certainly Emerson and Ashland, though I am not sure if that is really the most desirable school attendance zone...

Depending on how close you are to the high school and the commercial trafffic there are spots near Dempster & Dodge that are fine and others that are going to be tougher for re-sale...

[nana053]

I would generally not want to be too close to Dodge as that is in the HS area which has more crime.

Emerson and Ashland should be fine - the school, would be Washington Elementary, I think. Nichols would be the middle school. While I prefer Chute, Nichols is fine too.

http://district65.schoolwires.net/cm...Area%20Map.pdf

http://district65.schoolwires.net/cm...Area%20Map.pdf

[Z1234]

Thank you for the response! It's actually Willard, which seems to be a good school. I agree that being by Dodge isn't ideal, but I don't know much about the Ashland/Emerson location. Looks like a block East is fancy homes, a block West is industrial.