Oak Park is going downhill fast (Chicago, Naperville: 2015, apartments, renter)

[sjm1976]

I'm a minority in that I'm a Conservative white male who has lived in western Oak Park for the past 5 years.


Though they can be annoying at times, I didn't mind encountering a good number of liberal-types and I actually get along well with my neighbors who have Bernie signs in their windows but what I do mind is the increasing number of shady characters who have even migrated to the western part of Oak Park.


I know that the eastern part borders Austin so more crime there is to be expected but I have read in the police blotter about an increasing number of break-ins, assaults etc even in other parts of Oak Park like the western part toward Harlem Ave.


To any others who live in the area, am I right in my assessment?

[OccidentExpress]

Oak Park is a cynical liberal experiment with a finite lifespan. At some point, there won't be enough wealthy whites living there to foot the bill for the ungodly police presence that's required to keep the ghetto element somewhat in check. Micromanaging 'diversity' requires a tremendous amount of resources, and those resources are dwindling. Get out before the levee breaks.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by OccidentExpress

Oak Park is a cynical liberal experiment with a finite lifespan. At some point, there won't be enough wealthy whites living there to foot the bill for the ungodly police presence that's required to keep the ghetto element somewhat in check. Micromanaging 'diversity' requires a tremendous amount of resources, and those resources are dwindling. Get out before the levee breaks.

I disagree. I think as our middle class continues to vanish, there will be even more limousine liberals who will find Oak Park and Evanston attractive. The Census data bears this out. In 2000, the median house or condo value in Oak Park was $206,100. By 2013 it was $325,434. That's an increase of nearly $50,000 in adjusted dollars, despite the 2008 housing crash.

Median income didn't do as well between 2000 and 2013 - it actually went down by a couple thousand in adjusted dollars. But incomes declined across the state, and I think the median income is skewed low in the case of Oak Park because Oak Park has so many rentals. But the cost of purchasing and carrying the taxes on an Oak Park 2 or 3 unit building are so ridiculously out of whack of what you can get for rents that a lot of them are being converted into SFHs as they get sold. And rents are eventually going to increase beyond the means of the poor in larger buildings due to taxes and rising property values. That'll reduce the renter population and raise their median income even further.

So in short, I do think Oak Park is a good bet for the foreseeable future (i.e. during our lifetimes) if you can afford the high cost of entry.

[ToriaT]

Occident express that is a very cynical view. I don't think its correct. I do think there will be crime though in areas and its everywhere. We have a bunch of crappy apartments in Wheaton and there was a killing there last week. Is Wheaton going down hill? No.

[Vasily]

Originally Posted by ToriaT

Occident express that is a very cynical view. I don't think its correct. I do think there will be crime though in areas and its everywhere. We have a bunch of crappy apartments in Wheaton and there was a killing there last week. Is Wheaton going down hill? No.

In 1995, a woman from Wheaton wanted a baby so she and some buddies murdered a woman in Addison and cut the baby out of the mother's womb. They also killed the mother's other child. Now the murderer is saying she's served enough time and should be let out of prison.

Here in Naperville, we've had two or three instances of mothers killing their children over the past decade or so -- a couple of years ago, a babysitter killed the child she was babysitting as well as her own child a block from my house. And we've had a heroin problem in the Naperville high schools for years.

People who think this suburb or that suburb is free from the potential of this kind of crime and violence happening are fooling themselves. There are bad people everywhere.

[chet everett]

There are some hard to predict demographic trends that are going to be magnified in places like Oak Park that have more to do with broader shifts in things like household size than older measures. The shifts that make some towns appealing to folks with larger households may mean parts of Oak Park that do have bigger homes are going to more attractive such families and that likely will have a bigger impacts -- Households, by Family Size, Race and Ethnicity: 2013 | Pew Research Center

[chicagobear]

Any demographic changes in the public schools there?

[mlh27]

Liberal woman here who has lived in west Oak Park longer than OP - I'm not seeing the crime as a major issue. The stupid high school swimming pool and all it symbolizes, on the other hand, may drive me out.

[ToriaT]

Also the one thing about the suburbs near the city and Austin in particular is they may experience "spill over" crime, meaning crime perpetrated by others living points east. We don't have as much of that out beyond the tollways and other barriers as the inner burbs do.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by chet everett

There are some hard to predict demographic trends that are going to be magnified in places like Oak Park that have more to do with broader shifts in things like household size than older measures. The shifts that make some towns appealing to folks with larger households may mean parts of Oak Park that do have bigger homes are going to more attractive such families and that likely will have a bigger impacts -- Households, by Family Size, Race and Ethnicity: 2013 | Pew Research Center

Generally speaking, larger families coincide with lower median household incomes. So will a low/mod income family pay $450k plus $10-15k in property taxes for a home in Oak Park when they can get something just slightly smaller in neighboring Berwyn for $250k plus $5k in property taxes? School demographic numbers pretty much give you the answer.

BERWYN NORTH SD 98: District Profile

BERWYN SOUTH SD 100: District Profile

OAK PARK ESD 97: District Profile

My prediction is that Oak Park will morph into something of a liberal island. There are enough affluent liberals in Chicagoland to keep demand high there, especially given how strong of a brand Oak Park has for being diverse, tolerant, organic, and green. Hopefully, not too many fast food wrappers from Austin and all the neighboring towns will blow onto those wide lawns though, LOL!