Hillside, IL:Need SOUND advice (Chicago, Downers Grove: apartment complex, crime, home)

[chitowndoll]

I have lived in Chicago for a year now. I am living with relatives and now it's time for me to find my own place.

I recently applied for an apartment in Hillside, IL. I drive past the apartments and this area quite frequently and I work 20 minutes away in Downers Grove.

I need a temporary place to stay that is quite, safe, and reasonable. I believe I have found the right place.

Can anyone offer me sound advice on the Hillside area? I have read varying opinions and don't know who to believe. I know no area is perfect. But are there more positive qualities about Hillside than negative?

Thanks

[gardener34]

You will be just fine in Hillside. (The mayor and his family are also long time family friends.) As far as I know it is a safe suburb with an excellent location to downtown. As well as your commute into downers grove.

Hillside is right next to Elmhurst which is nice, close to Oak brook mall for shopping, and next to berkeley which is another tiny safe suburb as well.

Although I don't know which apartments you will be specifically living in though. But a single woman in any apartment complex you should always be aware of your surroundings and take personal safety precautions, no matter where it is.

[gardener34]

Actually Hillside gets a bad rap because it is close to Maywood and Bellwood which lately have been having some incidents with shootings (mostly maywood). I don't know details about any of these, just what you hear on the news casts.

It is too bad.

[aragx6]

But hey... they closed the landfill!

[emmi605]

Yes, that landfill needs to be buried and fast! It smells so bad on the IKE driving past there. Hillside is a fine community though and has a great location. You should be fine, but the smell still lingers as they cover up the trash.

[rhiannonsmum]

My biggest concerns are the smell - which is horrible - and the Hillside strangler on the highway (even though I know it has been fixed, it is a killer).

[gardener34]

The hillside strangler was detangled years ago... and per the most recent newspaper articles I have read the smell is to be mitigated. If it has not been already. Hillside took the landfill owners to court and won damages.

[Lookout Kid]

I can't believe they haven't caught that strangler yet after all of these years. Yeah, it's a lame joke. They did fix the old bottleneck, but it still sucks.

[OakBrookMom]

Have you thought about living in Downers, Lombard, Westmont, or Darien? They are all much closer to your job. I too would worry about the smell in Hillside but I assume since you've driven past the area frequently that you have checked that out.

[flight1207]

You can't argue with data. On this website, you can look at the data, and by clicking on each suburb, you can get an instant snapshot at the crime index (number of crimes per 1000 people), and it doesn't put Hillside in a very good light.

The numbers are far worse than all the "Park" communities- Schiller, Franklin, Melrose, Stone, etc., which have always been thought of as higher-crime areas.

As a comparison, Hillside has a crime index of nearly 400, Shiller Park, and Franklin Park, both just under 175. That number would keep me from even looking at a home in Hillside.