Moving to south suburbs of Chicago (Naperville, Homewood: hotel, houses, neighborhood)

[urza216]

Originally Posted by belowground

Regarding Monee, we probably wouldn't be venturing out to the park after dark anyway so that wouldn't be a problem with us. We would like a nice quiet community where the Police do keep any eye on things.

Okay, good. Because the Monee Police Department will do a very good job of protecting you from the local white guy with a goatie and rolling tobacco, teenagers on thier skateboards and black guys from University Park who make the mistake of passing through. Don't forget to stop and stare as we're getting searched for no particular reason..

[ajolotl]

You should be happy that the police are doing their job. It's not like the idea of rampant crime and lawlessness in parks in and around the south side is a fantasy of uptight people. Come up to Washington or Palmer Park on the south side and the police won't pay any attention to you. You'll have a great time.

[belowground]

Originally Posted by skyeINIL

ITA. Also I'd advise not moving in the immediate vicinity of the apartments on Torrence between Ridge and 186th. I wouldn't call it dangerous, but you will see a lot of police activity in that area.

If you decide on Lansing, my recommendation would be to look into the Schultz Park area and just about anything south of 186th.

The Schultz Park area is what interests us. We also like the close proximity to downtown Lansing.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by deechee

Back to the south suburbs, I think that the options should be Frankfort, Mokena, Flossmoor, Oly Fields, Homewood and some of Tinley Park. (provided that Tinley is rather far west to some, so is Mokena, but yeah....)

And Frankfort.

[whitecollarboy]

Originally Posted by belowground

country club hills, hazel crest....not that they are horrible, just lower income and different from Homewood/Flossmoor. I agree that you are going to find nicer towns next to lower income towns all around the suburbs, so it's not as big of a deal to me. She likes Crete because it is surrounded by country.

Because, they of the minorities?

Because, Homewood sits right next to Hazel Crest and they share a lot of the same plazes, shopping centers, swamps, and streams. It's because Hazel Crest, and Country Club Hills are predominately African American?

[whitecollarboy]

Originally Posted by deechee

Country Club Hills is not lower income buddy.

Basically.

Houses in Hazel Crest and Country Club Hills - 13 Carrington Court, Hazel Crest IL - Trulia

I don't get it? Must be because they are Black.

[whitecollarboy]

Originally Posted by oldhousegirl

Here's the thing. I know people who live in Hazel Crest and Country Club Hills with much higher than average salaries. These people are strongly middle/upper middle class. They are also African-American and/or Black. The problem for the bizillioneth time, is not so much the areas, not how some make more than the others and therefore you should have a nicer area. In theory that makes sense, but the practice not so much.

It's the SCHOOLS. The people that I know who live in CCH or HC with small kids do not send their kids to the local schools. It is the schools that help form a strong sense of community, family, neighborhood, similar values, and on and on. While there might be poor folks in Homewood, the SCHOOLS are better and that is what most people judge a community on. The schools are what increases a neighborhoods value. The activity around children and the schools is what makes a strong neighborhood. Active involved family libraries, community events, and activities geared towards families that value education and that is revealed in the schools overall performance.

I can somewhat agree with this. However, I think people attack the CCH + HC schools when they aren't that bad. I have two friends that graduated from Hillcrest one full ride to Stanford the other is at Northwestern University. I think it's because the neighborhood is predominately "African American," the spending with the Bremen District doesn't push the same funding to them.

Praise the lord for Homewood + Flossmoor. Although, there are parts of Homewood that are so trashy.

[whitecollarboy]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

I know one family who lives in country club hills -- a jaw-droppingly beautiful and classy black woman with her husband and two beautiful small kids. Until I read this forum based on this one experience I assumed it must be a very nice suburb. Now I can't imagine why she would move there. They have plenty of money (upper middle class). Not sure where the kids go to school.

Majority of the people on this forum tend to attack African American anything instantly marking it BAD!!!

Hazel Crest + Country Club Hills are predominately African American suburbs. The houses - 13 Carrington Court, Hazel Crest IL - Trulia

The folks who live there have some who don't deserve to be there but no different than Homewood. The problem is because, they are "African American," the community is instantly unfavorable to "European Americans."

That's all.

She's a classy black lady with a charming husband and good kids in a decent African American suburb. Don't let them taint it. Because, people are viewing Homewood as a bad suburb now due to it being so "Mixed," now. There are more and more African Americans moving into the community and now the school is "at odds."

[ajolotl]

Yes and no. Sick people are sick people who do sick, antisocial things. They exist in every racial group. However, for whatever reason (insert your theory) they are disproportionally represented in the U.S. african american community. So, if you knew nothing about a neighborhood other than the racial composition, a rational approach would be to avoid all-black areas.

Of course, it is possible these days to get a lot more data on neighborhoods than just racial makeup. When factoring in other data -- crime, school test scores, etc. -- one would think that black neighborhoods that do reasonably well would be more attractive to whites (compared to say a pretty unspectacular white area). I take this not to be the case for the reasons that you say -- a general discomfort with living near blacks that goes beyond what any data will support. That is, they confuse "most criminals in chicago are black" with "most blacks in chicago are criminals". The latter is incredibly far from the truth.

Originally Posted by whitecollarboy

Majority of the people on this forum tend to attack African American anything instantly marking it BAD!!!

Hazel Crest + Country Club Hills are predominately African American suburbs. The houses - 13 Carrington Court, Hazel Crest IL - Trulia

The folks who live there have some who don't deserve to be there but no different than Homewood. The problem is because, they are "African American," the community is instantly unfavorable to "European Americans."

That's all.

She's a classy black lady with a charming husband and good kids in a decent African American suburb. Don't let them taint it. Because, people are viewing Homewood as a bad suburb now due to it being so "Mixed," now. There are more and more African Americans moving into the community and now the school is "at odds."

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

That is, they confuse "most criminals in chicago are black" with "most blacks in chicago are criminals". The latter is incredibly far from the truth.

I grew up in majority white cities and towns for the most part, but the black people I knew as a child through my own racially-mixed family were lawyers, doctors, and scientists. Therefore, I should have assumed that all black people were lawyers, doctors, and scientists.