Movin' on Up(town) (Chicago, Lincoln: to buy, theater, high school)

[coldwine]

Originally Posted by naleih

Well, hopefully if enough people (like my husband and I) are willing to move to the neighborhood and give it a shot (no pun intended), voice our concerns, and vote her out of office in February, things will gradually improve.

A good dose of rose-colored glasses has never hurt anyone

I laughed so hard I spit wine. I'm forwarding this to my friends who are still in Chicago.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by coldwine

I laughed so hard I spit wine. I'm forwarding this to my friends who are still in Chicago.

I love you.

[MannheimMadman]

I sense some awesome coming on in this thread. Please God, let it happen.

[xavier xerxes]

Eh.


Id rather have someone who wants to help change the neigborhood
for the better and fight the good fight than outsiders
gleefully mock them.

Its easy to say that uptown will never improve.
but NEVER is a long time.

And the bad elements want you guys to be hopeless and to scare
good people away. They want you to be snarky and aloof
and to never come to their area.

But regardless uptown will still improve. Because of location.
We all have the same data. We can choose to interpret that data
one way or another.

Sure, yes the violence continues.
But there are other indicators that point to the continued
improvement of the neigborhood in other ways.

Look at uptown update. There are plenty of people in
that neigborhood doing everything they can to better it.
And they care. They do positive loitering. They call police.
They pick up trash.

Thats more interesting than outsider sarcasm towards uptown.
I root for the underdog. And I support the underdog.

Voting the incompetent alderman out would help alot.

No one can ignore the improvements that have come to lawrence and broadway. Fat cat, crew, uptown lounge, borders(while they exist as an entity) gasp even a starbucks. There is even a fancy thai place on lawrence dib? is the name. Have you guys been to tweet and big chicks?
Very cool place. Tweet is slamming with people on the weekends, if you dont see the potential in uptown its because you dont know the neigborhood well enough.
Did we expect uptown to be perfect by now?

Too much low income housing, not enough policing of the low income housing.

The tipping point towards the good outweighing the bad is almost here.
Sommerset place is closed. That hellish snf is gone.
Many more hotels and sros and what not need to go too.
Sure time will tell

Im betting that it will continue to improve.
But did we think that the improvement of uptown wouldnt be messy?

[Drover]

WTF's with the iambic-pentameter posts?

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Drover

If it makes you feel better, 2 people where shot a block away from there a couple nights ago, one fatally.

There's a bit of a gang war heating up in central Uptown right now... Things are apparently very tense on Magnolia and Madlen near the Sunnyside Mall. It's probably the best time of year to avoid walking around up there.

[Lookout Kid]

Naleih, I'd highly recommend taking the the rush hour express buses (136, 144, 148 in particular--which all go express on LSD right at Irving Park Road). Even if the Wilson "L" stop were pristine and safe, I'd still recommend the express buses. They will get you downtown much faster than the "L" most of the time, and won't require you to walk through dangerous areas. And it's actually pretty rare to see any sketchy characters on these buses. I've committed the cardinal public transportation sin of falling asleep on these buses more often than I'd like to admit, and I've not had a single problem.

If you have to travel at non-peak hours, the 145 and 146 buses are express from Belmont, as is the 135. But it's worth your while to catch the rush hour busses I mentioned above if you can.

[Bardot]

Originally Posted by naleih

Yeah, the few times I've been at the Wilson el stop I have gotten the creeps, and that feeling that someone is watching you. I would definitely like to avoid any groping. I have to dress up in my line of work generally, so the express buses and my car seem like the way to go.

Generally the lake path has seemed OK to me to be out on during the day, even in that area (Wilson), since I typically see so many other runners.

Also, the Weiss Memorial Hospital area and that Walgreens both seem pretty kept up as well. Has anyone checked out the Farmer's Market they have there?

I agree, this forum does seem pretty negative. That's pretty typical of online posts though - you often see people going online to rant and b!tc# about things, but how often do you see people posting positive comments all over online when something good happens? Some people always need somewhere and something to complain about.

On an up note, my husband and I plan on becoming active in trying to clean up Uptown, doing what we can - attending CAPS meetings, voting for people devoted to cleaning it up, patronizing local restaurants, etc. Who knows when and if it will ever change, and I know that 2 people aren't going to have a major impact, but the area definitely isn't going to improve for the better if people avoid the area and taking action there.

Wow, good luck. I recently moved to Uptown and greatly regret it. The only 'positive' is the price of rent and perhaps the amazing architecture (which isn't being taken care of). One could argue it is getting better and has improved, but not quick enough by my standards. Just by the tone of your comments and the fact that you're from Lincoln Park...you sound like a very positive person which is good, but a little naive. Good luck on your mission to save Uptown, I honestly hope you do.

[naleih]

I've only lived in Lincoln Park for 6 months, and lived in Uptown prior to that. So, I'm not really "from" Lincoln Park, just have resided here for a little while. We enjoyed Uptown, and the people, the diversity, and the fact that many people we met were doing their part to help improve the neighborhood. We are not on a quest to "save the area," but it can't hurt to try and become involved along with others to do our part.

To those of you who are sitting in front of your computers late on weekend nights, conjuring up witty things to say and ways to slam other posters, have fun with that. I hope you have this forum linked to a mobile device, because if you really are sitting and waiting around to make snide replies all night, you clearly don't have much of a life. Sad.

I won't be frequenting this forum anymore, it is much too toxic of a read! But, thanks to all who gave me helpful advice. I do appreciate it!

[xavier xerxes]

I for one like this forum BECAUSE its so negative.
I like to have my ideas tested or just plain ignored.
Thats fine. If you are more interested in my
sentence structure or how my post looks
more than the content. I like that.

I also like sticking up for neighborhoods that I
believe in. I am in uptown every single week
for business and find it a fascinating
neigborhood that has tons of potential.
I lived with my wife for awhile on winnemac
in one of its nicer pockets for a year.

But even in the nicer pockets there
are buildings in seriously bad shape
like 1310 winnemac, a beautiful greystone
2 flat that was cut up into a four unit.
Anyways, I think most people dont
understand how long it takes for neighborhoods
to improve or to change.

Its amazing that uptown hasnt improved more.
I think there is some status quo folks from
the gang and drug crowd that really dont
want things to change. And they have been
enabled by local politicians.

Wilson stop is what one stop from Sheridan
and two stops from Addison?
Its unrealistic to believe that what is going
on there now is going to continue forever.
The location of uptown is surrounded by prime real estate.
And its on the lake.

Do we all really believe that its
going to be a gang utopia ala venice beach of the
eighties and nineties for all time?

If you do than you really are
extremely pessimistic or misinformed.

There doesnt seem to be a rant
icon because i would put one right here.

Off topic.
I really wish someone would fix up the
uptown theatre. That would be something.