Chicago Neighborhood advice

[gmkellogg]

Is it a safe neighborhood?

[HillaryClare]

Originally Posted by nikitakolata

I actually don't think you would be crazy to consider Evanston. I lived in Evanston for 3 years when I first graduated college and started working in the loop. The downtown Evanston area is very cute (defined by me as being between Dempster to the south, Noyes to the north, Asbury to the west and the lake to the east; not an official definition by any means). There were tons of restaurants I could walk to and it felt very safe for a single person. I lived near the Davis street Metra and Purple line stops. That's one of the things I liked a lot about Evanston, the ability to use both the CTA and Metra, depending on what I was doing.

Given where you say you'll be working, I think you could live in Evanston and get to work easily by taking the Purple line to Fullerton and taking the red line to Chicago. During the nicer months or if you were in the mood for a longer walk you could stay on the purple line until the Chicago stop, which would put you a few blocks farther west. Either way, not a bad commute.

I commuted from Evanston to Chicago this summer and when I rode the purple express, the commute wasn't too bad, but on weekends, taking purple and then transferring at Howard to the red line and riding that took a lot of time because of the constant stops and I always made a mental note to move closer to the loop if I got a job there. I actually missed 2/3 of a band playing because of a huge red line delay on a Tuesday night, but that stuff just happens so I wasn't too frustrated.

The distance can be long when the purple line isn't express, but if you have some good books to read or music to listen to, it's not too bad. Plus, I agree, downtown Evanston is very cute. If I end up living in Chicago, I would definitely consider moving to Evanston to raise a family, if I could afford it.

[tonythetuna]

Originally Posted by gmkellogg

Is it a safe neighborhood?

It's somewhere in the middle of the pack.

[xavier xerxes]

Originally Posted by HillaryClare

I commuted from Evanston to Chicago this summer and when I rode the purple express, the commute wasn't too bad, but on weekends, taking purple and then transferring at Howard to the red line and riding that took a lot of time because of the constant stops and I always made a mental note to move closer to the loop if I got a job there. I actually missed 2/3 of a band playing because of a huge red line delay on a Tuesday night, but that stuff just happens so I wasn't too frustrated.

The distance can be long when the purple line isn't express, but if you have some good books to read or music to listen to, it's not too bad. Plus, I agree, downtown Evanston is very cute. If I end up living in Chicago, I would definitely consider moving to Evanston to raise a family, if I could afford it.

Yeah but would you want to raise a family in Evanston now
that they are messing with the Highschool?
They are starting to mainstream everyone now,
because they feel its unfair for whites to be all honors
and the minorities arent.

[xavier xerxes]

Originally Posted by nana053

Unless it has changed a lot, the area around Howard and Chicago Ave seems to have quite a bit of crime. There used to be a lot of illegal drug busts there.

Things dont change overnight.
Its changing..... Slowly....
But in the right direction.

There is a new former Condo development
that is now luxury apts on the Evanston side
of Howard address is 415 w Howard.

And the Building on the Chicago side
of Howard and Clark is still Condo and doing okay.
There is a spinoff Leonas restaurant right there
called HopHaus.

I think Howard street east of Clark/Chicago has
a bright future. Currently its still got alot of
gang activity. But I keep track of what goes
on there and New businesses are popping up
little by little over the past few years.

North of Howard Blog tells it like it is.

[HillaryClare]

Originally Posted by xavier xerxes

Yeah but would you want to raise a family in Evanston now
that they are messing with the Highschool?

I probably won't be worrying about having a family for maybe a decade or so, depending on circumstances and after reading a few pages of the Chicago public schools post, it makes me wonder how schooling will be when I do decide to have kids. Hopefully that won't be for a while, so by that time the state of the schools will most likely either be better or worse. Here's hoping for better.