Safe to live near Lake View HS? (Chicago, Lincoln: section 8, apartment)

[phinley]

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere - I searched and couldn't find anyhting. My wife and I are new to the city and are thinking of renting an apartment near Byron and Greenview (in the Lakeview/Southport area). We walked around the area and it seemed perfectly fine, but then I started looking at the crime maps/reports...The gang tagging incidents on Irving Park Rd and Greenview concerned me a little, and the sex assault at knifepoint at 5 p.m. on Ashland and Byron concerned me more, and the Oct 2011 drive-by murder right outside Lake View HS also has me worried. Judging by all the other crimes happening in the 4000 block of Ashland, I assume a lot of the crime in the area is related to the high school. We've lived in other big cities and crimes happen, so normally this wouldn't bother me all that much. But my wife would have to take the #80 bus everyday from the corner of Irving Park Rd and Greenview and if that's gang territory, I'd rather live elsewhere (perhas a few blocks east and south?). Any comments, thoughts, suggestions are highly appreciated. Thank you!

[Vlajos]

very safe

[themag62]

There are gang tagging incidents all over the city and this is not a hot gang territory area, safer than many others. Your wife will be fine.

[ToriaT]

Yes I have been by there often seems like a very safe area.

[Chicago60614]

Perfectly fine area.

[Alacran]

Safer then anything

[ChiGuy2.5]

Safety in terms of the city is all relative. It isn't AS safe as Lincoln Park or River North or Gold Coast or the Loop.

It is definitely a safe area as far as the city is concerned in my opinion. If you like the area and like the apartment, I suggest you go for it. Your only major problem is going to be safety during Cubs Games. Those drunk fans get pretty crazy during games.

[SmartGXL]

I lived in lake view for many years, and the location you are talking about is literally one of the safest areas of Chicago. There was an uptick in gang related crime in that corner of lake view last year, a lot of it was attributed to a gang owned night club called Centro, which was on ashland avenue, which was recently shut down (every night, gang bangers and wanna be thug crowd would come from all over Chicago to go to that night club). That place brought a very unwelcome type of nightlife to the area and the local residents got it shut down.

Having said that, there recently was another drive by shooting near by ( at Irving park rd and marine),but i don't know the details about that. There was also a random attack at a nearby star bucks, where a thug ran in and maced customers in the face with pepper spray. These types of weird events started happening recently in lake view. I lived there for many years and the whole area was a place where there was racial harmony and a general vibe of every one getting along and more or less respecting others as you walked down the sidewalks. This really great vibe was part of what made lake view desirable. However, the Center On Halsted has been attracting a real negative crowd of people into the neighborhood. Also, with the demolition of the public housing projects, a lot of Section 8 residents were moved into high rise units along Sheridan ave, this has also brought new people into the area that don't particularly know about, or care about, the way things have been done in lakeview over the past 20 years. Just my 2 cents, as a long time lv resident.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by SmartGXL

I lived in lake view for many years, and the location you are talking about is literally one of the safest areas of Chicago. There was an uptick in gang related crime in that corner of lake view last year, a lot of it was attributed to a gang owned night club called Centro, which was on ashland avenue, which was recently shut down (every night, gang bangers and wanna be thug crowd would come from all over Chicago to go to that night club). That place brought a very unwelcome type of nightlife to the area and the local residents got it shut down.

Having said that, there recently was another drive by shooting near by ( at Irving park rd and marine),but i don't know the details about that. There was also a random attack at a nearby star bucks, where a thug ran in and maced customers in the face with pepper spray. These types of weird events started happening recently in lake view. I lived there for many years and the whole area was a place where there was racial harmony and a general vibe of every one getting along and more or less respecting others as you walked down the sidewalks. This really great vibe was part of what made lake view desirable. However, the Center On Halsted has been attracting a real negative crowd of people into the neighborhood. Also, with the demolition of the public housing projects, a lot of Section 8 residents were moved into high rise units along Sheridan ave, this has also brought new people into the area that don't particularly know about, or care about, the way things have been done in lakeview over the past 20 years. Just my 2 cents, as a long time lv resident.

The recent driveby shooting didn't occur at Irving Park and Marine -- the Chicago Tribune got the story wrong. According to the Uptown Update blog, it actually occurred a couple blocks away, at Clarendon and Bittersweet.

Anyway, the location the OP is questioning is in West Lakeview, quite a bit physically removed from any recent uptick in problems East Lakeview might be experiencing. I've never felt unsafe in the area the OP mentioned, although I do try to avoid the area when school is letting out or when there's Cubs foot traffic, but only because the potential rowdiness annoys me more than anything.

And Mayor Rahm Emanuel himself lives within a few blocks of Lakeview High School. I think the location the OP is considering should be fine.

[Aleking]

smartGXL believes the east lake view action was a NWO/UN global conspiracy...so yeah.