Why do so many people LOVE the Northside? (Chicago, Washington: transplants, apartments)

[Midwest Revival]

Whenever I see people come on Citydata or in housing conversations, I always see HARDCORE Northside D**k Riders! You Northsiders act like it's nothing more to Chicago than the Nside. Sure, you guys might have all the fancy apartments, high rised condo's, and sexy cafes on every corner but that doesnt make a community/neighborhood. I went to a Jesse Jackson Jr speech(Not the biggest Fan of him) but he made a good point, why does the Northside get EVERYTHING? Im a Southsider you grew up in the projects(Which I bet most of you have no clue about), I want to see more growth and development down south. A neighborhood will never get better if you dont put any opportunity into it.

[Alacran]

Growth and Development GDK


But nah.
It's because most of the lakefront northside (I'm not gonna clump all the northside as one cus transplants are for the most part still wary of the northside west of western) is a place where transplants congregate.
And the people who come to city data are not really Chicagoans. IT's people who are going to move here. So that's why the northside lakefront is brought up a lot. Because that's where most of them live. The northside lakefront area gets a lot of things because it's many different people from different parts who have different tastes.

And why doesn't the southside get more stuff? Because they don't want it.
The ghetto area I live in got a supermarket for the first time in like 20 years and it didn't last a year.
A gamestop isn't gonna survive in the hood.
A starbucks isn't gonna survive there
A sandwich shop isn't.
A doggy spa isn't gonna survive there.

There's no point. If there WAS a big improvement it'd probably be due to the ghetto people leaving the area aka gentrification

[glass_of_merlot]

There is not only fancy apartments up north with only rich people.
However, many of us who choose to live up north take pride in our neighborhood
r egardless how much we pay in rent. Maybe that's the difference.

[Drover]

Let's face it head-on: Brighton Park and Lawndale are a tough sell. Not just for yuppies, but for pretty much anyone but the destitute.

[Manigault]

The fact is that people on the south side are much more likely to go to an attraction on the north side than the north siders are likely to come south. Its fine to be proud or to like the area in which you live, but much of the poor opinions of the south side are not based on fact but suspicion. That's another name for ignorance.

Couple that with corporate relocation departments where there is little discussion of or consideration of addresses south, and you create legions of new entrants moving north.

There are exceptions, though. As previously mentioned, the Hyde Park - Kenwood environs remain a major attraction for new minority college graduates and minority group members otherwise being relocated to Chicago.

[sunnyandcloudydays]

The money is on the north side with a few exceptions

Drover sums it up quickly and to the point.

[marothisu]

There are good areas on the South Side, and there's some good areas on the West Side too. Funny thing is that people on here actually do recommend some areas of the South Side. Perhaps you aren't reading enough.

Anyway, so what is up with north side vs. south side? I'm personally easily amused. I could live pretty much anywhere as long as I had a few places to eat and a supermarket nearby. I care most about safety, and sorry to put it, but except a handful of neighborhoods on the South Side, I don't feel safe. Just like on the West Side, I wouldn't advise the average person to live in Austin, most of Garfield Park, or most of Humboldt Park. I have stayed in some shady areas on the South Side before, and I know it's not a constant war zone, but I'd rather live with the piece of mind of not being caught up in a few things.

Geographically, there's almost no difference between the North Side and South Side. I happen to think Jackson Park is an amazing park, and Washington Park is great as well, but it's not going to make me want to live down there. I don't care about Starbucks (although not bad for a chain) or anything like that. All I care about is my safety.

Nobody on here is saying the South Side is *all* bad and you'll see people recommending areas on the South Side quite often actually (i.e. Bridgeport, Hyde Park, Pilsen if you count that as South Side, Chinatown, Beverly, sometimes Bronzeville, etc).

[rparz]

There's more going on than just some opinions on a messageboard because with the close proximity to downtown and other attractions coupled with substantially cheaper property and housing, you would think it's ripe for major re-investment. But, it's not.

[sunnyandcloudydays]

How about the South Works site?
Isnt this still on the drawing board for future housing development?

[rparz]

I thought I heard they put in a bicycle track (velodrome) near there.