Where to live in Chicago with a kid (Lincoln, Washington: to rent, condos)

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

As for diversity, that really isn't that big of an issue. Obviously Chicago is very segregated, but our concern would more be in the sense of a safe neighborhood that is a healthy place to raise a kid.

Can you please help me to understand what that means TO YOU? In your eyes, what is a "healthy place to raise a kid?" If we know what that means to you, we can target our responses much better.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

Can you please help me to understand what that means TO YOU? In your eyes, what is a "healthy place to raise a kid?" If we know what that means to you, we can target our responses much better.

It is a simple lose term, basically someplace that is neighborhood feeling (small town feel, even.) Something not too dense, Southport would be at the top of places we would look with density, so nothing super close to the loop. Some place that obviously has lower crime, obviously crime happens anywhere, but some place where it isn't an issue. I have been all over the Northside and parts of Westside that would fit this category of low crime.

Also school districts, which areas have better elementary and middle schools (for areas that actually have middle schools.) I know high schools there do have some issues, though the specialty high schools do seem to be much better, which is more about how a student preforms with their grades, which is a whole different topic that I have no idea how that will be....though based off me and my fiancee, we will definitely be having a kid that gets good grades and such.

[Magpie1127]

The Roscoe Village area of North Center seems to me to be an idyllic place to raise kids. If you want a more suburban feel in the city, try Irving Park or Edison Park. Roscoe is amazing. I don't know anything about schools myself, as I'm only 24, but anytime I'm in and around Roscoe Village there are strollers everywhere and kids playing in the streets. It is such a cute neighborhood!

[Magpie1127]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

It is a simple lose term, basically someplace that is neighborhood feeling (small town feel, even.) though based off me and my fiancee, we will definitely be having a kid that gets good grades and such.

Hahahaha

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by Magpie1127

The Roscoe Village area of North Center seems to me to be an idyllic place to raise kids. If you want a more suburban feel in the city, try Irving Park or Edison Park. Roscoe is amazing. I don't know anything about schools myself, as I'm only 24, but anytime I'm in and around Roscoe Village there are strollers everywhere and kids playing in the streets. It is such a cute neighborhood!

That is actually one of my favorite neighborhoods in Chicago.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by nana053

Oh, no. NYC does NOT have better public schools than Chicago.

Facts about NYC. It is extremely competitive and even preschools have long waiting lists and the good ones have interviews and crap to get into them. This is NOT true in Chicago. Good preschools are very very available and often play based instead of so crazily academic.

The public schools in NYC are absolutely awful. A friend of mine who lives in Brooklyn and teaches special ed in a good school researched some stats last night. Of the 8th grade ELA test scores (and the test was a horribly flawed one) only 3% of students in NYC scored a Level 4 (which is "exceeds standards" or an A).
At the top middle schools (the G&T schools with students scoring above the 97th percentile on IQ and/or achievement tests) - less than 50% of students got an Level 4. Only 60% of NYC kids graduate from high school.

Now, the suburbs are a different story and the suburbs here also do better than the city schools. There are some city schools in Chicago that do pretty well just like NYC's magnet schools and specialized schools. Note though that in NYC, they are currently making even Styvesant take a larger percentage of special education students. And, they don't classify the kids with learning disabilities who are up to par academically as special education - they kick them out as soon as they meet academic standards, so the kids that the special schools will have to take will be kids who cannot succeed in the accelerated curriculum.

Fair enough. I guess I was referring to the fact that Chicago really has three good public high schools, while NYC has more, but I realize it's also a larger city and has more middle-to-upper-middle-class people staying in the city to raise kids (as I noted) which means greater competition for them, as well.

I think the competition you're talking about to get into the "best" preschools, etc. in NYC, is more of an upper-class thing for parents who plan to send their kids to $20-40K/yr. private schools from elementary through high school. The middle class folks I know there don't participate in that. They just find a decent public elementary school and hope their kids can test into one of the good high schools, same as they would do in Chicago.

[FAReastcoast]

Originally Posted by nana053

Oh, no. NYC does NOT have better public schools than Chicago.

Facts about NYC. It is extremely competitive and even preschools have long waiting lists and the good ones have interviews and crap to get into them. This is NOT true in Chicago. Good preschools are very very available and often play based instead of so crazily academic.

The public schools in NYC are absolutely awful. A friend of mine who lives in Brooklyn and teaches special ed in a good school researched some stats last night. Of the 8th grade ELA test scores (and the test was a horribly flawed one) only 3% of students in NYC scored a Level 4 (which is "exceeds standards" or an A).
At the top middle schools (the G&T schools with students scoring above the 97th percentile on IQ and/or achievement tests) - less than 50% of students got an Level 4. Only 60% of NYC kids graduate from high school.

Now, the suburbs are a different story and the suburbs here also do better than the city schools. There are some city schools in Chicago that do pretty well just like NYC's magnet schools and specialized schools. Note though that in NYC, they are currently making even Styvesant take a larger percentage of special education students. And, they don't classify the kids with learning disabilities who are up to par academically as special education - they kick them out as soon as they meet academic standards, so the kids that the special schools will have to take will be kids who cannot succeed in the accelerated curriculum.

I'm a product of the NY Public School System, you need to remember there are over 1M kids in the system, it is almost impossible to make a blanket statement. Most of the schools in queens, manhattan, and Staten Island are good. There are some sketchy schools in BK and Bronx though.

[FAReastcoast]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

Good points, a number of neighborhoods I have been looking at already. I have always been impressed with the neighborhoods along the Brown Line, though I haven't been all the way to the far ends of the line yet, I definitely like what I have seen so far.

Also Edgewater was a cool area, still big city but much quieter. I haven't been to Andersonville yet, for some reason, not really sure why.

The more suburban areas I will have to check out too, after living in the middle of Brooklyn, it might be a nice break from being in the middle of a city, plus being architecture trained, I am definitely wanting some form of project to work on in the long term sense.

Beverly might be too far out of what I am looking at, the area feels too suburban and too far away, also I don't like that CTA doesn't go to Hyde Park, though the Metra does, I just haven't been as much of a fan of Metra as I am of CTA.

Who told you CTA doesn't go to Hyde Park?

[Attrill]

As you (very wisely) disclaimed - 5-7 years can be a lifetime in terms of what good neighborhoods are. Fortunately, over the last 20 years in Chicago very few neighborhoods have fallen apart, and many have improved in terms of raising a child. There are a few areas on the Southwest side that have deteriorated, while vast areas of the North and Northwest side have improved dramatically. Odds are that in 5-7 years there will be a few more neighborhoods worth checking out.

I'm raising a kid in the SW corner of Logan Square and am very happy here (been in Logan Square for 10 years). I have loads of neighbors doing the same, and have friends in Bucktown, Lincoln Square, Avondale, Ravenswood, Roscoe Village, Ukrainian Village, North Center, and Eastern Humboldt Park who are all very happy and have no plans on moving. Almost all have their kids in CPS (which can be a pain to navigate, but it's manageable - and there are plenty of private schools as well). All of these areas have plenty of single family homes to buy or rent, as well as loads of condos and apartments.

Right now the best answer would probably be to rent an apartment in the Bell School District (very doable for $2,000/month), check back for in 5 years for what makes sense then..

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by FAReastcoast

Who told you CTA doesn't go to Hyde Park?

The map, it goes close but doesn't go through the neighborhood.