Portage Park (Chicago, Cicero, Irving: high school, living, costs)

[Jesse69]

In the 80's, gangsters in my area targeted Portage Park for stealing bmx bikes, especially when locked up by the bike rack near the Schwinn bmx shop there. My mom pissed me off when she gave my Univega Super G to a plumber. When I discovered what she had done, I told her I wanted it back. We called the plumber to pick it it and he left it outside his side door, and no one stole it. But his son beat up my bike bad and cracked the headtube.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Jesse69

In the 80's, gangsters in my area targeted Portage Park for stealing bmx bikes, especially when locked up by the bike rack near the Schwinn bmx shop there. My mom pissed me off when she gave my Univega Super G to a plumber. When I discovered what she had done, I told her I wanted it back. We called the plumber to pick it it and he left it outside his side door, and no one stole it. But his son beat up my bike bad and cracked the headtube.

Thanks for sharing.

[ChicagoMeO]

Originally Posted by North Side Brandon

The demographic changes in the neighborhood are pretty clear to see. Berwyn is 60% Latino and it is still a pretty safe community. Generally a community will be okay if you have a lot of home owners. Portage Park and Belmont Cragin have more renters. If the apartments are cheap that is a problem. It's alot more about economics than race.

Well you might have a good point. i.e. in Des Plaines, a while back i learned that (this is what they told me) that Des Plaines was safer where single family homes were vs apartment buildings that had more transient renters. (renters being transient not in a bad way but because some renters might move more than a person owning a home).

by the way, do you know about the area by Cumberland and the expressway, there are some apartment buildings there that look good but i hear because there are low income renters, or whatever is the issue, that those buildings are not desirable by people who want to live in a decent apartment?'

Same idea - over in Northlake, a while back when i was looking for an apartment there, i think it was near Belmont, there was gangs or section 8 type renters (low income) and those apartments were not desirable for the average renter.

do i have a trend here? has anything changed in the last few years?

[North Side Brandon]

Originally Posted by ChicagoMeO

Well you might have a good point. i.e. in Des Plaines, a while back i learned that (this is what they told me) that Des Plaines was safer where single family homes were vs apartment buildings that had more transient renters. (renters being transient not in a bad way but because some renters might move more than a person owning a home).

by the way, do you know about the area by Cumberland and the expressway, there are some apartment buildings there that look good but i hear because there are low income renters, or whatever is the issue, that those buildings are not desirable by people who want to live in a decent apartment?'

Same idea - over in Northlake, a while back when i was looking for an apartment there, i think it was near Belmont, there was gangs or section 8 type renters (low income) and those apartments were not desirable for the average renter.

do i have a trend here? has anything changed in the last few years?

That area the O'hare community is very nice. You are in between Park Ridge very nice town and Norridge still quite nice. You have mostly condo's in that area. It is right by the Cumberland just south of Higgins the Park Ridge border and the Expressway Blue Line stop. There are a ton of Office buildings in the area too. Younger people lean more towards the center of the city hence the O'hare community isn't really for them. Cumberland has some very good pizza places and Italian resturants.

[RarelyOffended]

Portage Park is fine. I wouldn't even call it sketchy....no neighborhood can be perfect. Portage safer then it was 10 years ago? There was gangs in Portage 10 years ago mostly whites and latinos by the Dickinson Park area and the area by Addison and Cicero. I would say it was SLIGHTLY worse 10 years ago, but I could be wrong. Its safe for the 99 percent most part

[Chicagoist123]

Originally Posted by RarelyOffended

Portage Park is fine. I wouldn't even call it sketchy....no neighborhood can be perfect. Portage safer then it was 10 years ago? There was gangs in Portage 10 years ago mostly whites and latinos by the Dickinson Park area and the area by Addison and Cicero. I would say it was SLIGHTLY worse 10 years ago, but I could be wrong. Its safe for the 99 percent most part

I would say it's SLIGHTLY more dangerous now, however, I agree that for 99% of the people it's perfectly fine.

Someone getting shot or murdered in your neighborhood is bound to happen if you are there over an extended period of time. What matters is the frequency. I mean super small little safe towns of 2k people sometimes see a murder, doesn't mean that it's going downhill. S*** happens, and it would be impossible that through the entire duration of place's existence that violent crime doesn't occur periodically.

[Aleking]

Originally Posted by Jesse69

In the 80's, gangsters in my area targeted Portage Park for stealing bmx bikes, especially when locked up by the bike rack near the Schwinn bmx shop there. My mom pissed me off when she gave my Univega Super G to a plumber. When I discovered what she had done, I told her I wanted it back. We called the plumber to pick it it and he left it outside his side door, and no one stole it. But his son beat up my bike bad and cracked the headtube.

why won't anyone give this man a job?

[Chicagoist123]

Originally Posted by Aleking

why won't anyone give this man a job?

He says he has a lot of mental issues and problems (schzophrenic, felony and cross dresser). That is what he has told people on the job boards.

[ChicagoMeO]

Originally Posted by North Side Brandon

That area the O'hare community is very nice. You are in between Park Ridge very nice town and Norridge still quite nice. You have mostly condo's in that area. It is right by the Cumberland just south of Higgins the Park Ridge border and the Expressway Blue Line stop. There are a ton of Office buildings in the area too. Younger people lean more towards the center of the city hence the O'hare community isn't really for them. Cumberland has some very good pizza places and Italian resturants.

Ok im looking at a map, specifically, Catherine Courts apartments (near Bryn Mawr and Cumberland, and the Pavilion apartments, over on 5441 n River road.

I do know that Norwood park is excellent, no problem.

[Lorielicious]

Originally Posted by Aleking

why won't anyone give this man a job?

I'm not even gonna feel bad about laughing my ass off at this. This might be my default response to Jesse's posts from now on.