About people who ask, "Is it safe?"

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The way I look at these kinds of questions is by taking a step back and consider that is not just "younger college educated" types but it is people specifically looking for areas with a lot of "entertainment / dining / nightlife" options. The kinds of property crimes that happen in these areas are different than the sorts of things that for the most part do not happen in the parts of Chicago that for intents are identical to the suburbs -- folks that live in the extreme NW / SW fringes of the city are spending a lot more time in their home / yard, they probably lock up their garage with more care than somebody not accustomed to city life, they probably know a whole more of their neighbors than folks in areas with a greater percentage of renters and they do not hesitate to call 911 when somebody that does not look like "they belong" is strolling the alley (or they'll ask their neighbor who is a cop to 'roust' some kids who aren't from the block...). Firefighters with 24-on/48-off schedules are basically around all the time and no thug with a brain wants to walk in on a cranky off duty Chicago firefighter and get a wrecking bar thrown at 'em...

Meanwhile folks in Wicker Park are out tossing back craft beer and mirin braised beef cheeks and the bad guys are casing the easiet multi-family building to grab a couple of laptops / easy to fence high value luxury goods. When everybody rides the Blue line to the Loop the next morning the whole building might as well have "come steal everything" sign on the back porch.

It a lot of ways it is function of people that had things mighty easy in the hyper-controlled environment of college campus where "campus secuirty" and "residence life" were kind of modeled on a DisneyWorld model of a "safety net for the lowest common denominator" vs the "you don't wanna see what I saw today" world of cops & firefighters and folks who work in the courts system and ERs understanding there is a whole lot of bad stuff that happens everyday...

The fact is more than a few folks on the boards have "regular" office type jobs and when they analyze the "costs" of city life in terms of everything from the inevitable car thefts to party-all-night neighbors to vagaries of CPS to "omg where are the cops when a deranged / drugged out/ beligerent bum makes the El ride a living nightmare" vs the relative ease of STILL taking advantage of 90% of the social / cultural offering while having a more predictable sort of family life with easy Metra commute and better value for their total housing dollar "safety" is just one part of the equation but one that is quite the "plus" for desirable suburbs ...

Don't you think that life in the "desirable suburbs" is what fosters this kind of ignorance that Chicago103 is talking about? "Desirable suburb" usually means an absence of the people who make City living so, er, colorful, and most of those beef butt cheek eating yuppies were raised in that kind of environment, which is what makes them easy targets for thefts and otherwise close minded towards other types of cultures that exist further south and west of their bubble neighborhoods.

Maybe if they had a little 'hood in their background things would be different? I'm not sure how you do that but I do know that such segregation gets us nowhere in terms of moving forward as a society, IMHO.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by BRU67

Don't you think that life in the "desirable suburbs" is what fosters this kind of ignorance that Chicago103 is talking about? "Desirable suburb" usually means an absence of the people who make City living so, er, colorful, and most of those beef butt cheek eating yuppies were raised in that kind of environment, which is what makes them easy targets for thefts and otherwise close minded towards other types of cultures that exist further south and west of their bubble neighborhoods.

Maybe if they had a little 'hood in their background things would be different? I'm not sure how you do that but I do know that such segregation gets us nowhere in terms of moving forward as a society, IMHO.

Honestly when I talk to my younger cousins that work for Chicago Fire Department they share their frustration about not just the segregation of the city neighborhoods they live in but that harm that causes to the moral of the fire service and the way those things contribute to their own lack of safety / hindrances to helping people in some pretty tough situations. These are big tough, smart guys, Former high school athletes, some did time in the military before college. They have no issues with being in a locker room or whatever with folks of other races. That said there is not much mixing of for where their co-workers choose to live. As they advance in their career the distribution of assingments is not balanced and they know it hurts the ability of the service to safely provide paramedic and fire fighting amenities to some communities.

They say the most vocal opponents of the residency requirements are increasing the AA men and women that would prefer to live in nicer suburbs close to the city but with better options for their own kids education / safety. There are fewer and fewer really good options for folks like this and combined with the reduced hiring / recruiting the the CPD & Chicago Fire Department are doing their is definate "aging factor" happening to both non-minority and AA neighborhoods of traditional city workers that is not good...