Rogers Park info (Chicago, Warren, Clifton: lease, crime rates, house)

[NIUGrad]

Hey everyone,

I'm currently living in the suburbs but am looking at moving into the city. I make around $35k a year so I'm looking for a neighborhood that's relatively affordable. I was wondering if anyone familiar with Rogers Park could shed some light on the neighborhood.

I just want to know how safe it is, good bars/restaurants, stuff like that.

Thanks

[NealIRC]

Yes, Rogers Park is the most diverse neighborhood in all of Chicago. All 3 religions are there and the 2 types of gangs in both races (totaling 4) are all there.

[SubconsciousMe]

We live in East Rogers Park and are looking at possibly paying the fees to terminate our lease early--largely because 1) out neighbor above us smokes weed frequently and the landlord won't do anything about it and I have lung problems; 2) the neighborhood is very loud and we generally walk through a park to get the the train that is full of people screaming, smoking, threatening other peoples lives; 3) there was a shooting on my block not long ago; 4) parking is a pain if you try to park after business hours; and 5) other general problems with our landlord. While Rogers Park is "touch and go" as far as neighborhoods, we have had enough. There can be significant safety differences between East Rogers Park and West Rogers Park though. For example, we are considering a place in West Rogers Park that has had 23 crime incidents in the last 2 weeks and our current address has had 59.

There are gangs and we generally felt safer in our previous neighborhood of Pilsen than here--even though the crime rates are comparable. And our rent was cheaper there.

[tuppington]

It's not Care Bears up here but I wouldn't worry about crime. I live in Roger's Park. I'm 25, been living here all my life. Crime is just something I hear about the next day.
Roger's Park is basically a suburb that's inside the city.

The downside to that is that most of the music and arts happens a little bit closer to downtown. If you want to make it happen here it will have to be a house party or a block party or a cookout. We do have a lot of really nice parks. There's one at the lake, and Warren and a bunch of smaller ones.

The restaurants I like are Badou senegalese, Clifton Grill, and Pita Kabab.