A Brit possibly moving to Chicago - Should I? (Naperville: salons, condos)

[marothisu]

Sometime in 2013 (I think) there was a message on here about someone part of a group of college/grad students from Amsterdam traveling to Chicago, who wanted a local to show them around some places. I actually met up with this poster and met about 10-15 other people who traveled over from Amsterdam with her part of the same group. Yeah, we did the typical downtown stuff, but I also took them around Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, Pilsen, Logan Square, Andersonville, North Center, South Loop, and Uptown (mainly the Argyle) after they wanted to see the non-tall building areas. On their own they also went to Hyde Park and Little Village too and even a few suburbs. Not a single one of them didn't like the city. They were constantly saying how much they liked it in Chicago without me even asking them what they thought (even a guy within 15 minutes was commenting on how amazed he was at how clean downtown was). The only negative comment, though not really negative, was around Irving Park and Lincoln, one guy asked me why all the buildings in that area looked the same.

I still talk with a few of them, and am friends on Facebook with many. They even post pictures of their trip to Chicago time to time and captioning it like "Oh what a city it was" and stating how much they want to come back. Funny enough, most of them liked Pilsen and Wicker Park the best. One of the guys likened Wicker Park to some area in Amsterdam, though I forgot which one. Also met up with that poster's friend from Scotland last November, who happened to be a Blackhawks fan (somehow) and traveled to Chicago to see them play as well as the All Blacks (NZ Rugby) play USA. He quite enjoyed himself in the city too.

I also had some friends from Amsterdam visit a few months ago too who are a bit older than the previous ones, but they were on a US tour - went to SF, LA, Seattle, Portland, Philadelphia, NYC, DC, and Chicago as well as a few Canadian cities. Out of all the US cities they went to, they felt like Chicago was one of three cities they actually felt at home/ease in and that they'd live in if they had to ever relocate to the US (probably wouldn't happen). They saw a fair amount of the city too by renting Divvy bikes everyday while staying in the Ukrainian Village, not downtown. Funny enough, their favorite part of town was Pilsen too They too mentioned how clean they thought a lot of areas were that they biked through.

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by jwuk45

Yeah, this idea that European cities don't have really bad areas is nonsense. There are neighborhoods in the UK I wouldn't dare wander around at night. Parts of Italy I felt unsafe even in the daytime. At least in the US there's a very clear distinction between the good and bad areas.

Like where? The worst or second worst neighborhood in all of The UK is the Burrough of Lambeth in London.

It has a homicide rate of 3.5/100,000.

That is exactly as dangerous as the Loop.

The most dangerous city in Europe is Talinn, Estonia with 7.5/100,000.

By comparison, Chicago's average is about 18/100,000, with its worst neighborhoods more than four times that -- and probably about 10-15 neighborhoods over 50.

The most dangerous cities in Western Europe are Amsterdam and Glasgow, with 4 and 3 respectively.

BTW, the Eastern Euro cities with the "higher" rates are likely due almost entirely to organized crime.

In any event, you can basically go anywhere in Europe and not worry about being murdered.

[Londoncowboy30]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

Like where? The worst or second worst neighborhood in all of The UK is the Burrough of Lambeth in London.

It has a homicide rate of 3.5/100,000.

That is exactly as dangerous as the Loop.

The most dangerous city in Europe is Talinn, Estonia with 7.5/100,00.

By comparison, Chicago's average is about 18/100,000, with its worst neighborhoods more than four times that -- and probably about 10-15 neighborhoods over 50.

The most dangerous cities in Western Europe are Amsterdam and Glasgow, with 4 and 3 respectively.

BTW, the Eastern Euro cities with the "higher" rates are likely due almost entirely to organized crime.

In any event, you can basically go anywhere in Europe and not worry about being murdered.

I wouldn't fancy a trip to Albania for example and coming out alive mate.

And yes granted I've not been to Chicago but I'd assume most of the murder is down to the gang culture? Surely

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by Londoncowboy30

I wouldn't fancy a trip to Albania for example and coming out alive mate.

And yes granted I've not been to Chicago but I'd assume most of the murder is down to the gang culture? Surely

I'm not sure why. The capital city has a rate of 6.7 and the country as a whole 5.

Doesn't seem like anything to worry about.

Have you been watching Taken?!

People tend to say most of the homicides are gang related over drug territory but there have been some interesting pieces discussing how the "gangs" by and large are just disorganized messes and drugs are not as paramount as people think and that much of the violence is literally senseless -- just kids killing kids, really, over perceived slights.

[Londoncowboy30]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

I'm not sure why. The capital city has a rate of 6.7 and the country as a whole 5.

Doesn't seem like anything to worry about.

Have you been watching Taken?!

People tend to say most of the homicides are gang related over drug territory but there have been some interesting pieces discussing how the "gangs" by and large are just disorganized messes and drugs are not as paramount as people think and that much of the violence is literally senseless -- just kids killing kids, really, over perceived slights.

Nope lol not been watching taken in a way in talking from experience.....

London is very diverse some say for better and Most will say for worse now we have mainly Eastern Europeans here I have worked with most of them polish, Lithuanian , Estonian, Russian, Latvian , Bulgarian, Romanian and Albanian

I understand a lot of there culture and I can assure you the Albanians are the worst of the worst and I have come up against them once over a girl ( I won't go into details as I'm very very lucky to be alive )

Can I ask where are you getting these stats from? If it's something official like Interpol for example don't forget in the lesser countries a lot goes on behind closed doors they handle things differently to most therefore won't give a true statistic

[jonnynonos]

A lot can be found here:

Where are world's deadliest major cities? | News | The Guardian

[Londoncowboy30]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

A lot can be found here:

Where are world's deadliest major cities? | News | The Guardian

Good find

[jwuk45]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

Like where? The worst or second worst neighborhood in all of The UK is the Burrough of Lambeth in London.

It has a homicide rate of 3.5/100,000.

That is exactly as dangerous as the Loop.

The most dangerous city in Europe is Talinn, Estonia with 7.5/100,000.

By comparison, Chicago's average is about 18/100,000, with its worst neighborhoods more than four times that -- and probably about 10-15 neighborhoods over 50.

The most dangerous cities in Western Europe are Amsterdam and Glasgow, with 4 and 3 respectively.

BTW, the Eastern Euro cities with the "higher" rates are likely due almost entirely to organized crime.

In any event, you can basically go anywhere in Europe and not worry about being murdered.

Homicides aren't the only crimes which affect people. There are a lot of crimes which affect the daily lives of the average citizens of London. Being murdered does not affect the daily lives of the majority of people in Chicago.

Why worry about something which has such small likelihood of happening, just because it's higher than in another country?

Are you seriously saying that you're fine walking through a really bad neighborhood just because the murder rate is a lot lower, even though you still have a relatively high chance of being stabbed or beaten up? That's demented.

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by jwuk45

Homicides aren't the only crimes which affect people. There are a lot of crimes which affect the daily lives of the average citizens of London. Being murdered does not affect the daily lives of the majority of people in Chicago.

Why worry about something which has such small likelihood of happening, just because it's higher than in another country?

Are you seriously saying that you're fine walking through a really bad neighborhood just because the murder rate is a lot lower, even though you still have a relatively high chance of being stabbed or beaten up? That's demented.

Yes I am saying that 100 percent.

I will look forward to seeing this stabbing data.

[jwuk45]

I don't have such data, I'm going by my own experiences of living over there (and those of my friends). How long did you live in the UK, and which areas?