Official Chicago Neighborhood Thread (Norridge, Harwood Heights: sales, sales tax, land)

[Drover]

I knew a lot of people who moved into that area who didn't have a clue what they were getting into. They thought we could all just get along. Then their idealism got run over by reality.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by thiqued

Well thats an area undergoing a lot of transformation at once. The housing projects coming down provides an opportunity for the area considered Lincoln Park to expand. But if you are so concerned with the well being of the condo purchaser, I'll bet most people who buy here have some idea of what they are getting into.

The area where the high rises stand has never been called Lincoln Park. It was called New City. It also had the nicknames “Swede Town” and later on “Little Hell."

When much of the New City neighborhood or if you prefer "Little Hell" was reduced to rubble the areas where the projects built took on the name Cabrini-Green. Which of course it still is today no matter what you or a misleading/greedy/lying developer or real estate agent says.

The parts of New City or "Little Hell" that were not torn down still bore the name New City until the last couple decades when the residents of the area preferred to just go by the community name Near North to separate themselves from the Cabrini-Green portion of New City. The neighborhood name New City has almost completely disappeared,but there is a revival going on. If you are going to call any new development in this area anything it should be NEW CITY. How apropo it would be.

Those Cabrini-Green high rises at Division and Halsted are not coming down anytime soon.

As far as I know there are no plans to tear them down at all.

The CHA buildings northeast of Division and Halsted are part of Cabrini-Green and have been for many decades.

Sorry.
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I strongly suggest people do some research at the Newberry library:

http://www.newberry.org/genealogy/neighborhoods.html

[surlycue]

That surprises me. I am not well versed on the storied history of Chicago neighborhoods but I always considered anything east of halsted and south of division to be near north, west of halsted to be goose island and north of division (where Cabrini Green stands) to be Old Town.

[thiqued]

Originally Posted by Drover

I knew a lot of people who moved into that area who didn't have a clue what they were getting into. They thought we could all just get along. Then their idealism got run over by reality.

That sucks.

[Damage Control Freak]

Talking of neighborhood maps, I recently saw this poster around. I think it looks pretty cool, but that giant "Polish Village" neighborhood strikes me as very wrong. Has this ever been an established name for a neighborhood up there? I think Avondale has been nicknamed like that but I don't know if that ever really stuck.
Also the pure size of this "hood" is pure invention, right?

[thiqued]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Those Cabrini-Green high rises at Division and Halsted are not coming down anytime soon.

As far as I know there are no plans to tear them down at all.

The CHA buildings northeast of Division and Halsted are part of Cabrini-Green and have been for many decades.

Sorry.

Well, I wouldn't say that the CHA buildings are "part" of Cabrini-Green. They ARE Cabrini-Green. A resident of this area who is not living in public housing likely does not consider themselves a resident of Cabrini-Green, though neighborhood maps often show areas where there are housing projects as separate neighborhoods. Again, there is no rigid definition of these areas. Under the CHA Plan for Transformation, which is the long-underway plan to dismantle projects like Cabrini that I speak of, there is the potential for Lincoln Park types to move into the mixed income housing in the Cabrini area. Maybe work on Cabrini has been stalled for some reason, but they have already made a good deal of progress, and similar projects on the South Side have been moving pretty quickly.

I don't know many in the area, but the attempted Lincoln Parkification of the area is clearly underway to some extent. Look at recent condo development in the area as evidence. Now, we have since realized that this development was not economically sustainable, and the Plan for Transformation has enormous potential to suck, but those are different issues. The neighborhood identity is currently fractured and contested. I know some were trying to bill it as "New Old Town" for a while, and I'm sure there are a billion other names too, but Lincoln Park is not an irrational designation. Imagine a yuppie type drawn to the area by its close proximity to the high-end shopping and transportation at North and Clyborn and a good deal on urban "frontier" property. THATS how you get the Lincoln Park in Cabrini-Green. I personally wouldn't call it Lincoln Park now, but its conceivable why some may (walking distance to North/Clyborn is the biggest reason for me), and we may ALL be calling it Lincoln Park in 10 years, but nobody knows.

I'm familiar with the history of the area. To you, I would recommend researching with a bit more breadth, not just when you are trying to prove a point--though I can't really tell what that is anymore--and I highly recommend you familiarize yourself with a bit more theory. Memorizing information without a real understanding of the issues can only get you so far, and memorizing incomplete information just makes you look dumb. It's good to spend time reading, but even better to spend time thinking. If you actually want to learn this stuff, I can go on for hours, but I really doubt that is your goal.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Damage Control Freak

Talking of neighborhood maps, I recently saw this poster around. I think it looks pretty cool, but that giant "Polish Village" neighborhood strikes me as very wrong. Has this ever been an established name for a neighborhood up there? I think Avondale has been nicknamed like that but I don't know if that ever really stuck.
Also the pure size of this "hood" is pure invention, right?

The area that they are using the name "Polish Village" for covers many neighborhoods including Belmont Central,Cragin,Avondale, Kelvyn Park,etc...

The name and existence of Polish Village is an invention by real estate shysters.

Yeah the map has a somewhat cool design, but the information in it is pretty worthless.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by thiqued

...I'm familiar with the history of the area. To you, I would recommend researching with a bit more breadth, not just when you are trying to prove a point--though I can't really tell what that is anymore--and I highly recommend you familiarize yourself with a bit more theory. Memorizing information without a real understanding of the issues can only get you so far, and memorizing incomplete information just makes you look dumb. It's good to spend time reading, but even better to spend time thinking. If you actually want to learn this stuff, I can go on for hours, but I really doubt that is your goal.

Keep living in your fantasy land buddy. Lincoln Park does not go south of North Ave. It never has and it never will.

You are nothing but a self proclaimed armchair "expert" that in reality has very little knowledge of this city.

You talk a bunch of trash,but I am willing to bet you would crap yourself if you had to even drive through Cabrini-Green.

Theory? This is not about "Theory" this is about reality-which you have no grasp of.

You must have not lived in Chicago very long.

[surlycue]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Keep living in your fantasy land buddy. Lincoln Park does not go south of North Ave. It never has and it never will.

You are nothing but a self proclaimed armchair "expert" that in reality has very little knowledge of this city.

You talk a bunch of trash,but I am willing to bet you would crap yourself if you had to even drive through Cabrini-Green.

Theory? This is not about "Theory" this is about reality-which you have no grasp of.

You must have not lived in Chicago very long.

There is not much left to be scared of on Halsted and Division. There are few residents left in the towers (mostly old folks) and the row houses/townhomes there have created off of Larabee are well patrolled and well kept. I imagine those may also be mixed income.

I walk that block pretty frequently to get from my place on Mohawk over to Noble Square. Though I do not do it late at night, I have done it around 8 pm several times and have had no issue whatsoever.

[thiqued]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Keep living in your fantasy land buddy. Lincoln Park does not go south of North Ave. It never has and it never will.

You are nothing but a self proclaimed armchair "expert" that in reality has very little knowledge of this city.

You talk a bunch of trash,but I am willing to bet you would crap yourself if you had to even drive through Cabrini-Green.

Theory? This is not about "Theory" this is about reality-which you have no grasp of.

You must have not lived in Chicago very long.

Chicago lifer here. Born and raised. South Side represent.

And I'm around Cabrini quite a bit--how do you think I know this stuff? It's pretty tame these days. I can't remember whether the last time was when I picked up this laptop at the Best Buy on North Avenue or when I was riding with a friend who was looking at condos in the area. By the way, he had no idea what neighborhood they were in, simply that they were on the North Side.

In short, BURN. You have amply demonstrated to me that you have no idea what you are talking about. (And I can substantiate this claim. I'd like to see YOU try, buster.) But, in your defense, what you lack in knowledge you more than make up in attitude.

I can tell you aren't really reading, aren't understanding, or are just ignoring my little essays, and this is turning into a profound waste of time, so I'll drop it.