" Near West Side/United Center-too dangerous?" (Madison, Warren: buying, school)

[Venom]

I heard United Center area isn't "good" somewhere on here.
There's a bunch of bums asking for money.

But it depends on your threshold.

[Tonitz]

Originally Posted by Venom

I heard United Center area isn't "good" somewhere on here.
There's a bunch of bums asking for money.

But it depends on your threshold.

Well my roommate and I agree that amenities are one of the most important things to us in an apartment. We're looking for something either brand new or recently rehabbed with top of the line stuff - granite, marble, stainless steel apps, etc. In order to stay within our price range we've been forced to look outside of the trendy areas such as Lincoln Park, Gold Coast, Downtown, etc.

As far as threshold goes, we understand that we're not going to be living in a ritzy area, but at the same time having high odds of getting robbed would definitely deter us from moving into a neighborhood. We're 2 guys in our mid 20's, and something like bums bugging us for change wouldn't be a big issue, but we're more worried about crime & gangs in the area.

[chitown85]

Don't worry too much about it. You may hear/see things you wouldn't elsewhere, but nothing that bad. The same gangmembers can easily go up to Lincoln Park to rob someone as they would down on the West Side.

[Avengerfire]

Are you sure you searched the forum on this area?

//www.city-data.com/forum/chica...enter-too.html

[Tonitz]

Originally Posted by chitown85

Don't worry too much about it. You may hear/see things you wouldn't elsewhere, but nothing that bad. The same gangmembers can easily go up to Lincoln Park to rob someone as they would down on the West Side.

I'm sure they could, but what worries me about the area is that there isn't a whole lot of people in the area except when there is a game going on. Places like Lincoln Park have tons of people and foot traffic in the area pretty much 24/7, so just that itself can serve as a deterrent, not to mention police presence seems to be more obvious in areas like that.

I took a drive through the area by the United Center at about 11 pm the other day and it just seemed eerily quiet. I feel like it would be easy for crimes to go unnoticed.

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Are you sure you searched the forum on this area?

//www.city-data.com/forum/chica...enter-too.html

Interesting. That didn't seem to pop up when I searched for United Center. I'll check it out, but since that thread is a year old any updated info would also be welcomed/appreciated as perhaps the neighborhood has changed a bit.

[Avengerfire]

^The neighborhood has not changed at all really.^

[Avengerfire]

Does this work for you?

[Tonitz]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Does this work for you?

Yeah somewhat. It seems that it turned into a debate about Garfield Park, which is a bit further west of where I was interested in, but there were some informative posts in there. From what I've seen on here in the few weeks since I have joined, it would seem that a neighborhood can be vastly different from block to block, so I was hoping to get a bit more input about the specific location (Damen & Warren). Luckily there is garage parking and I don't plan on being on foot too much in the area since I'll be driving.

I've done a lot of research and asked lots of people who have knowledge of the area what their opinion of it is. I've gotten a lot of mixed reviews. Looks like I'm going to give it a shot, and I'll be sure to come back and let you guys know what I think of the area having lived in it after a few months.

[Avengerfire]

Ok good luck.

[mel2000]

The Damen/Warren area is ok if you just park and sleep there. You can do your hanging out starting east of Ashland.