How safe is YOUR Chicago? (Lincoln, Manhattan: rent, condo, crime rate)

[Lookout Kid]

In this forum we constantly get bombarded with questions about whether one particular area of the city is "safe". It seems that people from small towns, foreign countries, or New York City have a perception that Chicago is a town full of crime and violence. Part of this is clearly media sensationalism. While large parts of the city have tremendous problems with this, I still feel that much of Chicago is safe and that the crime and violence are blown out of proportion. Do you agree? Outside of what you hear in the media, is YOUR Chicago, i.e. the place you inhabit on a daily basis, a safe place to live and work?

[myrc60]

I would say the places we lived more often than not were safe. The 2nd and 3rd were not but 3 others were.

All in all though crime (or the fear of it) was at the top of the list for reasons to move here.

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

Yep. I feel as safe in my neighborhood as I do just about anywhere.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

While large parts of the city have tremendous problems with this, I still feel that much of Chicago is safe and that the crime and violence are blown out of proportion. Do you agree?

Yes.

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Outside of what you hear in the media, is YOUR Chicago, i.e. the place you inhabit on a daily basis, a safe place to live and work?

Again, yes.

[alwaystraveling25]

I feel really safe in my neighborhood. I live in East Lakeview and I feel comfortable walking home at Midnight or 2AM (or 4AM sometimes, lol) as I do when I walk home from work. It's part of the reason why I love where I live and I put up with extraordinarily high rent payments and will probably buy a condo here.

[Drover]

Taken as a whole, crime in Chicago is certainly not blown out of proportion, though it might be easy to think so for those of us in our cozy little north side roosts. But it's a serious issue that has to be dealt with because it affects all of us to some degree or another. It erodes confidence in the ability of the city to maintain order and provide decent services. It invites corruption and graft. It drains resources that could be put to better use. It's part of a multivariate problem that ensnares a whole lot of people in a cycle of poverty and even more violence, many of whom are state charges in some capacity or another. The crime rate in American cities is the laughing stock of the industrialized world, and Chicago is right up there among the laughable. Only it's not funny.

[chopsky]

Originally Posted by alwaystraveling25

I feel really safe in my neighborhood. I live in East Lakeview and I feel comfortable walking home at Midnight or 2AM (or 4AM sometimes, lol) as I do when I walk home from work. It's part of the reason why I love where I live and I put up with extraordinarily high rent payments and will probably buy a condo here.

Where exactly do you live in East Lakeview?

[blisbry]

i'm thinking about moving to Wicker Park, how would you guys describe the crime in that area as opposed to Lincoln Park/Lakeview? Is it better to live in the Eastern part of WP or the Western part WP?

[Tex?Il?]

The way I see it is #1: There is a historic image of Chicago going all the back to Al Capone. However way you want to look at it. Chicago hasn't been among the top big cities with violent crime for years. But images don't die away too easily. (How many people around the world think Dallasites wear cowboy hats and work in oil?)

Kansas City, MO has a higher violent crime I believe. People wouldn't expect that.

I would basically say Chicagos path of gentrification is much younger and less developed than say San Francisco or Boston. You simply have big blighted and decayed areas within the city limits in a way you don't in cities are technically smaller.

Which goes to what I've said in previous posts. Chicago is cohesive due its just ONE big city with no natural boundaries.

However: Downtown, north, and near north sides are as different from the west and south sides as Manhattan is from Brooklyn or Bronx. Or San Francisco is from Oakland. Or even Windsor, ON is from Detroit.

It may be one city technically: but Chicago can easily be four or five separate cities, and you wouldn't even notice, because they are already that different.

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

Originally Posted by Drover

Taken as a whole, crime in Chicago is certainly not blown out of proportion, though it might be easy to think so for those of us in our cozy little north side roosts. But it's a serious issue that has to be dealt with because it affects all of us to some degree or another. It erodes confidence in the ability of the city to maintain order and provide decent services. It invites corruption and graft. It drains resources that could be put to better use. It's part of a multivariate problem that ensnares a whole lot of people in a cycle of poverty and even more violence, many of whom are state charges in some capacity or another. The crime rate in American cities is the laughing stock of the industrialized world, and Chicago is right up there among the laughable. Only it's not funny.

I think LK's point has to do with breadth, not depth. Crime, where it occurs, is certainly serious and a major problem. However, from a distance, people might get the impression that every part of Chicago is a shooting gallery. That's clearly not the case. And LK makes a valid point. We all live in Chicago. How does crime touch each of us? How much do we see or feel on any given day? I'm fortunate enough to be able to say (knock on wood), "not much". Many Chicagoans can likely say the same.