Do you sometimes think of moving out of Chicago? (Lincoln: crime, new home)

[williepotatoes]

Anyone who judges Chicago almost solely on what they read in the newspapers, is sadly under-informed.

The single greatest reason why schools fail children is negligent and indifferent parenting. You won't read that in either of our "shock and awe"daily rags, because it's sexier and more profitable to blame it on a politician or some administrator who has the audacity to drive a Lexus.

[Tao111]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

The city is MUCH safer now than even ten years ago.

No

no

This is the same city we are talking about? The same city that considers bringing in state troopers from other states and the national guard because violent crime is "out of control"
The same city where a teenage boy is beat to death in the street while blocks away gang wars wage and bullets fly at innocent citizens' windows? The same city that fails year after year to offer complete and accurate crime reports to authorities? Murder rates came down, but down from what??? Insane? I have to agree with the previous poster, the stats are misleading and so are some Chicagoans' opinions because the neighborhoods are so segregated. Out of sight, out of mind.

Also the medical advances theory mentioned does have to be considered, as it is in other countries.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by Tao111

No

no

This is the same city we are talking about? The same city that considers bringing in state troopers from other states and the national guard because violent crime is "out of control"
The same city where a teenage boy is beat to death in the street while blocks away gang wars wage and bullets fly at innocent citizens' windows? The same city that fails year after year to offer complete and accurate crime reports to authorities? Murder rates came down, but down from what??? Insane? I have to agree with the previous poster, the stats are misleading and so are some Chicagoans' opinions because the neighborhoods are so segregated. Out of sight, out of mind.

Also the medical advances theory mentioned does have to be considered, as it is in other countries.

I recall kids being beaten to death ten years ago too as well as kids being shot by gangbangers with bad aim. These are not new issues to Chicago. By all objective criteria, crime is down signficantly. Medical advances don't (and can't) account for the decrease in robberies, auto thefts, and rapes. Maybe crime rates "feel" higher today then ten years ago, maybe crime rates are up in your neighborhood, maybe rents have priced you out of your safe neighborhood and into a more dangerous one, but you can't say that overall crime rates are worse than before.

[Tao111]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

1)
2) Is your statement not an opinion to begin with?

I was merely pointing out that it's a common perception that Chicagoans look down their noses at other settings rather than focus on the plethora of problems of their own city. Look how often you hear something similar to "at least we ain't Detroit" or "L.A is a giant suburb"
Sure it's an opinion and generalization that Chicagoans act this way....but it's a viewpoint held by many. Is it mine? Not really.
Who really cares if New Yorkers, Californians etc etc put down other places...like...Chicago. That does not make it acceptable behavior for Chicagoans then.
Chicago doesnt have the room to talk, see the difference? When Chicago fixes its poor reputation, then maybe they have some room to belittle the sunbelt cities, and the small towns, and L.A. and all other places that Chicagoans like to target. That still won't make it right.
.

[Tao111]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

I recall kids being beaten to death ten years ago too as well as kids being shot by gangbangers with bad aim. These are not new issues to Chicago. By all objective criteria, crime is down signficantly. Medical advances don't (and can't) account for the decrease in robberies, auto thefts, and rapes. Maybe crime rates "feel" higher today then ten years ago, maybe crime rates are up in your neighborhood, maybe rents have priced you out of your safe neighborhood and into a more dangerous one, but you can't say that overall crime rates are worse than before.

Nobody said that crime rates are worse than before. Because they are signifigantly lower does not mean that crime is still not out of control. Chicago was LEADING the nation in murders at times back then, so what are you comparing things to?? The point is that the city still has real issues with violent crime and all crime. Chicago crime is worse than NY City somehow, a city that has 5 million more people. There also is the issue that Chicago does not report all crime to the FBI. What objective criteria are you referring to??

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by Tao111

Nobody said that crime rates are worse than before.

Not true. In fact ImaloneJill most definitely stated that crime rates are worse than before. Go back and read her post.

[ImaloneJill]

I did say I apologize if I am in error. The reason I believed it had risen is because that is all I heard about, all that was in the news during the bid to get the Olympics here, all the video footage showed what a violent place this was.
I truly am glad to be proved wrong.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by ImaloneJill

I did say I apologize if I am in error. The reason I believed it had risen is because that is all I heard about, all that was in the news during the bid to get the Olympics here, all the video footage showed what a violent place this was.
I truly am glad to be proved wrong.

Hey, no problem. There's no shame in being misinformed. I just thought it was important not to let that incorrect impression stand unchallenged.

[ImaloneJill]

Absolutely. I would do the same.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by Igor and sven

Not to kniitpick, but when you responded to Tao111's post with this^ you quoted him. No place in that quote did Tao say that crime rates had risen. Jill said that. So yes noone, at the time you and Tao were communicating, was saying crime had risen. Just an observation.

Well, let me nitpick some more. Tao111 disagreed with Lookout Kid that the city is "much safer now than ten years ago." He/she pointed out incidents of kids being beaten to death and kids being shot by random bullets. I pointed out that these incidents were not new, had occurred in the past, and in fact overall crime rates are lower than ten years ago. I didn't say crime rates today are low, just lower than ten years ago. Then he/she comes back and says that "no one disagrees that crime is worse now than before", even though he/she implied that things are worse now than before.

Again, let me emphasize that we can all agree that crime rates are too high, but still acknowledge that they are an improvement over the recent past.