CHICAGO | General Discussions

[bnk]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

…

as for the crime issue, you're WAY overthinking that. are you a young black male engaged in the gang/drug underworld? do you sell or purchase illegal narcotics? do you associate with gang-members in any fashion? do you frequently visit and hangout in known gang activity hot-spots?

if you answered "no" to all of those questions, the chances of chicago's atrocious levels of street gang violence directly affecting you are actually pretty damn low in the grand scheme of things. i'm not saying it can't ever happen, but it's definitely not something that keeps me up at night, and i've actively chosen to raise my family in the city.

This

I don't get the OP's issue with gang stuff that would never effect him where he choses to live.

Its not its just in the hoods he would live nor venter to go to anyway. Like a half of an hour away in some times.

He thinks that the city has no hard boundaries and its like murder everywhere. That's a disconnect I don't think he truly understands. Glowrock moved back and forth here though the years. Ask him if he is scared for his life everyday. I would suspect not but I won't speak for him. He as a newbie might give you some advice where to start.
It sounds like it took him some time to feel the lay of the land so to speak. Feel free to travel to the Chicago meet up forum that is happing soon if you have time.

https://forum.skyscraperpage.com/sho...d.php?t=239821

You would get tons of real details quickly I would suspect if you asked.




Back to the shootings issue...

Its not across the board it is in the no go zones. That pretty much it.


Its all gang on gang.


I don't understand why he does not comprehend this.




He also overrates taxes and impending Doom.


Chicago will never implode like the majority black major cities that happened to quite a few from the 70's-2000's

Due to the central nature of the Chicagoland area and great Metra access to DownTown, tons of wealthy family's continued to work downtown and live in a nice Burb with a great school district. And a very many still do, esp older more establish families.

If you have kids or plan to the School district will be your most important decision where to grow strong roots. If you are free of than your options are endless and at 1/4 the cost of housing than what you would get on the coasts.





If anything if you have been following the city is getting higher income peoples as some of the poorest are moving away.


That's in the data.



A drop in population matters real little in the grand scheme of things.

If anything it is more congested now than it ever was.


Rent first...

Find your bearings and in a year or two find you place.


Its hard to not know the region and plopping down on an area you know nothing about, esp in a region of 10 million people.


I would not purchase anything in any major city in the USA without feeling the lay of the land and the commute times to work. BTW what line of work are you in. Its not like Chicago would pay half of the coasts, more like 75-85% from what I have been gathering through the years in multiple industries and workplaces. A good purchase price and a high pay with all of the amenities of Chicago has to offer your savings alone will let you retire years earlier than higher home priced cities.


What's your rush?


BTW Chicago for the average person or traveler is extremely safe.

If you are smart enough to stay away with shady hoods its as safe as Des Moines Iowa that has its own hoods too.



If you are not a gang member I think you will live to see another day here.





BTW ardecila IMO west of the united center is to far to the far west for this OP, that's right on the doorstep of the far West side....

Originally Posted by ardecila

There isn't a whole ton of condo inventory in "not entirely gentrified" neighborhoods. The bulk of the city's condos are concentrated in fully-gentrified neighborhoods on the North Side where property taxes and COL will be high. The last 10 years of booming growth have brought very few new condos on the market and actually removed quite a bit of condos through deconversions (see River City). Developers who sat on a bunch of inventory through the rough years either started renting out the units and making a killing, or sold to investors who are doing the same.

That being said, you should look at the area just west of United Center... new Green Line station at Damen will be opening around 2 years from now, and it still has a lot of small pre-recession condo buildings with good deals.

No for this OP because he is not a pioneer and would like a large buffer safe zone around him.


He has so many other options than this.


Last time TUP posted it sounded like he was going to PM him and put him in one of his Pilsen buildings.

Again.

Where you live and how close to transportation, affordability and comfort levels seems to be his highest priority. Sound like he already wants a gentrified or already strong white area that never went to crap. Again lots of choices there too.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

I've never been in the position to pick a city and stick with it because of my past life and events I couldn't control, so I want to make sure I make the best possible choice possible.

For sure, you want to do your due diligence for such an important life decision.

Just remember that the reality of actually living in many parts of Chicago is quite a bit different than the national news media would have you believe.

It's not that the pension crisis or violent crime aren't serious issues (they most certainly are), but they do not paint the full and complete picture of living here. Not by a long shot.

Then again, I've never been in your shoes. I never had to chose Chicago; Chicago chose me. Living anywhere else has never really been up for debate in my mind. My wife and I did toy with idea of moving up to Milwaukee (her family lives up there), but life is too short to be surrounded by fucking cheesehead packer fans for the rest of your life.

I kid (sort of), Milwaukee is a fine city, but I'm just a hopeless Chicagoan. Born. Live. Die. BEAR DOWN!

[Kenmore]

i'd consider the suburbs if I was u, seems more your speed

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by Kenmore

i'd consider the suburbs if I was u, seems more your speed

Yeah, that makes total sense. I should live in a place where the taxes are...higher in some cases?

Also, asking about crime from locals is now...a bad thing?

I live in Norfolk VA, look it up Kenmore. It's not exactly Disney. I am asking people from Chicago how the city is in real life. I can only view a place I don't live in through the lenses of an outsider. This view is impacted by everything I see about the city, on here and on tv etc.. Hence, I am asking people I trust when it comes to these types of questions.

Also, I live in the most urban zip in my area(on purpose) and I lived in Tokyo for 4 years, please go away.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

Yeah, that makes total sense. I should live in a place where the taxes are...higher in some cases?

Also, asking about crime from locals is now...a bad thing?

I live in Norfolk VA, look it up Kenmore. It's not exactly Disney. I am asking people from Chicago how the city is in real life. I can only view a place I don't live in through the lenses of an outsider. This view is impacted by everything I see about the city, on here and on tv etc.. Hence, I am asking people I trust when it comes to these types of questions.

Also, I live in the most urban zip in my area(on purpose) and I lived in Tokyo for 4 years, please go away.

Don't feed our little in house troll

[Steely Dan]

^^ jtown, kenmore is our resident forum malcontent. just ignore him, everyone else does.

coming from norfolk, VA, i think your biggest concern about moving to chicago should probably be winter. chicago winters are no joke, and many people simply can't hack 'em (hence why every other person you meet in phoenix is "from chicago").

more than violent crime in ghettos that you will never visit, or the specter of future property tax increases, our long cold winters will almost certainly have a bigger impact on your day to day life if you do indeed end up moving here.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^^ jtown, kenmore is our resident forum malcontent. just ignore him, everyone else does.

coming from norfolk, VA, i think your biggest concern about moving to chicago should probably be winter. chicago winters are no joke, and many people simply can't hack 'em (hence why every other person you meet in phoenix is "from chicago").

more than violent crime in ghettos that you will never visit, or the specter of future property tax increases, our long cold winters will almost certainly have a bigger impact on your day to day life if you do indeed end up moving here.

Good advice everyone lol

Yeah, no kidding its taken almost 10 years to convince the gf that she can survive the winters. Don't laugh at this, but we had like a solid 5 days of temps around 8 here with windchills way below that a few years ago. We both found that if we *dressed accordingly* we could survive. I worry about winters for her more than me.

But yes, I am scared lol but I am tired of the summers here, in Arkansas, and in Texas. So we'll see.

[Handro]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

Don't laugh at this, but we had like a solid 5 days of temps around 8 here with windchills way below that a few years ago. We both found that if we *dressed accordingly* we could survive. I worry about winters for her more than me.

That's pretty damn cold. Average highs in Chicago in January (coldest month) are about 30 degrees. Every year you can expect some single digit days but it doesn't stay that way consistently (this years record setting winter not withstanding).

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by Handro

That's pretty damn cold. Average highs in Chicago in January (coldest month) are about 30 degrees. Every year you can expect some single digit days but it doesn't stay that way consistently (this years record setting winter not withstanding).

Maybe I exaggerated a bit...it could have been closer to 12 lol but yeah good to hear!

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

At my age I don't want to move anymore. So eventually(saving up now) I would like to buy. But I will be renting first, yes. My concerns, from the start, have been where is Chicago heading, not necessarily where it is(when it comes to taxes anyways). Currently, the taxes are high, but the value certainly is still there. I just don't know what it will look like in 5 years.

Yeah, we've been looking all over the city. Condos(not in 3-flats) seem to have really high HOA fees(stunned us) so we would like a smaller building in a safe, yet not entirely gentrified hood. Of course thats at least 2 years away, so we'll see.

A "positive" aspect of high HOAs (aside from the obvious ones like having your utilities bundled in and front-loading major maintenance expenses) is that they hold down the value of the unit, making you less exposed to property tax increases.

If city property owners are indeed staring down the barrel of a further 25%+ of property tax increases in the next few years, the $200k unit with a $1000 HO assessment looks a bit less troubling than the $400k unit with $500 HO assessment. And really, don't forget utilities costs - heat and cable/internet (almost always included in higher assessment buildings) can be the equivalent of $250+ dollars a month, especially once you're no longer getting that sweet promo rate from Comcast.

Note that maintaining highrise infrastructure and full-time staffing are inherently expensive, so be wary of a building with very low assessments. A minimum wage security guard watching videos on their phone is not the same as a professional union doorman, though staffing the latter round the clock is not something everyone wants or needs. A low-rise walkup building has a lot less that can go wrong physically and even when it does, it is less complicated and less expensive to fix. But high-rises with actual doormen also almost never have burglaries, missing packages, persistent nuisance neighbors, or other such funny business that often comes with cramming lots of humans in one place.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

A "positive" aspect of high HOAs (aside from the obvious ones like having your utilities bundled in and front-loading major maintenance expenses) is that they hold down the value of the unit, making you less exposed to property tax increases.

If city property owners are indeed staring down the barrel of a further 25%+ of property tax increases in the next few years, the $200k unit with a $1000 HO assessment looks a bit less troubling than the $400k unit with $500 HO assessment. And really, don't forget utilities costs - heat and cable/internet (almost always included in higher assessment buildings) can be the equivalent of $250+ dollars a month, especially once you're no longer getting that sweet promo rate from Comcast.

Note that maintaining highrise infrastructure and full-time staffing are inherently expensive, so be wary of a building with very low assessments. A minimum wage security guard watching videos on their phone is not the same as a professional union doorman, though staffing the latter round the clock is not something everyone wants or needs. A low-rise walkup building has a lot less that can go wrong physically and even when it does, it is less complicated and less expensive to fix. But high-rises with actual doormen also almost never have burglaries, missing packages, persistent nuisance neighbors, or other such funny business that often comes with cramming lots of humans in one place.

Yeah, I just moved from a Pilsen walkup to a midrise with a doorman, and absolutely the "funny business" is gone. It's actually strange to me how calm and "sterile" everything feels...

I miss having a backyard where I could throw a party or use power tools and nobody would give a shit, but there's no doubt I have much greater quiet and security now.

[Baronvonellis]

Originally Posted by Natoma

Now here's an idea. Imagine rebuilding the Washington Park Racetrack at it's original location in Washington Park. Like so many other tracks, it could be a combined racetrack and casino.

Then we could move the Obama Library back to the Washington Park location and make one big combined facility: The Washington Park Club Racetrack, Casino and Obama Library!



Although some further digging shows that the historic racetrack was actually south of the existing park, in what's now Washington Park Subdivision (between 6oth and 63rd).

I love the debonair fashions they had back then to go to sporting events. The photo looks just like the racing scene from My Fair Lady. Imagine, if you saw people at bears games with 3 piece suits and top hats!!! My how society has crumbled since then.

[the urban politician]

^ Couldn't agree more. Today people look terrible.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Couldn't agree more. Today people look terrible.

we may look terrible, but at least were billions of times more comfortable.

the idea of standing in the sun on a summer afternoon in a 3 piece suit and top hat makes me think about sucking on the business end of a shotgun.

t-shirt, cargo shorts, and flips FTW!

[Skyguy_7]

^But people used to do it. They used to put forth the effort out of courtesy for others (like masking bad breath) and self respect.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Skyguy_7

^But people used to do it.

people used to do all kinds of stupid shit.

time (and fashion) marches on.

[Baronvonellis]

If you've ever seen Miami Vice, they used to wear 3 piece suits in Miami in the heat. A Chicago summer day is nothing compared to Miami. People used to put in an effort to look good not even that long ago, and maintain a classy sophisticated appearance in public.

I actually bought a white Miami Vice style suit recently, you wont believe how many compliments I get from it. It only cost $30 on amazon, but just putting some effort in your appearance goes a long way.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Baronvonellis

I actually bought a white Miami Vice style suit recently, you wont believe how many compliments I get from it.

the wonderful part about living in a free society is that if you want to wear a 3-piece suit on a warm sunny day, you are entirely free to do so.

and i am entirely free to not do so.

everybody wins!

[west-town-brad]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

people used to do all kinds of stupid shit.

time (and fashion) marches on.

People also used to die at 55 years old. Maybe it was all the clothes?

[marothisu]

One of my great grandfathers was born in the early 1880s - grew up upper class NYC and that part of my family at the time was more or less in the fashion industry until the 1920s or early 1930s. They were all used to wearing nice clothing and suits.

We have a ton of pictures of him and literally only two pictures of him not in at least a tie let alone a suit. One is at the beach in NYC and the other is in Death Valley where he's still wearing long black pants and a long sleeve button up shirt (mid 1950s). We have pictures of him in the Bahamas and Jamaica in 1903 in literal jungle - and he's wearing a suit jacket (interestingly some of the natives were too but they also grew up there). On a ship near the Panama Canal? In a suit. Mountains of Idaho? In a suit. Hanging out in my grandparents' driveway while everyone else is dressed casually? In a suit. Hanging outside in Palm Springs? In a suit. At Niagara Falls next to the falls? In a suit.

He made some bad investments in the late 1920s or early 1930s and he went to at most normal middle class (maybe even lower middle class) - moved to LA. Took a normal job. Still wore the suit everywhere and apparently would walk 3+ miles to work everyday in a suit because he loved walking - in the valley of LA which gets to over 100 in the summer. I love dressing well and do often, but people were on another crazy level back then all together. There's a point sometimes where you say "yeah maybe i should wear a tshirt right now.."


On another note, there's some eerie pictures of him, especially at mid age, where he looks like Rahm Emanuel LOL.