Crime in Chicago

To all those trolls who constantly argue about how "awesome" the Chicago lakefront is during the summer, here is a sobering reminder of the awfully high crime rate in the city.

I live near north avenue beach and personally witnessed hundreds of thugs roaming in my neighborhood.

http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/2010/05/lakefro…

 
h.e.pennypacker:
You call it a problem, I call it a potential opportunity to use my S&W in the name of self-protection.

...In all seriousness, it is a big problem. Not enough cops in the city.

Whenever liberals are in charge, a city turns into a violent cesspool. NYC experienced its revival under a tough republican mayor, Rudy Giuliani, who knew that the best way to combat crime was to kick ass instead of handing out more welfare checks.

 

the primary reason is because the IDIOTIC city government, back in the 50s and 60s decided to build the Cabrini Green Housing Projects smack dab in the middle of one of Chicago's nicest areas. Now they have torn most of it down, I think about 5000 tenants still remain in one or two buildings, and the rest of the area has been turned into a "mixed income" neighborhood, which as we all know = white flight.

also, it's summer time, and that's when the junebugs start porchin' out

 

Chicago cops are dirty, which definitely doesn't help the situation.

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 
AMack:
Thats pretty scary shit. I'm moving to Chicago in September and will be living alone and if things are really true, i'm not lookin forward to it anymore.

damn i miss London.

the nice parts of chicago are still pretty safe. i've been living here for more than 5 years and not suffered a single incident. best advice is to not walk home drunk late at night; take a cab. and always be aware of your surroundings. these thugs take advantage of women and guys who seem "lost" or "unaware."

regarding north avenue beach in particular, i noticed the drastic change last summer when i began seeing more thugs from the south side arrive in the gold coast via public transportation. try to avoid that area on saturday and sunday afternoons when these thugs are looking for trouble.

 
Best Response

As I look into B-school more and more. It seems all the decent ones exception being Stanford, and possibly Cambridge, MA (Harvard) seem to be not the greatest/safe area or middle of nowhere (Tuck) and freezing your balls off. I grew up in a city and know about to "handle" myself and not look like a easy target. But still, rather not deal with it. My friend was held up by a gun one time when out drinking, at that point just give up the wallet and let it be.

Why can't there is a happy medium. A great school, safe, and decently fun. Is Kellogg (NWU) located in Chicago or like UG in Evanston? How's Columbia's B-school location in Harlem?

I understand the need of establish lower-income housing. But why does very g'dam politician place them in centrally located area, downtown, around metros, and previous "nice" areas. This just brings down the attractiveness and safety of the areas, that is until the hispters come and gentrify it.

----------------------------------------------------------------- Hug It Out
 

Kellog is located in Evanston, which is a nice and generally safe area.

I was admitted to Chicago for undergrad- I really liked U Chicago b/c of its economics department, but I didn't want to be in the ghetto so I went elsewhere. It's a real shame that such a good school is located in such a godawful part of town.

as for the recent north ave beach infestation, you can blame that on Obama. now that we have a "black" president, they getting uppity in the hood.

 
Affirmative_Action_Walrus:
Kellog is located in Evanston, which is a nice and generally safe area.

I was admitted to Chicago for undergrad- I really liked U Chicago b/c of its economics department, but I didn't want to be in the ghetto so I went elsewhere. It's a real shame that such a good school is located in such a godawful part of town.

as for the recent north ave beach infestation, you can blame that on Obama. now that we have a "black" president, they getting uppity in the hood.

i agree with your last sentence. i noticed black thugs coming into that area in the summer of 2009, during Obama's first year. many of them believe that they can violate the basic laws of civilization with impunity because of Obama and white guilt.

 
jjc1122:
Affirmative_Action_Walrus:
as for the recent north ave beach infestation, you can blame that on Obama. now that we have a "black" president, they getting uppity in the hood.

i agree with your last sentence. i noticed black thugs coming into that area in the summer of 2009, during Obama's first year. many of them believe that they can violate the basic laws of civilization with impunity because of Obama and white guilt.

I really hope some uppity black thugs stab you two in the face while you're making out on north ave beach.

 
Affirmative_Action_Walrus:
they getting uppity in the hood.

That's a real life observation? Yeah ok. That sort of stuff may be funny when you're joking around with your black friends, but it's a little disconcerting in written form on an anonymous forum.

Btw, I do not suffer from any white/liberal guilt or whatever it's called these days, I simply grew up in "the ghetto" and find some of the posts here overly judgmental.

 
GoodBread:
Affirmative_Action_Walrus:
they getting uppity in the hood.

That's a real life observation? Yeah ok. That sort of stuff may be funny when you're joking around with your black friends, but it's a little disconcerting in written form on an anonymous forum.

Btw, I do not suffer from any white/liberal guilt or whatever it's called these days, I simply grew up in "the ghetto" and find some of the posts here overly judgmental.

I can't speak for Affirmative_Action, but I'm making my judgment based on both real-life observation and FBI crime data. Blacks are 12% of the U.S. population but account for more than half of the violent crime in this country. And in major cities like Chicago and NYC, they're responsible for most of the crime. Shootings and savage beatings are the norm in most black neighborhoods here in Chicago.

And regarding schools, there are very few black schools that can compete with top white and asian schools. That's just a fact. If that makes me racist, oh well.

 
GoodBread:
Affirmative_Action_Walrus:
they getting uppity in the hood.

That's a real life observation? Yeah ok. That sort of stuff may be funny when you're joking around with your black friends, but it's a little disconcerting in written form on an anonymous forum.

Btw, I do not suffer from any white/liberal guilt or whatever it's called these days, I simply grew up in "the ghetto" and find some of the posts here overly judgmental.

I can't speak for Affirmative_Action, but I'm making my judgment based on both real-life observation and FBI crime data. Blacks are 12% of the U.S. population but account for more than half of the violent crime in this country. And in major cities like Chicago and NYC, they're responsible for most of the crime. Shootings and savage beatings are the norm in most black neighborhoods here in Chicago.

And regarding schools, there are very few black schools that can compete with top white and asian schools. That's just a fact. If that makes me racist, oh well.

 
GoodBread:
Affirmative_Action_Walrus:
they getting uppity in the hood.

That's a real life observation? Yeah ok. That sort of stuff may be funny when you're joking around with your black friends, but it's a little disconcerting in written form on an anonymous forum.

Btw, I do not suffer from any white/liberal guilt or whatever it's called these days, I simply grew up in "the ghetto" and find some of the posts here overly judgmental.

lol

nothing more disconcerting than anonymous stuff posted under the monkeying around section of an internet forum. will you be tossing and turning this evening, in a disconcerted rythm?

 

harvard business is actually in boston, across the charles river from the main cambridge campus. unbelievable campus, makes me drool when i think about HBS.

columbia's location is awful but not dangerous. the rise of columbia as a desirable school choice has coincided wit the decline of crime in NYC. harlem is nearby, but it's not dangerous. just don't go north of 130th street or east of frederick douglass, and you'll be fine. most columbia b-students hang out downtown.

don't get me started on how badly the democrats run major cities. NYC became a livable city only because a tough conservative mayor, Rudy, started cracking down on thugs rather than feeling sorry for them, which is exactly what democrats do. as for housing, liberals have distorted the market price by supporting rent control and outrageous subsidies like NYC's 80/20 program, that allows poor people to live in luxury manhattan apartment buildings at like 10% of the normal market rate. it's truly disgusting.

 

Hmm, thanks guys. How's UPenn's B-school area? I visited for undergrad, it seemed ok, but you can't really tell unless it's really bad or really good in my opinion.

----------------------------------------------------------------- Hug It Out
 
GoodBread:
For hoping that on the internet. No one would ever have the rocks to do that to me.

But seriously, some of these comments are just short of wildly racist.

I just did

I disagree that such comments are racist- they are simply real life observations if they do come across as racist, well....c'est la vie!

if you want to see what racist comments look like, check out stormfront.org lol

 
GoodBread:
For hoping that on the internet. No one would ever have the rocks to do that to me.

But seriously, some of these comments are just short of wildly racist.

Goodbread, you need to calm down boyee!

I disagree that such comments are racist- they are simply real life observations if they do come across as racist, well....c'est la vie!

if you want to see what racist comments look like, check out stormfront.org lol

 
Affirmative_Action_Walrus:
GoodBread:
For hoping that on the internet. No one would ever have the rocks to do that to me.

But seriously, some of these comments are just short of wildly racist.

Goodbread, you need to calm down boyee!

I disagree that such comments are racist- they are simply real life observations if they do come across as racist, well....c'est la vie!

if you want to see what racist comments look like, check out stormfront.org lol

Stormfront doesn't count since some of the members actually are okay with Asians. Also, Stormfront is a white "nationalist" website, ergo not racist.

If you want racism, checkout chimpout.com

 

My question is if you see black male dressed a certain way do you assume "Thug" or are you basing this on the activites that individuals do. Before Kanye switched the hip hop dress code up, you could have walked through any middle class black neighboorhood in ATL, DC, etc. and said look at all these thugs, this area is dangerous. When in reality it would have been a bunch of college bound kids that embraced the hip hop culture. Now the "in thing" in hip hop is to look as gay as possible with the skinny jeans and what not. Point is, too many people let perceptions become their reality. I hate the fact that every black neighboorhood is considered a bad neighboorhood, every majority black high school is considered a bad school.

True, Chicago has a crazy amount of violence, but it's mostly gang members and dope boyz shooting each other up. Unless you're making frequent trips to the West Side or the Wild Hunnids, you really shouldn't have much to worry about.

 

[quote=AnthonyD1982]Yes, lets keep the comments PC. Even if they are valid observations you should be smart enough to not say them out loud and make sure you use something convoluted and no blatantly obvious as thug,

I think Chicago is fine, just stay in the areas that are primarily well off.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5d2yn_bill-cosby-speaks-out-about-bla…]

also, North Ave beach is in one of the nicest parts of Chicago, so there goes that theory...

 

Well I am sure it is nice when daylight is out. I think like 10 people should just sit in their cars and call the police all the time and they will stop the shit real fast. I live in Philly man, I feel everyone's pain. You want a safe school, go to Cornell. Place is totally safe.

 

Should you be concerned going through areas in any city in the world that have much higher crime rates than the rest of the city? Use common sense, are you going to a sketchy area alone, on foot and in the middle of the night on Saturday? Or running an errand at 2pm on a Tuesday?

Regardless of the area I'm in or city I'm in I'll walk with good posture, hands out of my pockets like I'm carrying a roll of dimes in each hand, head up, in a not fucking around pace and will periodically look over my shoulder. Or at a bar I'll never stand with my back to the crowd unless I'm walking through, back to the wall, bar, corner etc. Effectively the image I put off is, don't fuck with me.

 

Most cities that have high crime rate have it concentrated in bad areas. Pretty easy to avoid and recognize them. Keep your wits about you if you are rolling around at night and you should be fine.

 

I go to school in Chicago. Crime is highly concentrated and most tend to be black-on-black incidents. Obviously you need to be smart and careful at night but considering that you'll be working in downtown Chi and living in a nice neighborhood, you'll be fine.

 

You are correct crime is concentrated mostly in the south side of the city, once you are south past the White Sox stadium you can end up in some shady areas. But just like any other densely populated place, stay aware of your surroundings and trust your instincts. Downtown and Northside neighborhoods are very safe so you should not worry about it too much.

"When you expect things to happen - strangely enough - they do happen." - JP Morgan
 

You have to worry less in any city if you have more money simply because you can live in the nicer parts, afford to do daily things in those parts, take Uber/cabs when it's late and most likely work in a nicer part of town (CBD's tend to be be well policed). Now if you jump in your M5 and decide to pick up a bag of coke on the streets at 2 am on the Southside, Spanish Harlem or North Philly you'll put yourself in danger but then you have deeper issues.

As others have said, just stay alert to your surroundings and don't do foolish things. And if you do get mugged or something like that just give them whatever they ask for and don't try to be an action hero.

 
Dingdong08:

You have to worry less in any city if you have more money simply because you can live in the nicer parts, afford to do daily things in those parts, take Uber/cabs when it's late and most likely work in a nicer part of town (CBD's tend to be be well policed). Now if you jump in your M5 and decide to pick up a bag of coke on the streets at 2 am on the Southside, Spanish Harlem or North Philly you'll put yourself in danger but then you have deeper issues.

As others have said, just stay alert to your surroundings and don't do foolish things. And if you do get mugged or something like that just give them whatever they ask for and don't try to be an action hero.

Spanish Harlem is pretty safe these days. NYC isn't what it was 20 years ago or even 10 years ago. East New York on the hand, stay the fuck away.

 
adapt or die:

This constant WSO paranoia about crime is really weak. When it comes to neighborhoods, you get what you pay for.

I agree with you in general, but River North and Gold Coast, in particular, are areas that get dangerous more often than they should.

In River North, I was on Grand Ave. and saw ~20 guys with baseball bats and sticks and whatnot coming at my group. Luckily, as they closed on us, there was a good bit of traffic on the sidewalk and they ran into the street so we didn't have to meet them head on and were able to get behind a parked car where they'd have to jump over it to get at us. They had already hit some people apparently, and unknown to them, they were running straight into a police choke-point. This was around 7pm and it wasn't even dark yet.

Avoid anywhere you can get squeezed in from front and behind (staircases, for example). Happened to me recently and when they tried to block me off I snapped on them and reached in my pocket for the keys to go at them with (I think they thought it might be worse than keys I was about to pull out) and we all went on our way. It was iffy because I was at a significant disadvantage with no options for getting away should they have tried to press it. Avoid staircases at night, even in a nice area. This was River North also, but my dumb mistake for walking up the staircase to begin with.

That said, I've never felt unsafe in Lincoln Park or Lakeview. Further to the north is better, even if the commute to work down to the loop is a little longer. Living in the Loop or just north of the river to "be safe" is a myth, trust me. I'm moving further up north when my lease is out.

 

From Chicago, you'll be fine. Tons of crime in Chicago but the city is enormous. You will know instantly when you don't belong in an area.

Fly, Fight, and Win.
 

Just dont look like a target and you'll be fine.

and in chicago, it isnt really black-on-black crime. There's no such thing. People commit crimes that are closest to them, and people tend to live around their race...

It's really poor-on-poor. Stay out of the poor neighborhoods, dont look like a gump, and you'll be straight.

 

I am from a pretty bad area in Chicago and I must say it is one of the most diverse cities in terms of makeup but it probably the most segregated city I have been to in this country. You can literally draw on a map where just about every race and ethnicity live. And like MBA said it is not helping the city economically or socially. I actually have no idea how to change this dynamic as better real estate development has started to make its way further south and west out of downtown it will only get worse as poorer minority and immigrant population get pushed further south and west to the actual outskirts of the city.

"When you expect things to happen - strangely enough - they do happen." - JP Morgan
 

If I could live in one of the nicest/safest neighborhoods in the city on $65k a year, so can you. The city is extremely safe outside of the south-side. I'd suggest River North, Gold Coast, Old town, Lincoln Park.

If you have any questions I can try to help out. I'm a current resident in Chicago.

 

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"When you expect things to happen - strangely enough - they do happen." - JP Morgan

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