i really like our new neighborhood. i would have thought that living in the one of the densest areas of chicago would be the best, but it's not. despite being really clean, and full of people who aren't overly dangerous, lakeview isn't all that safe.
on the day we moved out, someone else was 'moving out' on the next cross street (Surf). except they weren't. someone's apartment was completely ransacked. 2 computers, a tv, an entertainment system, a lot of other small, expensive appliances.
in the middle of the day, with a hundred or more people walking by. why did no one stop them, or call the police? because they rented a u-haul, and calmly carried out the items, arranging them neatly in the truck. it looked like they were moving. no one actually knew the person whose apartment was taken, despite living 1 or 2 doors away, so no one knew it was the wrong guy.
the new apartment in bucktown is safer, because there are fewer people, oddly enough. so was the old apartment in ukranian village. despite ashland and chicago avenues being not so safe, walton was 'guarded' by the families who hung out on their porches watching their kids play. as the neighborhood gentrifies, and fills up with recent college grads living in 3 flats, it will become less safe, but for now, it's ok.
the new neighborhood is similar. there are a lot of new families who hang around outside, people say hi to each other, and it's quiet enough (outside of the church bells) that you can hear if something happens in the street. this goes against my thinking that denser is always better, so it pains me to suggest that living in high-rises is bad, but i'm not sure what other conclusion to draw.
i really like our new neighborhood. i would have thought that living in the one of the densest areas of chicago would be the best, but it’s not. despite being really clean, and full of people who aren’t overly dangerous, lakeview isn’t all that safe.
on the day we moved out, someone else was [...]
4 Comments
I disagree.
The old neighbourhood was unsafe due to its anonymity, yes. That’s not entirely due to the population density. That area is almost entirely rented, whereas our new neighbourhood is mostly owned. Renting tends to equal lots of people moving on a regular basis. Our current neighbourhood is still NOTHING compared to my condo back in Victoria, which I think was more densely populated than our current neighbourhood. The difference is that all the buildings were condos and everyone knew everyone else. If a friend tried to visit me and I didn’t go downstairs to meet them at the door, they’d be questioned on their way up - who were they here to see, why were they here, where were they going - you’d never see that in our current neighbourhood.
It was something that was noted way back during the industrial revolution. As soon as people became more transient and stopped knowing their neighbours, the crime rates shot up.
that’s definately a large part of the difference.
yeah, our new neighborhood less dense than your old neighborhood, you probably had 50-ish units in that building (compared to our dozen houses, only a couple of which have multiple apartments). our street in lakeview, though, had 3, 60+ unit buildings on each side of the street. it’s hard to really know that many people, no matter how long you live there.
i suppose you would still know your building fairly well, so maybe you’re right.
I know I live in “suburbia”, but I barely know my neighbors and don’t speak to them at all (except for one), but I do know that if someone pulled up a U-Haul and started pulling my stuff out, they’d know in a flash. And we don’t even have police. I like it a lot compared to Lombard. 5,000 people here. 40,000 there. I think I rebelled in my own little way by moving to a small-town. I think I’d even be happier if there were less people here. Kendra is from a town of
i hope wordpress didn’t cut you off.
that’s hilarious and awesome that you would think of it as rebelling, too.
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