What's so bad about Summit? (Chicago, Naperville: real estate, crimes, house)

[prairiestate]

Originally Posted by cs2010

I'm thinking about buying a home 3 blocks west of Harlem near Portillos. I have 2 sons a 10 year old and 1 year old. The house is beautiful however I'm scared of rumors. Is the gang activity strong because I do not want to put my children in harms way. The block looks decent enough. Where do the gangs boarder at?

You should be okay there. You really just want to avoid the south end of Summit. I've worked for a firm that was involved in construction work south of 63rd St., and we needed a police escort at times due to threats from gang members. I've also driven down Archer late in the evening and have seen drug dealing near 63rd. The area near Portillos is almost all single family homes and close to Garfield Ridge, so it will probably be fine.

[chicago103]

I know I made a point of pointing out in the Chicago forum when I promote living in the city that I don't go to the suburban forum and try to get people to move to the city but I will make an exception here because this is a suburb that literally borders the city and only a few blocks away from where I live.

I live in Chicago in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood literally 200 feet from the Walgreens at Archer and Harlem that the OP talked about, Summit is just one block away from me and across Harlem Avenue. I am also very familiar with the northern part of Summit, I go to Saint Joseph's Catholic church in Summit and walk to restaurants (such as Portillos) and convinence stores in Summit occassionaly. Pretty much the whole part of Summit from about 57th Street to the Metra/Amtrak station and between Harlem and the Archer/1st Avenue turn I am familar with as a pedestrian.

In general I would say that Garfield Ridge on the the Chicago side (East) of Harlem Avenue is a slightly better place to live than Summit due to some issues that people brought up and the fact that the housing stock is a bit older and a little more depressed on that side of Harlem. However it is far from bad by any stretch of the imagination in the northern part of Summit.

To me personally Garfield Ridge (more specifically the eastern half of the area around Archer/Harlem) is better because it gives you the prestige of having a city of Chicago address in an affordable and family friendly environment. You have better public transit access with the CTA bus turnaround that gives you nearly 24 hour access to the Orange Line and thus downtown and the rest of the city. Also there are slightly more businesses to walk to on the Chicago side of Harlem. I live here without the need for a car. As far as the "shady" people by Walgreens they are few and far between and usually they just ask for money but are not violent, they never cause problems to the people living in the houses just a few hundred feet away like me.

That being said for a suburb I consider Summit to be rather nice. You have Metra/Amtrak access for commutting and you can still walk to CTA and Pace bus stops. The community is rather human scaled and walkable and thus you won't need a car for everything, you can actually walk to businesses. Some people might laugh at this but in some ways Summit has a bit of a Norman Rockwell like feel to it, it just feels old fashioned in that way or perhaps a better analogy would be if you are familiar with that move "A Christmas Story" the neighborhood in that movie and the houses and school are just like Summit. In my view Summit in spite of its minor problems has hundreds of times more charm than your average Chicagoland sprawlburb.

Overall though for the most part sides of Harlem Avenue centered around Archer Avenue are pretty similar. The only reason I am mentioned Garfield Ridge is because if someone would be slightly turned off by Summit for whatever reason instead of looking at suburbs further from the city (as so many people seem to do out of impulse) sometimes actually going into the outer parts of the city itself you might actually find better conditions than some inner suburbs.

[Humboldt1]

Chicago 103,

Prestige of having Chicago address? I have never heard this before. How about the prestigous CPS?

How close are you to Midway? I would take a sprawl burb such as Naperville any day over an area like Summit or Garfield Ridge, though obviously it costs more.

[ofcjim40]

I grew up and spent the better part of my life living in Garfield Ridge. To me it will always be my childhood neighborhood. If I had to live in Chicago, that is where I would pick. BUT I don't have to and have lived out in the Burbs for a long while now. Now when I visit the neighborhood, I realize how much happier I am to live in the suburbs and really miss nothing from there. My best food memory of the area was Yellow Sub and now that's been closed forever. Ha. I love parking on a driveway and attached garage, space between houses, snow plows actually hit my street, better parks, bike trails, etc. better food choices and less of a rundown feel. A few of the reasons I will never return to Chicago.

[SJaye]

At the risk of slightly veering off the original topic of this particular forum: There is a difference between someone from the city ALWAYS recommending that people move to the city just because they like it better and can't envision why anybody would feel differently, and someone recommending that a certain particular person live in the city based on their situation and what they feel would be best for them. Same goes for people that encourage living in the suburbs.

The city and the suburbs both exist, and appeal to different people with different tastes/lifestyle choices. I appreciate this. I think what is annoying is people who do not appreciate this, and come on to a forum with a bias so great that the advise they give becomes suspect.

As far as Garfield Ridge/ Clearing vs. Summit, I don't really see how life would be too much different on one side of Harlem vs. the other. There are some borders, like Austin Ave. between Chicago and Oak Park, that make all the difference in the world, but this one doesn't. CPS is a mess, but I have never known Summit to have excellent schools.

[prairiestate]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

Chicago 103,

Prestige of having Chicago address? I have never heard this before. How about the prestigous CPS?

How close are you to Midway? I would take a sprawl burb such as Naperville any day over an area like Summit or Garfield Ridge, though obviously it costs more.

Yeah, there's no prestige in living in a world class city. You would never hear anyone bragging about living in Paris or London, but you wouldn't be able to get them to shut up about their apartment in the glamorous Paris suburbs.

[Mom2MEX]

If you were to move by Clearing, I would stay in Dore Elementary School's boundaries. I know it is a CPS school but it is one of the higher performing schools in the neighborhood. To me, if the child has loving and supporting parents the child will do well in any school environment. I known people who graduated from Kennedy HS in the 90s who are lawyers now, and other successful professions. I graduated from Kennedy also.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by prairiestate

Yeah, there's no prestige in living in a world class city. You would never hear anyone bragging about living in Paris or London, but you wouldn't be able to get them to shut up about their apartment in the glamorous Paris suburbs.

Prestige in living in the Hancock or on East LSD? Probably. Prestige in living in Englewood? Not so much.

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by chicago103

Some people might laugh at this but in some ways Summit has a bit of a Norman Rockwell like feel to it, it just feels old fashioned in that way or perhaps a better analogy would be if you are familiar with that move "A Christmas Story" the neighborhood in that movie and the houses and school are just like Summit.

There's something I always liked about Summit too. So sleepy. I don't pretend to know much about the area -- just what I saw driving through while avoiding traffic on the Stevenson, but it had an old school vibe.

[ofcjim40]

Originally Posted by aragx6

There's something I always liked about Summit too. So sleepy. I don't pretend to know much about the area -- just what I saw driving through while avoiding traffic on the Stevenson, but it had an old school vibe.

There is a world of difference in Garfield Ridge compared to Summit. There was nothing sleepy about Summit. When I worked on a neighboring PD there we assisted them all the time. Gang bangers, shootings and dope is what you get there. I remember having to sit in the rain with a shotgun, along with a lot of other Officers, the night a scumbag tried to murder a Summit Officer, but luckily the Summit Officer was able to protect himself in time and shoot dead the offender. From there the neighborhood went up for grabs with people throwing stuff at us for hours and yelling death threats. Most of Summit is middle to lower class in economics. The town has no money and no real industry. SJaye, yes, ALOT can be different when you cross over one street. I'm not the biggest pro-Chicago guy, but there is no comparing Summit to Garfield Ridge or Clearing (where a high number of CPD and CFD live).