Is Elmwood Park worth moving to? (Des Plaines, Berwyn: neighborhood, to buy, construction)

[Curious J32]

As a young adult who has (recently) gone to school and lived in Elmwood Park, I can give some insight (on some of the negative things mentioned) that maybe some of the adults cannot.

1. Yes, there is a lot of crime in Elmwood Park that is not reported.
2. Drug use among teens is high.
3. The borders of Elmwood Park are shady.
4. The education was not that great.
5. People are fairly cold.
6. It is getting more "ghetto" in terms of attitudes and lifestyle.

[chet everett]

The "canary in the coal mine" has long since died -- the decline in EP and other towns that were once pretty good options is going to be very hard to slow / reverse becuase too many people prefer to ignore the problems.

The mismatch between the kinds of things that the schools / community have promoted and the realities of how challenge the environment for those seeking work or trying to get into college are the main reasons that I continue to see little to be hopeful about.

Hopefully wise / motivated indivuals can overcome the situation they find themselves in and make a better life for themselves.

If you are still in school there are a lot of good places to start thinking about what sorts of skills can be aquired rather quickly and give you a fairly good shot at solid employment options. I've know a whole lot of people that have overcome there circumstances and gone on to have a pretty nice lifestyle IF they did not fall into the dead-end of "instant gratification / ongoing misery" that is inevitable with substance abuse and other such poor choices...

Originally Posted by Curious J32

As a young adult who has (recently) gone to school and lived in Elmwood Park, I can give some insight (on some of the negative things mentioned) that maybe some of the adults cannot.

1. Yes, there is a lot of crime in Elmwood Park that is not reported.
2. Drug use among teens is high.
3. The borders of Elmwood Park are shady.
4. The education was not that great.
5. People are fairly cold.
6. It is getting more "ghetto" in terms of attitudes and lifestyle.

[Hatchetman]

Originally Posted by Curious J32

1. Yes, there is a lot of crime in Elmwood Park that is not reported.
2. Drug use among teens is high.
3. The borders of Elmwood Park are shady.
4. The education was not that great.
5. People are fairly cold.
6. It is getting more "ghetto" in terms of attitudes and lifestyle.

1. Same as everywhere
2. ditto
3. No
4. Probably true at the high school level. That's why it's so cheap to live there.
5. Possibly depending on who you are and how you act.
6. How could a youngster possibly know how the attitude of a community changes over time?

[chet everett]

1. People that have no reason to fear police have a much greater likelihood of calling police than folks of questionable income (like those deal in illegal substances) or have ambiguous immigration status (lots of people with tourist visas are working under the table, a violation of their visa, but really as big a threat as some drug dealer hiding out from the Federales..)

2. Many valid research reports have reported a significant NATIONAL decrease in illegal drug use among teens. More parents with smaller families seem to be listening to the "don't ignore your kids" message that has lots of benefits for drug abuse and teen pregnancy...

3. Look at the data on the real estate sales and it is hard to argue that these areas are become less desirable faster than those neared the core of EP.

4. Yep. And the elementary levels is pretty scary too -- Illinois Interactive Report Card sort Elmwood Park

5. See the reply to #1 above... There is a high correlation to being involved in illegal / unsanctioned activities and avoiding contact with "outsiders".

6. If the change is happening so rapidly that one notices the differences from the start of high school to graduation in 4 years that is pretty solid and scary statement that things are RAPIDLY getting worse...

Some of these same things are happening in towns that border EP too. If folks in those towns ignore them they invite the same sort of declines.

[Hatchetman]

Chet, sometimes you make my head hurt. Elmwood Park's crime statistics are very good and improving. The place is perfectly safe, certainly safer than Oak Park. It is heavily Catholic and a lot of people send their kids to Catholic schools (there are at least 3-4 Catholic elementary schools in close proximity). I am sure that removes some of the more affluent and higher achieving kids from the public schools.

Have you ever been to Elmwood Park? I shop there, I go to restaurants there, I have friends that live there. In the four years I've been back in the area I have not seen any evidence of EP's decline. In fact I wish I had MOVED there given how much cheaper it is than Oak Park and since I send my kids to Catholic school anyway.

[Curious J32]

Originally Posted by Hatchetman

1. Same as everywhere

6. How could a youngster possibly know how the attitude of a community changes over time?

To clarify, I'm not a "youngster". I graduated from high school about 5 years ago so yes it is very easy to see the change over time, a very short time I might add.

From 7th to 8th grade (the same school building), the type of people that began going to EMS was very different. In 8th grade I can recall fights almost every day. I'm sure this happens in most schools, but compared to 7th grade (when there really weren't that many fights) 8th grade was very different. This is just MIDDLE SCHOOL that we're talking about.

Coming from those schools, I can say from experience that the attitudes of many of the people (not just students, but also the parents) in Elmwood Park is that of "I don't care".

[Curious J32]

Originally Posted by Hatchetman

Chet, sometimes you make my head hurt. The place is perfectly

I agree that Elmwood Park is fairly safe.

My point is that it IS indeed changing and becoming more shady and that the surrounding areas are also getting worse.

I know for a fact that many people don't hear everything that goes on around the town (and borders) or even see it. I know first hand because I do see it. Like the drive by that happened by EP, I know first hand because I know the person who was shot at, but that was never reported.

[Hatchetman]

OK, Curious. Let's look at it a little differently. What other communities offer a similar value in terms of commute to the loop, physical housing characteristics, crime rates, and schools?

[Curious J32]

I would agree that there probably isn't anything CLOSER that has what you are stating.

If you were to go a little further, i'd say Itasca. The Metra also has a stop in Itasca, but it's not close to any CTA stations or stops.

Same goes for Park Ridge, Niles, and Des Plaines. They do have Pace which could get you to the CTA though.

Rosemont does have a Blue Line station though..

[chet everett]

The fact is that superior Metra service has largely negated any reason to rely on CTA service -- you can hop an express from places in DuPage Co that will get you to a job in the Loop faster than CTA buses from Elmwood Park.

Schools in the all towns that CuriousJ32 listed are performing better than those in EP.

The housing stock in EP is no better than in towns like Berwyn, and arguably the value in Berwyn is better...

Towns like EP thrived on more assembly based work when there were consumer electronics firms in the region, as well as the related industrial process firms. The relative racial homogenity was also attractive to folks fleeing areas in Chicago that rapidly flipped from one race / ethnic group to another.

The long term loss of assembly work, lack of assimilation of new immigrants and failed reliance on Federal and State initiatives to address problems has doomed many of the towns between O'Hare and Chicago to having a bleak future. Complicating this burden the excessive burden that Cook Co places on commercial property owners means that even firms which simply need warehouses continue to look to the outlying areas...