Elgin: Areas, advice, moving there? Please give us feedback. (Chicago: middle-class, apartment complexes)

[DW21]

Hello, and thank you for reading.

Let me first say, Elgin, IL was not a place we had originally considered moving to. I know that it has a bad reputation in comparison to almost every single other suburb that surrounds it.

That being said, is it really that bad?

The house in question is south of Walnut St. a few block off of Route 31.

I saw that someone else asked a question about this exact same area, but that was 3 years ago, and there was practically no response.

I know it's close to downtown and the casino, which is supposed to be a "no-no" for areas, but from doing some driving, those blocks seem quiet. It seems like there are a lot of nice historical homes in those blocks, as well as average, but well-kept, single family homes.

Some info about us:

~ No kids (school system is a non-issue)
~ Young (all of us are in our 20's)
~ 4 of us ( 1 gay female couple, 1 gay female, 1 straight male)
~ Pretty chill, like hanging out in the yard, grilling, etc... (Not a partying type group)

Most of us have lived in or near Chicago at some point and are used to living in more mixed areas (racially and economically), so that doesn't bother us. It's more of a general safety and happiness concern.

We don't want to move somewhere where we can't walk our dog, grill in the backyard, or hang out on the front porch in the summer. Or anywhere where getting robbed is a normal event.

Any input or feedback would be helpful. We all fell in love with the house and the area is the only thing making us second guess it.

Thanks.

[chet everett]

How you gonna pay for your little commune? You all cool with getting plenty of hassles from the muy macho locals?
Honestly, if you don't care about getting your money back / splitting rent then Elgin has some terrific deals. Yes the school suck. Yes the predominate cultural group is not accepting of openly homosexual couples. Yes there are a variety of crimes, but not as much overt violence / serious property theft as the worst parts of Chicago or even other more depressed suburbs.

[DW21]

Originally Posted by chet everett

How you gonna pay for your little commune? You all cool with getting plenty of hassles from the muy macho locals?
Honestly, if you don't care about getting your money back / splitting rent then Elgin has some terrific deals. Yes the school suck. Yes the predominate cultural group is not accepting of openly homosexual couples. Yes there are a variety of crimes, but not as much overt violence / serious property theft as the worst parts of Chicago or even other more depressed suburbs.

1) Definitely not a commune, rather a group of young, middle-class, working people who would rather split rent on a house than live in crime-ridden, poorly kept, and over-crowded apartment complexes. That's nothing new, strange, or uncommon for young people throughout history, not to mention people of any age in this economy. Obviously we have steady sources of income or this would not even be a question.

2) Yes, the "locals" in general are our main concern. We have all spent some time in Elgin (shopping, going out to eat, and occasionally visiting the casino) and have had no problems. But we realize that living there on an everyday basis is a different story.

3) Sexual orientations were only included to give a full picture of our group, not because anyone plans on raising a rainbow flag in our front yard.

4) By simply driving through the area you can tell it is nothing in comparison to the rough areas of Chicago. That's why we're questioning those blocks in particular. If it looked like the west side of Chicago, or even parts of the south side, we wouldn't even consider it.

[DADASGIRL]

You guys will be fine...FINE I TELL YOU!!!
Elgin surprisingly is just as “stick to your own” as Chicago is. Not to imply that there is racism, but there is definitely a lot of self segregation and sociological circumstances that happens in a community like Elgin. Elgin is the most affordable suburb that just so happens to be surrounded by more affluent suburbs AND plenty of places to work within 30 minutes in all directions.

A lot of the Hispanics are 1st generation to the states, Often times their kids are the only ones with a good command of the English language. They work & shop & socialize & worship amongst those like themselves. Elgin has a plethora of stores & boutiques that cater to their culture. Many practice traditional family values that keep them in close contact with nearby relatives. Its not uncommon to hear the Tejano music in the backyards when there is a birthday or anniversary /wedding on the block. Aside from the extra cars from the visitors – its no big deal. The language barrier keeps many Hispanics from “assimilating” with non Hispanics but that doesn’t mean they are plotting your demise. On the flipside – the “whites” aren’t exactly running to embrace the Hispanic culture either. Aside from the mall – you rarely see them “mixing”. The teenagers are about the only demographic that tend to hang together – the adults simply choose not too. I would say that people are cordial & respectful to one another, but surface mannerisms are usually as far as it goes.

Now what does this have to do with your question? EVERYTHING. Because the Hispanics are unto themselves AND there are some incidents committed here and there (usually domestic, drug use related or petty shenanigans ) most people assume that Elgin is a den of lawlessness and illegals run amuck. Like there are bands of Spanish speaking street toughs lying in wait to assault the next white person that crosses their path. In the areas NOT devoted to low income housing, recovering junkies & mentally unstable persons, there are plenty of hard working families renting or owning homes block after block after block. Even the shabbiest of homes has a manicured lawn. Some parts of Elgin has density issues b/c many of the larger Victorian homes were turned into "pseudo apartments" but again, these homes are filled with WORKING people paying rent - not lazy loafers just collecting a govt check.

Living in Elgin will require common sense ( much like living anywhere else ). Keep doors locked at night when you sleep & when you are away. Keep car doors & garage doors locked too. Don’t leave valubles laying on the car seats in plain view. Know your neighbors- at least what they look like so you are aware of who belongs & who doesn’t. And about your orientation - you have nothing to worry about. I don’t know if Elgin has a LGBT chapter, but they also don’t have an "anti- LGBT" chapter either. No one is gonna make a stink about it or hold a religious protest outside your home.

[knitgirl]

I live in Elgin on the northeast side and am not familiar with the particular area you are asking about, but my sister is gay and she'd go out and about with her girlfriend and never have a problem. I have several hispanic neighbors and the guy next door keeps up his yard better than we do, the other neighbors are very friendly. I think the key thing would be to take another look at the houses around there and make sure the lawns are mowed, etc. Somebody looking at my neighborhood from the outside may think it's not all that great, but I see the little signs that the people care about where they live when they are out planting flowers or painting their house or investing in a new fence or front door. Even in this economy people are doing these things. I've been here 14 years this month and am quite happy with my experience.

[chet everett]

I asked about how you gonna pay because I was concerned that you might be thinking of buying vs renting -- getting a mortgage with more than two people on it complicates financing.

There are limits on how many unrelated people can live together designed to thwart the practice of turning larger homes into illegal rooming houses; I think Elgin has regulations that are more aimed at encouraging folks to convert such homes back to single family residences. Legally renting a home is pretty straightforward as long as you don't run afoul of anti-crowding ordinances which look for bedroom count that assumes two adults per room.

I agree that folks mostly keep to themselves but if you are grilling out and hanging out on the porch and the neighbors are trying to get their kids to adhere to more traditional mores it could be a sticking point -- the crummy apartment complexes generally don't have common areas that are as close / visible from other units as porches and yards tend to be.

Elgin police have a low tolerance for disorderly conduct and lots of casino money is spent on enforcement issues. They probably are not going to be real skilled in the sort of diversity training that you'd find in say Evanston or a smaller college town either, so that might be worth giving some thought to as well.

Finally it is easy to forget that the "stand off ish ness" that other posters mentioned is NOT simply because the people are not comfortable speaking English -- the fact is an awful lot of folks that do not have permanent legal residence status and full authorization to work in the US tend to avoid contact with the police. They may worry that reporting a property crime will end up reflecting poorly on their status. The thugs and chronic criminal use this fear to their advantage and thus are more likely to steal and otherwise terrorize folks in these areas. It is not just about "common sense" it is a realization that by living in a place where "middle American standards" are no longer the norm you very likely will be subject to more crime and less police cooperation than areas where the tax payers fully expect to get their money's worth from the police force...

[DW21]

We appreciate everyone's feedback.

@Dadasgirl - Thank you for taking a more levelheaded view of the area. I was wondering if I was crazy for a minute for NOT being terrified by the thought of living in Elgin. There are so many people, on the internet and otherwise, who bash it so thoroughly I was starting to think maybe I have gotten naive. I was born and raised in Chicago, and Elgin doesn't strike me as particularly scary, but everyone and their brother has been assuring me that moving to Elgin is a horrible and unsafe idea.

@Knitgirl - The blocks we are looking at do look pretty well-kept. We are planning on visiting that area a bit more, and hopefully having a conversation with some of the neighbors to get a more first hand vibe of the immediate area. It's also encouraging to hear your sister and gf weren't hassled while out and about.

The area we would be in is south of 90 but north of 20, and slightly west of 31. So I guess central Elgin? Sort of?

@chet - We def. are not looking to buy anything, especially at our ages, and the house we are looking at is ok'ed for up to 8 people, so we are only half of that, and plan on keeping it that way.

We do still have some hesitations in regards to the town/city as a whole, as none of us have spent extended periods of time there. I would hope that there wouldn't be a need to be involved with the police (especially not on a recurring basis) and we would certainly have an alarm system installed on the house as a precautionary measure.

Thank you again everyone.

[knitgirl]

I would call that neighborhood the southwest side. I have heard that The Walnut Room is a nice place for a drink. I lived in Ravenswood/Lincoln Square for almost 10 yrs before moving out here 14 yrs ago. I was SHOCKED when I heard people say they were afraid to go to downtown Elgin, or the traffic was so congested. I really don't think most parts of Elgin are any worse that many northside neighborhoods. I worked for the Census last summer and spent a lot of time on the southeast side of Elgin and the only person who was unpleasant was a white woman. She told me to F off. I was given popsicles and bottled water by many of the Mexicans on my route. I explained that being counted would mean more money for schools and roads and people actually thanked me. I think a lot of it is in your attitude, treat other people with respect and most of the time that's returned.

[chet everett]

I think 95%+ of all people are decent, no matter if they are rich or poor, any shade of skin color.

There is very heavy traffic on Randall Rd and other shopping corridors.

The attitudes people have toward a lot of places do get shaped by the experiences they have -- more people run into the traffic jams that really only exisit in a small percentage of the town.

The experience I have had with folks not interacting well with the police and then getting taken advantage by the "5% or less criminal element" comes from several source -- cops, others that I know in Elgin and direct experience. Pretty much any cop will tell you the majority of the calls they get for minor property crimes are from the older more established residents, the folks w/o full resident status put up with almost anything short of a full on armed home invasion. I know a few families that live in Elgin, on the west side and in areas served by other school districts. They do not feel comfortable in the core of Elgin even if they share ability to communicate in Spanish. The folks I know just have different values and will not hesitate to get on their phone and call in a police report. Finally my direct experience is with traffic incidents. Folks have both fled the scene of even minor "fender benders" and just about thrown wads of cash at me to not report a minor collision. It is cultural thing -- people do not get deported for being involved in traffic accidents, but the fear is that such an incident could result in problems including making harder for folks with CDLs to keep their job...

It is not a sort of "wild west" lawlessness where shooting could break out at any minute, but more a sort of suspension of normal practices -- you get in a traffic accident anywhere else and you and the other party just sorta wait for the police report. Folks with a fear / distrust of what might happen make you feel more like you're in a border town and maybe you too should have bought insurance from a place that also sells fast food...

Originally Posted by knitgirl

I would call that neighborhood the southwest side. I have heard that The Walnut Room is a nice place for a drink. I lived in Ravenswood/Lincoln Square for almost 10 yrs before moving out here 14 yrs ago. I was SHOCKED when I heard people say they were afraid to go to downtown Elgin, or the traffic was so congested. I really don't think most parts of Elgin are any worse that many northside neighborhoods. I worked for the Census last summer and spent a lot of time on the southeast side of Elgin and the only person who was unpleasant was a white woman. She told me to F off. I was given popsicles and bottled water by many of the Mexicans on my route. I explained that being counted would mean more money for schools and roads and people actually thanked me. I think a lot of it is in your attitude, treat other people with respect and most of the time that's returned.