what down south city would be most similar to chicago?? (Atlanta: crime rate, home)

[Drover]

I can think of at least that many without even thinking about it: Englewood; West Englewood; East Garfield Park; West Garfield Park; Austin; North Lawndale; South Lawndale; Greater Grand Crossing; West Pullman; Roseland. And there's plenty more. Plus there's a hell of a lot of room between "perfectly safe" and "truly dangerous."

Look, I too am getting tired of seeing the whole city painted as a shooting gallery, but it does nobody a proper service to exaggerate how much of it is "perfectly safe."

[C. Maurio]

Some parts of Chicago are very dangerous. Places like Englewood, Roseland, Austin. Others are just moderately dangerous such as East Rogers Park and some are totally safe like Jefferson Park. It just depends on where you live if you want to live in the city. The very dangerous parts means there is the real possibility of you being physically harmed or killed. The moderately dangerous means that you probably won't be harmed if you cooperate with the guy with the gun demanding your wallet and keys. In either place, if you have a big screen TV visible through your window, you won't have it long!

[reppin_the_847]

The Sunbelt cities are very different but my vote would go to Atlanta (especially if you're an African-American professional). Atlanta's city & surrounding area seem to have a lot going on & the job market is fairly vibrant as well (low cost of living compared to Chicago also). My #2 vote would go to Houston & #3 probably Dallas for being large, economically thriving cities in Texas. Dallas's downtown core is fairly large as well (for a sunbelt city). #4 probably goes to Tampa (FL). After all there are plenty of transplants from Chicago, the rest of the Midwest & East Coast in this city & there is certainly some nightlife as well. Decent amount of jobs & not super depressed economically unless you are stuck in the hood.

[urbanlife78]

I will throw in a wild card, I would say San Francisco if you wanted something like Chicago, but not Chicago. The weather is a constant state of Spring/Fall, but the cost of living is on par with NYC with less to offer than NYC but it is a unique urban city that can hold its own being compared to Chicago.

As for the cities in the South, there are no cities in the South that compare to Chicago. They were all built up during a different era and most of them focus around the car. The only ones that could be in the same category are Houston and Atlanta, but both of those cities are built around the car and have a much different culture and vibe to them than Chicago, but they are the two big cities of the South.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

I've been to Houston a few times and hated it, but wow you make it sound absolutely awful.

I live in Houston now and I do think it is awful. I keep hoping that my son will decide to go back to Chicago, or anywhere out of the south.

1. Heat and humidity most of the year.
2. No public transportation (granted I live in a suburb, but in Chicago, even the burbs have some public transit. We have NONE and even in the city, there is very little).
3. No zoning - thus HOAs which are very restrictive.
4. Many fundamentalist Christians who try to push their religion on others (we had to explain to the people at my granddaughter's school bus stop that if they continued to try to get her to participate in their prayer circle, she would not be taking the bus to school any more - they did stop).
5. No decent beaches (the beaches on the gulf here are not great and they are an hour away, while I could walk to the beach in Chicago).
6. Not easy to walk here even if the weather is good because there are not a lot of decent sidewalks and not a lot of hiking, biking and park trails. (Again there are some, but I would have to drive to get to them).
7. While there are some decent museums, nothing like the variety and quantity in Chicago.
8. Ugly buildings - unlike the Chicago skyline entirely.
9. Forgot this one - Hurricanes (at least with snow, you can just stay inside, you don't have to evacuate and you *usually* don't lose power for weeks).


Good things
1. Mostly nice neighbors of diverse races.
2. Access to some nice activities like horseback riding.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Drover

I can think of at least that many without even thinking about it: Englewood; West Englewood; East Garfield Park; West Garfield Park; Austin; North Lawndale; South Lawndale; Greater Grand Crossing; West Pullman; Roseland. And there's plenty more. Plus there's a hell of a lot of room between "perfectly safe" and "truly dangerous."

Look, I too am getting tired of seeing the whole city painted as a shooting gallery, but it does nobody a proper service to exaggerate how much of it is "perfectly safe."

Sure, but it depends on what you're doing and whatever. I have been to some of those neighborhoods, but realistically unless you live in the area, how much of a reason is there to truly go there? Honest question. I can think of a few food places in some of those neighborhoods I want to try, but outside of that? I don't have a single reason to even visit them in the first place, and I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people outside of that are in the same boat. So yes, in that regard, the places which I DO visit in Chicago are not horribly dangerous. There are some areas I go to from time to time that are shady, but nothing I would be afraid to step foot in.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by nana053

I live in Houston now and I do think it is awful. I keep hoping that my son will decide to go back to Chicago, or anywhere out of the south.

1. Heat and humidity most of the year.
2. No public transportation (granted I live in a suburb, but in Chicago, even the burbs have some public transit. We have NONE and even in the city, there is very little).
3. No zoning - thus HOAs which are very restrictive.
4. Many fundamentalist Christians who try to push their religion on others (we had to explain to the people at my granddaughter's school bus stop that if they continued to try to get her to participate in their prayer circle, she would not be taking the bus to school any more - they did stop).
5. No decent beaches (the beaches on the gulf here are not great and they are an hour away, while I could walk to the beach in Chicago).
6. Not easy to walk here even if the weather is good because there are not a lot of decent sidewalks and not a lot of hiking, biking and park trails. (Again there are some, but I would have to drive to get to them).
7. While there are some decent museums, nothing like the variety and quantity in Chicago.
8. Ugly buildings - unlike the Chicago skyline entirely.
9. Forgot this one - Hurricanes (at least with snow, you can just stay inside, you don't have to evacuate and you *usually* don't lose power for weeks).


Good things
1. Mostly nice neighbors of diverse races.
2. Access to some nice activities like horseback riding.

Some of this sounds like Iowa with warm weather.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

I will throw in a wild card, I would say San Francisco if you wanted something like Chicago, but not Chicago. The weather is a constant state of Spring/Fall, but the cost of living is on par with NYC with less to offer than NYC but it is a unique urban city that can hold its own being compared to Chicago.

I agree with this. San Francisco is probably even more walkable than Chicago (well, debatable in certain areas), has a nice skyline, moderate weather, pretty damn sunny, fairly good diversity, pretty good food, etc. Although there is kind of a rain thing you have to deal with. The only problem is that San Francisco is pretty damn expensive on average, way more expensive than Chicago.

[mas23]

None. But the closes i guess would be memphis and New Orleans but look at their crime rates.

Miami (if you consider that the south) has a similar layout to chicago but thats about it

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by mscbrown

Really?? I heard only eastern texas was a tropical humid climate and houston, dallas, and austin arent in the eastern part. key word being TROPICAL not just HUMID i have just humid in wisconsin and the summers here are awful

Houston is most certainly in the eastern part of Texas, and is right by the Gulf of Mexico. It's one of the most humid cities in the country, along with other Gulf Coast cities like New Orleans.

Dallas and Austin are a little further west and are less humid than Houston, but still wouldn't be called dry by any stretch. Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Denver are dry.