Why is UpTown considered bad? (Chicago, Lincoln: apartment complex, HOA, homes)

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I'm still amazed that people can see a huge metropolitan area where most of the middle class resides in the suburbs due to a massive out-migration of white, middle class residents in the 20th Century... And we see the obviously negative impacts of this post-war "White Flight" on city neighborhoods... But then we proceed to attack people who want to reverse this trend by having more middle class residents back in the city like the pre-White Flight era? Why shouldn't IrishTom29 want to live around former suburbanites who bring suburban expectations of property care and social behavior? He grew up in a pre-White Flight west side neighborhood, and most of his former neighbors are now suburbanites anyway.

I wasn't attacking anyone. I was asking an honest question, which he answered very well. I agree with your assessment of the effects of white flight, which is why I was curious to know what motivates someone like Tom to choose the city, especially when it sounds like he prefers the suburban demographic as neighbors. Now I know. Thanks for jumping to ridiculously inaccurate conclusions, though. It was entertaining.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by ChiNaan

I wasn't attacking anyone. I was asking an honest question, which he answered very well. I agree with your assessment of the effects of white flight, which is why I was curious to know what motivates someone like Tom to choose the city, especially when it sounds like he prefers the suburban demographic as neighbors. Now I know. Thanks for jumping to ridiculously inaccurate conclusions, though. It was entertaining.

Well on the interwebs "asking an honest question" sounds like an attack when you suggest someone move to the burbs if they don't like their neighbors. Crazy, isn't it? So entertaining and fun for you!

[ChicagoMeO]

I lived in Margate Park section of Uptown, and I had a really nice apartment and it was a low price. That same apartment about 2 miles south would have been $200 more per month. (in Lakeview). I moved a couple times and I didn't choose to go back there, i chose another neighborhood.. its a shame because I really thought that vintage apartment was beautiful. It was the transient people and the hangers-outers that made me not want to come back. I want to live in a place that makes me feel safe,, I've had enough of "urban" experience for a lifetime..

Next place I live when I retire will have lots of plants, trees, flowers, and no expensive parking rates. Thats another thing, parking sucks anywhere along the lake, very hard to find a free street parking space on a regular basis, so i pay for a reserved space. It would be nice not have to pay a bunch of money for parking. (for that matter, i was in Michigan over the weekend, and it was weird being able to park downtown there and NOT having to feed meters... coz there are NO parking meters AT ALL.

I like the suburbs but the commute to work sucks so i shall be here a few more years. I dont need a gritty urban experience to make my life interesting, i will take a nice rural safe, crime free, area where there are no hangers outers. Once that bug bites you, you too might also feel that way. For example I think Lisle is nice, I wish Uptown would look like Lisle! I'd pay big money to rent a place then!

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Well on the interwebs "asking an honest question" sounds like an attack when you suggest someone move to the burbs if they don't like their neighbors.

I didn't suggest anything, either. I asked a question. He seemed to understand the question just fine, answered it well, and didn't appear to take offense. I'm pretty sure everyone else understood, too. I'm not sure why you didn't like it, but since it had nothing to do with you I think we'd all appreciate it if you'd take your misdirected frustration with life elsewhere so we can continue our discussion. Thanks!

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by TBideon

That's silly. An area suffers often because of the criminal or hostile actions of a few. Gentrifiers help mitigate that blight and give the neighborhood an opportunity to become easier/livable for the functional residents who otherwise are at the mercy of the bad apples. Stop acting like gentrification ruins lives; you think the residents of Cabrini were better off in that hellhole before mixed housing and the Division shops came in?

In the event that any of them wound up living on the street after Cabrini's demolition, they were better off.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by andrew61

In the event that any of them wound up living on the street after Cabrini's demolition, they were better off.

I realize you're probably using hyperbole, but in the off-chance that you're not, I'll point out the obvious fact that if the people living there had thought living on the street was preferable, it would have been empty.

[ChicagoMeO]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Well on the interwebs "asking an honest question" sounds like an attack when you suggest someone move to the burbs if they don't like their neighbors. Crazy, isn't it? So entertaining and fun for you!

I hate that when people get that attitude that if you express anything negative about something, they tell you to move to the suburbs.

[nearnorth]

Originally Posted by ChicagoMeO

I hate that when people get that attitude that if you express anything negative about something, they tell you to move to the suburbs.

Agreed, but that didn't happen in this thread. It appears one person asked a question, another person answered the question, and LK turned that brief exchange into an impressively irrational and random threadjack.

[ChicagoMeO]

Originally Posted by nearnorth

Agreed, but that didn't happen in this thread. It appears one person asked a question, another person answered the question, and LK turned that brief exchange into an impressively irrational and random threadjack.

yes and I see it in various places too.. people get defensive about their favorite place, even though someone dares to say a constructive criticism. I guess I sometimes get defensive if someone were trouncing my bff, so i understand, but it still aggrivates me. I think maybe the answer is if one person is happy in a place, fine, but then understand that not eveyrone agrees.. Like I love western Michigan, if I didn't have to work, I'd be there in a NY minute. I loooooveeee it... now someone is gonna tell me to move there.. and I might one day! in the meantime, Im medium happy where I am at now in chicago.

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by nearnorth

Agreed, but that didn't happen in this thread. It appears one person asked a question, another person answered the question, and LK turned that brief exchange into an impressively irrational and random threadjack.

Maybe, but Lookout is a good guy; he's bright, fair minded and makes excellent observations. There's so much anti suburban atmosphere on urban forums like this that I understand his coming to the conclusion he did.