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A list of the nation's 25 most dangerous neighborhoods based on neighborhood statistics shows Chicago has landed four on the list, the most of all cities listed. The highest ranked Chicago neighborhood - well, more like "sections of larger neighborhoods" - on the list belongs to a part of Washington Park - State St. & Garfield - that comes in at number two overall. As the Sun-Times points out, that particular neighborhood formerly consisted of the well-documented Robert Taylor housing project.
The list was put together by the NeighborhoodScout real estate website, using FBI crime statistics from between 2005 and 2007 to determine crime for every 1,000 residents. The Washington Park ranking included statistics that showed residents had a 25 percent chance of being a victim of crime. The four Chicago neighborhoods on the list were:
- No. 2: State St. & Garfield (Washington Park)
- No. 19: 66th and Yale (Englewood)
- No. 24: 58th and Wallace (Englewood)
- No. 25: 60th and Winchester (Englewood)
Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th, which encompasses the 66th and Yale area) spoke to the Sun-Times about Englewood and its crime, saying, "Englewood is a neighborhood that has had a lot of things happen to it. There are very good people in Englewood, and their houses are often the only ones standing on their block. Public policy decisions made long ago caused us to get where we are today." She added, "We put more money collectively into Englewood than anywhere else, but it's a little here and a little there. We need to go back in there and consolidate resources to solve some of the problems." The Sun-Times has the entire list.
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that particular neighborhood consists of the well-documented Robert Taylor housing project.
Did, until they were demolished.
Yep, you're right. Fixed. poor self-editing on my part. they still existed at the time of the stats used so I just garbled it.
which brings up the point - will the area see a drop in crime the next time around?
I'm sure there will be a drop there, but an increase in whatever neighborhood the displaced people end up.
Englewood needs to be closed off, the empties/crack houses/burnouts demolished, the people living there resettled and the whole area completely rebuilt.
If you've been there, particularly at night or early evening, it's like something out of Post-Katrina New Orleans. There are good people there, of course. But it's also infested with gangs and drugs. Basic city services (like water and power and streetlights) have broken down in Englewood. Honestly, strip it to the ground, start fresh. At this point only something truly radical is going to change anything there.
To be fair, you just described parts of Pre-Katrina New Orleans as well.
Do you listen to Harry Shearer's "Le Show" on NPR?
He's been covering the rebuilding efforts in NOLA, and lack of efforts, in more depth than pretty much anyone in the media. I don't know if it would appeal to a native, but it's tragically fascinating.
http://www.harryshearer.com/news/le_show/
I've heard bits and pieces. He also does stuff for HuffPo on it. I'm going back for a wedding and I'm going to hit up the East NOLA area. Haven't been there since the storm.
After, may just hit up Englewood to see about your comparison for myself. Curious now.
The difference between NOLA and Chicago, though, and just my opinion, is that for all the disparity between classes in NOLA - rich living next to poor - it seems Chicago is more segregated. WAY more segregated.
"it seems Chicago is more segregated. WAY more segregated."
An interesting observation. I've never been to NOLA, so I can't say anything about that comparison, but I have found Chicago to be far more segregated than most any city I've spent any time in in the South.
I'm reading the Richard M. Daley bio American Pharaoh right now and it does a great job outlining how Chicago became so segregated. But, yeah, New Orleans is unique. There are certain neighborhoods that seem completely definable, but much of the city is more integrated in terms of both race and class, no real definable lines. Of course, NOLA has its own historic reasons for the way that shook out...
Chicago is so segregated because of a number of calculated policies (that nobody thinks existed) that are still causing problems today.
As for NOLA, I agree, I haven't been there since Katrina but I always loved the way crowds were so mixed there in some of the great bars, young and old, rich and poor, something you rarely see in Chicago. Going back in October, can't wait!
yep, that book outlines all those CHA policies that happened before Richard M even became Mayor. That's why I'm digging that book: it gives such a good background and history of the city for context besides just Daley's background. A nice compliment to Royko's BOSS.
That gathering of community has to be because of the arts, music and food there...the three things that can bring anyone together...you have these arts and good food and this feeling of being closer to the earth....the color lines disappear.
I was in New Orleans in 96 and then in late 2005. I was actually staying in the 9th ward with a Unitarian Minister working out of a storefront on Claiborne doing walk-in relief. We'd drive around just finding people who needed day work or help getting a meal or help filling out FEMA paperwork. It was just "Let's do something where we can."
The devastation was just, unreal. People lost everything, and they had almost nothing to start with. But every so often you'd come across some beautiful shotgun style home, or some iron work that was 100 years old or people in their finery.
The Public library in englewood is gorgeous, marble entryways, huge columns, a sweeping early 20th century design. Inside the furniture is broken and the lights flicker when the walls shake for some reason.
There are just wonderful old buildings, signage from the pre-war period and really wonderful people. But it's so very abandoned and broken. From the library, you can look down into a burned out building where people sleep under a tarp.
It'll break your heart.
we probably all realize this already, but methinks you mean Richard J...
ever read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead? interesting subtle argument/justification for public housing towards the end from the author.... originally published in 1943.
*facepalm*
Yep, you're right. I'm getting my daleys confused.
sigh...
And Ald. Freddrenna Lyle? A race-baiting Daley stooge. Her ward is named one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the COUNTRY and she babbles something about money, and good people and decisions made long ago. She's a joke. The people of the 6th ward would get better representation from a paper bag.
At least the bag can be useful.
Quoth Fredrenna: "Public policy decisions made long ago caused us to get where we are today."
I consider myself a rather liberal dude, but I am so sick of that argument.
It's surely a mix of both.
Policies don’t make the neighborhood bad, people do…
I smell a publicity grabbing study produced to drive traffic to a web site. I've no doubt that violent crime is more likely in those neighborhoods than many others, but they're calculating this using statistics that are reported to the FBI at the aggregate level for each jurisdiction.
See http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm if you're really interested.
State and Garfield, isn't that like two blocks from the proposed Olympic Stadium? I wonder if the IOC has seen this report.
I'm sure the mouthbreathers usually trolling the comment section at the Sun-Times site are having a field day with this.