The "Baddest" Part of Town?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
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<p>I lived on 63rd, and why I did not think it was a nightmare, I did come to think it was a really dumb on my part and moved out as soon as my sublet ended. There was clearly some type of drug ring running out of my building, my apartment was broken into so someone could make off with a 1970's era craptacular lamp, and I personally was assaulted on the way home. Not for money or anything, just to mess with me. </p>

<p>Upside is you can get a 1 bedroom with a kitchen and the like for $450. That is why you see so many doctoral students living down there when their stipends give out.</p>

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<p>it's true that the boundaries aren't hard-and-fast by a great deal, but wander too far off campus and you're getting your **** jacked for sure</p>

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<p>My bike just got stolen today, despite the fact that it was locked up. (I talked with my RH about it, and he said that he saw some people by the bike racks yesterday holding bike clips... great.) I'm kinda ***ed off. I know many people around here who have had their stuff stolen, and I live in a good part of Hyde Park (a block from the Museum of Science and Industry). There was even an incident over the summer where someone got into the *indoors bike room and stole a lot of bikes. Definitely, the biggest issue with crime we have in Hyde Park is burglary, and even if you're smart, you can get screwed over.</p>

<p>Like I said, I live in a better part of Hyde Park (but I think most dorms are in somewhat ideal locations with respect to the rest of the area), but every day, I'm solicited for money by the poor, and it gets rather obnoxious. The closest I've come to any violence, though, was when I was walking on 56th, and a large man was screaming in the face of some woman. There was a cop nearby watching them, but she seemed somewhat apathetic. I've also overheard some conversations between couples living in Hyde Park, and they're not very pretty. (Of course, this can happen anywhere, but I come from a dodgy part of Indianapolis, and I've really never seen anything like this happen so often.)</p>

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<p>I am reading and rereading these posts and finding there really is no consensus....I think that when the time comes, if my son really wants to go to U Chicago, I will let him go. I will chew my nails and pace the floor, but I will let him go. </p>

<p>ps yes, Smile Dog, I am that old. I even remember Slim.</p>

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<p>Actually, terrygreg, there's an impressive amount of consensus. Remember, the main area of the University of Chicago campus comprises about 26 rectangular blocks (plus 8 blocks of Midway, as I'm counting blocks) roughly between 55th and 61st streets (with the Midway occupying the blocks between 59th and 60th) to the north and south and Cottage Grove and Dorchester to the west and east. Individual buildings, including several undergraduate dorms, are salted around outside that area, up to 53rd St. to the north, and all the way to Lake Shore Drive (about another mile) to the east. That's also the area where most students who live off campus live, except that to the east students live north of 53rd, and some live south of 61st. </p>

<p>Apart from phuriku saying that his/her bike was stolen yesterday (which I'm sorry about) and that he/she gets panhandled a lot, no one has said he or she feels threatened or unsafe in the area between 53rd (or farther north, especially towards the lake) and 61st and east of Cottage Grove. That's an area of about three square miles (actually more if you count the area north of 53rd to the east), and it's almost everywhere Chicago students spend their time when they're in Hyde Park.</p>

<p>Furthermore, everyone would probably agree that south of 61st street things get unpleasant to some degree -- more dilapidated housing, less comfortable to stroll around. They just disagree about how much more unpleasant, and whether the couple of blocks between 61st and 63rd, which are patrolled by university police, really aren't that bad, etc. The university really has its back to this area. There is apparently some longstanding deal with neighborhood groups afraid of gentrification that the university will not expand there.</p>

<p>You will also get broad agreement that it is less pleasant west of Cottage Grove (really, west of Washington Park, a half-mile-wide park of which Cottage Grove is the eastern boundary), but maybe not agreement about how much less pleasant. (I wouldn't rule out a walk to the Green Line stop a couple of blocks west of Washington Park on a nice day. During the day. Others would.) Chicago students see this area almost exclusively from busses that they ride to and from the El stops.</p>

<p>We haven't talked much about it, but you would also probably get some disagreement about the area north of 52nd and closer to Cottage Grove than the lake. Some students might tell you they don't feel comfortable walking alone on 53rd St. at night (or walking alone anywhere at night, but that would be pretty unusual).</p>

<p>But all that stuff's around the edges, and a lot of it is as much about perception as reality. Things don't LOOK as comfy -- that doesn't mean actual danger. </p>

<p>You shouldn't chew your nails or pace the floor.</p>

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<p>someone should do a google mashup to show this graphically...</p>

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<p>Interesting take; you may be right. When I was considering the U of C, my mother (who grew up at 56th and Hyde Park Boulevard and went to Bret Harte) was very skeptical about BJ or anything south of the midway. Now that I think about it, we never even went to see movies at the law school; we always went to Doc. I grew up with absolute boundaries -- 59th, Cottage, and 47th -- and there might as well have been barbed wire down the middle of those streets. I can see how much it's changed north of 47th, but it's going to take a lot to change an understanding we've had for 65 years.</p>

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<p>Levitt teaches a class called "The Economics of Crime," which I want to take just to get some understanding on these scenarios.</p>

<p>I also think we are asking different questions. A "safe" neighborhood is not necessarily the same as "feeling safe."</p>

<p>First of all, crime happens all the time, everywhere, and being in a ritsy suburb or a cornfield will not prevent you from burglary, muggings, etc. Your surroundings may look nicer, but you don't have a bubble around yourself. Crime happens more in cities, but that's a fact of urban living.</p>

<p>I have friends at schools all around the country. Some in cities. Some in ritsy suburbs. Some in cornfields. None of them think it wise to walk by themselves at night, nor do I think it wise for Chicagoans to be wandering around by themselves at night. I'll admit that I do walk alone at night on occasion, but when I do, I'm more or less on the quads and I'm extremely aware of my surroundings. I have yet to run into any problems.</p>

<p>Secondly, "feeling safe" has a lot to do with our experiences and where we've lived before. For somebody coming from a white community, Hyde Park may feel "unsafe" simply because of its large African-American population. Cottage Grove may feel "unsafe" because it doesn't have the University presence. Stony Island Ave. and Jackson Park may feel "unsafe" because they're wide. 59th St and 60th st. may feel "unsafe" because there are a lot of blue lights.</p>

<p>Again, my parents felt fine shipping me off, partly because they themselves had gone to schools in grittier neighborhoods, partly because they knew about my love affair with the U. of C., and partly because they talked to many alumni and students who assured them I'd be alright.</p>

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<p>This map may help</p>

<p><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?uid=109131593183077851581&hl=en&gl=us&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=114371106505034854129.00043d5d5e58bb01e894d%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?uid=109131593183077851581&hl=en&gl=us&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=114371106505034854129.00043d5d5e58bb01e894d&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>unalove,</p>

<p>very nice! Especially the comments! I hope some of the prospies find this link.</p>

<p>for those that have not used mash-ups, just note the slide at the upper left of the map that let's you zoom in. in the lower right, you can then move the blue borderd shadow box to cover the map part you want to see enlarged.</p>