WE'RE NUMBER ONE...OR SEVEN...OR TWELVE?!?!?!

Chicago Magazine ranks the neighborhoods because of course it would

In a desperate plea for attention, Chicago Magazine has decided to highlight twelve city neighborhoods and suburban communities as best in the metropolitan area.  I do not usually pay much heed to Chicago Magazine, but the neighborhood I currently live in (Edgewater) made the list, much to the delight of the webmaster at Edgeville Buzz.  This should come as no surprise -- I live in Edgewater, after all -- but curiosity got the better of me and I decided to see what other communities were honored.

Yeah, we got a beach!

The odd criteria used to come up with the rankings only reinforced the pointlessness of trying to order something as subjective as a "good" neighborhood.  Being affiliated with the Chicago Tribune, the author assures the reader that any high crime neighborhoods -- over the city-wide crime rate of 9.3 per 100,000) was immediately cast out into the alley.  Aside from this marker, they did not pay much attention to why certain crime rates end up where they are: the author noted the Loop would not qualify for exceeding the city average; never mind the fact that the Loop's crime rate is distorted by a high "daytime" population of workers, tourists, and shoppers that eclipse the several thousand residents who actually call it home.  

Mindful of Chicago's sorrowful history of segregation, the author eliminated any neighborhood where 92% or more residents were of a single race, because a community that is 91% white or black is transformed into a bastion of multiculturalism.  It also happens to disqualify virtually all of West and South Side of the city...

...which leads to some hilarious and "generous" definitions of what a West Side city neighborhood is.  Deciding, for whatever reason, that the rankings must include 4 neighborhoods each from the North, West, and South Sides, neighborhoods such as Logan Square, Edison Park, and Portage Park, areas that are actually on the North or Northwest Side, are now reppin' the West Side.  Laaaaaaaaame!

Of course, Chicago Magazine does not give two hoots what I think, and by going to the page at all (and effectively publicizing it here) it's already won.  Still, I think it serves as a reminder that what functions as a good neighborhood by one person (or magazine's) criteria might fall short for others.  Yes, Edgewater is diverse, has great transportation options, and a low crime rate (3.3 per 100,000, not that it stopped some knuckleheads from shooting each other around Thorndale and Kenmore last week), but many of my friends could never call it home due to its lack of a lively night life.  Many middle-class families likely would find the single-family options too expensive and the public education options lackluster.  

But as a grad student who simply wanted a fairly affordable, quiet, and boring neighborhood within walking distance to work, Edgewater has suited me well these past six years,and I'm very much looking forward to the seventh!

I've been told for a while that I need to increase my footprint on the internet, and I'm finally following that advice by launching this blog and a Twitter account.

I wanted to briefly comment on something I read earlier today!

During office hours I stumbled across this very interesting blog post by Daniel Hertz, a masters student in public policy at UofC.  Hertz analyzes police district murder stats to chart the growing inequality of violence in Chicago.  He notes that in spite of the city's overall murder rate falling drastically in the past twenty years, it's actually increased in several South and West Side districts.   It is a fascinating post and you can read the rest of it here http://danielhertz.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/weve-talked-about-homicide-in-chicago-at-least-one-million-times-but-i-dont-think-this-has-come-up/.

Hertz's post is perhaps the most visceral evidence yet for an idea I've heard floated around by many urban-philes and bloggers over the past several years: that Chicago is on its way to becoming a Midwestern Paris, an affluent center city ringed by poor fringe neighborhoods and suburbs ravaged by poverty and crime.  The city has become a fine place to live for those that can live on the North Side or close to downtown, but an utter nightmare almost everywhere else.  The 2010 census advanced this hypothesis.  While the city's population fell by almost 200,000 residents, it largely held steady on the North Side and skyrocketed in the Loop, South Loop, West Loop, and Near North Side.  Moreover, contrary to previous "flights" from the city, the vast majority of residents who left were African Americans living in the neighborhoods that saw the homicide rate increase.

A recent Tribune editorial (here) used Hertz's data to argue that this trend must be reversed to "save Chicago."  Yet depending on the point of view, the murder stats show that from the perspective of the city's political and economic elite, the city doesn't need a rescue.  Mayor Emanuel seems firmly in this camp, as most recently evidenced by his support for superfluous projects such as the DePaul Arena versus his antagonistic relationship with CPS.