Violence in Chicago

newmassdad
Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:32:47 +0000

JHS,

Well put.

The only thing I would add is that some of the environment around the university has changed markedly over the past 25 years.

When I attended the GSB in the early 1980s, the area north of 47th street was a very tough area, one where no UofC student would go, even to drive through. This tough area extended all the way to Chinatown, even further north, perhaps - I never really looked hard.

Back then, south of campus in Woodlawn, there was still a thriving though poor community, with shops under the EL along 63rd street. The area was pretty tough, though. Meanwhile, South Shore was an interesting enclave of affordable housing, and still a rather integrated community. Garfield/55th to the Ryan was still full of apartments, stores and even an A&P near the EL stop, but no one from UofC used the EL at the Ryan, and the area south of Washington Park and east of Cottage Grove (Englewood) was a very tough neighborhood. And the Ryan from 55th north to downtown was lined with high rise low income housing.

In general, the university was an oasis surrounded by rather tough areas, (but we did have two grocery stores in Hyde Park!)

Flash forward to 2005, when I lived in Hyde Park for a year. All the low income projects, including the high rises along the Ryan, are gone (save for one!). The area west of campus along Garfield is largely vacant land and ripe for re-development. Not safe at all, but not dangerous like it used to be. Students use the El at the Ryan and take the Garfield bus to campus all the time. The area north of the campus, all the way to downtown, is rapidly gentrifying. We used to bicycle and walk the dog through areas we would have never set foot in 20 years ago. And because so many members of the UofC community are living up there, the U police have expanded their patrol zone way north of 47th.

South of 61st, most of the community is gone.

But, the removal of the low income projects on the S. Side had some negative impact too. Some of those displaced moved to South Shore, so the neighborhood has had a real decline in safety. There has been quite a bit of gang activity along and west of Drexel, especially north of 53rd. Englewood is, if anything, worse than it used to be.

My point? The area around Hyde Park has changed radically over the past 10-15 years. A lot of folks have perceptions formed in their years on campus and they may not be relevant now.

It is still an urban campus. It is still an oasis of affluence with serious poverty nearby. But it is no longer an oasis.