[aruanan]

The Chicago political establishment has tacitly — and sometimes not so tacitly — supported segregation of the city. So, not very far from the downtown are some pretty dangerous and ugly ghettos. It’s been that way for years.

I've lived here since 1994. It is a pretty good city. I've also lived in New York. But the segregation comment is laughable. People tend to live with others of similar interests and ethnicity, whether in Little Italy, Greek Town, or Boys Town. Many places in Chicago that some may consider ghettos were once completely different in racial or ethnic composition and still have many examples of very fine buildings. The change in racial/ethnic characteristics of the inhabitants is merely an accident of history and economics, not any segregation policy of the city, tacit or otherwise.

I am extremely familiar with Rogers Park, Albany Park, Hyde Park, Kenwood, and Evanston. The reason Rogers Park may have a lot of police sirens is because it is home to a very large police precinct. It is also home to Loyola University and one of the largest Jewish populations (especially West Rogers Park) outside of Skokie and New York. The crime isn't particularly high in Rogers Park compared to places like Englewood. The worst place up in that area is the north half of the little neighborhood north of Howard and south of the Catholic cemetery and east of Chicago after it changes from Clark, referred to in the past as Juneway Jungle. But even that is not too bad compared to some neighborhoods on the west side. But even Humboldt Park, though one of the bad ones, is mostly okay and safe if you're not a young black guy alone on foot, especially at night. But none of that is by design, tacit or otherwise, of the Chicago political establishment for this simple reason: No one is told that he cannot live in this place or must live in that place because he is or is not of one or another group.

[vekzen]

“But the segregation comment is laughable. . . The change in racial/ethnic characteristics of the inhabitants is merely an accident of history and economics, not any segregation policy of the city, tacit or otherwise.”

I suggest you read a biography of Richard J. Daley, entitled American Pharaoh, to learn how Daley and other Chicago pols actively contributed to segregation in Chicago.

[Boogieman]

“The crime isn’t particularly high in Rogers Park compared to places like Englewood.”

Yes, but Rogers Park is quite far from Englewood. Compared to the surrounding neighborhoods (save Uptown or Edgewater, which are worse), and you can see why it has a reputation. “Better than Englewood” just isn’t good enough for the kind of people that tend to live on the North Side.