– JOHN T. SENG, moved from the Andersonville neighborhood to St. Charles, Mo.:
“My wife and I loved Chicago and we miss it very much.
“I loved simply driving down Lake Shore Drive. It is beautiful, and it is exciting to be on it. I fell in love with Chicago over 10 years ago while driving down Lake Shore Drive in a near-blizzard.
“Although we had great fun in Lincoln Park, as we grew older and got married, we became worn out by the traffic, parking hassles, noise, crime, lack of being able to feel safe, dirty streets, etc. We did not feel the City of Chicago was a good place to start a family.
“In February 1992, I was in my third auto accident in seven years. I was not physically hurt in any of them, but because of the previous accidents, I was paying approximately $2,000 per year in auto insurance. Because of that fact, I had changed my driving habits considerably to be more conservative. My goal was to never get in an accident again, or at least not for several years.
“However, I wasn’t able to achieve that because some 20-year-old girl rear-ended me in heavy traffic on Foster Avenue on my way home from work.
“Although this was by no means `the reason’ we left Chicago, it was `the last straw.’ That was the first time that I really seriously thought, `I have to get out of the city’ rather than, `I’ll move out of the city someday.’ “
– PAUL R. EDENS, moved from the Portage Park neighborhood to Schaumburg:
“The decision was not too difficult when you can’t even afford to buy a home in the neighborhood you grew up in and you’ve got a better job than your parents.”
– MIKE CARBONE, moved from the Dunning neighborhood to Norridge:
“The Chicago Public School System chased me out of Chicago. PERIOD PARAGRAPH!!
“I could not see paying all that school tax and not feel safe sending my child to a Chicago public school.”
– SHEILA MANNIX, moved from the Wicker Park neighborhood to North Barrington:
“We lived in Wicker Park. We needed safety. When a hooker propositioned my husband on the sidewalk in front of our house, we said, `That’s it!’
“We were robbed five times, twice while we were upstairs sleeping. Our cars were stolen and broken into. Our garage was broken into. Our house was vandalized.
“When we had our baby in August 1990, we knew we had to leave. There were gangs in the park, as well as drugs, drunks, broken glass and used condoms.
“Oh, and then there was the time shortly after the hooker incident when a man threatened to burn down our garage because my husband, who mowed and kept up the lawns between the street and the sidewalk, asked the man to please not litter.”
– ANITA STAYNER, moved from the Archer Heights neighborhood to Darien:
“Graffiti on public and private buildings and businesses became an eyesore. The public school my son attended had three policemen on patrol inside. My son was intrigued by guns and knives shown to him by other students. The struggle each night for a parking spot frustrated us. House and cars were burglarized over two years’ time.”
– MICHAEL BALAS, moved from the Lake View neighborhood to Mt. Prospect:
“The only way I would live in the city again is if I had my own (free) parking spot.”
– GERRIE HILLIER CAMPBELL, moved from the Belmont-Central neighborhood to Carol Stream:
“I lived in another state for 12 years and when I `came home’ in 1989, my heart broke to see the changes that had taken place here. No one speaks English anymore, the buses are torn apart as soon as they are put out on the streets, people have become rude . . . the picture I saw in my mind was a city hurting and stained with tears.
“I still love Chicago, but I truly fear for its future.”
REASONS FOR LEAVING NEIGHBORHOOD CHANGED
– PAT LASCH, moved from the Belmont Cragin neighborhood to Mt. Prospect:
“In 1990, my mother-in-law moved to Des Plaines from her Chicago home of 79 years. She began sending us real estate ads from suburbia. The seed began to take root.
“My husband was content to stay in Chicago because he works near the Loop, and he was very satisfied with our home there. Also, our next-door neighbors had moved in just before us in 1961, and we had an excellent relationship. We were both active in church in Chicago.
“On a bright, sunny afternoon in November 1990, I was walking with my granddaughter in the buggy. I visited a friend several blocks away. When I was two blocks from my house, I heard footsteps running up behind me. Large hands reached down and removed my purse from the buggy.
“I was taken by surprise, but when I yelled out for the police, the `new neighbors’ could not speak English or had no telephone. This was no longer my neighborhood.
“Three months later, our van was removed from our driveway during the night. When found near Humboldt Park several weeks later, it was stripped bare.
“My search for a new home began in earnest. My husband no longer objected to moving. We should have done it sooner.”
A close call
– GEORGE E. BOYKIN, moved from the Grand Boulevard neighborhood to Hazel Crest:
“On the night of Feb. 18, 1992, there was a drive-by shooting at the corner of 49th & Champlain in which a 2-year-old child sitting in a Chevy Blazer was killed.
“We lived mid-block at 4925 Champlain. During the shooting, a stray bullet (.357 Magnum slug) came through our upstairs master bedroom window and lodged itself, less than 1 foot from our bed headboard, approximately head-height to my 5-year-old, Bradley.
“It took six months to find our current home, but we decided to move that night for the sake of our kids, ages 8, 6 and 3.
“Until we moved, there were gang shootings almost weekly.”
A larger home
– RANDY GAYNES, moved from the Lake View neighborhood to Winnetka:
“We needed something larger than a city condo for our two girls. Buying a house in Near North is nearly as expensive as buying in North Shore.
“Factor in two kids in private school at $7,500 per kid per year, and you’ve more than justified the economics of moving to the ‘burbs.
“Now add in the safety factor. I didn’t want my two girls taking the buses in the city.
“On the minus side, we’ve had to give up an awful lot of great restaurants to move out here!”
Crime and noise
– VIKKI L. HICKS, moved from the West Side Medical Center neighborhood to Forest Park:
“I did not really want to leave Chicago, but I feel I was run out due to crime and noise.
“The Friday prior to Mother’s Day, when my mother was visiting from Downstate, a group of six to eight 14-year-olds threw bricks at the car, shattering the windshield and causing various assorted dents, totaling $1,000 worth of damage. One or both of us could have been killed.
“My lease was up in September, and I knew I would move to the suburbs.”
Opportunity abroad
– SARI HARRIS, moved from the Near North Side neighborhood to Prague, Czech Republic:
“I really didn’t decide to move from Chicago. I was in Europe when I found a job teaching English in Prague. As a recent graduate from UIC with my major in English, this was an opportunity I wouldn’t have in the U.S.
“Now I don’t feel I can return to Chicago because I’ve grown used to a slower pace of life and a safer community.
“I returned to Chicago for Christmas after living in Europe for seven months. After Europe, I found it ugly and the number of homeless and beggars shocking. It seemed a lot worse than before I left.
“Also, the price of public transportation increased and the service was worse. A number of times buses drove past me while I waited at the bus stop.
“It also seems like there is quite a bit of tension in the air; everyone seems afraid and it felt like violence could break out at any given moment.
“I was also mugged for the first time.
“Now I’m back in Prague. It isn’t the greatest here and it’s not fun being a foreigner either. I realized that I just don’t have the stomach to develop that hard shell it’s necessary to have to live in Chicago again.”
TRACKING DOWN EXACTLY WHO LEFT CHICAGO
The Tribune study of the exodus from Chicago involved 15,857 households that moved out of the city and filed change-of-address forms with the U.S. Postal Service from April 1, 1992 through Oct. 31, 1992. The list of households was compiled for the Tribune by Metromail Corp., a Lombard-based direct marketing firm.
In addition, 2,926 households took part in a Tribune survey, conducted by Market Shares Corp. of Mt. Prospect. In a sample of that size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that results will differ by no more than plus or minus 2 percentage points from the results obtained if all people who moved from Chicago during this period had completed the questionnaire. For subgroups within the large group, the error margin would be larger.
Next: One Family’s Story.
