Thomas Gouard
Thankfully, I finally found an apartment, but had to move to a totally different side of Chicago. It took me three months to find this apartment and it was a huge downgrade compared to some of my previous apartments years back. When I say huge downgrade, I’m meaning downgrade in location and resources within the neighborhood itself. I went from living in a diverse neighborhood on the north side of Chicago to living in the ghetto on the west side of Chicago. It’s very humbling when I walk the neighborhood to the fitness center or even to my car because my new neighborhood brings drugs; violence; poor quality restaurants and grocery stores within it, plus litter on pretty much every block which shows lack of pride.
I searched all over the far north side and north side for an apartment in mostly Edgewater, Rogers Park, Uptown and even considered a few places on the south side in neighborhoods Hyde Park, Kenwood and South Shore. The search cut into my semester which I eventually dropped within two weeks because the search took up most of my time and interfered with me applying for internship. What made my search rough was many realtors that I applied to wanted clients that make three times the actual rent cost which I did not make. To explain that in an understandable way if the rent costs $700.00 a month they require you to make $2,100.00 a month to be considered. That alone is a rough range to average unless you have a bachelor’s degree or work a good paying job or two.
Lowering your standards is a bitter pill to swallow, but what helped me get through this is that I had to look at it on the brighter side which was there are many people in this world that do not have half of what I have let alone a roof to sleep under, and besides the lease is only twelve months then I can move somewhere that is a lot safer.
Perks with this move are cheaper rent which means that I will have extra money to save plus the elimination of a ridiculously expensive cable bill with RCN Chicago because they do not do service in my new neighborhood. With the lack in quality restaurants within the neighborhood it means that I will cook in my apartment versus eating out at restaurants, and with the increase risk of violence in my new area it means that I will be more cautious of going out, plus move with more of a purpose when coming in from work or school in the later evenings. Prior to my move I found a fitness center that’s half a mile away from my apartment and it just so happened to be thirty-five dollars cheaper than my previous fitness center membership which was a total win. In situations like this it’s better to look at the brighter side of things because dwelling on the negative things will not get you anywhere. 
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Your response just reminded me that I need to share a follow up to this because it has now been a year.
The apartment is ok, but the neighbourhood is far from decent. When I see such districts I feel bad, every city has better and worse areas to live, that’s sad truth.
Its definitely lovely! I will be doing a follow up on the neighborhood once I hit my year mark of living in it. I have lots to mention in it about how my lifestyle has changed compared to other neighborhoods I have lived in.
It would be much of interest! All areas have their pros and cons.
Yes, indeed! Along with the many cons there are pros as well
Thanks for your sharing.
And thank you for dropping in Pradhan
Good for you and your positive attitude. Just watch your back, which is what we all have to do, no matter where we live. You will be just fine. The apartment looks nice and clean. I hope it will feel more like home soon when you get settled in.
Thank you, and I most definitely will watch my back. I will be out a lot in the summer doing my workouts. I got a slight taste of summer when we had good weather this past week.
The weather is so crazy here, maybe soon we will all have spring weather. Enjoy your workouts.
At least you can still find the upside in your downgrade. Good on you!
Yes, indeed. There are upgrades to the neighborhood coming which I will share in time.
Or will be relocated before they become too much of an issue
Probably will be relocated by then. Hell, one of the major upgrades is coming in November, and my lease expires in march next year.
Seems like a long time now, but it might just be up before you know it
I think gun is the most dangerous thing of our society!
Yes, indeed Suny It’s just sad that there isn’t much of a hold on who possesses them
While I’m away from Virily, I will be working on several other articles about the bad areas.
Well thanks for bringing that to my awareness. If only they got my views I’d strictly post them, but they don’t. Maybe it’s because of the whole posting as part of the 365 Photo Challenge, but not too many clicks on the sculpture posts. The bummer about it is that I normally go out of my way to take the picture to share.
There are certain parts that look perfect, and certain that are neglected and turn to sh*t. I plan to do another writing on the history of this neighborhood and how it never changed. I love the apartment; it’s amazing, but once I walk out that building door it’s a whole different world.
It is so sad that the place that has the most strict gun laws also has one of the highest rates of shootings. I don’t know what the solutions should be and I hope you are safe and happy in your new home.
Yes, it is very sad. I have a slight fear of encountering shooters while walking and driving through my neighborhood.