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Chicago's most dangerous neighborhoods
URBAN CRIME | FBI statistics show residents near 55th and State had 1-in-4 chance of being victims
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June 23, 2009

BY MARK J. KONKOL Staff Reporter
Chicago is home to four of the top 25 most dangerous "neighborhoods" in the country, including a sliver of Washington Park that ranked No. 2, a recently released study of FBI crime statistics shows.

Folks who lived near 55th and State -- less than two miles from President Obama's house and the possible site of a future Olympic stadium -- had a 1-in-4 chance of becoming a victim of violent crime each year between 2005 and 2007, according to NeighborhoodScout.com.

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Four of the nation's 25 most dangerous neighborhoods are in Chicago, a new analysis finds.
(Keith Hale/Sun-Times)




The nation's 25 most dangerous neighborhoods
1) Cincinnati, Central Pwky./Liberty St.

2) Chicago, State St./Garfield Blvd.

3) Miami, 7th Ave./North River Dr.

4) Jacksonville, Beaver St./Broad St.

5) Baltimore, North Ave./Belair Rd.

6) Kansas City, Bales Ave./30th St.

7) Memphis, Warford St./Mt. Olive Rd.

8) Kansas City, Forest Ave./41st St.

9) Dallas, Route 352/Scyene Rd.

10) Richmond, Va., Church Hill

11) Memphis, Bellevue Blvd./Lamar Ave.

12) Dallas, 2nd Ave./Hatcher St.

13) Springfield, Ill., Cook St./11th St.

14) St. Louis, 14th St./Dr. Martin Luther King Dr.

15) Little Rock, Ark., Roosevelt Rd./Bond St.

16) Philadelphia, Broad St./Dauphin St.

17) Tampa, Amelia Ave./Tampa St.

18) New York, St. Nicholas Ave./125th St.

19) Chicago, 66th St./Yale Ave.

20) Baltimore, Orleans St./Front St.

21) Cleveland, Cedar Ave./55th St.

22) Orlando, East-West Expy./Orange Blossom Trail

23) Detroit, Mt. Elliott St./Palmer Ave. 24) Chicago, Wallace St./58th St.

25) Chicago, Winchester Ave./60th St.
That section of Washington Park -- home to part of the now-demolished Robert Taylor public housing high-rises during the years of the study -- was edged out of the top spot by a crime-ridden corner of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Chicago was the only city to land more than two neighborhoods on the list, which ranked danger by calculating the number of violent crimes per 1,000 residents in a census tract.

Chicago's three other danger zones are located in poverty-stricken Englewood, a hot bed for violence in recent years. They include census tracts near:

• • 66th and Yale, ranked No. 19 with a violent crime ratio of 115 (per 1,000 residents).

• • 58th and Wallace and 60th and Winchester, ranked No. 24 and 25, respectively. Residents had a 1-in-9 chance of being violent crime victims.

"Englewood is a neighborhood that has had a lot of things happen to it. There are very good people in Englewood, and their houses are often the only ones standing on their block," said Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th). "Public policy decisions made long ago caused us to get where we are today."

Lyle, whose ward includes 66th and Yale, said the study shines another light on the desperate need for both short-term fixes and a long-term solution to social problems that plague Englewood.

"It's been time for [Mayor Daley] to pay attention," she said. "We put more money collectively into Englewood than anywhere else, but it's a little here and a little there. We need to go back in there and consolidate resources to solve some of the problems."

The study's author, geographer Dr. Andrew Schiller, said the calculation gives people a better way to understand the "climate" of crime in particular sections of cities.

"It's better to understand the climate rather than the weather. It's very important to have a sense of risk for somebody in a particular location rather than a more pedestrian counting of what happened last week," Schiller said.
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