Quote:
Originally Posted by dparm
Areas like River North will have ample parking since it's all high-rise buildings with garages, but those are also more expensive units and you're paying for the location. It's hard to find a decent apartment to rent there for under $1800/month, and that's before you fork over $250/month for parking.
Another alternative might be to look a bit further north but still within city limits, such as Ravenswood, Andersonville, or Edgewater. They are safe neighborhoods and are mostly houses/apartments (no high rises), and people there do tend to own cars a bit more. You will need to travel further to get to nightlife and such. South Loop is a good bargain though still expensive, relatively close to the action, has parking, but can get sketchy very quickly if you aren't familiar with things.
Schaumburg is far from downtown. You could take Metra (commuter rail), but even that will be 30-40 minutes each way and then you're dependent on the train schedule. The only suburb that I would say is okay and still close to the city is probably Oak Park. You can't even get from city limits to the hospital you mentioned in 20 minutes by car during rush hour, as someone else said. You can avoid rush hour by leaving at 5am and then getting out just after lunch, lol.
Honestly, if you are going to be downtown for 6 weeks, don't bring your car. As you can see, it really complicates things and adds considerable cost. You need to pick two things: safe, cheap, car-friendly. Where I live, it's safe and car friendly...but not cheap.
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+1 to this. I'd probably be looking at Ravenswood / Oak Park if you're trying to keep your commute relatively short. I don't live too far from Schaumburg, but it has taken me anywhere from 40 minutes to over 2 hours to get downtown sometimes.
Would be cool to see another E90 stop by for some IND treatment if you do decide to bring it!
