I was in Chicago the week before last. The first stop was the same as always, the can't miss Villa Nova on Pershing
All Things Chicago, IL and Democratic Government - Da Bears Leave For Indiana
- Thread starter fatpiggy
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How many people were shot in Spartanburg last weekend? Not 33. That's how many were shot in Chicago last weekend. (You didn;t say per capita, but i know that's what you are insinuating).Hahaha! Going well under. And gee, I wonder why Chicago has more shootings than Spartanburg. Please help us with that math, Stephen Hawking.
Way to ignore that Southern red states are the most dangerous. Maybe you should focus on your own backyard, 20 states worse than Illinois in violent crime. I’d rather be in the great city of Chicago than whatever redneck hellhole you live in. Keep pissing your pants over it, dork.
I lived in Chicago for 16 years, so you can f uck right off with your redneck racist bullshite.
You better hope the weather is cold this weekend. If it hits 80 degrees the over of 40 is EASY money.
Good pie...had it many times.
Lived in Chicago for 25 years after 10 in burbs .
Never had a single issue with street crime. Took blue line downtown from NW side every day..it was great.
Biked all over the NW,north,loop lakefront, down to Sox park ect..never a problem.
I realize that there is violent crime on West and South side...avoided those areas.
Just like smart folks avoid the high crime areas in South Carolina or anywhere.
Have friends and relatives living and teaching in Chicago...they like it.
Chicago is a great town.
Same, except I do venture west. I support a non profit in the Austin neighborhood and am there almost weekly. Still never had a problem and that is one of the poorest/roughest neighborhoods in the United States. I just stay away after dark.
Sadly violence does happen, but it is rare provided you avoid certain neighborhoods at night and provided you aren’t mixed up with the wrong people.
This is the literal city center. The addresses in Chicago run on a grid and 0 State street is the middle of downtown. No stores opened on either side.
20 years ago, there would have been hundreds of people on that sidewalk. Downtown is a ghost town in certain areas.
Interesting, property values are finally showing some life in other parts of the city after lagging behind for years.
20 years ago, there would have been hundreds of people on that sidewalk. Downtown is a ghost town in certain areas.
Interesting, property values are finally showing some life in other parts of the city after lagging behind for years.
Ummm…I live here. That picture must be from like a Sunday morning. It certainly isn’t the on the ground reality in the middle of a weekday on state street. I was just on state street on Tuesday and it had absolutely normal foot traffic.
Having said that State Street has not been truly thriving as a shopping district since the days when people would flock to the Marshall Fields flagship store in the 1990s and before. It’s now Macy’s and no one flocks to Macys anywhere anymore. Doesn’t matter if it’s in a red state or blue.
The foot traffic is no where near where it used to be 20 years ago. Not even close.
I worked down there for 15 years. The area is not the same as it used to be. Not even close
Lasalle is the financial district. Total ghost town. 4:45pm weekday.
I get it finance has gone electronic, but leadership has done nothing to keep business here or recruit new business.
In fact it’s the opposite. As all the finance moves out, they threaten to raise taxes further pushing the tax base away. Chicago taxes are so onerous, that leadership at both exchanges have both threatened to leave the city and move to Dallas.
They have a hard time recruiting new business because of the crime. The richest man in the world left specifically due to the crime. It’s a bad problem.
I get it finance has gone electronic, but leadership has done nothing to keep business here or recruit new business.
In fact it’s the opposite. As all the finance moves out, they threaten to raise taxes further pushing the tax base away. Chicago taxes are so onerous, that leadership at both exchanges have both threatened to leave the city and move to Dallas.
They have a hard time recruiting new business because of the crime. The richest man in the world left specifically due to the crime. It’s a bad problem.
Well of course it’s different post covid. Fridays many loop employees work from home so you have an entire office population absent that day. Then you still have the companies that have hybrid or remote work policies. The loop is mostly itinerant office workers as you well know. From my observations foot traffic has actually been up since the end of Covid. But that is admittedly unscientific/not statistically significant.
So if your compass is set to the 2000’s of course it is down. Between the collapse of the department store concept I mentioned above and Covid aftermath this is all obvious. But loop traffic has rebounded from the Covid lows, just not all the way. Nor will it because who the hell wants to shop at Macys?
Finally, shopping on state street has been a second tier location downtown for 30+ years. The mag mile is the premium shopping corridor - and I’m sure foot traffic there is down for similar reasons.
If it was all Covid, we would expect the same from all cities. NYC real estate has performed much better. Both blue obviously.
I don’t buy that it’s all due to Covid. Some sure.
I think a large portion of it has to do with crime and safety. That and a failure to tack strategy.
If you have covid and people move out, what policies have been enacted to entice them to come back?
If the finance people are moving out, what are you doing to entice them to stay? The city is talking about adding a financial transaction tax. Duffy, head of the CME, threatened to move to Dallas and drew a hard line in the sand. How is that encouraging more people to live and do business in the city?
I love Chicago. Still own property, still visit 3-4 times a year. But it has changed. Crime is worse no matter what the statistics say, just going off my own two eyes and what my neighbors tell me. Downtown is a shell of what it was when I lived there.
Maybe you are willing to excuse a lot of the problems due to Covid. I am not. I chalk most of it up to piss poor governing.
Daley - crook (see parking deal)
Emanuel - did a pretty good job
Lightfoot - god awful
Johnson - god awful
Last agree that State Street was second tier shopping compared to Michigan ave. But it went from second tier to essentially no tier. The shops are empty now.
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My oldest daughter works in the Loop and uses mass transit daily. Sad that grown men curl up into a ball on the ground over a city they’ve never visited.
Worked in the loop for 15 years. Hopefully I’m qualified to have an opinion on the subject .
Businesses have fled, crime is high. Foot traffic is way down.
21 is actually a low number for Memorial Day, but the weekend isn’t over either.
Businesses have fled, crime is high. Foot traffic is way down.
21 is actually a low number for Memorial Day, but the weekend isn’t over either.
Imagine being such a dumba$$ that you think allowing teen-takeovers & multiple shootings to happen is perfectly normal.
BTW I lived in Chicago proper 10+ years longer than your little princess that takes the Metra in from the burbs on weekdays.
My girlfriend lives in Printer's Row downtown. That picture is bullsh.it.
Yes, my SO still works from home twice a week.
I still can't get a reservation at Monteverde.
As I indicated I lived in the city for 25 years,commuted to loop on blue line,ect.
But I have been out of there for 10 years so can't say I am currently engaged in that scene outside of friends and relatives who I talk to frequently.
They never bring up the crime issue.
In the 2014-2018 period there was much written about Chicagoland strong job creation(500k) .
The current meme is how corps are bailing and downtown is suffering
I will guess the truth lies somewhere in between.
San Francisco is being touted as a comeback story now.
Piggy: how long ago did you live there?
The embedded West and Southside crime has been a scourge for decades.
Honestly, what would be your suggestion for solution?
I do acknowledge that you seem to have actual knowledge on the subject matter and give a crap about this city .
But I have been out of there for 10 years so can't say I am currently engaged in that scene outside of friends and relatives who I talk to frequently.
They never bring up the crime issue.
In the 2014-2018 period there was much written about Chicagoland strong job creation(500k) .
The current meme is how corps are bailing and downtown is suffering
I will guess the truth lies somewhere in between.
San Francisco is being touted as a comeback story now.
Piggy: how long ago did you live there?
The embedded West and Southside crime has been a scourge for decades.
Honestly, what would be your suggestion for solution?
I do acknowledge that you seem to have actual knowledge on the subject matter and give a crap about this city .
Yeah, OP is conveniently not posting pics of the West Loop, Fulton Market area, Wrigleyville, River North, Streeterville, Gold Coast, Boys Town, Lincoln Park, Logan Square, Bucktown, Andersonville, Ravenswood, and on and on and on. Chicago is a world class city and (annoyingly) busy. But he saw someone’s staged photo that validates his world view so that’s all that matters to him.
At the same time I am NO fan of the current mayor or the last one. They aren’t solving any of the city’s many problems.
That’s what you get for being the only one dumb enough to brave the mean streets of Clark and Addison. You‘ve got big balls venturing into the Chicago wasteland.
Thinking that Wrigleyville is anywhere close to the problem areas of Chicago
You are so ******* gross. That is all. You're not funny, smart, you aren't sarcastic or even a good troll. I know you don't have a lady in your life. Like most numpties you are an angry little man. And afraid of Black people.
My first suggestion would be to enforce the law and stop neutering the police. When I moved to Chicago, the police were feared, in a good way. Meaning you didn’t want to mess with the cops. That’s not the case anymore. Give the police their power back.
End the “no cash bail” policy. Huge failure and defies all common sense.
Last, I would send in the guard to the mentioned south and west sides. They have shown no willingness to police themselves. We have tried many things including opening a Whole Foods, Targets etc and they fail. Real compassion would be to get the gangs off the street and free the law abiding citizens from their terror.
The main reason Ken Griffin left and took his tax base with him was due to crime. It's a real problem. It pisses me off when people say crime isn't a problem. Ok, the largest taxpayer left due to crime and you think it's not a problem?
I agree with everyone, Chicago is a great city. Chicago is a world class city. But it is only living up to a small portion of it's potential. Just look at the commercial real estate downtown. Areas that were once thriving are now vacant. Jewlers row? Last time i walked by it was a shell of it's former self. Same with State Street. Financial district? Foot traffic way down. Mag mile? Doing well but still some prime vacancies.
I just happen to think the people that live on the south side deserve better. My wife taught down there, its extremely rough. As in, it's not safe to walk down the street for non-gang members. There is nothing compassionate about that. I want to help those people just as much as anyone else, I just think it should be done a different way. The results speak for themselves, we need to change tactics. Get crime down. Keep the current businesses, and recruit new businesses. And of course, the pension situation is out of control and the teachers union needs to be brought to heel. A lot of room for improvement in Chicago politics imo.
Like your old lady always tells you…..quiet in the cuck chair!
Joking aside, hopefully your protesting went well this weekend & none of your fellow geriatrics keeled over from the heat.
people underestimate how good of a mayor rahm was. It’s a pretty low bar but he’s the best in the almost 30 years I’ve been in Chicago. No one likes Brandon Johnson so I’m hopeful the next one will be better but I won’t be surprised when someone worse is elected.