cookie23 wrote:
I posted on another thread how far Chicago has fallen in the U.S.
Growing up in 70s and 80s Chicago was seen as a cool place. The Second city, vibrant, people flocking. I understand loss of manufacturing jobs since then, but what can be done to see the city flourish again.
If you look around at the big cities NYC is on its own place. Basically the "capital" of the country let alone world. L.A. is No. 2.
Chicago used to be in that consideration, not even close now. Also, bigger citie with higher real estate and more desirability are Miami, San Fran Seattle metro, Boston and metro. Philly is getting close. Then you have Houston that I personally find hideous, but constant growth since the 90s.
Then the smaller cities like Austin, Nashville have been the boom cities, on a lesser note Atlanta, Charlotte.
So what can be done?
Chicago weather sucks, nothing can be done about that, but it sucked in the 60s and 80s.
I think an overhaul of our tax structure. At 5% now which is not bad, but the property taxes esp in in the burbs are just insane and one can only write off 10K off taxes.
So what can be done for CHicago and Chicagoland.
The pros - a beautiful downtown area, great entertainment, restaurants when no pandemic. Great sports scene. Great culture.
It just seems like Chicago has been unsexy to people in all industries. No free agent in the NBA wants to play here, everyone I know up here who gets a job elsewhere is gone, look at the stats since 2000.
Can anything be done to reverse course? Curious some thoughts
It's a catch-22.
Chicago has been risin', pre-pandemic.
This metro area went from being a downtrodden blue-collar city to a touristy fashionable city. Much safer than in the 70s and 80s.
Thanks to Daley.
And more recently, theyve started doin' more movies and TV shows here.
The problem is, it's lost its character. I don't even know what a typical Chicagoan is these days. Everybody, especially in the city is a fake white uber liberal, mostly from other states and countries, that likes museums, favors bikers over drivers, defends gays and trannies over heteros, and hates Trump. But still sexually conservative and overall segregated (this is what I mean by fake). The values that come from working class, industrial environments unfortunately are ridiculed. The good part though, is that it keeps getting replenished with hot women.
As far as on the world stage, Chicago is nothing. Nobody abroad thinks of Chicago when coming to the U.S. At all. They think of New York. Chicago is a place they land at for practical reasons, e.g., job, or school, or something. And then they see how shiny it is in the summer and they think it's a great city. But ultimately, nobody that comes here stays here. They end up going to the coasts at some point.
From Condé de Naste Traveler magazine 2019...
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