The Second-Rate City? (Chicago, Harrisburg, Atlanta: sales, lenders, employment)

[MannheimMadman]

^^Ha. You can't beat the truth.

[highguard]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

I really wouldn't put all your thoughts into what one jaded person writes in a blog.

I've been here 11 years now and while the economy is bad (like everywhere), most of the city looks and seems to be chugging along just fine. New construction going up, the loop looks and acts the same, infrastructure is always being replaced and upgraded. There are a few financial things the city and especially the state needs to focus on, but the article is looking only at the worst of the worst statistics.

I really don't see how the loop lost almost 20% of its jobs since 2000. There are a dozen new office buildings with 10 million square feet going up since 2000.

Looking at this source, he's really skewing things. It's only looking at the specific .5 square mile Loop and talking about private sector office jobs. It's not taking into account how things have deflated out into river north and the west loop, etc. as more housing has moved into the heart of the loop itself along with new retail and hotel conversions of older office space. There has also been a consolidation and increase in the number of public sector jobs within the heart of the loop.

If the loop lost 20% of its jobs and added 10 million square feet of office space, he's talking like the place is 33% or more vacant. Obviously that's not true in any way. The people aren't gone, it's just the space has been rebranded, moved around, etc.

He's really cherry picking a lot of those stats.

Thanks for the reassuring comments. I know I might have sounded melodramatic over this one article but for someone changing cities you got to make sure you cross cross the t's and dot the i's etc. I have been to Chicago before for 2 weeks about 5 years ago and I didn't feel things to be so down-turned so was wondering what has happened since than to lead the author to write such a doom-filled article.

[Plzeň]

Originally Posted by chet everett

politicians with at least as much backbone as Wisconsin's Walker will be needed

I'm not sure what you mean by "backbone", but Walker's policies would be like Emanuel's on steroids when it comes to bringing about the demise of the middle class.

[Plzeň]

Originally Posted by highguard

I have been to Chicago before for 2 weeks about 5 years ago and I didn't feel things to be so down-turned

It feels the same to me now as it did five years ago. It probably wouldn't if I lost my job and was upside down in my mortgage, but that would be true anywhere.

[uffthefluff]

Honestly, this author is a buffoon when it comes to the subject of Chicago and its future. No matter how many years running Chicago has the most or second most business investment/expansion per capita or ranks above LA, Houston, Boston or DC in economic vitality scorings, or has the second most fast growing private businesses, etc. this author continues to beat the drum of doom and gloom. It's absolutely ridiculous.

The reason for the author's bias is obviously due to his having lived here and now deciding to move - he has suddenly decided to focus only on negatives. Of course Chicago looks quite awful if you literally ignore any and all positive assessments of the city.

[williepotatoes]

That silly diatribe didn't tell me much of anything that I didn't know already. It just embellished and hyperbolized the circumstances to apocalyptic proportions. By the end of it his desperate alarmism had me giggling.

Folks, there was nothing said here that hasn't been addressed before. This article was spun for effect. Chicago is not going to wither away because of pensions and aldermanic priveledge or due to the population shift of some people to the south suburbs. And anybody who thinks that the central business district of Chicago is in decline, can't be sober.

I actually feel better about the city after reading this. It just reminds me how many people really hate the city because it doesn't submit to there own personal political ideals. There are a lot of them out there.

Chicago has a lot of big mouths connected to self-righteous and bitter souls. This one now belongs to New York apparently. Let's rejoice.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by Jandur

Nope things are horrible here. Death everywhere. Gangs, violence, guns, corruptions, baby snatching.

and, of course, those are that are actually going well.

[uffthefluff]

Let's look at some some data:

Inner City 100 2012: companies 1-100 - FORTUNE Chicago has by far the highest number of fast growing inner-city businesses.

Top Metros of 2010: A City With an Edge | Site Selection Online and Top Metros Of 2011: The Fast Track To No. 1 - A rapidly expanding economy propels Houston to the top spot among the nation Chicago had the most business investment and expansion of any metro in 2010 and the second most in 2011. The city was also first in 2007, third in 2008, and second in 2009.

Cities of Opportunity: Detailed study of the world Chicago ranked 7th worldwide for both general and economic opportunity by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Knight Frank | Knight Frank Global Cities Index 2011 Chicago is ranked 11th as a Global City and shows no sign of slipping.

Global Cities 2010: The Rankings | Foreign Policy Another Global Cities ranking has Chicago at 6th, so there is some disagreement about how important Chicago is, rather than how "second rate" it is.

Chicago also has the third most high-rises and skyscrapers being built in North America after Toronto and NYC according to EMPORIS - Building data and construction projects worldwide which doesn't sound like an outcome one would expect if businesses did not expect further expansion in the area.

Yes, the parking meter lease deal was horrendous and in a just world Daley would sit in prison for such a decision. Yes, Chicago is not perfect and has many problems both governmental and private. The issue with this silly article and its silly author is that these types of pronouncements, that some particular place is "second rate", must be made on a relative basis. On that count there is no city in America that consistently outranks Chicago other than NYC, so I suppose every other city in America must be "third rate" or worse.

[marothisu]

I really love when people mention the population of a city without mentioning the metropolitan area, especially in a large city like Chicago. Stuff happens and while the population of Chicago itself has declined, the entire MSA saw a growth of over 360,000 people from the 2000 to 2010 census.

Yes, Cook County lost people too, but every other single county in the MSA gained people except Newton County, Indiana which lost a whopping 322 people. Big gaining counties? 175,000 to Will County, over 100,000 to Kane County, 60,000 to Lake County, 50,000 to Kendall County, ~50,000 to McHenry County, etc.

So while the population of Chicago lost 200,000 between 2000 and 2010, the surrounding counties gained almost 400,000 people. In my opinion, that is still a good sign if you are talking about growth. That only means the surrounding areas could get better and make the Chicago area look that much more attractive. We'll see what happens with the population of the city itself in the future.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by uffthefluff;24702599
Chicago also has the third most high-rises and skyscrapers being built in North America after Toronto and NYC according to [url=http://www.emporis.com/

EMPORIS - Building data and construction projects worldwide[/url] which doesn't sound like an outcome one would expect if businesses did not expect further expansion in the area.

According to Emporis, Chicago has 127 more Skyscrapers than Toronto (4th most in the world). Chicago also has 105 buildings of at least 500 feet tall (with a few more under construction or planned) while Toronto "only" has 27 (with a number planned, but not 78 more). Toronto does have a number of buildings planned or under construction of 500+ feet (39 to be exact), but over half are only planned and don't plan to be finished until between 2015 and 2020.