Chicago is a great city! (Oak Brook, Berkeley: condos, credit, new home)

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by batman

i live in chicago and chicago (as well as the entire state of illinois) feels like a supermaximum security prison!!! all because of that horrible former governor, george ryan. from my point of view, chicago USED TO BE a very nice place to live, and then george ryan came along and, with his cutting of jobs, scamming, and much more, just totally turned chicago (and illinois) completely upside down, technically by chasing many millions of nice people out like scared wild rabbits, and causing all rude people to move in like a tsunami.

Wow, thats uh, amazing! Chicago has ALWAYS been a great BIG city to live in. George Ryan was a corrupt idiot, no doubt. But blaming all of the states' problems on him is just the dumbest thing you could ever possibly write. Seriously. Chased millions of people out? WOW! Thats all of Chicago's population! Wonder why we still have 3.8 million people living there. He caused rude people to move in? WHAT THE?!?!?!? Where do you come up with this stuff?

[mdz]

Lazy Polish workers? Great way to insult the million or so hard-working Poles in the area that have helped make Chicago a great place to live.

Keep your racism to yourself. I'm sure there are other websites more suitable for you.

[cdrobert]

Stevo i cant help but notice your reply foucsed completely on the prestige of chicago... so typical lol. i can agree how ever that chicago is better than flordia, dallas, los angeles, phoenix and newark and portland.

chicago does have a good business district, i should know, my mother works for northern trust. and she too loves chicago, but i can not stand the place.
im an avid traveler to and i can assure that there are plenty of other great cities that dont have the problems chicago has. just the fact that you would noteven respond to some seriouse root problems i pointed out reinforces what i said. Look around you!

[Steve-o]

Of course Chicago has problems, there are almost 4 million people living there with another 5 million in the surrounding burbs. Chicago is a world city, which is quite an accomplishment. Only 6 other cities in the WORLD have been given that title. Crime is a problem anywhere you go, you cant deny that. But based on Chicago's size, its a very safe place. LA, NYC, Detroit, St. Louis, DC, etc all have worse crime rates than we do.

I travel alot too and have been to every major city in the US (and some in Canada as well), and other than Seattle, I have yet to find a city thats even remotely comparable to Chicago (based on overall living, not just certain aspects).

[hawkfandan]

Originally Posted by cdrobert

I gew up in chicago and hate everything about it.

First off I hate the chicago weather.

Second I hate the curruption. It seems like in Illinois they seem to have a tax for everything. Now I can support this to some degree when Illinois schools perform very well compared to places like Ca (until ofcourse at the college level), but when their is a tax for everything from cigarrettes to city stickers, give me a break. What the hell is the point of a city sticker?? Where does this money go? What about the Highways (not FREEWAYS), if all these people pay all this money why dont they just do like the french and germans and make their highways a few feet deep in concrete to prevent the frost wedging in the highways? Oh wait because its easier to pay lazy Polish workers who do nothing. Why is it they would put the construction barriers up in March but wont start working until october right before the snow hits. Need I say anything about former governor ryan? Or the imfamous daly dynasty?

Now i know comming from the santa cruz, what gentrification is. If you are in SF, Manhattan, berkeley or santa cruz you are in an epicenter of gentrification. chicago is different.. like most other rust belt cities chicago actually has more people leaving the city than moving in. why? because instead of natural gentriciation, the city tears down housing projects and slapps up prefab town homes and condo's. leaving the working poor to find section 8 housing else where in the city or out in the suburbs.

And oddley enough chicagoans swear by it that their city is tops.

SIGH.

So misguided, so angry. Let me guess, your ex-wife is from Chicago? LOL

I hope you enjoy Santa Cruz - whatever that is. I'm off to Grand Lux for lunch. Cheers!

[NSH]

Originally Posted by hawkfandan

SIGH.

So misguided, so angry. Let me guess, your ex-wife is from Chicago? LOL

I hope you enjoy Santa Cruz - whatever that is. I'm off to Grand Lux for lunch. Cheers!

reminds me of a country song

http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite...emId%253D70862

[j33]

Steve-o - Don't get me wrong, I love Chicago and think it is a great city, but NYC actually has a lower crime rate than Chicago on most if not all reported crimes (just for the record, I'm referring to crime rate per set number of citizens, not physical number of crimes reported). I checked on Seattle as well and that is a mixed bag, they have more theft problems, we have more violent crime problems. That being said, I'd rather live in Chicago than NYC (lovely city, been there loads of time, but too stinking expensive, cut housing costs by two-thirds and then I'd consider it) or Seattle (too small and too far west).

That being said, there do seem to be a few posters with some serious chips on their sholders about this town, I'm not quite sure where it comes from, but it sounds personal to me.

[cdrobert]

Ill take the bay area of nothern california to chicago any day. San Francisco is way more cosmopolitin and wordly even if it is much smaller. And hawk fan dan, maybe if you got out and travelled once in a while you would know that santa cruz is a beach community south of san jose, known for its expensive real estate, previlent counter culture, and liberal politics.

here is a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz%2C_California

And just the fact that you are off to lunch shows another thing about chicago. All you can do is eat and get fat, especially in the winter. And my Ex wife? Shes got the clap and married to a guy who calls himself hawkfandan.

[j33]

So people who eat luch get fat? That is interesting logic.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by cdrobert

Ill take the bay area of nothern california to chicago any day. San Francisco is way more cosmopolitin and wordly even if it is much smaller. And hawk fan dan, maybe if you got out and travelled once in a while you would know that santa cruz is a beach community south of san jose, known for its expensive real estate, previlent counter culture, and liberal politics.

here is a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz%2C_California

And just the fact that you are off to lunch shows another thing about chicago. All you can do is eat and get fat, especially in the winter. And my Ex wife? Shes got the clap and married to a guy who calls himself hawkfandan.

The Bay Area? Pfft. I guess if you like hippies, weirdos and earthquakes, why not? Downtown San Fran is small and bizarre, the cable cars are neat, and I loved the hills, but the food is not as good as Chicago's (minus the Chinese cuisine), nor is the city as a whole. San Fran more cosmopolitan? Riiiiiight. Never in a million years. Just because people wear suits doesnt make it cosmopolitan! Their fine arts cant touch Chicagos, their symphony cant touch Chicagos, the amount of fine restaurants cant touch Chicagos, their architecture cant touch Chicago, neither can San Fran's absolutely GHETTO suburbs. I think Oakland and Richmond were probably the two biggest DUMPS (other than Nogales, AZ) Ive ever visited. Saucelito was nice, but small. San Fran is a small city with some nice hills, not much more than that. The day San Fran joins Chicago on the list of WORLD CITIES, is the day Ill re-consider my thoughts. Till then, San Fran is just another Cali city, albeit probably the best one.