What has happened to Chicago? (Jacksonville, Lincoln: to rent, violent crime, home)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
For many years we had the worlds tallest tower. Now we are from having even just the tallest tower in just America let alone the world as New York is destroying us with that. In fact NYC is growing beyond belief! 59th street alone blows away our skyline as great as it is.
Ohare is no longer the biggest or busiest airport like it was when I was a kid. We have only the 3rd biggest transit system. We fell to 3rd most populated city soon to be 4th behind Houston! We dont have a famous train terminal or anything else.
Marshal Fields used to be well known, but now Macys has ruined it where the holiday window displays are dull compared to what they used to be and compared to the Macys in NYC and the store here is falling apart so bad and you cant even view the tree in the Walnut room anymore. Escalators and elevators are always down.
I mean my god the fact that people on here I noticed recently are comparing Chicago far more to Milwaukee than to New York like they used to do speaks volumes!
We have lost the few things we used to brag about and be proud of. All we are known for is crime and embarrassing politicians. What happened to this city? Will this continue? Or will something happen that we can brag about again or be proud of soon? Or will the city keep going in the opposite direction even more?
For many years we had the worlds tallest tower. Now we are from having even just the tallest tower in just America let alone the world as New York is destroying us with that. In fact NYC is growing beyond belief! 59th street alone blows away our skyline as great as it is.
Ohare is no longer the biggest or busiest airport like it was when I was a kid. We have only the 3rd biggest transit system. We fell to 3rd most populated city soon to be 4th behind Houston! We dont have a famous train terminal or anything else.
Marshal Fields used to be well known, but now Macys has ruined it where the holiday window displays are dull compared to what they used to be and compared to the Macys in NYC and the store here is falling apart so bad and you cant even view the tree in the Walnut room anymore. Escalators and elevators are always down.
I mean my god the fact that people on here I noticed recently are comparing Chicago far more to Milwaukee than to New York like they used to do speaks volumes!
We have lost the few things we used to brag about and be proud of. All we are known for is crime and embarrassing politicians. What happened to this city? Will this continue? Or will something happen that we can brag about again or be proud of soon? Or will the city keep going in the opposite direction even more?
Just curious, do you have any specific guesses as to why some of these things happened (no longer tallest tower, falling in ranked population, no longer busiest airport, etc.)?
For many years we had the worlds tallest tower. Now we are from having even just the tallest tower in just America let alone the world as New York is destroying us with that. In fact NYC is growing beyond belief! 59th street alone blows away our skyline as great as it is.
Ohare is no longer the biggest or busiest airport like it was when I was a kid. We have only the 3rd biggest transit system. We fell to 3rd most populated city soon to be 4th behind Houston! We dont have a famous train terminal or anything else.
Marshal Fields used to be well known, but now Macys has ruined it where the holiday window displays are dull compared to what they used to be and compared to the Macys in NYC and the store here is falling apart so bad and you cant even view the tree in the Walnut room anymore. Escalators and elevators are always down.
I mean my god the fact that people on here I noticed recently are comparing Chicago far more to Milwaukee than to New York like they used to do speaks volumes!
We have lost the few things we used to brag about and be proud of. All we are known for is crime and embarrassing politicians. What happened to this city? Will this continue? Or will something happen that we can brag about again or be proud of soon? Or will the city keep going in the opposite direction even more?
You missed (or purposely didn't want to mention) the elephant in the room....the fact that every weekend in the summer Chicago now makes the headlines with violent crimes numbers. Which mars its reputation nationally......
That is the only real issue with Chicago.
In everything else, Chicago is a healthy city, top 5 in every major category.
Just curious, do you have any specific guesses as to why some of these things happened (no longer tallest tower, falling in ranked population, no longer busiest airport, etc.)?
The reasons people are leaving from what I always hear has to do with the endless raising of taxes and cost of living and crime. As far as no longer building super tall towers seems to be the fact that every time one is proposed people keep fighting it and making them shorten it.
And for me, Chicago NOT having the tallest building, busiest airport, etc. has no impact on my feel for it. And maybe not just because I'm not into architecture or travel, but because there is so much more of the city itself that it outshines these "need-to-be-noticeable" attributes.
And with all due respect, as an outsider, the crime stats has never deterred me. All respect to those who live in the areas that have been affected. I've never really had any issues during my visits. And I've been to many areas north, west, and south.
I can appreciate, however, the tax concern being an issue. Of course, this is why I gas up when I leave Milwaukee before I come down. And I found the bag tax to be silly, so if I leave a shop I will just carry out my products by hand whenever possible.
So what is the draw? Well the amount of friendliness and energy of the city outshines Milwaukee. The diversity and the ethnic neighborhoods is a definite draw. And being able to take an easy drive to forget about whatever I want to forget about back home is a plus!
For many years we had the worlds tallest tower. Now we are from having even just the tallest tower in just America let alone the world as New York is destroying us with that. In fact NYC is growing beyond belief! 59th street alone blows away our skyline as great as it is.
Ohare is no longer the biggest or busiest airport like it was when I was a kid. We have only the 3rd biggest transit system. We fell to 3rd most populated city soon to be 4th behind Houston! We dont have a famous train terminal or anything else.
Marshal Fields used to be well known, but now Macys has ruined it where the holiday window displays are dull compared to what they used to be and compared to the Macys in NYC and the store here is falling apart so bad and you cant even view the tree in the Walnut room anymore. Escalators and elevators are always down.
I mean my god the fact that people on here I noticed recently are comparing Chicago far more to Milwaukee than to New York like they used to do speaks volumes!
We have lost the few things we used to brag about and be proud of. All we are known for is crime and embarrassing politicians. What happened to this city? Will this continue? Or will something happen that we can brag about again or be proud of soon? Or will the city keep going in the opposite direction even more?
Most of these changes have more to do with things outside of Chicago no longer attempting to maintain its superiority. It's not a nation-state.
Tallest tower: most countries outside the US didn't bother with tall towers until the last couple decades, so now we are competing with countries in Asia. New York's skyline has blown away Chicago's for years. All we had were two or three of the taller buildings.
O'Hare: who really cares? O'Hare is still one of the busiest, which is actually one of the reasons I prefer Midway. We are geographically in the middle of the country, so it makes a lot of sense that more international flights go through the coasts, Atlanta and Houston.
Transit system: What do you define as "biggest". Is this national or international? There's only a handful of comprehensive transit systems in this country - NY, Chicago, SF, DC, Boston, Philly
Macy's/Marshall Fields: Chicago itself had nothing to do with one company buying a competitor, unless you prefer the local government to run local businesses.
Chicago has similarities to Milwaukee, yes. Milwaukee is like a very small Chicago. If you can't see many of the similarities, it's because you're trying to avoid them. It has a lot more to do with geography, culture and economy than anything else. That said, there's some aspects of Chicago that Milwaukee will never have. There's many aspects of Chicago that make it one of the most comparable cities, if not the most comparable, in the country to New York, but NYC is twice the size of the next closest city and is far more dense. Little point in trying to compare be concerned about an inferiority complex with NYC.
LA and Houston had far more space to expand at the time Chicago was getting large. Obviously Chicago's population is about 75% or so of its peak, but most of its land is either in use or in need of redevelopment. Anchorage and Jacksonville are far larger than most cities in the US from a geographic size measurement, but who really cares.
There's still plenty of things in Chicago to be proud of. Other cities have been proud of certain part of their culture or economy, but it's important to understand Chicago in context of our world today and not feel down about arbitrary measures of "greatness".
The reasons people are leaving from what I always hear has to do with the endless raising of taxes and cost of living and crime. As far as no longer building super tall towers seems to be the fact that every time one is proposed people keep fighting it and making them shorten it.
Since when is the issue of building the nation's tallest skyscraper the most important thing to aspire to? Why is that so critical, to anything?
Just sad how things have changed. Growing up all I ever heard was how Chicago is the city that works and make no small plans and the city of I WILL. Now its lets make plans and never follow through, or downsize it.
Most proposed tall towers never get built and the few that do get downsized. Or even a project like Lincoln Yards which had endless delays and had to keep removing much of what was planned before it got approved.
Just sad how things have changed. Growing up all I ever heard was how Chicago is the city that works and make no small plans and the city of I WILL. Now its lets make plans and never follow through, or downsize it.
Most proposed tall towers never get built and the few that do get downsized. Or even a project like Lincoln Yards which had endless delays and had to keep removing much of what was planned before it got approved.
I don't know how you can complain about corrupt local politicians and also be frustrated about the downsizing and delays of Lincoln Yards. That project would move forward more easily with someone like Daley or Rahm still in office, so pick your poison.
In addition, the reality to adding another or several other massive towers is you need to have a use for it. We've had thousands of residential units come online in the downtown neighborhoods the past decade.
Companies are being incentivized to rent office space downtown and coming in from the suburbs, but a lot have looked at places like West Loop. Perhaps the city has some hand in restrictions that lead to downsizing a project, but a developer will do what makes the most financial sense. It may not mean putting 30 more stories on top.
For many years we had the worlds tallest tower. Now we are from having even just the tallest tower in just America let alone the world as New York is destroying us with that. In fact NYC is growing beyond belief! 59th street alone blows away our skyline as great as it is.
Ohare is no longer the biggest or busiest airport like it was when I was a kid. We have only the 3rd biggest transit system. We fell to 3rd most populated city soon to be 4th behind Houston! We dont have a famous train terminal or anything else.
Marshal Fields used to be well known, but now Macys has ruined it where the holiday window displays are dull compared to what they used to be and compared to the Macys in NYC and the store here is falling apart so bad and you cant even view the tree in the Walnut room anymore. Escalators and elevators are always down.
I mean my god the fact that people on here I noticed recently are comparing Chicago far more to Milwaukee than to New York like they used to do speaks volumes!
We have lost the few things we used to brag about and be proud of. All we are known for is crime and embarrassing politicians. What happened to this city? Will this continue? Or will something happen that we can brag about again or be proud of soon? Or will the city keep going in the opposite direction even more?
Most people from Chicago do not take pride in the city having the tallest tower, or busiest airport, and definitely not population (regardless, arbitrary boundaries dictate population, and Houston has massive boundaries that make the city pop as big as it is).
The Sears (not Willis) tower is still an iconic part of the skyline, even if it isn't the tallest in the world anymore . O'Hare is still a top 3 busiest airport in the U.S. and is still the home base for United and American as well as having big international connections, so it's still, and will always be an important airport, and depending on which metric you use to define "busier", it's actually the busiest (takeoffs and touchdowns). Also O'Hare is about to go through a massive expansion that just began a year ago, so re-assess "busiest" ranking once that's done.
As for "not getting stuff done", you see the same stuff all over the country. New York has a lot of big projects that the city constantly screws up on. Most people in major cities aren't exactly "proud" of their local or state governments to begin with, generally speaking. Especially in Illinois.
Chicago has still been developing at a fast clip in and around downtown over the past decade, and that shows no signs of stopping. Would it be cool to have a new "tallest" building? Depending on the design, sure. But it's not something I really care about. I like the city with or without it, and factors like population and world records really don't matter much to my life.
As for the comps to Milwaukee, I saw that thread.... people were referring to housing styles and layout of the downtown core (next to a lake, with a river etc). Nobody was saying Chicago's status is on par with a city like Milwaukee.
Last edited by CCrest182; 04-03-2020 at 12:10 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
