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Then why is the NE corridor the busiest rail corridor in the country? Milwaukee, Detroit and Indy will never compare to Philadelphia, DC, and Boston in our life times, if Chicago had cities of those caliber all within 4 hours or less many Chicagoan other than yourself would travel to them regularly.
Well, except in the case of worst projections for sea level rise coming true and you not being close to death in your lifetime.
I do disagree with the other poster in that the nearby cities can be good selling points if transit connections were better and those cities started massively improving. A booming Milwaukee that has regular and frequent Metra commuter rail service would probably be great for both Chicago and Milwaukee.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Originally Posted by OyCrumbler
Well, except in the case of worst projections for sea level rise coming true and you not being close to death in your lifetime.
I do disagree with the other poster in that the nearby cities can be good selling points if transit connections were better and those cities started massively improving. A booming Milwaukee that has regular and frequent Metra commuter rail service would probably be great for both Chicago and Milwaukee.
Mark my words N-E-V-E-R, with regards to the aforementioned cities.
Of course it would be great for both if Milwaukee boomed, although I know Chicago would not concede any dominance to it.
Eh, it's like casting a vote for a young politician when you're 92 years old. The politician can say anything they want and they're not wrong if you won't live to see the outcome.
Lots of New Yorkers care about proximity to other cities. People will go down to Philly for Made In America or down to DC for the 4th. People will go up to Boston simply because it's a different city with its own unique architecture and history. You get tired of NYC just like you get tired of anywhere else and it's definitely a plus to have other interesting cities nearby.
This is true. I go to Philly for Made in America every year. And DC is a great city to visit too.
The synergy in the Northeast Corridor, in terms of regular travel and commerce between 5 major metro areas (including Baltimore as separate entity), is extremely unique in the US. It's unlikely that will ever be replicated in any other region of the country.
It's very likely that Philly will remain on an upward cost trajectory for that very reason (particularly in comparison to Chicago, which while a massive and vibrant urban area in its own right, just doesn't have nearly the same "conurbation" dynamic working in its favor).
Chicago has a lower cost of living than NYC for one simple reason: there is plenty of available housing here.
Why isn't all of the housing full?
Chicago is far from most other big cities (NYC is relatively close to Philly, DC, Boston), it's really cold in the winter, the job market isn't as good here, it isn't as internationally connected as NYC, and there are large swaths of the city that are vacant/empty and have crime problems.
Mark my words N-E-V-E-R, with regards to the aforementioned cities.
Of course it would be great for both if Milwaukee boomed, although I know Chicago would not concede any dominance to it.
I've lived in both cities, so I kind of know a little about this. People commute to Chicago from Milwaukee, and vice versa. There is a train that runs between the two cities, numerous times every day....that's how people commute. There are people from Chicago, who week-end in Milwaukee, as they own condos in Milwaukee's very popular Third Ward. People from Milwaukee, obviously week-end in Chicago. The sweet thing is, though, that you can go to the other city for just an afternoon...it's that close. As time passes, there are more and more connections between the two cities, and there is also continuous development along Lake Michigan, between the two cities.
There are those that are trying to make Milwaukee seem like kind of a "nothing" city. Couldn't be farther from the truth. Everyone I knew, while living in Chicago, loved Milwaukee. The competition thing that some posters have posted, is silly. Milwaukee is Chicago's little sister to the north, not a city trying to compete.
Here is a link to the Third Ward, where I know there are numerous Chicago residents living on the week-end. How do I know this? Several are personal friends of ours.
Check out these figures on inter-city bus travel in 2014. These are stats for weekly ridership by route.
The highest ridership routes that year were (Table 26):
New York to Philadelphia - 44,269
New York to DC - 38,016
Boston to New York - 23,804
Baltimore to New York - 20,237
Boston to Portland - 11,236
Of the Top 20 routes, only 8 were outside of the Bos-Wash corridor, and none were in the Midwest.
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