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He lived in Chicago for a good while, I believe. To be honest, I've found most of his ratings fair. Everyone has their own opinions. I have seen posts where he rates Chicago high on categories. On this site people tend to only notice when something deemed negative is said about their city. All cities have positives and negatives.
He lived in Chicago for a good while, I believe. To be honest, I've found most of his ratings fair. Everyone has their own opinions. I have seen posts where he rates Chicago high on categories. On this site people tend to only notice when something deemed negative is said about their city. All cities have positives and negatives.
You make a good point here, it can be hard to scuffle out the hearsay... lets make this fair for ChiTown:
Chicago Pros:
-Beautifully constructed architecture down the Loop and everywhere throughout the city.
-Mercer Ranks Chicago #44 for Quality of Life, only ahead by SF and Boston.
-Very affordable for the quality you get.
-Good, no, Amazing food! ... and people. Seriously some of the nice people Ive ever met.
-Great, one of the top 3, honestly #2 best Sports City in the country.
Chicago Cons:
-Gritty in some areas
-Steep population loss
-The high crime rate in the South and West Quadrants.
-HIGH Taxes and VERY corrupt Govt.
But you can really tie these points into the topic, because New York also has amazing food, ranks similarly to Chicago in the Mercer Quality of Life Index, has great architecture, gritty like Chicago, has a population loss too and both have bad traffic. The similarities here are pretty apparent.
Outside of HIgh Crim Rate and Affordable, that list I constructed is very similar to NYC... which is why I think Chicago is the closest to NY.
Center City reminds me of Manhattan, but not the skyscraper districts of Midtown and FiDi that most people are talking about here, but instead areas like The Village and East Village, which is better IMO.
Also walking underneath the El in North Philly looked and felt to me exactly like Myrtle ave under the M train in Bushwick. I felt weirdly at home. I think I would also choose Philly as my vote if the poll wasn’t closed.
I can see why Chicago won the poll as it seems like the most obvious answer on the superficial level, but surprised by San Francisco as #2. Parts of SF do remind me of The Bronx a lot though.
All of this, especially the bolded. Like NYC, Chicago has a huge skyline and is closer in scale to New York. Otherwise, Philadelphia is the clear winner. And this is not to say Philadelphia is a mini-NYC, because it's not.
The point is, Rittenhouse has a similar vibe to Manhattan, Fishtown to Brookyln, and so on. Fishtown's elevated subway does feel just like the M in Bushwick. Even more, we are both pretty dang dirty. In regards to street-level feel and aesthetic, no other city really comes close. What really surprises me is that San Francisco comes in second.
Misconception. The media has been taking the numbers from the Population Estimates survey of the Census which is a pretty superficial study. The American Community Survey 5 year (which is much better for more accurate changes over time) has the Chicago area as growing every year except for 2017 to 2018 when it suffered a 0.15% population loss which is anything but "steep." It is up population every other year and up since 2010 and even up 2016 to 2018.
The other thing that most people don't realize is that the US Census revises their estimates every year when new population estimates come out. For example, in the last estimates for 2018, they revised their estimates for every city for their previous 2017 estimates. For a recent year in Chicago, they revised their previous estimate and added over 15,000 people a year later. If they would have done that to begin with, it would be showing population growth. It's misleading but the Census does a terrible job of showing people this amongst other things.
Update—Urbanphile's Aaron Renn, a former Chicagoan who does really good research, notes that Chicago's 2016 population was later revised up to 2,720,275 from the from the originally reported 2,704,958. Without that change, Chicago's population actually would have risen a tad year to year, he notes.
Here's some actual facts.
1) In the 5 year ACS from 2010 to 2018, the US Census estimates that the city of Chicago has gained 15,089 people.
5) In the 5 year ACS from 2017 to 2018, the US Census estimates that the city of Chicago lost 4031 people. That is a 0.15% loss. This is extremely far from "steep."
6) Of the 77 community areas of Chicago, 43 of them gained population between 2010 and 2018. The total population of those areas is 1.7 million people. 34 of the 77 areas lost population. There were 9 more community areas of Chicago that gained population than lost population in this time period.
7) The 4 community areas of Chicago that make up greater downtown grew in population by 50,840 people from 2010 to 2018 - that is a 31% growth in population. The 43 areas of town that grew from 2010 to 2018 grew by over 108,000 people - a 6.9% population growth combined. That is a higher growth than Los Angeles and nearly the same as Kansas City
8) 6 years in and around Englewood on the south side lost nearly 40,000 people from 2010 to 2018. Yes this is steep - a 16.7% population loss in those 6 areas.
9) It is a misconception that no areas on the south or southwest sides are growing. Of the 43 community areas that grew in population between 2010 and 2018, 12 of them are on the south side and another 9 of them are on the SW side. The south lakefront area from right south of downtown through South Shore grew by almost 8000 people - a modest 4.5% growth.
Point being: The US Census has 2 different studies of population released every year and 1 has Chicago growing almost every year in population overall and the other doesn't. However, the other that does not revises their estimates every year and in most years has added thousands of people onto Chicago. In one year, they revised the Chicago city estimate by adding over 15,000 people to the previous estimate without alerting anybody.
Last edited by marothisu; 02-17-2020 at 01:58 PM..
This is Rittenhouse Square, in Center City, Philly. If there is a more New Yorky neighborhood anywhere else in the U.S., I would like to see it. Could fit right in around Union Square or Madison Square in Manhattan, just slightly more modest scale. But the streetscapes and street widths are almost dead ringers:
Also, you could walk from Rittenhouse southward, for miles, and pass through neighborhoods that look very similar to Brooklyn, just slightly lower scale. Chicago (and all other U.S. cities outside the Northeast, for that matter) don't have similar streetscapes.
Also, you could walk from Rittenhouse southward, for miles, and pass through neighborhoods that look very similar to Brooklyn, just slightly lower scale. Chicago (and all other U.S. cities outside the Northeast, for that matter) don't have similar streetscapes.
Very true. In fact, I think every borough is represented architecturally in Philly in some fashion, and I don't know that you could also say that for any other city.
In terms of Rittenhouse specifically, it'll look even more Manhattanlike with the completion of the Laurel condo/apartment building on the last developable parcel on the square (and include Philly's first Equinox).
Also, you could walk from Rittenhouse southward, for miles, and pass through neighborhoods that look very similar to Brooklyn, just slightly lower scale. Chicago (and all other U.S. cities outside the Northeast, for that matter) don't have similar streetscapes.
That's one area - one I love actually - and it looks like a part of Manhattan a little bit no doubt. However, to say this is what all of NYC looks like or even what all of Manhattan looks like is just flat out disingenuous and plain cherry picking. Rittenhouse Square looks nothing like most of Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, or Bronx. Last time I checked, this thread is about NYC not just some parts of Manhattan.
These are the types of threads that make me shake my head. This forum is full of so many people who never leave a few neighborhoods of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan and have a job somewhere in Midtown, and tourists who only spent time in lower Manhattan, Times Square, and maybe Williamsburg.
And on the side, to say that these areas in Chicago's Gold Coast look "nothing like any part of Manhattan at all" is just flat out ridiculous:
That's one area - one I love actually - and it looks like a part of Manhattan a little bit no doubt. However, to say this is what all of NYC looks like or even what all of Manhattan looks like is just flat out disingenuous and plain cherry picking. Rittenhouse Square looks nothing like most of Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, or Bronx. Last time I checked, this thread is about NYC not just some parts of Manhattan.
These are the types of threads that make me shake my head. This forum is full of so many people who never leave a few neighborhoods of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan and have a job somewhere in Midtown, and tourists who only spent time in lower Manhattan, Times Square, and maybe Williamsburg.
And on the side, to say that these areas in Chicago's Gold Coast look "nothing like any part of Manhattan at all" is just flat out ridiculous:
Downtown Chicago is the closest thing to skyscraper Manhattan, yes. But on a city-wide to city-wide level, Chicago really looks very different in its neighborhoods.
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