Where do you see Chicago in the year 2020? (Detroit: live, deal)

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by midwest1

I see things on a sustained upswing. Personally I hope Rauner wins...simply to throw a wrench into the machine that has done so much to damage the state.

That's a big if, as is the national economy, but the city's star seems to be back on the rise after some rough times. Tourism continues to boom, which is at a critical level when it becomes a virtual cycle. more visitors, more shoppers, more diners, more everything...leading to even more visitors. This will be accentuated by all of the new amazing public spaces coming online...Maggie Daley, 606, Riverwalk, Northerly Island. These attractions, all of them of the must see variety....will bring tons more suburbanites and non-downtown city dwellers in for more visits as well. International visitors and recognition will increase as well.

Bus Rapid transit will hopefully bring greater connectivity to the Loop. Population will continue to expand, as will the conception of what is downtown. The integration of Chinatown with downtown will gather pace with the Wentworth connector, accelerating the South Side's rise. All in all it appears like, as usual, Chicago is ready to forge ahead as it has always done.

I think this a great summary.

[jdiddy]

Hopefully many of the empty lots and parking lots along Milwaukee from Damen to Kedzie are filled in with development by then.

[Bellamouse]

I see Detroit.

[midwest1]

Originally Posted by Bellamouse

I see Detroit.

Enjoy your visit to Windsor....

[Bellamouse]

Originally Posted by midwest1

Enjoy your visit to Windsor....

We are leaving, thanks. We will watch from afar.

[ChicagoMeO]

Maybe Rahm will be gone off to greener pastures in another city!

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by ChicagoMeO

Maybe Rahm will be gone off to greener pastures in another city!

Do you like Fioretti?

[jwaiter]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Do you like Fioretti?

Yes.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Although it is only 5 years away there are lots of political forces that could have some significant impact on shifts for the better or worse.

While there is little reason to think Rahm won't retain his hold on the Mayor's office in the upcoming 2015 April election I don't see him doing the same after this term.

If Rauner wins the governor's race I suspect Chicago will not be allowed to foist all its pension woes on the rest of the state; if Quinn wins and forces the state into bankruptcy the resulting chaos for public employee pensions that will be settled by a court appointed receiver are a complete unknown. That could lead to some kind of crazy scenario out of a movie like RoboCop where everything is run by contracted third party profiteers.

The CPS situation will continue to deteriotate.

The levels of violence that we accept in the city's poorest neighborhoods will continue to be a plague upon the folks stuck in those areas.

Lack of employment will remain a huge problems for folks in those underclass areas.

Hordes of mindless post college types will continue to drive real estate and retailing in the northside areas.

The Cubs will still not win a World Series.

The Bulls will not add a championship.

The Bears will not make it to the Super Bowl.

The Sox will be tempted to move to another market.

The Blackhawks may hoist another Stanley Cup. Or two.

The firms that supply Divy bikes will continue to be supported by the city's non-transparent accounting. Arrogant and reckless bicycle riders will continue to flagrantly disregard safe traffic behaviors.

Pot holes will continue to be unaddressed.

CTA will continue to suffer from deferred maintenance.

It'll still be fun to be well off and enjoy the nicer things the city does offer in terms dining / entertainment / the arts.

Kind of a glass-half-empty kind of scenario here.

[bahiabrazil]

Originally Posted by rzzzz

There will be fifteen new residential towers. Someone will pick up the Spire project and it will be 12% complete.
In addition to the parks already mentioned, the new river walk will be 5 years old in 2020.
Uniqlo will have been around for five years. Everyone in Chicagoland will own multiple sets of heat tech underwear. The CEO of Uniqlo will praise Chicago as it's number one success story outside of Japan.
One of Chicago's celebrity chefs will have died of a heart attack.
Chief Keef will not rebound from being dropped from interscope and will become an unsanctioned radical islamic imam named mufti ke'eef.
The near-in suburbs will become even more Mexican, with a handful becoming Chinese, Korean and Indian enclaves. Berwyn will be 70% Mexican. The Mexican neighborhoods in the city will become less Mexican with the exception of Little Village.
A Chicago tech startup will have a 1 billion dollar exit. Most likely something like 640 Labs selling to a place like Monsanto, rather than a new social network selling to Google.

I have been wanting the spire to go up for sooo long. If everything went right back in 2008. we would have already had that beautiful building!