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This statement exemplifies Chicago's crime problems and poor international reputation where, outside the US, when people think of Chicago they think of 2 things..........lots of skyscrapers and lots of crime.
Of course every city has it's high crime rate and poverty areas but in Chicago that makes up a big part of the city and most of the Southside. This creates this warped notion that "just part of town" which in Chicago uniformly means poor and black. By writing off hundred of thousands of people who live in this city you create an atmosphere of great social, political, and economic stratification. Small wonder crime and urban poverty in Chicago is so high. This excuse of everyone fleeing for the Sunbelt is true but not to the extent Chicagoans like to think as it NYC, Boston, Washington, Minneapolis, and even Seattle can attest which by US standard has a lousy climate.
I have stated MANY times that Chicago is not at all a city in decline and has so many things going for it it's hard to list. It is a great city by any measure but one, bit by bit, is losing it stature in NA.
***I see no reason to put down cities to make one's own look better** * but this is a fundamental issue the city must solve and it seems to do shockingly little to do precisely that.
***BTW.........NYC,MC,LA have NOTHIG to do with this thread so keep them out of it.
Your fixation on Chicago NEGATIVELY is surely noted in post of yours. I have read. Though you always add not in total decline and a great city. As if its being a consolation prize to still declining in stature? That still is not the case in its Global placing. It has maintained it and other cities surely in the world and US are coming of age and have a ability to become a global relevant city all.
Your noting Chicago's Southside and predominately African-American population in high gangland crime and more poverty is a NATIONAL ISSUE. Check out St Louis, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Memphis and on.
They all have blight and poorest areas as predominately African-American. Some of these areas of other cities actually LOOK MUCH WORST then these Southside areas of Chicago. WHY? Because the city in the 90s cleared out the worst of blight and returned the lots to grassland as it was originally. Homes still get abandoned and the city is quick to bard them up. You see these buildings with a RED X on them in these neighborhoods. That's the city.
*Chicago also has March to November. STREET-CLEANING SERVICING the ENTIRE CITY, re-started after each winter. This includes the WORST NEIGHBORHOODS TOO and takes request for appliance and mattress special pick-ups. The minimum the city will schedule a Street-Cleaning is TWICE A MONTH. So services are still performed there and it shows. Many of these neighborhoods have great housing that looks good yet and mentioned by owners. But gangland overrun still as crime is a major issue.
NYC hit rock bottom in the mid-70s with major service cuts and bankruptcy only avoided by President Ford pressured to grant the city Loans. International investment began too. Today poverty stricken areas have in super-gentrification growth. The POOR FORCED OUT. Many out of the city entirely to smaller cities in other states with much cheaper housing. It is LESS a case of solving the issue.
*Canada did not have the Radical Racial change of the 60s 70s I keep repeating. This along with de-industrialization. Devastated these areas. As low-skilled jobs moved away. While the influx of poorer Southern US African-Americans was peaking. Then the surge in Latino's. CANADA HAD NONE OF THIS.
Chicago through the whole 20th century was seen as politically CORRUPT. Even before the AL CAPONE ERA (also gangland crime high murder period and Al Capone was born and raised in NYC yet).
Still had Chicago given the name "The WINDY CITY" was given By New Yorkers calling Chicago's politicians BIG WIND-BAGS. Newspapers began referring to Chicago as the "Windy City" since. Never had anything to do with breezes off the lake.
*I totally agree that other cities SHOULD NOT BE DEMEANED to make yours look better. But read Threads where Torontonians especially did that to San Francisco and Chicago. Both got closed.
Chicago does have major issues. Pension debt especially also. Just recently even a BOOMING CITY as Dallas. Was in the news as its Mayor declaring if it has to pay its PENSIONS DEBT obligations. It will push it into Bankruptcy. Chicago's State laws prevent a city going bankrupt. Not in Texas for Dallas.
So I general these negatives Chicago has ---->IS NOT UNIQUE TO IT. It is a NATIONAL issue in degrees.
Heck, just in Illegal Low-skilled Latino immigration in the US now. Is MORE THEN THE WHOLE POPULATION OF CANADA. Wonder why our major cities continue Racial change in growing Latino immigrants. Most not as Toronto's taking of Educated Immigrants without taking as many others. Some former Syrian by war displaced is not the normal immigrant Canada accepts.
*I present this video as merely relevant TO YOUR POST ON CHICAGO'S POOR AND CRIME NEIGHBORHOODS and blighted poor neighborhoods are not unique to Chicago NOT AS THE THREAD TOPIC. Just some cites are further along in Gentrifying the poor out. Like NYC, Boston and SF.
A INTERESTING COMPARISONS OF 3 US USA CITIES OF POOREST AREAS OF THEIR CITIES IN VIDEOS from 2-yrs ago on YouTube. Shows:
NYC - still has as poor Tenements and High-rise Housing projects and other housing.
CHICAGO - as primarily single homes on lots with housing set-back from streets and green-frontage. Grass lots left of removed housing clearly showed as I said city cleared out much. (SHOWS SOME LOVELY CHI GREYSTONE HOMES PLENTIFUL ONCE THERE) too much lost. Other areas in the Northside do but less.
PHILADELPHIA - shows predominately Row-housing to the sidewalks. Less blight removed.
Global Ties IBM Global Location Trends Report
IBM's Global Location Trends 2015 Annual Report ranks Chicago #1 the top U.S. city for foreign direct investment (FDI); 6th globally. Chicago Tourism Metrics September 2016
Hotel room demand in the Central Business District was 1,041,074 rooms occupied in September, a 6.8% increase from 974,937 rooms a year ago.
The overall average daily rate (ADR) was $242.88 in September, up from $231.15 in September 2015.
The Chicago Central Business District has 119 hotel properties comprising nearly 40,000 rooms. Recently opened hotels include the AC by Marriott (217 rooms), the Hyatt Place Chicago (206 rooms) and the SOHO House Chicago (40 rooms).
More than 3,100 new rooms are expected to open in the next two years, including the Ace Hotel (150 rooms, 2016), The Robey, Wicker Park (69 rooms, 2016), Sheraton Hotel (175 rooms, 2017), Marriott Marquis Chicago (1,200 rooms, 2017) and Viceroy Hotel (2017).
O’Hare – the world’s busiest airport in terms of flight operations – and Midway International airports served a combined 9.49 million air passengers in August 2016, a 1.3% increase over last August.
I put Chicago ahead of Toronto as it stands today. Right now you could make a comfortable argument for it, but in 5 years? This is where the decline thing starts to bite Chicago in the back.
I would not include San Francisco, the primary argument for this city has been that Google and Apple are headquartered in a "suburb" (i.e. another city) an hour drive away. I'm sorry but that doesn't make San Francisco a great/Top 5 city. It's too small and much of its influence even in the Bay area is muted by other cities like San Jose. No one would put San Jose in the top 5 even if it is the real capital of Silicon Valley.
Add to that my own underwhelmed experiences with the city.
There are a lot of great cities in North America but limiting to a top 5 list would obviously exclude places like Vancouver, Montreal, or Houston.
San Francisco actually has a lot of global headquarters within its tiny city limits. Some of the ones you might have heard of are Wells Fargo, McKesson, Gensler, Craigslist, Dropbox, Lyft, Reddit, Uber, Yelp, Twitter, Airbnb, Charles Schwab, Gap, and Levi Strauss and these run a pretty wide gamut of industries and services. I'm not sure if there's a sound argument that Toronto proper, despite the massive size difference, has a collection of corporations nearly as recognizable.
Plus, the whole ring around the San Francisco Bay basically acts as one unit and will be even more so as Caltrain (the commuter rail between San Jose and San Francisco) is electrified and BART extends out to downtown San Jose. It's a pretty solid expanse of development. Actually, anyone know how that extension of Caltrain to the Transbay Transit Center going? Is that extension actually under construction with a real planned opening?
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 11-29-2016 at 07:39 PM..
San Francisco actually has a lot of global headquarters within its tiny city limits. Some of the ones you might have heard of are Wells Fargo, McKesson, Gensler, Craigslist, Dropbox, Lyft, Reddit, Uber, Yelp, Twitter, Airbnb, Charles Schwab, Gap, and Levi Strauss and these run a pretty wide gamut of industries and services. I'm not sure if there's a sound argument that Toronto proper, despite the massive size difference, has a collection of corporations nearly as recognizable.
Plus, the whole ring around the San Francisco Bay basically acts as one unit and will be even more so as Caltrain (the commuter rail between San Jose and San Francisco) is electrified and BART extends out to downtown San Jose. It's a pretty solid expanse of development. Actually, anyone know how that extension of Caltrain to the Transbay Transit Center going? Is that extension actually under construction with a real planned opening?
I feel like I remember reading something about it being delayed? I don't think it's UC ATM. I could be wrong though. Don't really follow what's going on out that way all that closely.
San Francisco actually has a lot of global headquarters within its tiny city limits. Some of the ones you might have heard of are Wells Fargo, McKesson, Gensler, Craigslist, Dropbox, Lyft, Reddit, Uber, Yelp, Twitter, Airbnb, Charles Schwab, Gap, and Levi Strauss and these run a pretty wide gamut of industries and services. I'm not sure if there's a sound argument that Toronto proper, despite the massive size difference, has a collection of corporations nearly as recognizable.
Plus, the whole ring around the San Francisco Bay basically acts as one unit and will be even more so as Caltrain (the commuter rail between San Jose and San Francisco) is electrified and BART extends out to downtown San Jose. It's a pretty solid expanse of development. Actually, anyone know how that extension of Caltrain to the Transbay Transit Center going? Is that extension actually under construction with a real planned opening?
But Air Canada and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) are determined to flip that view on its head by turning Toronto’s Pearson International Airport into a mega-hub on the scale of Amsterdam’s Schiphol, Singapore’s Changi or Dubai International Airport.
Pearson is already well on its way to meeting that goal since it attracts more international passengers than any other airport in North America except John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City. Toronto’s primary airport is now the fourth-largest entry point by air into the United States, surpassing many large U.S. airports, according to National Bank analyst Cameron Doerksen.
O’Hare – the world’s busiest airport in terms of flight operations – and Midway International airports served a combined 9.49 million air passengers in August 2016, a 1.3% increase over last August. Atlanta still wins for most Passengers.
O’Hare – the world’s busiest airport in terms of flight operations – and Midway International airports served a combined 9.49 million air passengers in August 2016, a 1.3% increase over last August. Atlanta still wins for most Passengers.
pleeeeze. Do better.
More international visitors than any other airport in North America aside from JFK is a pretty big plus.
More international visitors than any other airport in North America aside from JFK is a pretty big plus.
I may have said this before, but I don't know anyone in the US, who ever considers comparing Toronto stats, to those of cities in the US. Same with Mexico City...same continent, different countries. I know in business, certain things come into play, but otherwise.....just not on the radar of most. Toronto is the largest city in Canada...key word there, being Canada. It would stand to reason that Toronto's airport would be busy.
When you land at Pearson you can see Mississauga's skyline, which rivals Boston's in scale, but it's just a Toronto suburb:
One of 5 satellite skylines in Toronto outside of downtown.
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