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Aren't there " no go " neighbourhoods in Chicago though?
You aren't asking me, but I'll answer. Of course there are "no go" neighborhoods in Chicago - pretty much every major US city has them whether it's NYC, Chicago, Philadelphia, etc. With Chicago though, those rough, bad areas are pretty far away from any of the tourist/good areas. For example, the infamous Englewood is 7.5-8 miles from the heart of the business district - even a little further from where most people stay. As a tourist, the chances of you magically walking to Englewood from downtown are 0% - you'd have to be extremely high/drunk and not see your surroundings to walk 2.5 hours there. The area right south and right west of downtown that used to be sketchy 20+ years ago have pretty well gentrified over the last 15 years and are completely different. The only way you're going to go to these areas is by missing a stop on the train and riding for a ways (Granted, I have friends who have moved to Chicago and accidentally done that while new to the city - but they just waited a few minutes for the next train and nothing ever happened to them).
Chicago has out of control crime and it makes it one of the highest murder rates in the nation. And it's freezing cold, which means that it's only enjoyable for three months out of the year.
San Francisco attracts twice the amount of international tourists than Chicago. So that's a good indicator of what city brand looks more favorable from visitors abroad.
Having more international visitors is more of a function of marketing/brand/media than it is anything else. I don't think a city having more tourists automatically means it's better than a city with less. Honolulu has a lot of international tourists too - more than a lot of US cities - but as a city, it's not anything that amazing (and the beaches aren't' even that great compared to places all around the world whether it's SE Asia, Australia, Caribbean, Mediterranean, or even Florida). If you had me choose cities there, I would never pick a city like Honolulu over a city like Philadelphia just because it had more international tourists. From my anecdote before and my girlfriend's parents visiting from Shanghai - the only reason they wanted to visit SF was because of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. Literally no other reason.
Chicago has out of control crime and it makes it one of the highest murder rates in the nation. And it's freezing cold, which means that it's only enjoyable for three months out of the year.
1) The "out of control crime" is far away from anything touristy. Anybody who knows Chicago knows this that the crime is not only segregated by areas (what major US city is different than that? Every city has good and bad areas) but far away from anywhere you'd be visiting as a tourist (except maybe a few things at the University of Chicago, which is still 6+ miles away from downtown).
2) Of the 12 months in the year, historically, 5 of those months have average highs of in the 70s and 80s. Another 1 month has historical highs in the 60s, and another month is right below that at 59 degrees average. That's 7 months of OK to good weather - so obviously San Francisco is a better city to visit in the winter (and probably early to mid spring) but this "good weather only 3 months of the year" is complete BS. The fall in Chicago (September and October) is just as nice as the summer as far as not having crap weather goes with still comfortable temperatures.
Which by the way, of the 20 complete days of October this year, Chicago had a higher recorded high temperature than San Francisco in 14 of those days, and 1 day had the same recorded high for both cities. The recorded high temps in Chicago from Saturday thru Wednesday were in the 70s and 80s. Contrary to popular belief, it still doesn't on average get super cold in Chicago yet (average temps this time of year are still in the low 60s). That usually happens in November and even when in the month can vary from year to year.
Case in point, I think SF can be solid to visit year round (though it DOES get cold enough in SF to need a jacket) and Chicago IMO is solid to visit from May thru October/early November (6 months).
Last edited by marothisu; 10-21-2016 at 01:11 PM..
How many times do people need to see the data on crime before they stop saying Chicago has one of the highest crime rates in the nation? It's not even in the top 25. Houston, Miami, DC, and many others have higher violent crime rates. It discredits you the second you hit post.
How many times do people need to see the data on crime before they stop saying Chicago has one of the highest crime rates in the nation? It's not even in the top 25. Houston, Miami, DC, and many others have higher violent crime rates. It discredits you the second you hit post.
We shouldn't let this get into a discussion about this, but the OVERALL violent crime rate is not reported in Chicago on these meia lists because of how a few things are categorized differently from every other city. ALL Criminal Sexual Assault in Chicago is recorded by the CPD - but in every other city, only rape is reported (meaning there's actually less criminal sexual assault that is not rape being reported in almost every city outside of Chicago than is what is happening). Because of this, you'll see it omitted from the overall rankings the media puts out sometimes. This is why you need to compare specific categories through the FBI instead of the overall.
Regardless though, it is true that Chicago for many categories has a lower rate for crime than other cities people may not think. 2014 is the last year the FBI has crime by city reported. These are per 100K, and for each category which cities had a higher rate than Chicago in them.
* Robbery - The following cities had a higher 100K Robbery rate than Chicago: San Francisco, Miami, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Houston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, St. Louis, DC, Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Oakland, etc
* Aggravated Assault - Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Tulsa, Houston, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Anchorage, Miami, Orlando, DC, Atlanta, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Oakland, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Detroit, etc
* Burglary - San Francisco, Philadelphia, Austin, Sacramento, Portland, Omaha, Denver, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Raleigh, St. Paul, Jacksonville, San Antonio, Miami, Dallas, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Houston, Oakland, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Fort Worth, Seattle, Oklahoma City, Columbus, Baltimore, Atlanta, St. Louis, Detroit, Indianapolis, etc.
* Homicide - Indianapolis, Philadelphia, DC, Miami, Oakland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New Orleans, Detroit, St. Louis, etc.
How many times do people need to see the data on crime before they stop saying Chicago has one of the highest crime rates in the nation? It's not even in the top 25. Houston, Miami, DC, and many others have higher violent crime rates. It discredits you the second you hit post.
Oakland is in the top 3 for violent crime and SF is #1 for property crime (I.e. Theft of tourist cameras and phones, robberies, car break-ins etc...)
No its not. I already corrected you in the other thread.
Oakland has improved from 2nd to 9th and the crime rate continues to fall due to intense gentrification and displacement of poorer households.
US Cities Ranked By Violent Crime Rate, 2015
1 St Louis, MO
2 Detriot, MI
3 Birmingham, AL
4 Memphis, TN
5 Milwaukee, WI
6 Rockford, IL
7 Baltimore, MD
8 Little Rock, AR 9 Oakland, CA
10 Kansas City, MO
11 Springfield, MO
12 Stockton, CA
13 Indianapolis, IN
14 San Bernardino, CA
15 Washington, DC
16 Lansing, MI
17 Hartford, CT
18 Toledo, OH
19 Atlanta, GA
20 Buffalo, NY
No its not. I already corrected you in the other thread.
Oakland has improved from 2nd to 9th and the crime rate continues to fall due to intense gentrification and displacement of poorer households.
US Cities Ranked By Violent Crime Rate, 2015
1 St Louis, MO
2 Detriot, MI
3 Birmingham, AL
4 Memphis, TN
5 Milwaukee, WI
6 Rockford, IL
7 Baltimore, MD
8 Little Rock, AR 9 Oakland, CA
10 Kansas City, MO
11 Springfield, MO
12 Stockton, CA
13 Indianapolis, IN
14 San Bernardino, CA
15 Washington, DC
16 Lansing, MI
17 Hartford, CT
18 Toledo, OH
19 Atlanta, GA
20 Buffalo, NY
Oakland's has 53 murders year to date, versus 74 year to date last year.
Chicago has 603 murders year to date, versus 492 year to date last year.
Really? 603? Thats 100 more than NY & LA combined.
You're exploiting the tragic loss of life for what reason? Oh, right, because SF needs to #1 to everyone. You're actually in your 40s? Chicago's numbers are shocking, but when you realize that 2.7 million people live in the city it quickly puts things into perspective. LA and NYC still have their fair share of homicides, the undesirables have just been relocated to the suburbs.
Oakland's has 53 murders year to date, versus 74 year to date last year.
Chicago has 603 murders year to date, versus 492 year to date last year.
Really? 603? Thats 100 more than NY & LA combined.
Actually Chicago has 568 homicides to date as of official statistics, as of 10/13 (https://data.cityofchicago.org/Publi...sent/ijzp-q8t2). Not sure where you're getting your numbers from and the 35 that's more than the official count, but the link above is official.
Regardless, it's a lot and a bad increase - absolutely no doubt about it. It's unfortunate because there's a handful of neighborhoods that are responsible for the big increase and a lot of them that haven't even increased compared to last year. However, this thread is about tourism/tourists. To think tourists are actually subjected to the violence of Chicago which is notoriously segregated and centered miles away from the tourist areas of town shows a complete ignorance of the actual city of Chicago.
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