[pip]

Originally Posted by marothisu

LOL @ Arlington, VA being "suburban Virginia". That's like saying Hoboken, Union City, or Jersey City is "suburban New Jersey." There are multiple census tracts in Arlington County that are 50K+ ppsm and even a few over 70K ppsm. There's even a tract there pushing 100K ppsm. And it's not something new of the last 5 years. And you'd know this if you are familiar with Arlington for over a decade. it's been dense in various places for years.

But I do agree, there's some shitty land use near downtown. But knowing the history of the entire area kind of helps to put things in perspective. I don't know why people act as if these areas were built up or something. Chicago has come a long way in the downtown area really. Parts of River North 40+ years ago literally looked like parts of Elston Ave do today.

1972 Orleans & Kinzie River North
https://chicagohistorytoday.files.wo...-40-kinzie.jpg

Same spot, 2021
https://chicagohistorytoday.files.wo...022.jpg?w=1024


1976 River North:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ClF4CUFV...g&name=900x900

All things considered, it's been a pretty crazy transformation compared to 40 or 50 years ago in these areas downtown. even the last decade. Back a decade ago this was Clark & Chestnut close to a transit stop:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8978...7i13312!8i6656

And late 2021:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8978...7i16384!8i8192


The amount of erasure of industrial sites and parking lots downtown in Chicago is actually quite amazing if you know what it used to be like in River North, Streeterville, etc.

Thanks for the link! Im going to be on this tonight https://chicagohistorytoday.wordpress.com/