CHICAGO | Politics and Current Events

[Handro]

Originally Posted by Kenmore

triggered conservatives leaving the city, never gets old

A tale as old as time

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Kenmore

triggered conservatives leaving the city, never gets old

Useless response from you as is typical. Your hatred of opposing views is tiresome.

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

I hope I am wrong. Way too many good people that deserve way better (from EVERYONE, from the police to neighbors, "leaders", etc.). But I won't be here to see it. I moved a block down the street last may because of the insanely low prices, but now I am out. Lease is up in 9 months and I am gone.

There's a certain kind of psychology that scours the news for scary stories and then internalizes them. Usually they know it's an emotional trick. People who dread flying understand intellectually that it's safer than driving. But being behind the wheel, gives a comforting sense of control.

If someone just doesn't feel safe living close to a lot of other people without a moat, walls or yard for isolation, they probably shouldn't live in cities. Chicago's violent crime rate per capita is nearly identical to Houston, Atlanta or Wichita, Kansas. And lower than Nashville or Anchorage. If it feels higher, well, driving feels safer than flying to a lot of people. That's probably just how your brain is wired.

Good luck. No matter where you go, if personal safety is important to you. I'd recommend moving some place where you don't have to drive much. In 24-years of living in Chicago, no one I know has been significantly affected by urban violence. On the other hand, people I know well in Wisconsin and Florida have killed five people total in motor vehicle accidents. And I know six people who have died in car accidents in Michigan.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by Handro

A tale as old as time

True as it can be...

[Kenmore]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Useless response from you as is typical. Your hatred of opposing views is tiresome.

opposing views = triggered by a cwb (lol) video of a late night drunken street fight

snowflakes

[tjp]

Originally Posted by Kenmore

opposing views = triggered by a cwb (lol) video of a late night drunken street fight

snowflakes

It's more than that - an article I read quoted business owners who are closing early and employees who are literally quitting their jobs because they're afraid of what's happening outside their doors in this area. This pales in comparison to what people experience in other parts of the city, but it's not fair to characterize those concerned as "triggered conservatives."

[LouisVanDerWright]

I'm just mad you all missed/ignored my Beauty and the Beast reference.

I'm trying to derail this conversation goddamnit!

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

I'm just mad you all missed/ignored my Beauty and the Beast reference.

I'm trying to derail this conversation goddamnit!

"BEEEAAUUUUUTTTTYYYYY AND THE BEEEEAAAAASSSTT"

There you go. Derailed.

[tjp]

Loved the live action version!

[skysoar]

Originally Posted by OrdoSeclorum

There's a certain kind of psychology that scours the news for scary stories and then internalizes them. Usually they know it's an emotional trick. People who dread flying understand intellectually that it's safer than driving. But being behind the wheel, gives a comforting sense of control.

If someone just doesn't feel safe living close to a lot of other people without a moat, walls or yard for isolation, they probably shouldn't live in cities. Chicago's violent crime rate per capita is nearly identical to Houston, Atlanta or Wichita, Kansas. And lower than Nashville or Anchorage. If it feels higher, well, driving feels safer than flying to a lot of people. That's probably just how your brain is wired.

Good luck. No matter where you go, if personal safety is important to you. I'd recommend moving some place where you don't have to drive much. In 24-years of living in Chicago, no one I know has been significantly affected by urban violence. On the other hand, people I know well in Wisconsin and Florida have killed five people total in motor vehicle accidents. And I know six people who have died in car accidents in Michigan.

Excellent post, i agree with the Chicago commentary. I have lived in the Chicago area since 2001 and i have not personally encountered any urban violence or heightened verbal confrontations, and neither have any mention of one been expressed by my family. Many of my family and relatives from out of town, such as Memphis, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Akron have a pre-conceived fear of Chicago, then they come and visit and fall in love with the city. I know that no city is a Utopia, but good people should be fairly safe, knowing how to stay out of bad environments.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by OrdoSeclorum

There's a certain kind of psychology that scours the news for scary stories and then internalizes them. Usually they know it's an emotional trick. People who dread flying understand intellectually that it's safer than driving. But being behind the wheel, gives a comforting sense of control.

If someone just doesn't feel safe living close to a lot of other people without a moat, walls or yard for isolation, they probably shouldn't live in cities. Chicago's violent crime rate per capita is nearly identical to Houston, Atlanta or Wichita, Kansas. And lower than Nashville or Anchorage. If it feels higher, well, driving feels safer than flying to a lot of people. That's probably just how your brain is wired.

Good luck. No matter where you go, if personal safety is important to you. I'd recommend moving some place where you don't have to drive much. In 24-years of living in Chicago, no one I know has been significantly affected by urban violence. On the other hand, people I know well in Wisconsin and Florida have killed five people total in motor vehicle accidents. And I know six people who have died in car accidents in Michigan.

Who said this is all about crime?

It's so much more.

[jtown,man]

Double post

[Handro]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

Who said this is all about crime?

It's so much more.

I think the problem you have--judging by the posts I remember seeing over the past year and a half--is with big cities, not Chicago specifically. I don't think you'll find a city over a certain size that doesn't have lots of competing cultural and political interests that end up creating lots of frustrating log jams. Chicago certainly has lots of ignorance and selfishness and corruption among it's leadership ranks, but it's a fantasy to think you won't find the same, or different yet similar, issues impeding the utopian progress of any major city. Despite the popular headlines, the facts bear out that Chicago is fine, it's not going the way of Detroit, skyscrapers are still being built, businesses are still moving here, the average income is increasing, and the real estate market is on fire. Maristhou does a great job keeping us all aware of those facts. In the same way it's important to ignore the Huffington Post headlines about COVID ending the world and just look at the data, we need to remember to ignore John Kass and heyjackass.com.

It's possible to love cities and urban development conceptually without enjoying living in one, in the same way one can be fascinated with the natural world and relish spending time in a secluded cabin without moving full time to Wyoming.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by Handro

I think the problem you have--judging by the posts I remember seeing over the past year and a half--is with big cities, not Chicago specifically. I don't think you'll find a city over a certain size that doesn't have lots of competing cultural and political interests that end up creating lots of frustrating log jams. Chicago certainly has lots of ignorance and selfishness and corruption among it's leadership ranks, but it's a fantasy to think you won't find the same, or different yet similar, issues impeding the utopian progress of any major city. Despite the popular headlines, the facts bear out that Chicago is fine, it's not going the way of Detroit, skyscrapers are still being built, businesses are still moving here, the average income is increasing, and the real estate market is on fire. Maristhou does a great job keeping us all aware of those facts. In the same way it's important to ignore the Huffington Post headlines about COVID ending the world and just look at the data, we need to remember to ignore John Kass and heyjackass.com.

It's possible to love cities and urban development conceptually without enjoying living in one, in the same way one can be fascinated with the natural world and relish spending time in a secluded cabin without moving full time to Wyoming.

I don't necessarily disagree with you.

I've traveled all over, lived all over, and I had bigger expectations for the city. Basic expectations to be honest. A clean city, safe, and a population that was civil.

There is new graffiti in my neighborhood weekly, broken glass appears every morning, cartels of motorcyclists ride on the freaking sidewalks ever so often, crime, in general, is rampant in this "safe" neighborhood, and liter is everywhere (even though trashcans are on almost every corner).

Thats just scratching the surface.

My ideal city is Tokyo.


I used to think it was because of just the built form. I was wrong. It is the people. Kind people who are the opposite of selfish. Large American cities are full of people who would be shamed in Japanese cities.

I could probably write a 50 page paper on my thoughts on all of this so please do not take my little bit of words in this post as my entire perspective on the situation.

[the urban politician]

..

[moorhosj1]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

My ideal city is Tokyo.


I used to think it was because of just the built form. I was wrong. It is the people. Kind people who are the opposite of selfish. Large American cities are full of people who would be shamed in Japanese cities.

Notable that your ideal city is one of the most expensive and homogeneous major cities in the world. Maybe it's the diversity and poor people of American cities that's bothering you?

[SIGSEGV]

I don't like people littering and being loud or obnoxious in public either, but such is the result of a individualistic society with little regard for the common good (see also COVID-19 response).

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

I don't necessarily disagree with you.

I've traveled all over, lived all over, and I had bigger expectations for the city. Basic expectations to be honest. A clean city, safe, and a population that was civil.

I hear you, but I think you're just noticing bad stuff and not internalizing good things. I like Tokyo a lot and everyone there does follow the rules. I feel reflected shame for myself when a tourist is being loud on the same train car I'm on in Tokyo! But I also like Mexico City and Bangkok a lot and those places are nuts.

People in my neighborhood sometimes drink in their cars and throw the bottles on to the sidewalk. I pick them up. Sometimes people do come in from the suburbs and exurbs with the goal of annoying city dwellers with loud motorcycle groups. I largely overlook that stuff because it doesn't affect my day-to-day life in any way.

What *does* affect my ordinary day is seeing kids exit the school on my block and run to the corner store to buy candy. I often don't lock the door to my house if I run out on an errand. Several times a summer as I'm walking to get a coffee on Saturday morning I see a big wedding happening in the church on the way. When I walk my dog in the late afternoon I say "hi" to the same mailman I see a few times a week. I walk to get my haircut. I'm basically living the small town life in Chicago that my rural relatives think that they are living. In reality, their lives are driving 15 minutes each way to Walmart several times a week.

The small town of 2000 I grew up in was about a 30-minute drive from the closest fast food. It's the kind of place people have second homes. When I was in highschool there were two murders, one was the father of a classmate. I can't tell you what sort of carnage was wreaked by drunk driving and drunk snowmobiling. A constant drumbeat. If you got out of your car on the way to someplace, there were bullet holes in all kinds of stuff, and rain-soacked porn mags and beercans on the sides of the highway. But no one thought of any of those things as being social issues because they were spread out in a low density environment. The distance I would drive to meet a "neighbor" as a highschooler is about the same as between the Loop and Lakeview. If all of the misery in that distance in a fairly idyllic rural area was packed into one community it would be noticed, but since it's just driven quickly past and seen through a car window, no one ever thinks about it.

[Handro]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

I don't necessarily disagree with you.

I've traveled all over, lived all over, and I had bigger expectations for the city. Basic expectations to be honest. A clean city, safe, and a population that was civil.

There is new graffiti in my neighborhood weekly, broken glass appears every morning, cartels of motorcyclists ride on the freaking sidewalks ever so often, crime, in general, is rampant in this "safe" neighborhood, and liter is everywhere (even though trashcans are on almost every corner).

Thats just scratching the surface.

My ideal city is Tokyo.


I used to think it was because of just the built form. I was wrong. It is the people. Kind people who are the opposite of selfish. Large American cities are full of people who would be shamed in Japanese cities.

I could probably write a 50 page paper on my thoughts on all of this so please do not take my little bit of words in this post as my entire perspective on the situation.

Would you really enjoy Tokyo, though? They are a collectivist society that frowns on individuals acting out of their own self interest--basically the opposite of the Horatio Alger/Ayn Rand mythos of America. They may not litter, but you would also get shamed to oblivion for something like not wearing a mask during COVID.

[SIGSEGV]

Also, a fair amount of litter is really from overflowing trashcans + wind (though people do of course actually litter too). Even in the middle of nowhere in the desert in Nevada you always find candy wrappers, beer cans, and gun shells everywhere.