CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Chi-Sky21

Good to see him trying to make a difference .....or i guess i should say good to not see...

Apparently he inherited his money in 2015 when his father died in a plane crash and left him 1/3 of his fortune. I hope to "hear" more from him using that money for good around the world.

The article also states this:

After growing up in California and Jackson Hole, Wyo., and graduating from Colorado College, Walton came to Chicago in 2011 to work as an intern for True North Partners, a private-equity firm co-founded by his late father, John.

In a snapshot of Walton's still-emergent, publicity-shy status around town, foundation executives like the Chicago Community Trust's Helene Gayle say they've encountered him but not in depth.

Walton declines to be interviewed. A spokeswoman for the Walton family office says discussions about Builders Initiative are premature amid the pandemic.

Walton champions aquaculture and other sustainable food and energy sources, growing out of a childhood diet imposed by his mother after he was diagnosed with cancer, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Among Builders Initiative's beneficiaries are Openlands, Chicago's Environmental Law & Policy Center and the Nature Conservancy, but also Crystal Bridges, which received $2 million—the foundation's largest grant in 2018—according to a regulatory filing.

Walton holds a 22 percent stake worth about $1.5 billion in renewable energy firm First Solar, chaired by True North co-founder Michael Ahearn. Elementary and secondary education is another family cause. He donated $22,000 to an Illinois Network of Charter Schools political action committee, the Sun-Times reported in 2018.

To manage his personal investment portfolio, LTW Investments, Walton turned to Alan Chang, an alum of pioneering impact investor Capricorn Investment Group.

For Builders Initiative, Walton recruited Bruce McNamer to Chicago from the Greater Washington (D.C.) Community Foundation. His golden résumé lists a Peace Corps stint, a White House fellowship and positions at McKinsey and JPMorgan Chase, where he was "head of global philanthropy."

..

Before McNamer, 57, became president of Builders Initiative, the post was split between Walton and his wife, Samantha. An acquaintance says they met by chance in Chicago, leading to a relationship that helped anchor Walton here.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

WBEZ has a less alarmist article than the Trib or Crain's:

https://www.wbez.org/stories/downtow...7-3975ec93b46d

I would guess most people are like that. No doubt some people will leave for those reasons but I suspect many will not leave for those reasons. Instead, most likely due to COVID-19 related economic dealings.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I would guess most people are like that. No doubt some people will leave for those reasons but I suspect many will not leave for those reasons. Instead, most likely due to COVID-19 related economic dealings.

Yeah, the Trib (and sometimes Crain's) never miss an opportunity to trash the city. I don't think other cities have such city-loathing newspapers.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Yeah, the Trib (and sometimes Crain's) never miss an opportunity to trash the city. I don't think other cities have such city-loathing newspapers.

Yes, and I've worked with a few people at Crains for a few articles. They are thorough but there's been a few times that made me a little confused.

I think in general it's something I've noticed since moving away from Chicago. A lot of people seem to be in the "grass is greener on the other side." And I'm not talking about people who are living in neighborhoods plagued by violence. I'm talking about your average person who lives downtown or some middle/upper middle/upper class area of the city or suburbs. Not to diminish what they say, but a lot of things that I see online by people as a mark against the city are things happening in other places too and sometimes those things in other places are actually worse (i.e. income tax in Illinois). It's pretty frightening actually and disappointing when those specific things are mentioned but people do not take the time to understand what the situation is in other similar places.

I think for your person like myself from NYC area or also some places in California, Chicago can be pretty attractive regarding cost of living, quality of life, and yes even taxes. I can't tell you how many people I work with in NYC who visited Chicago a time or two and then wanted to ditch NYC after that, especially after looking at housing costs.

[ardecila]

^ All the more reason that Chicago needs to be promoting itself to new residents (not just businesses), both directly via ads and indirectly via tourism and TV/movies like Chicago Fire and Shameless.

Lefty types imagine this is a neoliberal waste of money, but IMO we need to do this kind of thing just to tread water and counter the constant negative messaging about Chicago that is spewed by Republicans. Otherwise that messaging will start to take a big toll on the city's economic fortunes.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by ardecila

^ All the more reason that Chicago needs to be promoting itself to new residents (not just businesses), both directly via ads and indirectly via tourism and TV/movies like Chicago Fire and Shameless.

Lefty types imagine this is a neoliberal waste of money, but IMO we need to do this kind of thing just to tread water and counter the constant negative messaging about Chicago that is spewed by Republicans. Otherwise that messaging will start to take a big toll on the city's economic fortunes.

The far left maybe, but many people who are just "normal" left like myself...nope, not a waste of money at all.

Let's try not to generalize too much.

[sixo1]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Yeah, the Trib (and sometimes Crain's) never miss an opportunity to trash the city. I don't think other cities have such city-loathing newspapers.

Well, the New York Post has recently been hating on NYC ad nauseam.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by sixo1

Well, the New York Post has recently been hating on NYC ad nauseam.

That's true of some media here lately but it seems more like a thing only in the last few years. True born and bred NYers have always had a love hate relationship with NYC.

I have seen more people here lately go the way that Chicagoans did maybe a decade ago and talk negatively. With that being said, its more like "this is an issue" whereas what I saw and see from Chicago is "This is a problem, wr have it the worst!" Even if the latter is not true. People here in NY seem to understand when something is a problem but other places have it worse better than what I saw and have seen in Chicago

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by marothisu

The far left maybe, but many people who are just "normal" left like myself...nope, not a waste of money at all.

Let's try not to generalize too much.

Progressives love to hate on any kind of economic development agenda.

I guess they think we will be just fine if we give up on trying to attract new businesses and residents and the tax revenue they bring, even while other cities are still working their asses off to lure new activity. After all, you can just keep raising taxes on the rich, right? And they definitely won't move their money into tax shelters, or leave the city entirely...

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Progressives love to hate on any kind of economic development agenda.

I guess they think we will be just fine if we give up on trying to attract new businesses and residents and the tax revenue they bring, even while other cities are still working their asses off to lure new activity. After all, you can just keep raising taxes on the rich, right? And they definitely won't move their money into tax shelters, or leave the city entirely...

Most people in the left are actually not that progressive even if they claim to be when it comes to actual real life. So yeah, be careful with generalizations on that. You might be right regarding people who are truly progressive (tho I know some who are actually all about this..) but yeah.

Remember how much work guys like Rahm did to get business to Chicago and increase tourism? Yeah that guy is a Democrat.

Generalizations and labels are idiotic.

[marothisu]

The 2019 ACS 1 yr from the US Census came out yesterday for some cities and counties across the country. I have been going through this a little bit.

Median Household Income was estimated at $61,811. Chicago jumped over Phoenix to take 14th highest MHHI out of the top 25 most populous cities. In terms of percentage change from 2018 to 2019, Chicago ranked 10th right behind Washington DC.


18-19 % change, Median Household Income
1. Fort Worth: +11.82%
2. Denver: +10.63%
3. San Francisco: +10.22%
4. Boston: +10%
5. San Antonio: +9.64%
6. Seattle: +9.63%
7. NYC: +8.79%
8. Detroit: +8.57%
9. Washington DC: +8.23%
10. Chicago: +7.99%
11. Los Angeles: +7.91%
12. Columbus, OH: +7.83%
13. El Paso: +7.80%
14. San Diego: +7.36%
15. Dallas: +5.98%
16. Austin: +5.41%
17. Nashville: +5.20%
18. Phoenix: +5.13%
19. Jacksonville: +4.99%
20. Charlotte: +4.47%
21. Indianapolis: +4.16%
22. Philadelphia: +2.94%
23. Oklahoma City: +2.81%
24. San Jose: +2.53%
25. Houston: +2.44%

The $100K+ income bracket jumped from 29.05% of households in 2018 to 32.3% of households in the city in 2019. Chicago jumped over Charlotte in 2019 to be the 11th spot for percentage of the top 25 most populous cities. In terms of percent change in this from 2018 to 2019, Chicago ranks 5th highest amongst the cities with a total increase of at least 10,000 households with $100K+ income. Detroit was first, but had less than 10,000 household increase.

2018-19 percent change of households making $100K+ (10K change minimum):

1. Austin: +16.07%
2. Columbus, OH: +16.06%
3. Fort Worth: +15.39%
4. Denver: +13.91%
5. Chicago: +11.32%
6. Los Angeles: +11.06%
7. Boston: +10.72%
8. Seattle: +10.70%
9. San Antonio: +10.13%
10. Washington DC: +9.46%
11. NYC: +9.36%
12. Phoenix: +9.24%
13. Dallas: +8.15%
14. San Francisco: +7.27%
15. San Diego: +6.82%
16. Houston: +5.64%

[the urban politician]

^ Thanks, the 2019-2020 data will be..........quite interesting

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Thanks, the 2019-2020 data will be..........quite interesting

It will be. I don't expect the $100K+ figures to change a ton, but I'm going to predict that the lower middle class incomes change a bit and the lower income ranges expand. Not just in Chicago but most every big city.

A lot of service and hospitality industry unemployment out there. If I'm not mistaken, the ACS is conducted in June. We have seen some layoffs in some upper income range industries but not really a ton. Service, hospitality, etc has taken a big hit. So in that case, the income gap will widen starting with the next year's data.

Now, here's some other news with the new 2019 data. Chicago had the biggest increase of people with a Bachelor's degree or higher (aged 25+) from 2018 to 2019 of any of the 25 most populous cities. Honestly, it most likely added more than any city in the US period in this time. In fact, it outgained NYC by nearly 6X. In 2018, Chicago was less than 0.5% ahead of NYC in percentage - in 2019 it was 2.1 percentage points higher than NYC. Big widening of the gap between the 2 cities. LA was not far behind Chicago but after that, there's a big gap.

San Jose, DC, and San Francisco all lost college educated people. San Francisco lost over 5000 college educated people..

2018-2019 increase of people aged 25+ with Bachelor's degree or higher.
1. Chicago: +36,532 people
2. Los Angeles: +35,663 people
3. Houston: +20,307 people
4. Nashville: +17,777 people
5. Denver: +14,941 people
6. Columbus, OH: +14,182 people
7. Austin: +13,659 people
8. San Diego: +13,553 people
9. Fort Worth: +13,274 people
10. Dallas: +9781 people
11. Seattle: +7729 people
12. Charlotte: +7266 people
13. San Antonio: +6812 people
14. NYC: +6323 people
15. Detroit: +5837 people
16. Jacksonville: +3985 people
17. Phoenix: +3689 people
18. Oklahoma City: +3346 people
19. Philadelphia: +3159 people
20. Boston: +2889 people
21. DC: -741 people
22. San Jose: -779 people
23. Indianapolis: -2285 people
24. El Paso: -4863 people
25. San Francisco: -5206 people

[the urban politician]

^ How the hell did SF, Boston, and DC actually lose thousands of College educated people?

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ How the hell did SF, Boston, and DC actually lose thousands of College educated people?

Boston gained, but not a lot. How did SF lose? My guess is SF the city itself is still becoming too expensive and/or less attractive for people. Some people I think are moving completely out of the area while others across the bay around Oakland it's gaining. Here's some county level information:

San Francisco MSA
Alameda County, CA: +31,968 people
San Francisco County, CA: -5206 people
Marin County, CA: -4778 people
Contra Costa County, CA: -3122 people
San Mateo County, CA: -1279 people

So all together, the San Francisco MSA gained 17,583 people. That is less than half of what the city of Chicago gained. By comparison, Cook County gained 42,258 college graduates in the same time period.


By comparison, here's some of the counties in the Chicago area:
Cook County: +42,258 people
Will County: +6045 people
Kenosha County, WI: +4857 people
Kendall County: +3936 people
Lake County, IN: +304 people
Kane County: +151 people
DuPage County: -222 people
McHenry County: -389 people
Porter County, IN: -506 people
DeKalb County: -1205 people
Lake County, IL: -4044 people


Los Angeles MSA
Los Angeles County: +85,763 people
Orange County: +2305 people


San Diego county also gained 38,839 people.

NYC MSA
Manhattan: +8763 people
Staten Island: +6800 people
Brooklyn: +3066 people
The Bronx: -3336 people
Queens: -8970 people

Some more counties around NYC:
Bergen County, NJ: +18,332 people
Westchester County, NJ: +15,845 people
Suffolk County, NY: +14,765 people
Nassau County, NY: +9383 people
Hudson County, NJ: -2327 people
Middlesex County, NJ: -4828 people


All off those together is a gain of about 57,500 people with bachelor's or higher. The Chicago ones above is a little more than 51,000 gain.

Seattle MSA
King County, WA: +26,229 people
Snohomish County, WA: +4118 people
Pierce County, WA: +1029 people

[marothisu]

^ Here's some of that and more together:

Los Angeles County, CA (LA): +85,763 people
Cook County, IL (Chicago): +42,258 people
Fulton County, GA (Atlanta): +33,237 people
Alameda County, CA (San Francisco): +31,968 people
Maricopa County, AZ (Phoenix): +31,888 people
Tarrant County, TX (Dallas): +31,151 people
Riverside County, CA (Riverside, CA): +26,606 people
King County, WA (Seattle): +26,229 people
Harris County, TX (Houston): +26,211 people
Clark County, NV (Las Vegas): +23,720 people
Hillsborough County, FL (Tampa): +19,272 people
Gwinnett County, GA (Atlanta): +19,238 people
Travis County, TX (Austin): +19,120 people
Bexar County, TX (San Antonio): +18,506 people
Bergen County, NJ (NYC): +18,332 people
San Bernardino, CA (Riverside, CA): +18,141 people
Westchester County, NJ (NYC): +15,845 people
Suffolk County, NY (NYC): +14,765 people
Oakland County, MI (Detroit): +14,688 people
Salt Lake County, UT (Salt Lake City): +14,405 people
Franklin County, OH (Columbus, OH): +13,644 people
Broward County, FL (Miami): +11,477 people
Dallas County, TX (Dallas): 12,834 people
Collin County, TX (Dallas): +12,473 people
Palm Beach County, FL (Miami): +12,702 people
St. Louis County, MO (St. Louis): +11,957 people
Pima County, AZ (Phoenix): +10,870 people
Nassau County, NY (NYC): +9383 people
Manhattan (NYC): +8763 people
Mecklenburg County, NC (Charlotte): +8213 people
Pineallas County, FL (Tampa): +8073 people
Staten Island (NYC): +6800 people
Milwaukee County, WI (Milwaukee): +6302 people
Wake County, NC (Raleigh): +6103 people
Will County, IL (Chicago): +6045 people
Kenosha County, WI (Chicago): +4857 people
Allegheny County, PA (Pittsburgh): +4293 people
Honolulu County, HI (Honolulu): +4174 people
Snohomish County, WA (Seattle): +4118 people
Fort Bend County, TX (Houston): +4013 people
Kendall County, IL (Chicago): +3936 people
Fairfax County, VA (Washington DC): +3898 people
Philadelphia County, PA (Philadelphia): +3159 people
St. Louis city: +3134 people
Brooklyn (NYC): +3066 people
Duval County, FL (Jacksonville): +2948 people
Fresno County, CA (Fresno): +2894 people
Suffolk County, MA (Boston): +2798 people
Olmsted County, MN (Rochester, MN): +2721 people
Shelby County, TN (Memphis): +2625 people
Orange County, CA (LA): +2305 people
Sacramento County, CA (Sacramento): +2207 people
Hennepin County, MN (Minneapolis): +1701 people
Ramsey County, MN (Minneapolis): +1213 people
Pierce County, WA (Seattle): +1029 people
Marion County, IN (Indianapolis: +640 people
Orange County, FL (Orlando): +624 people
Lake County, IN (Chicago): +304 people
Kane County, IL (Chicago): +151 people
DuPage County, IL (Chicago): -222 people
McHenry County, IL (Chicago): -389 people
Porter County, IN (Chicago): -506 people
Baltimore city, MD: -587 people
Santa Clara County, CA (San Jose): -592 people
Wayne County, MI (Detroit): -664 people
Washington DC: -741 people
Washtenaw County, MI (Ann Arbor, MI): -1117 people
DeKalb County, IL (Chicago): -1205 people
Hudson County, NJ (NYC): -2327 people
Cuyahoga County, OH (Cleveland): -3011 people
The Bronx (NYC): -3336 people
Baltimore County, MD (Baltimore): -3405 people
Lake County, IL (Chicago): -4044 people
Middlesex County, MA (Boston): -4500 people
Middlesex County, NJ (NYC): -4828 people
Montgomery County, MD (Washington DC): -5300 people
Queens (NYC): -8970 people
Miami-Dade County, FL (Miami): -24,766 people

[the urban politician]

What’s up with Lake County?

My guess is that this was a reflection of the ongoing pre-Covid migration of jobs and talent from the north burbs to Chicago

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

What’s up with Lake County?

My guess is that this was a reflection of the ongoing pre-Covid migration of jobs and talent from the north burbs to Chicago

I think it's more demographic transition. Households with kids are turning into empty nesters and staying put in their homes, and there isn't any significant increase in the housing stock that would lure younger families with kids. A lot of developable land has been set aside in Lake County Forest Preserves or otherwise preserved from development (conservation easements, etc).

The enrollment at a few high schools I checked seems to have gone down consistently over the last 5 years (Libertyville, Lake Zurich, Warren).

Chicagoland overall has been pretty anemic when it comes to housing starts or net growth in housing stock, but it doesn't feel like we're turning into Detroit or Cleveland. Judging by marothisu's data, it seems that Illinois politicians have been successful at slowly growing the tax base/luring higher earners without a significant growth in population that would strain schools and other infrastructure. If we didn't have such a gaping hole in unfunded pensions, I'm guessing there would be a lot of money to invest in new amenities and infrastructure.

[the urban politician]

^ That’s about the most positive spin on no population growth that one could ever make.

Anyhow, what’s going on in Miami-Dade County? College grads are headed for the exits in droves if I’m to believe Marothisu’s data. I mean, isn’t Miami having a multi-decade highrise boom that’s giving Chicago a run for its money? That sort of flies in the face of data showing that educated people are skipping town in hordes.

Must be foreign money, I guess...

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ That’s about the most positive spin on no population growth that one could ever make.

Anyhow, what’s going on in Miami-Dade County? College grads are headed for the exits in droves if I’m to believe Marothisu’s data. I mean, isn’t Miami having a multi-decade highrise boom that’s giving Chicago a run for its money? That sort of flies in the face of data showing that educated people are skipping town in hordes.

Must be foreign money, I guess...

Miami is not a hotbed of white-collar work. Foreign money, snowbirds, and tax evaders are probably filling those condos.