A little good news about Chicago

[real chili 83]

Shootings from last weekend are over 70 with at least 14 dead. 

My next comments are not intended as political.   Rocket, Jockey, Jamie, please don’t go there. 

The reasons for this go incredibly deep in our society.  However, this feels almost like terrorism.  Are stronger measures required?

[JWags85]

Shootings from last weekend are over 70 with at least 14 dead. 

My next comments are not intended as political.   Rocket, Jockey, Jamie, please don’t go there. 

The reasons for this go incredibly deep in our society.  However, this feels almost like terrorism.  Are stronger measures required?

Its not so much terrorism cause its so contained, and its really not done to impact a greater group.  It really is a different world.

I may have shared this before, but one of my good friends in Chicago is African American and grew up in Ravenswood, however, both of his elderly parents are from the South Side, Englewood and Auburn Gresham.  As a result, he still has extended family there.  He once told me, he has cousins in their 20s who have never left Illinois, and crazier still, the only time they came to visit him in Ravenswood, they went to a diner, and his cousins, 20 and 22 at the time, had never had a waiter/waitress serve them at a table before that meal.  Its truly so incomparable to the rest of what most of us know as Chicago.  Its a ghetto in the truest sense of the word, not just in the pejorative usage for a less than desirable area.

Its much more of a contained civil war than it is terrorism.

[forgetful]

Shootings from last weekend are over 70 with at least 14 dead. 

My next comments are not intended as political.   Rocket, Jockey, Jamie, please don’t go there. 

The reasons for this go incredibly deep in our society.  However, this feels almost like terrorism.  Are stronger measures required?

Just a general comment.  This weekend in Chicago was horrendous, but cities like Baltimore, St. Louis, New Orleans, Memphis, Oakland, Milwaukee, Detroit and actually quite a few others have significantly higher violent crime rates and murder rates than Chicago. 

Chicago gets the attention because of sheer numbers and the fact that it is concentrated in a few areas, but many cities are have far more violent crime. 

[MUEng92]

More sunny days than Phoenix

Do they have that on a pamphlet that they hand out when you move to Denver?

At my high school reunion Saturday my friend who lives in a Denver suburb said that same exact sentence.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Do they have that on a pamphlet that they hand out when you move to Denver?

At my high school reunion Saturday my friend who lives in a Denver suburb said that same exact sentence.

Every day can be sunny when you are high as a kite, aina?

[muwarrior69]

...but the worst part about Chicago is that Marquette University is in Milwaukee.

[Galway Eagle]

...but the worst part about Chicago is that Marquette University is in Milwaukee.

It is always a pain to get to those far suburbs

[WarriorDad]

This doesn't help, either.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/08/07/chicago-gun-violence-homicide-clearance/925630002/

[warriorchick]

Yesterday morning, they pulled a dead body out of the river a block away from where I work.

Good times.

[WhiteTrash]

Do they have that on a pamphlet that they hand out when you move to Denver?

At my high school reunion Saturday my friend who lives in a Denver suburb said that same exact sentence.

Lol! It must be. What can I say? People like it here.

[JWags85]

Yesterday morning, they pulled a dead body out of the river a block away from where I work.

Good times.

Thats not fair.  That seems like no foul play at all.  He was a South Loop resident.  To group that with violence on the South Side is the same clickbait sensationalism that people use to make the whole of Chicago seem scary.

[Galway Eagle]

Thats not fair.  That seems like no foul play at all.  He was a South Loop resident.  To group that with violence on the South Side is the same clickbait sensationalism that people use to make the whole of Chicago seem scary.

I started to write this as well. Suicide and accidents can happen anywhere.

[jsglow]

I'm not going to get into an argument with all you guys and I'm not commenting on Chicago's status as a great city.  I will simply tell you that Chick and I will be happy to leave when the time comes.  I think our ultimate decision to leave is mostly centered on the political corruption and patronage that has been discussed throughout this thread, particularly by dgies.  I sincerely believe it is at the core of most of the problems Chicago and Illinois face.  None of this will be satisfactorily fixed in our lifetime so to hang around when we don't have any family ties here doesn't make sense for us.

[Galway Eagle]

I will simply tell you that Chick and I will be happy to leave the suburbs when the time comes. 

FIFY

[jsglow]

FIFY

I've lived in the City proper before Bags, but yes, you are technically correct.  Look, it's your hometown, I get it.  Still, many of the challenges that exist around here aren't Chicago specific but more Illinois related.  The inability to fix the public union pension mess, for example.  Staying and paying for that doesn't make sense for us.  We're not going to California or New York either.

[Jockey]

Thats not fair.  That seems like no foul play at all.  He was a South Loop resident.  To group that with violence on the South Side is the same clickbait sensationalism that people use to make the whole of Chicago seem scary.

But.... accidents don't happen in other cities.

[mu03eng]

One thing I did not know about Illinois and/or Chicago......retirement income is not taxed. My parents still leave on a far NW suburb of Chicago and I keep trying to talk them into moving into Wisconsin to be closer (free babysitting is the best). But they won't move because all of their retirement income (pensions from the private and public sectors) is tax free. I'm shocked that Illinois hasn't gone after retirement money as a way to fix budget holes...anyone know why they haven't?

[Pakuni]

I'm shocked that Illinois hasn't gone after retirement money as a way to fix budget holes...anyone know why they haven't?

Old people vote.

[WarriorDad]

I started to write this as well. Suicide and accidents can happen anywhere.

So can shootings, robberies, and anything else though, right?

[Galway Eagle]

So can shootings, robberies, and anything else though, right?

Yeah. what's your point?

[dgies9156]

Still, many of the challenges that exist around here aren't Chicago specific but more Illinois related.  The inability to fix the public union pension mess, for example.  Staying and paying for that doesn't make sense for us.  We're not going to California or New York either.

Brother Glow,I would take issue with only one point you raise. You can't be "Illinois related" without being Chicago specific. There are 12 million people, give or take,  in the State of Illinois. Of that amount, the vast majority live north of Interstate 80 and east of the Fox River.

Go south of  I-80 or west of the Fox River and you have a population density that makes Iowa look crowded.

To those of you who say Brother Glow doesn't live in Chicago because he lives in the suburbs, poppycock. We are all paying for it. Representative Madigan just won't let us have a say in governing it.
 

[warriorchick]

One thing I did not know about Illinois and/or Chicago......retirement income is not taxed. My parents still leave on a far NW suburb of Chicago and I keep trying to talk them into moving into Wisconsin to be closer (free babysitting is the best). But they won't move because all of their retirement income (pensions from the private and public sectors) is tax free. I'm shocked that Illinois hasn't gone after retirement money as a way to fix budget holes...anyone know why they haven't?

Eng, if your parents haven't actually crunched the numbers on this,  I would encourage them to do so.  Once you factor in the higher cost of living and higher property and sales tax rates, my guess is they aren't saving as much money as they think.  The irony of Illinois' pension mess is that many of its recipients do indeed live out of state - so Illinois doesn't even receive any of the economic benefits of the spending of those pension dollars.

Also, ask them if they can actually put a price on spending more time with their grandchild.   

[dgies9156]

Eng, if your parents haven't actually crunched the numbers on this,  I would encourage them to do so.  Once you factor in the higher cost of living and higher property and sales tax rates, my guess is they aren't saving as much money as they think.

Also, ask them if they can actually put a price on spending more time with their grandchild.   

So, to where are you and Brother Glow retiring?

The Gulch?

The Third Ward? or

Florida?

Incidentally, that's an absolutely wonderful guilt trip a son or daughter can put on their parents when inexpensive child care is needed!!!!!

[warriorchick]

So, to where are you and Brother Glow retiring?

The Gulch?

The Third Ward? or

Florida?

Incidentally, that's an absolutely wonderful guilt trip a son or daughter can put on their parents when inexpensive child care is needed!!!!!

Well we have our place in Vegas, which has no state income tax on anything, so you know we will be spending at least six months and one day there.   

The rest of the time will probably be in Wisconsin at a location to be named later.