# What's it like living in Chicago? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 2, 2017, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158 "2017-01-02T18:41:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/41 "2017-01-12T16:38:47Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > As an outsider can Chicagoans tell me what happened to Rahm? As far as I know of him he was a star among the Democrats before taking on the mayorship of Chicago. How did he manage to win a second term last year after the apparent shortcomings of his first? And now I’m reading that he’s the least popular mayor in the city’s history. It’s a puzzling arc for what I assume is an accomplished politician. What went wrong? [Here’s my lengthy thread on the 2015 Chicago Mayoral election](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=745361) Chuy Garcia was a clown and Rahm was the only serious candidate in the race. Most of the unpopularity came after the election. The Laquan McDonald video didn’t help, plus all the ‘activists’ happily exploited it with numerous protests. The tax increases were necessary to try to fix the pension mess. Karen Lewis and the CTU have been a constant pain and I’m sorry that Rahm gave in to their extortion. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/42 "2017-01-12T17:05:38Z")
I don’t know the best answer to **Aldiboronti’s** question. But Rahm didn’t win the last election in a landslide. He had to go to a runoff, something I believe he didn’t begin to anticipate when he announced his run for re-election. He was not terribly popular. I believe that the haves and the have-mores, who were certainly enriched and favored by a Rahm administration, simply outvoted the have-nots. If you read through the thread that **dalej42** referenced, you’ll see plenty of reasons people had to vote against him. What perplexes me is the fact that even now, after a term of office characterized by more of the same and even worse (see today’s report from the DOJ about our police department) he’s rumored to be considering another run. Chicago has some wonderful qualities. In some ways I still love it. They used to call it the City That Works. But until it works for the people on the south and west sides, until it works for the public schools, and until it works for people who are NOT connected, it’s a loser city. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/43 "2017-01-15T16:02:10Z")
Before this thread dies her natural death … Chase Bank Auditorium … in beautiful downtown Chicago (just a couple blocks from _Chicago Reader_ Towers) … I’ve always believed this was one of the finest ballrooms in all the Midwest … carved rosewood panels … gilded seats … enameled frescoes in the lobby … last night Tom Hanks implied it was a total piece of shit, completely underwhelming and one of the worstest places he’s ever MC’ed a quiz show … What’s the StraightDope? Yeah, Tom Hanks made Simone Biles cry … the bastard … ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/44 "2017-01-15T16:47:18Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Before this thread dies her natural death … > > Chase Bank Auditorium … in beautiful downtown Chicago (just a couple blocks from _Chicago Reader_ Towers) … I’ve always believed this was one of the finest ballrooms in all the Midwest … carved rosewood panels … gilded seats … enameled frescoes in the lobby … last night Tom Hanks implied it was a total piece of shit, completely underwhelming and one of the worstest places he’s ever MC’ed a quiz show … > > What’s the StraightDope? > > Yeah, Tom Hanks made Simone Biles cry … the bastard … Chase Bank Auditorium is a [boring piece of nothingness](http://www.joaochao.com/wp-content/uploads/joaochao.com_future_of_the_arts_in_chicago-trib_nation_event-2.jpg). The Auditorium Theater is probably the one you’re thinking of, and it is [so incredibly opulent and gorgeous](http://www.broadwayinchicago.com/wp-content/plugins/doptg/uploads/k62wOrZweAaW1zpryWaqT1cmewZCBOyNLcAzwmWxhSe142NnAfafjtxnQxNpDCTDH.jpg) that you can’t even get a decent picture of it. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/45 "2017-01-15T17:34:06Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Chase Bank Auditorium is a [boring piece of nothingness](http://www.joaochao.com/wp-content/uploads/joaochao.com_future_of_the_arts_in_chicago-trib_nation_event-2.jpg). > > The Auditorium Theater is probably the one you’re thinking of, and it is [so incredibly opulent and gorgeous](http://www.broadwayinchicago.com/wp-content/plugins/doptg/uploads/k62wOrZweAaW1zpryWaqT1cmewZCBOyNLcAzwmWxhSe142NnAfafjtxnQxNpDCTDH.jpg) that you can’t even get a decent picture of it. Thanx … that is a awful place … c’mon people, donate to Public Broadcasting will’ya … no wonder Tom Bodett quit the show … ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/46 "2017-01-15T19:35:30Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Thanx … that is a awful place … c’mon people, donate to Public Broadcasting will’ya … no wonder Tom Bodett quit the show … Just to note that the Chase Bank Auditorium isn’t owned by WBEZ (Chicago’s NPR station, which produces “Wait Wait”). It’s part of the Chase Tower (formerly First Chicago Bank) office complex, and I suspect that it’s owned by Chase – WBEZ likely just rents the auditorium for recording the show. I’ve attended several business meetings there, and I agree with WhyNot – it’s a serviceable, but boring, location. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/47 "2017-01-15T19:53:31Z")
you know this is one of those problems that I feel that didn’t need to happen … I mean when I first read about them tearing down cabrini-greene aka the “good times” ghetto (if you can catch the unedited reruns that show the high rises they look like the twin towers prison in la … ) the response was "yay finally getting rid of the pus ridden eyesores (then after thinking for about 10 minutes) but wait wheres everyone (aka the gangs drug dealers ect) going to go ? All the gangs that didn’t have a hood anymore were relocated to places that had established gangs and once the new decided to compete with the old … the bad side of the roaring 20s/30s all over again The cpd and agencies knew there was going to be fallout all they had to do was prepare if possible … ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/48 "2017-01-15T20:39:42Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > you know this is one of those problems that I feel that didn’t need to happen … I mean when I first read about them tearing down cabrini-greene aka the “good times” ghetto (if you can catch the unedited reruns that show the high rises they look like the twin towers prison in la … ) > > the response was "yay finally getting rid of the pus ridden eyesores (then after thinking for about 10 minutes) but wait wheres everyone (aka the gangs drug dealers ect) going to go ? > > All the gangs that didn’t have a hood anymore were relocated to places that had established gangs and once the new decided to compete with the old … the bad side of the roaring 20s/30s all over again > > The cpd and agencies knew there was going to be fallout all they had to do was prepare if possible … I hear what you’re saying, and yeah… but I’m not sure what else would have made sense. This is one of those hindsight issues. Now, it seems so totally obvious that what happened was going to happen. At the time, the vision was different. At the time, the theory was that if you dispersed the bad guys into a larger pool of good guys, they’d straighten up and fly right. That mowed lawns and picket (well, at least wrought iron) fences would inspire them to share in the American middle class dream. That the social pressure of disapproving grandmothers scowling from their front porches - a time honored and often effective form of policing without a badge - would persuade the drug dealers to go get a real job. Problem was/is, there aren’t real jobs. Not enough. So the drug dealers kept dealing, got themselves some more guns, and chased the disapproving grandmothers into their front rooms to shake their heads while peering through the curtains. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/49 "2017-01-15T22:09:43Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > [762 murders in 12 months.](http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/02/us/chicago-murder-rate-2016-visual-guide/) Apparently that’s more than NYC and LA combined and the most lethal year in Chicago in 2 decades. > > So what’s it like living there, Chicago Dopers? Are you fearful to go out at night? Do you avoid certain areas? Escort your kids to school and back? Make sure you are armed at all times? Or is it the case that Chicago is perfectly safe unless you live in the wrong district? > > If the latter be true that is surely a terrible indictment of the governance of Chicago. Where would you, who are closest to the scene, assign blame for the increase of violence? The mayor, the governor or Washington? Does the blame lie solely with those committing the violence? > > Have any of you considered moving elsewhere because of the rise in shootings? Or have you yourself seen no evidence of any increase and regard the press reports as distorted? > > Mods: placed in GD because of the questions on causes but please move elsewhere if you feel it fit. Chicago is nothing like NYC or LA. One thing I notice is how wrong Hollywood is on gangs in NYC or LA. Where Hollywood makes out there lots of gangs in NYC or LA and this so wrong. Where Chicago, Detroit and st. louis is invested with gangs. I never seen so many gang members in one day in Chicago and Detroit on different streets than all of my life. Chicago has major gang problem. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/50 "2017-01-15T22:13:10Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > [Here’s my lengthy thread on the 2015 Chicago Mayoral election](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=745361) Chuy Garcia was a clown and Rahm was the only serious candidate in the race. > > Most of the unpopularity came after the election. The Laquan McDonald video didn’t help, plus all the ‘activists’ happily exploited it with numerous protests. The tax increases were necessary to try to fix the pension mess. Karen Lewis and the CTU have been a constant pain and I’m sorry that Rahm gave in to their extortion. Thank you for the link, **dalej42** , I shall be reading that thread. So many great replies here, my ignorance is well and truly fought when it comes to Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/51 "2017-01-16T02:28:00Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I was thinking about this more today as I was standing in line at the new Chipotle in Englewood. It’s next to the Starbucks, in the same new shopping center as the new Whole Foods. > > And THAT, my friend, is a paragraph I never thought I’d write. Chipotle, Starbucks, and Whole Foods? In Englewood?! Drove thru Englewood a few years back and was surprised at how it was so yuppied (buppied?) up. Nobody even offered to sell me a map because I obviously didn’t know where I was, as the old joke went. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/52 "2017-01-16T03:40:26Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Drove thru Englewood a few years back and was surprised at how it was so yuppied (buppied?) up. Nobody even offered to sell me a map because I obviously didn’t know where I was, as the old joke went. Heh. I only started going there myself in late 2011, so I don’t have a really old frame of reference. I’ll tell ya that I feel pretty good in Englewood, although (until the Whole Foods plaza went in) I’m not sure I’d go so far as “yuppied up.” “Yuppied up” is Hyde Park. 😉 But I feel okay in Englewood. Much better than I do in Roseland, or in that neighborhood I don’t even know the name of, over by like Kedzie and the 40s? What is that? I dunno. I think it’s too far north to be Gage Park, but maybe that’s it. Anyway, that neighborhood does scare me some. When I’m over there, I will park in front of the house I’m visiting and call them, and I won’t leave my car until they’re at the front door. Not waiting on the front stairs in that 'hood. It’s not a good sign when there are more boarded up houses on the block than clearly occupied ones. But Englewood is still the one with the reputation. I have a heck of a time getting Physical Therapists to do house calls over there. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/53 "2017-01-16T22:07:24Z")
40s and Kedzie? That’s Brighton Park. That’s directly a mile east of me. It’s not great, but it’s not a place that I worry too much about being in. As you head further south and east into parts of Back of the Yards, things get a bit more dicey. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/54 "2017-01-16T22:30:01Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > 40s and Kedzie? That’s Brighton Park. That’s directly a mile east of me. It’s not great, but it’s not a place that I worry too much about being in. As you head further south and east into parts of Back of the Yards, things get a bit more dicey. I should also add that it depends where you are. Brighton Park west of Kedzie? Very little happening there. Brighton Park as you get between California and Western? A bit more concerning. I’m not even sure Brighton Park makes the top 20 community areas in terms of physical violence, whereas Austin, Englewood, and West Englewood, and maybe Grand Crossing top the charts year after year. I can’t find last year’s violence map, [but here’s a map for 2015](http://heyjackass.com/2015-deadliest-hoods/). (New City is the community area that includes Back of the Yards.) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/55 "2017-01-17T02:25:55Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I should also add that it depends where you are. Brighton Park west of Kedzie? Very little happening there. Brighton Park as you get between California and Western? A bit more concerning. I’m not even sure Brighton Park makes the top 20 community areas in terms of physical violence, whereas Austin, Englewood, and West Englewood, and maybe Grand Crossing top the charts year after year. I can’t find last year’s violence map, [but here’s a map for 2015](http://heyjackass.com/2015-deadliest-hoods/). (New City is the community area that includes Back of the Yards.) Yeah, you’re right. I just Google streetviewed it, and that’s not the right place. I’m not remembering it right; it’s been a while since I’ve had a patient in the area I’m thinking of. What I remember is lots of boarded up buildings, lots of empty lots, and a disturbing lack of trees. Maybe it was North Lawndale, and I’m mixing up my 40’s South with my 40’s West. Or it could very well be part of Back of the Yards I’m remembering. Not one of my favorite neighborhoods, either. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/56 "2017-01-17T03:55:25Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Or it could very well be part of Back of the Yards I’m remembering. Not one of my favorite neighborhoods, either. It could very well be a pocket of Brighton Park – the area near Shields Elementary School (43rd and Rockwell) has become a bit of a gang warzone in the past year or so. But that’s much more near Western than Kedzie. I was born in Back of the Yards (and was there until I was 3 or 4), and my grandfather lived there until the early 90s at 43rd and Wood (and we would visit him pretty much every Sunday). It’s really sad to see how that neighborhood has become overrun with gangs in the past generation. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/57 "2017-01-25T04:42:37Z")
> [@](#): > > President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday that he would dispatch federal authorities to Chicago if they don’t address violence in the city, which he described as “horrible ‘carnage.’” “If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible “carnage” going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!” the president tweeted. It was not clear whether he meant federal law-enforcement authorities or federal troops. > > Trump’s comments seemingly refer to a Chicago Tribune report from Monday that said 228 people had been shot in the city so far in 2017, a 5.5 percent increase from the same time period last year. The 42 homicides, as he noted, increased by 24 percent from the 34 reported to this point in 2016. [http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-chicago-carnage-234145](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-chicago-carnage-234145) ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/58 "2017-01-25T15:17:33Z")
My time in Chicago is limited to the area around 130th & Torrence, which looked pretty rough. but I’m aware it isn’t representative of the city as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158/59 "2017-01-25T18:02:40Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > [http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-chicago-carnage-234145](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-chicago-carnage-234145) To which the general response in Chicago has been, paraphrased, "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA. Good luck with that. 😃 " [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-it-like-living-in-chicago/776158.md?page=2)