Aw, Chicago got it’s panties in a knot this morning, because of this article.
Well, Forbes didn’t say anything I haven’t been saying for years.
Nice to have you in the club, Forbes.
Anyone else care to join?
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Proof that Chicago Sucks
February 4, 2008 — DarcsFalcon43 Responses to “Proof that Chicago Sucks”
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DarcsFalcon
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October 29, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Chicago is currently trying to pass an ordinance where you cannot walk the streets while talking on your cell phone at the same time. Chicago also has the most violent crimes of all the large cities. The jobs there have an average salary that is 6% higher than most places in America. However, the cost of living is between 10-20% higher than most other large cities. New York and San Fran excluded.
October 29, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Mchambers – Yeah, I put a link to that cell phone thing in one of my posts. Is that stupid or what? In London, they wrapped lamp posts with cushions so people wouldn’t hurt themselves when they bashed into them while texting and walking at the same time. People need to smarten up, not make the government more of a nanny.
November 3, 2008 at 9:42 pm
No this was a differnet friend. Let’s hope that tommorow’s rally is peaceful. Certainly it may help Chicago to have a local politician in the White House. The CTA could benefit which could dig us out of the hole we are in.
November 4, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Pete – I’m so sorry. What a rough place to be, where your friends get beat up like that. *shakes head*
I heard they’re expecting a million people at the rally. I can’t recall the last time I heard a million Chicagoans get together and it was peaceful though. Unless there’s food involved like at the Taste.
December 27, 2008 at 5:19 pm
[...] she posted about it. And it’s become quite a popular post for her. Her most popular topics, in [...]
February 11, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Congrats on Chicago being # 3 in the Forbes survey!! I’d hate to see Stockton California which was # 1..
best to all from Pistol Pete!
There you are! I haven’t seen you around since the election and I have to tell you, I was getting worried about you! I’m glad to see you back and hopefully well.
I’ve been to Stockton. Not for years but yeah, you’d probably hate to see it, too.
Don’t be gone so long next time!
February 27, 2009 at 2:18 pm
First off, love the site. But being a native Chicagoan I blame much of it suckiness on other Midwestern cities. See, 10-15 years ago this really wasn’t a bad place to live. The costs of things were still somewhat reasonable. Then came the end of the 90s: the influx of the tourist. No, not tourists, people who come for a visit to see the art institute and the Frank Lloyd Wright homes for a long weekend, I mean the tourist form other shithole towns and cities in the Midwest who sat, particularly in their Big 10/Big 12 dorm rooms and watched too much MTV and Friends episodes and decided they were going to move here with 8 other people from their fraternity/sorority to live the urban lifestyle for a few years. I’m talking to you from, MI, OH, IN, NE, KS, IA and any other BFE Midwestern crap hole I can think of. You know who you are. At my place of employment downtown Chicago, there are 4 people in an office of 40+ that are from a 50 mile radius of Chicago. Four people!
This city used to be a large version on Philadelphia in a sort of sense, now it’s a small NYC. Burger baskets and beers have been replaced by sushi and champagne. The city of broad shoulders is now trendy and yuppie. It’s all supply and demand. Chicago is big but not big enough to employ the entire fallen Midwest. From downtown to Uptown has turned into the Midwest version of the OC. Every spoiled brat from a 600 mile radius wants to move here. Supply and demand, cost of goods goes up and especially rent prices go up. Value is determined by what ever people are willing to pay.
[post edited for content by Ness]
I’m glad you like my posts, Runn, and I thank you for stopping by and commenting. It’s always nice to see a new face.
I don’t agree with you though that the major cause of Chicago’s problems are from people coming in from other Midwest cities. First off, I think most of the problems stem from the political side, and all liberal-run cities decay – look at Detroit. Second, Chicago’s population has been dropping since 1960. The only time it’s gone up since then was during the period from 1990-2000, and the increase came mostly from Hispanics while the white and black populations went down. Remember NAFTA? That’s why the Hispanic population increased.
Lastly, it’s clear that you’ve visited some of the other posts on my blog, since LSDetroit has commented frequently on one of my other ones, but never on this one so he would never see your comment to him. But, I have to let you know I have an issue with the “get the f*ck out” sentiment. Whether we live here by choice or not, if we haven’t left yet there’s probably a damn good reason, and as long as we’re stuck here, and paying taxes here, we tend to feel entitled to voice our opinion on the way things are run here. That being said, while this is America and we all still have 1st Amendment rights, those rights don’t apply to personal blogs. This isn’t a public forum, it’s my blog, so think of it more as a benevolent monarchy where I am the queen.
I tend to delete the “get out” comments in their entirety no questions asked, so please consider this in the spirit it’s intended and leave off with the insults and name calling. Thanks.
~~Ness
March 15, 2009 at 9:35 pm
I thought Chicago had so much potential when I moved here. I mean, this was an city with the world’s first “freely” elected black president and a metropolis like this seemed so…intellectual and accepting. Then I went out with my black male friend and had firls tell him that “nothing against black guys but I just can’t trust you” or the good old fashioned “N*****!” which was yelled at us during Halloween. We’ve been out with him about ten times and he has been called N***** three times on thos separate occasions. I’ve lived in rural Maryland, went to school in Durham, NC (which is one of the most segregated and racially oppressive areas in the nation), lived in Brooklyn in the supposed bigoted Italian areas and I have I have never seen that with any of my black friends. The first time that has ever happened to my friends in my company was in Chicago and that happend three times in four months. Chicago is such a waste hole. It’s no wonder that Chicago has NEGATIVE growth in the size of its population over the last year. This city is garbage. Absolute garbage.
Since this is the same as the post over on the other page, you can see my response to it over there.
http://darcsfalcon.wordpress.com/2008/02/22/why-i-think-chicago-sucks/#comment-3757
March 15, 2009 at 9:35 pm
I moved to Chicago in October of 2008, my car was towed because somebody said that it was “abondoned” despite the face that I drive it everyday to school. I went to obtain my car at the 701 N Sacramento Ave Auto pound (the charges and storage fees were dropped because my car was clearly illegally towed) and somebody broke into my car and stole the radio. When i found this out I started yelling at the pound and it turned out that this had happend to over half the people waiting in line to retrieve their cars. Apparently it’s so common that the people repairing my car knew about it immediately and said “yep, that’s Chicago.” If Chicago burned I don’t think that anybody would notice. Apparently tow trucks roam the city hoping to find out of state licensed cars and they tow them. And this is all known by Chicago because they love the fees. I am a life-long democrat and I always will be. However, small government seems really great right now.
http://darcsfalcon.wordpress.com/2008/02/22/why-i-think-chicago-sucks/#comment-3758
Since this is the same as the post on the other page, you can see my response there.
April 22, 2009 at 7:22 pm
[...] [...]
May 10, 2009 at 8:23 pm
I do not need proof. I know. I live here. Where is our tax money going? Why do we pay more than most North American cities and Yes, even the people who are in charge of the city do not know all of the rules. It does not matter. Here is the real issue:
Why is our city not better than others if we give it more money. A business would fail if it operated in this manner. For goodness sake they are constantly threatening to shut down the CTA due to lack of funds. It costs more to use our public transportation than most and our parking prices are through the roof. Oh I forgot. We needed to raise money so Mayor Daley and his family could go to China for the Olympics. How much does it cost to put his name on anything anyway? How much will it cost to change the name when he is out of office. I am sure they will just raise taxes to cover that cost. It is like being in Iraq and having Saddam’s name on everything. I bought some condoms downtown and I checked them to make sure his name was not on them. Wake up Chicago. We are being ripped off by your government. What business would want to come here when it’s margins are poor due to the state cutting in on there hard earned revenue ( I think they used to call this protection money back in Chicago’s hay days only now we have lost the protection part) and… well I don’t know what they do with it (our tax dollars.) Why would a suburbanite on his way home duck into a downtown jewelry store to buy a ring for his girl when he can wait until he gets to the burbs and pay 3 to 4% less. Or why would I go to Home Depot here off of Roosevelt to purchase a washer and dryer when I can order it on line and get it delivered for less because I do not have to pay the soon to be 12+% sales tax. The people who are affected the most are those of us who live and own businesses downtown and it is not cost effective to go the the burbs to do our grocery shopping. This is supposed to be an era of re-urbanization but the state of Illinois and the City of Chicago have arrested this development with there ridiculousness tax rates. Do not worry. I am looking to relocate ASAP myself. It is just good economics for me and my family and I suspect those that are good at economics are at the very least toying with the idea. So, if those that are good at economics all flee the city due to it’s poor economics who does that leave? A city can not survive if the only people paying taxes are those who are collecting welfare. Oh by the way, my family does earn a decent income and the tax revenue that the city and state misses from us will need to be replaced. I am just glad it will not be from my wallet anymore. Chow.
Welcome Rob.
Yes, everything you said is true. Sadly, there are so many around here that just don’t seem to get it, and keep voting the same way instead of cleaning house. We are on our way to becoming another Detroit – a meltdown of failed businesses and homelessness all on the government dole.
I hope you are able to move soon, and as soon as my circumstances permit, I’ll be out of here too.
Stop by again soon!
~Ness
May 11, 2009 at 12:34 pm
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“I do not need proof. I know. I live here.”
Classic.
Yep, it is classic.
I wish more people who live here were as in touch with reality as Rob seems to be!
May 12, 2009 at 1:47 am
I’ve lived in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Dallas, and Chicago. Easily, the lowest quality of life I’ve ever had is here in Chicago, where I live downtown. It’s astonishing what people here put up with. First up, weather – unquestionably terrible, but fine for those who like variety, extremes, and don’t require more than three weeks of truly nice weather per year. It is a rare day when I leave my apartment and something – rain, hail, bitter cold, snow, sleet, dust, muggy air, heavy wind – doesn’t slap me hard across the face. Next, transportation infrastructure. My commute is 13 miles, and my average time each way is 45 minutes (but I can hit 90 minutes on Friday afternoon, and two hours when it snows). Then there’s the blood-curdling parking situation and the recent meter debacle, the difficulty of moving between neighborhoods because the city is simply too congested, the slow, inefficient, and expensive CTA with most stations above ground despite the severe weather here, and road conditions that remind me of Peru. Now for everybody’s favorite airport, O’Hare. There’s one highway leading from the city to the nation’s busiest, which means bumper-to-bumper day and night. The Blue Line? Give yourself at least an hour. ORD is an ugly, sprawling, inefficient airport that spoils hundreds of trips every day. It’s difficult to reach, navigate, and tolerate. Crime? Last I checked, there was a problem with guns, gangs, and murdered children on the South side that is finally getting national attention. Costs? Chicago sales tax is the highest in the country, and climbing – why buy anything downtown over $75 when you can get it shipped for free online, and tax-free to boot? The city seems on a voracious quest for my money. My legally parked car was sideswiped by a speeding firetruck a few years back. I had to produce 10 eyewitnesses on-scene before Chicago’s finest stopped lying and admitted to hitting my car, yet they had the last laugh – not only would the city not pay the repair, they wouldn’t even pay my deductable. As a Chicago hater, I’ve heard all the great things, and I’ve worked double-overtime to enjoy them all: The lake, the restaurants, the nightlife, the architecture, the people, the Arts. I admit, that was a great month! Not enough. Quality of life starts with basics: Taxes, traffic, weather. All are too extreme in Chicago for me. I could discuss jobs, schools and housing, which are less of a blight and merely suck. But if I had to be diplomatic, I would say simply that the city is astonishingly overrated.
Hey Tex, thanks for stopping by.
I get why some folks put up with things around here – some people, like myself, don’t have a choice right now so all we can do is cowboy up. What I don’t get is the people who keep trying to claim Chicago is some great wonderful global city of sophistication, arts, and cleanliness. I think they are delusional.
And by all means – while I don’t go for commenters calling other commenters names (those get deleted) there’s no need to be diplomatic about Chicago here! Go ahead and call Chicago like you see it! This is the place!
Hope to see you again!
~Ness
May 17, 2009 at 8:51 pm
first of all run1995, I gotta say you [xxx x xxxxxxx xxxxx]. Illinios is way more midwest than Ohio. I currently live in Brooklyn and work in manhattan and have to say that from ohio, if you watch the news out here New yorkers consider Ohio as not a midwest state but a Middle atlantic state … I lived in Chicago for a year and I would like to take the time to say that chicago sucked ass behond belief New york blows it away. in all ave. chicago is like a ghost town filled with a bunch of fat big ass farmer looking people that are all hill billies and watch entirely too much sports and eat too much food. Its pretty much a larger version of Columbus … sorry buddy.. I’m from northeast ohio and I hate columbus because of how fucking retarded its midwestern look is. but chicago is very similar and boring …. glad I came out to New york …Later. . .Oh go munch on some fattening food and don’t forget to add Ranch dressing to it haha … mindless midwesterner… (I’m from Ohio) [xxxxxxx].
[comment edited by Ness]
First off, I’d like to thank you for stopping by, Attm. I always appreciate new visitors and commenters.
I did edit your comment though because I try to keep things as civil as possible here. If you read the response I gave to “runn1995″ you’d see that I said the same thing to him.
I’m not going to debate the midwest vs mid-atlantic status of OH though, but I will say that – just as I told “runn” that I don’t think the problems in Chicago come from other states. I believe the problems here come from the political landscape here. The sooner that gets changed, the better.
Thanks for visiting.
~Ness
May 17, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Oh and a Small version of NYC … cmon man don’t ever compare NY with any other city in America … especially Chicago its like night and day … [xxx xxx xxxxxxxx?] maybe toronto could be a smaller version but cmon don’t flatter yourself here!
[comment edited by Ness]
June 4, 2009 at 1:32 am
It’s June 3. 46 degrees. I wore a down winter jacket to the gym tonight. Like most buildings in Chicago mine uses boilers, so it’s either A/C or heat. On Memorial Day, they turned off the heat and turned the A/C on. Even with everything off in my unit, my pricey apartment has been an icebox every night since. I use an electric blanket and a space heater, and probably will through July. It has not even been warm enough to open the pool.
I grew up in the Detroit area and simply don’t remember ever seeing this kind of weather. Has the climate changed that much in the past 20 years, or is this brand of suckiness unique to Chicago?
And as much as I enjoy ragging on Chicago, mocking its comparison to NYC as a “smaller version” does not really fly, attmbuz. NYC has its merits but it is dirty, often ugly, and not affordable. You need to be wealthy to live a decent life there if you’re over 30. If Chicago really were a smaller NYC, it might actually be worse than it already is (gasp!). In fact, I’d say a “Chicago Sucks” blog should not be a place where [insert your city here] is plugged at Chicago’s expense. You also contradicted yourself arguing that Ohio is not midwestern but rather mid-Atlantic, then bashing Chicago for being a larger Columbus, which you hated because of how midwestern it is. Huh?
Hey Tex! Good to see you again.
It has been chilly lately, hasn’t it? I don’t think that’s peculiar to Chicago, as globally the temps have been on a cooling trend, just like in the 1970’s. Personally, I’d rather have the cooler temps than the blister-hot summer temps that Chicago gets. Although I do hate being cold. More blankets please!
Your assessment of the previous comment is pretty much spot on. I have to tell you, you made me laugh.
June 6, 2009 at 11:50 pm
We are not like New York…
yet we do share the massive traffic congestion, potholes, tolls, high murder rates and gang crime, rude people and drivers, underachieving sports teams, cool museums, decent food, shitty weather, annoying accents, masses of illegal immigrants, ghetto slums, overpriced yuppy enclaves, toxic pollution, rats, poorly heated buildings, all night taverns (well, sort of) littered streets, homelessness (worse in Chicago since New Yorkers are too busy to buy their version of Street Wise) ….gee all that New Yorky-ness AND a 10 % sales tax? Sign me up!!!!
Did you switch IP’s on me, TJ?
All that and a bag of chips, taxed at 10%! LOL Aren’t we the lucky ones!
October 25, 2009 at 2:48 pm
obviously Chicago has gone to the DOGS..and I mean THAT LITTERALLY.What a sorry excuse for a city.All that fighting in the streets,killing people,should be handled by SHOOT TO KILL by the police. There is just NO EXCUSE for the killings of these students in the last few weeks, by thugs,no-goods,pitiful bacterias.In TEXAS…we ENFORCE the death penalty!! And we are liscensed to carry,so the kind of cowards in chicago that beat students to death would never stay alive long in Texas..doing that.
Welcome Linda.
I totally agree with you. If people in Chicago were allowed to carry – can you believe that we can’t? They hate the 2nd Amendment here! Anyway, if we were allowed to carry I’m sure a lot of the crime that occurs would stop in a heartbeat. More guns = less crime, and Dr. Lott has the stats to prove it.
And Texas is just better than IL, all the way around.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Hope to see you again.
~Ness