CHICAGO | Politics and Current Events

[IrishIllini]

I agree Chicago needs to prioritize a massive re-branding initiative. Chicago is a very American city and I think that if we showcased the urbanism and lakefront along with all the other cultural amenities we're privileged to we can easily increase name recognition and opinions of Chicago worldwide.

IME, people from the east coast LOVE Chicago. I've met some jaded New Yorkers (and there are plenty of those here...same goes for DC), but essentially everyone else I've met from the east coast has nothing but positives to say about Chicago. Same goes for foreigners and international travelers. I meet with Asians, Europeans, or Australians on a fairly regular basis. Each time it's someones first time in the city I make a point to ask them what they think. Here's a pretty typical response:

"It's so beautiful! I'm shocked by how clean it is. Much nicer than New York. The skyscrapers downtown are stunning. I love the L! The lake is HUGE! It looks just like the ocean! I love the Riverwalk and the old bridges. The pizza was heavy, but delicious!! Much nicer city than I expected!"

The fact that EVERYONE I've met has had a reaction similar to this is telling. Why is it that our reputation is so much worse than what real people have to say about the city?

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

I agree Chicago needs to prioritize a massive re-branding initiative. Chicago is a very American city and I think that if we showcased the urbanism and lakefront along with all the other cultural amenities we're privileged to we can easily increase name recognition and opinions of Chicago worldwide.

IME, people from the east coast LOVE Chicago. I've met some jaded New Yorkers (and there are plenty of those here...same goes for DC), but essentially everyone else I've met from the east coast has nothing but positives to say about Chicago. Same goes for foreigners and international travelers. I meet with Asians, Europeans, or Australians on a fairly regular basis. Each time it's someones first time in the city I make a point to ask them what they think. Here's a pretty typical response:

"It's so beautiful! I'm shocked by how clean it is. Much nicer than New York. The skyscrapers downtown are stunning. I love the L! The lake is HUGE! It looks just like the ocean! I love the Riverwalk and the old bridges. The pizza was heavy, but delicious!! Much nicer city than I expected!"

The fact that EVERYONE I've met has had a reaction similar to this is telling. Why is it that our reputation is so much worse than what real people have to say about the city?

There is a trollish contingent, largely made up of miserable suburbanites and Trump supporters that love to trash Chicago. They can be overpowering with their stupid comments.

But in my experience, just like yours and others here, the vast majority of visitors to Chicago love it. My family has had nanny's from China, Thailand, Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy and Portugal. Every single one of them traveled the US in their free time. They come back and always say Chicago is the best city of all their visits. We know quite a few European and Australian expats that live here and absolutely love it.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

There is a large trollish contingent, largely made up of miserable suburbanites that love to trash Chicago. They can be overpowering with their stupid comments.

The New York trolls are pretty awful too. Seems NYC and Chicago are the biggest "targets" for internet trolls. I know LA is attacked quite a bit, but I feel it's less common. Maybe it's because I don't really keep up with what's going on in LA

[the urban politician]

I think Chicago real estate is evolving into a more stable investment, at least if you're talking about prime real estate downtown and in some of the near north/downtown adjacent hoods. My predication is that as property values in these areas become less subject to market variation over time, coupled with the relative bargain Chicago real estate is compared to coastal cities, we will eventually see a larger influx of foreign money. But that won't happen until we stabilize the city's debt obligations. One would be hesitant to invest in a city where property taxes (and other fees) could go up rapidly and unpredictably, as is happening right now.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I think Chicago real estate is evolving into a more stable investment, at least if you're talking about prime real estate downtown and in some of the near north/downtown adjacent hoods. My predication is that as property values in these areas become less subject to market variation over time, coupled with the relative bargain Chicago real estate is compared to coastal cities, we will eventually see a larger influx of foreign money. But that won't happen until we stabilize the city's debt obligations. One would be hesitant to invest in a city where property taxes (and other fees) could go up rapidly and unpredictably, as is happening right now.

This hasn't held NYC back. Obviously there are unique variables to consider for each city, but NYC's legacy costs are higher than that of Chicago and RE in Manhattan and Brooklyn specifically is HOT.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/com...ate_35th_ward/

Looks like it's confirmed by DNA info. That was quite a meeting. The Alderman stacked it with his people and still got shouted down. At one point the speaker asked "do we want this stretch of Milwaukee Ave to look like wicker Park???" And the crowd shouted "YES!" Before the alderman's goons turned it into a shouting match...

The message being sent to investors:

Don't buy neighborhood commercial property, lest a particular vengeful or idealistic Alderman decide that your building is no longer legal.

That sends a bad message to investors and may end up harming property values within these commercial strips. We need to see stability in this--whether some kind of court decision or some sort of new ordinance preventing these arbitrary downzonings--in order to stabilize property values in these strips.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/com...ate_35th_ward/

Looks like it's confirmed by DNA info. That was quite a meeting. The Alderman stacked it with his people and still got shouted down. At one point the speaker asked "do we want this stretch of Milwaukee Ave to look like wicker Park???" And the crowd shouted "YES!" Before the alderman's goons turned it into a shouting match...

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

This hasn't held NYC back. Obviously there are unique variables to consider for each city, but NYC's legacy costs are higher than that of Chicago and RE in Manhattan and Brooklyn specifically is HOT.

At least for prime real estate it hasn't hurt Chicago that badly either. The best real estate in Chicago fared pretty well during the recession, actually.

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by ithakas

I wish Chicago had something akin to a Berghain for house music in an industrial building in the CMD (I think I've brought this up before on this forum and been called crazy). It could be a global destination for one of our greatest cultural exports, and I particularly like the idea since I think Chicago has the potential to be the US's Berlin in terms of creative communities (balance between institutions/access to financial backing and distance from key market/high expenses of other cities, making it a great place for less market-driven artists to live/work).

But Chicago in general seems to suffer from not having a coherent brand, the way NY, LA, SF or even Portland does.

I'm not sure what benefit that brand actually provides. I'm sure it would tickle everyone's ego to have distinction for some category of culture, but it's not as if the lack of one precludes our value from being capitalized (outside of the arena of superficial social conversations). Having myriad assets across many categories is good for risk minimization. I'd rather have well-informed, intelligent people know Chicago for its goods than be on the lips of average citizens the world around.

As for a Berghain-like club, that's less on the city than it is a product of the policies and economies of late-stage modern cities, both in the US and elsewhere (see Fabric in London, which may have received a reprieve from the city government, but the pressure is on for those kinds of places). The urban gentry don't want to live near them, and they don't draw enough well-off patrons to operate in those same high-rent districts anyway. We have plenty of smaller clubs that provide a better experience, and many have extremely dedicated patrons (Danny's, for example, practically had a vigil for a line for its would-have-been last nights). What would actually be of benefit for the city would be creating the scaffolding to nurture home-grown talent and also providing the framework that keeps them here (though we'll never have the critical mass of LA or NYC when it comes to that nor offer their idealized fantasy of glamour, but that just means we retain more authentic folks). We're not lacking for talent, though, and the stuff we do produce delivers the goods in a substantive way; the coasts can keep all the pretentious style-chasing nonsense.

[Bonsai Tree]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

There is a trollish contingent, largely made up of miserable suburbanites and Trump supporters that love to trash Chicago. They can be overpowering with their stupid comments.

But in my experience, just like yours and others here, the vast majority of visitors to Chicago love it. My family has had nanny's from China, Thailand, Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy and Portugal. Every single one of them traveled the US in their free time. They come back and always say Chicago is the best city of all their visits. We know quite a few European and Australian expats that live here and absolutely love it.

To add to this, I feel like the media really pushes only one narrative for Chicago. No matter what it's always "Chicago tops homicide rates again", there is nothing positive about the city along with it. I was astounded by how consistent these major news organizations have downgraded Chicago in their bid to get Amazon's HQ2. Most of them don't even have Chicago on their list!!!! What!! Sure I may be biased, but the way Chicago is portrayed in the media is BS. Even though I may not like Trump, this is one thing I can scream fake news at.

[left of center]

^ The City definitely isn't regarded as highly in the news as it rightfully should be, that being arguably the 2nd most important financial center in the US, as opposed to some dysutopian robocop hellscape where there are more bullets than oxygen in the atmosphere. The news likes to regurgitate the crap that keeps viewership up and ad revenue flowing in. And negative news always sells.

[PKDickman]

Originally Posted by Bonsai Tree

To add to this, I feel like the media really pushes only one narrative for Chicago. No matter what it's always "Chicago tops homicide rates again", there is nothing positive about the city along with it. I was astounded by how consistent these major news organizations have downgraded Chicago in their bid to get Amazon's HQ2. Most of them don't even have Chicago on their list!!!! What!! Sure I may be biased, but the way Chicago is portrayed in the media is BS. Even though I may not like Trump, this is one thing I can scream fake news at.

Actually, once our homicide rate fell back from the "murder city" number, the narrative changed to the number of shootings, with less emphasis on homicide.

[marothisu]

^ They are very real problems, but the problem I have with it is they can't show all sides of the city. Actually one thing that bugs me is that people like Anthony Bourdain sometimes seem to hold onto a stereotype of the city that's from the 90s and before sometimes. His last episode or two about Chicago was more purely on the heavy American type of food in industrial types of areas in a way but presented as "this is Chicago!" They always delve on the tired stereotypes of hot dogs, sausage, and pizza and don't show the many other facets of the city including immigrant communities or children of immigrants. That kind of bugs me. I remember meeting two women at a bar maybe 3 years ago visiting from LA. One was Asian and one was Hispanic and they were shocked at how many Hispanic people they had seen around. But Chicago has one of the largest Mexican communities of any city in the US and even larger than NYC yet somehow this isn't known. I've even brought it up at work and people thought I was lying until I showed them actual statistics on it. A few weeks ago, pizza was ordered at work and this one person is like "this is better than deep dish" - my response was "yeah i don't like deep dish and there's a chicago style thin crust and many types of thin crust are popular in actual neighborhoods" His response was something like "BS..." - he's like everyone else, they just think that deep dish is teeming everywhere in the city and that's the only type of pizza people actually eat in the city.

[TimeAgain]

Originally Posted by marothisu

^ They are very real problems, but the problem I have with it is they can't show all sides of the city. Actually one thing that bugs me is that people like Anthony Bourdain sometimes seem to hold onto a stereotype of the city that's from the 90s and before sometimes. His last episode or two about Chicago was more purely on the heavy American type of food in industrial types of areas in a way but presented as "this is Chicago!" They always delve on the tired stereotypes of hot dogs, sausage, and pizza and don't show the many other facets of the city including immigrant communities or children of immigrants. That kind of bugs me. I remember meeting two women at a bar maybe 3 years ago visiting from LA. One was Asian and one was Hispanic and they were shocked at how many Hispanic people they had seen around. But Chicago has one of the largest Mexican communities of any city in the US and even larger than NYC yet somehow this isn't known. I've even brought it up at work and people thought I was lying until I showed them actual statistics on it. A few weeks ago, pizza was ordered at work and this one person is like "this is better than deep dish" - my response was "yeah i don't like deep dish and there's a chicago style thin crust and many types of thin crust are popular in actual neighborhoods" His response was something like "BS..." - he's like everyone else, they just think that deep dish is teeming everywhere in the city and that's the only type of pizza people actually eat in the city.

I always love when they film shows about Chicago, and show places that "represent Chicago" and they're in the suburbs, lol.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by TimeAgain

I always love when they film shows about Chicago, and show places that "represent Chicago" and they're in the suburbs, lol.

On one of Bourdain's episodes years ago, he went to Burt's Place in Morton Grove, but said "In the Morton Grove neighborhood of the city." Then in another one of his episodes they couldn't even get the names of the neighborhoods right. I remember them calling River North as "North River"

[left of center]

Originally Posted by marothisu

On one of Bourdain's episodes years ago, he went to Burt's Place in Morton Grove, but said "In the Morton Grove neighborhood of the city." Then in another one of his episodes they couldn't even get the names of the neighborhoods right. I remember them calling River North as "North River"

Other food network shows have also mentioned the "Elmwood Park neighborhood of Chicago" when visiting Johnnies (actually, it might have been Bourdain again, on The Layover). Its funny, because they know that 95% of the country won't know that what they said is wrong, and that only Chicagoans would and maybe a few west suburbanites would notice. I guess that's a margin of error that's good enough for them.

That being said, I would be entirely fine with Chicago annexing Elmwood Park to bring Johnnie's into the city proper. Ditto on Burt's Place, although I haven't visited them since they closed (and now re-opened) after Burt died, so can't speak to the pizza quality nowadays.

[the urban politician]

The problem here is that Chicago can control its own narrative far more than it does.

Ads. Use of social media. Almost none of this is happening. We need to do more

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by left of center

Other food network shows have also mentioned the "Elmwood Park neighborhood of Chicago" when visiting Johnnies (actually, it might have been Bourdain again, on The Layover). Its funny, because they know that 95% of the country won't know that what they said is wrong, and that only Chicagoans would and maybe a few west suburbanites would notice. I guess that's a margin of error that's good enough for them.

That being said, I would be entirely fine with Chicago annexing Elmwood Park to bring Johnnie's into the city proper. Ditto on Burt's Place, although I haven't visited them since they closed (and now re-opened) after Burt died, so can't speak to the pizza quality nowadays.

It's an easy mistake to make. Johnnie's is less than 1/2 mile from the city limits, in a suburb that looks identical to a city neighborhood. It probably would be part of the city if the Great Depression hadn't happened.

If they called it a suburb, it would seem far more remote than it actually is. That's not to say it's close to downtown, Chicago is vast... but it's not Plainfield or Mundelein either. It's closer to the Loop than O'Hare.

[10023]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

The problem here is that Chicago can control its own narrative far more than it does.

Ads. Use of social media. Almost none of this is happening. We need to do more

You likely wouldn't know, because you're in Chicago (or nearby). I see these on the tube all the time:

[Randomguy34]

^ I've also been seeing some Choose Chicago ads displayed at Waterloo and Victoria station. In fact, many of my student peers in London have all visit Chicago only recently, and fell in love with the place. This made me wonder if there might be more of a generational perception towards visiting Chicago. Sure, I've met a couple of middle-aged folk so far who have visit Chicago in the past, but most of the tourism I've encountered has been from young adults and young families (both from US and international). That may also have to do with the fact that I'm a young adult and therefor I mainly encounter other young adults, but it's something worth considering.

In other news, this month's plan commission is the most boring one so far. Only a couple of 4-flats and one warehouse is being built: https://www.cityofchicago.org/conten...017_Agenda.pdf

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by ardecila

It's an easy mistake to make. Johnnie's is less than 1/2 mile from the city limits, in a suburb that looks identical to a city neighborhood. It probably would be part of the city if the Great Depression hadn't happened.

If they called it a suburb, it would seem far more remote than it actually is. That's not to say it's close to downtown, Chicago is vast... but it's not Plainfield or Mundelein either. It's closer to the Loop than O'Hare.

Yeah, but it's not Twitter and Anthony Bourdain loves trying to be a faux-prolific writer on his shows. He could (and probably would) easily say "Just a half mile outside of the city limits in the Elmwood Park suburb, which could easily pass as the city if you were blindfolded and taken there, Johnnie's Beef...."