Quote:
Originally Posted by the urban politician
However you are only getting half the picture here. We also need to see data from the near south and near west sides, as those are also considered a part of what is now described as Chicago’s “central area”
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Yes, most Chicagoans would probably now agree that "Downtown Chicago", at its most generous, has expanded west and south of the loop into the near west and near south community areas.
The problem with using community areas though is that they can be awfully large. The near west side, for example, stretches west all the way past western avenue! I don't think many urban observers here here would consider an intersection like Madison/Western to be "downtown". At most you can probably make an argument for going west to Ashland, but once you get out to the moonscape parking lots of the united center, "downtown" is definitely over.
It's an exercise probably better executed with census tracts, but that's tedious and time consuming to add up.