CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[the urban politician]

^ I used to live in Philly, so I couldn't agree more that it's an under appreciated town. Philly was my very first car-free experience.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Interesting and topical cross post from Marothisu on reddit r/Chicago:



https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/707nec/chicago_is_now_statistically_the_most_college/

Hope you don't mind me reposting your stuff!

Why is this not in the news? It is unbelievable.

[bnk]

Rauner is infuriating. Playing down state politics. The guy is a fking tool. You can't even make this up its so fked up.






http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/2...ncludes-st-louis-and-illinois-is-helping


September 18, 2017

Rauner is helping St. Louis win Amazon, too

"St. Louis is also competing, and we have a major population center in Metro East, we have major strategic transportation advantages in Metro East around the St. Louis area, and we will be working in assistance with the St. Louis proposal," Rauner said at a news conference today.



Rauner did not mention which Illinois institutions were assisting St. Louis in its bid to bring Amazon's second headquarters, dubbed HQ2, to the area. HQ2 would cost at least $5 billion to build and could eventually employ up to 50,000 people. If HQ2 came to the Chicago area, it would be the region's largest employer.

"St. Louis has some benefits that they bring in terms of their overall package, and we want to make sure Illinois is positioned to be a great benefactor of that," Rauner said


...

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by bnk

BTW Bezos is about as blue of a liberal as you can get.

if anything he is libertarian or neo liberal, which is basically in any other era would have been considered firmly republican (staunchly pro capitalistic/globalization, anti union, pro charter school, etc).

[the urban politician]

Another good trend for Chicago:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/c...t-ryan-ori-0919-biz-20170918-column.html

[emathias]

Originally Posted by bnk

Rauner is infuriating. Playing down state politics. The guy is a fking tool. You can't even make this up its so fked up.
...

Although I'll admit I was a little annoyed at first, too, I think that if Amazon chooses St. Louis it won't be due to anything Rauner did or didn't do. But by making nice with St. Louis, if Amazon does choose St. Louis for some reason, he's positioning one of Illinois' worst-off metros to at least be a friendly face to St. Louis and Amazon, potentially helping to improve East St. Louis. In many ways, if Amazon chose Saint Louis and East Saint Louis was able to benefit, that would also be good for Chicago as having another healthy metro in the state takes some pressure of Chicago to be the state's banker. A healthy East St. Louis and St. Louis might also make HSR between Chicago and St. Louis even more attractive.

Yes, we all want Chicago to win, and a win for Chicago would be better for Illinois than a win for St. Louis would be. But either of them would be good for Illinois, even if Chicago winning would be much better.

[the urban politician]

^ I would argue that anything that benefits another Midwest city would benefit Chicago

[chiphile]

Speaking of talent (lack thereof), the Sun-Times has been an utter abomination and an embarrassment to the city with their recent HQ2 coverage.

Which intern came up with this on MS Paint? It looks like something Donald Trump would do. And they're proud of this image, using it in ALL of the Amazon stories.


Image: Chicago Sun-Times

And the bullshit in this editorial:

EDITORIAL: Chicago, its people, its ideals — and why Amazon must come

EDITORIALS 09/15/2017, 06:09pm
Sun-Times Editorial Board
Chicago Sun-Times

"Amazon requires close proximity to major highways, and Chicago’s got that."

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Why is this not in the news? It is unbelievable.

Because too much of the media is busy trying to prove how much of a failure Chicago is without realizing what's actually happening right under their noses.

[bnk]

Originally Posted by chiphile

Speaking of talent (lack thereof), the Sun-Times has been an utter abomination and an embarrassment to the city with their recent HQ2 coverage.

Which intern came up with this on MS Paint? It looks like something Donald Trump would do. And they're proud of this image, using it in ALL of the Amazon stories.


Image: Chicago Sun-Times

And the bullshit in this editorial:

EDITORIAL: Chicago, its people, its ideals — and why Amazon must come

EDITORIALS 09/15/2017, 06:09pm
Sun-Times Editorial Board
Chicago Sun-Times

"Amazon requires close proximity to major highways, and Chicago’s got that."

Huh?


Your a identified defeatist that may or not be working for another city... or you are a self flagellator that hopes for the demise of the city or region you currently live or not want to live in...


or you may have moved and taken the position of many that slam not only the politics of the city and state but the entire Midwest doing so. you......

BTW I can read your post history just like you can do freely to me, just to let you know.

I'm not interested in your stories or your history btw. Back to point.

I read that link you posted and I personally posted the exact same link days ago and no one threw a hissy fit back than and I would expect no one to throw a hissy fit now.


Its a Photoshop snowflake, deal with it. Perhaps you can show us how much better and clever you can be behind your laptop or you only working off your phone now?




BTW I also included the exact same photo shop of the OPO in my link.

Back in my day before the intertubes defeatist attitudes like yours would not be tolerated in a like minded group.

If you want to defile this site selection process than use another forum to do so.

So kindly.

Yours always

bnk

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Because too much of the media is busy trying to prove how much of a failure Chicago is without realizing what's actually happening right under their noses.

This really should be broadcast everywhere. It's a pretty dramatic demographic change.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

This really should be broadcast everywhere. It's a pretty dramatic demographic change.

Shhhh, I need just one more economic cycle to complete my collection of neighborhood building styles before the coasties and their endless rafts of cash come in and ruin the party...

[chiphile]

Originally Posted by bnk

Huh?


Your a identified defeatist that may or not be working for another city... or you are a self flagellator that hopes for the demise of the city or region you currently live or not want to live in...


or you may have moved and taken the position of many that slam not only the politics of the city and state but the entire Midwest doing so. you......

BTW I can read your post history just like you can do freely to me, just to let you know.

I'm not interested in your stories or your history btw. Back to point.

I read that link you posted and I personally posted the exact same link days ago and no one threw a hissy fit back than and I would expect no one to throw a hissy fit now.


Its a Photoshop snowflake, deal with it. Perhaps you can show us how much better and clever you can be behind your laptop or you only working off your phone now?




BTW I also included the exact same photo shop of the OPO in my link.

Back in my day before the intertubes defeatist attitudes like yours would not be tolerated in a like minded group.

If you want to defile this site selection process than use another forum to do so.

So kindly.

Yours always

bnk

That was a brilliant and completely sane post.

Anyhow, back to topic.

[Justin_Chicago]

Raise pulls in $60 million from big names including Accel and PayPal

Raise, the Chicago-based online market for second-hand gift cards, has just pulled in some serious money from some very big names. The company raised $60 million, led by Accel Partners, one Silicon Valley's best-known venture funds and a prior investor. Also joining the party was PayPal, the online-payment company that previously bought Chicago-based Braintree, which also was backed by Accel.

So what's CEO George Bousis going to do with the money? Look for Raise to step up marketing with a major push to attract customers to its platform for buying and selling gift cards after rebuilding its technology and signing up a lot more retail partners that see discounted gift cards to the site as a way to entice customers to spend with them. "We're going to investing a ton in marketing and acquisition, educating people on what Raise is," Bousis says in an interview.

Article: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/2...om-pulls-in-60-million-from-accel-paypal

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Because too much of the media is busy trying to prove how much of a failure Chicago is without realizing what's actually happening right under their noses.

Yep, and that sickness has apparently afflicted this forum too. Back when I joined in 2004 there weren't as many SF and other coastal boosters as there appear to be now. You can't have a decent conversation without a Crawford-type character coming in and declaring "all of your facts are wrong! Chicago is dying"

[the urban politician]

Bnk, you need to see a psychiatrist.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by chiphile

Speaking of talent (lack thereof), the Sun-Times has been an utter abomination and an embarrassment to the city with their recent HQ2 coverage.

Which intern came up with this on MS Paint? It looks like something Donald Trump would do. And they're proud of this image, using it in ALL of the Amazon stories.


Image: Chicago Sun-Times

And the bullshit in this editorial:

EDITORIAL: Chicago, its people, its ideals — and why Amazon must come

EDITORIALS 09/15/2017, 06:09pm
Sun-Times Editorial Board
Chicago Sun-Times

"Amazon requires close proximity to major highways, and Chicago’s got that."

Despite Bnk's drugged-up rebuttal to this, I kind of agree that I don't see what your beef is here. Sure the picture is tacky but it's an otherwise okay article.

[k1052]

Crain's has a paywalled article about the city/state delegation going to Seattle.

Priorities seem to be great transit, good international air service, the ability to deliver 1-2M sq feet of space "in short order" (and up to 8M in under a decade).

If great transit is really a top item then I think Dallas/Atlanta probably fall out of the running. Chicago, Philly, and maybe Denver.

[chiphile]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Despite Bnk's drugged-up rebuttal to this, I kind of agree that I don't see what your beef is here. Sure the picture is tacky but it's an otherwise okay article.

That editorial on its own wasn't bad. But the picture? Yuck, pay a kid to do some quality photoshop.

My overall gripe is with the local media and how corny they can be sometimes. On one hand they are talking about doomsday all the time; On the other hand when they do decide to boost Chicago (as with Amazon), they sound like Omaha, Nebraska local media. "We have interstate highways!" Or the usual promotion of the Michael Reese site.

I think only Crain's is worth reading in these matters. Either way, nothing beats the forum for the best analysis so I'll be using this as the prime source of commentary on HQ2. Should be an interesting few months.

[rgolch]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Yep, and that sickness has apparently afflicted this forum too. Back when I joined in 2004 there weren't as many SF and other coastal boosters as there appear to be now. You can't have a decent conversation without a Crawford-type character coming in and declaring "all of your facts are wrong! Chicago is dying"

Sometimes the local media and news outlets also seem to prefer the negativity train. Crains, The Chicago business journal, and the like often seem to highlight the negative news. At least a good chunk of the time.

As far as the other forumers.... They may spend all their time on this forum boosting wherever they're from. But I'm sure all of them have a healthy dose of respect for Chicago. It's just, the City Discussion section of this forum is a sesspool. It breeds trollish behavior. I, on seldom occasion, peruse the thread titles, and on rare occasion, read some posts. But posting in that section and actually trying to engage other forumers I think is a complete waste of time.