Chicago, Chicago

As a Chicagoan, I'll say that Chicago is major but maybe a tier below NYC, LA and maybe the Bay Area (NOT San Francisco) in terms of importance. It's a great city with lots of problems. Winters here are very depressing. Last year, we had the cloudiest winter in the country. The lake is amazing in the summer but by winter its's depressing and bleak looking. People here are in between Torontoans and New Yorkers. They aren't as extroverted as NYC people but they aren't as cold and distant as Torontoans. In North America, only NYC. And unlike Toronto, we haven't destroyed most of our old architecture.

OP, what does Anita Bryant or Florida OJ have to do with Chicago?

Sorry, I just viewed the video.

I meant to sign as R2.

It's a major economic powerhouse, but it doesn't get much attention because it's not a center or politics or entertainment.

It's a great city to start your career and housing is still relatively affordable. The winters are not fun - like many Northern US cities. However, with the reduced cost of living, you can afford to take several winter vacations to get away.

Lots of great restaurants, theater and things to do (before COVID). It just doesn't have the 'glam' of other cities - but I would live there again over 99% of US cities. It's in the top 5 of the US cities in my opinion.

Lastly - it is always weirdly compared to NYC all the time - probably because it was the 2 biggest cities for so long. It's just a wrong comparison - NYC is unique and you can't compare the energy of that city to any city in the world (even Tokyo).

It's not New York - never wanted to be - and that's OK.

I can’t believe that bitch outlived Helen Reddy.

R5, to be fair, Chicago was always competing with NYC (in its mind). There even used to be a magazine called The Chicagoan which was a knockoff of The New Yorker. Chicago has things about it that are far superior to NYC but it's not the megacity NYC is and it needs to get over it. However, Chicago's beta complex does not come anywhere near Toronto's. I've seen Torontoans try to compare Toronto and NYC. They even call it "The Canadian New York". Toronto is very much Canada's Chicago.

A town so smart its spelling starts with C-H-I-C...Chic!

Home to one of the world’ great art museums and orchestras, headquarters of such global brands as Boeing, McDonalds, Caterpillar, sadly its best days are behind it. The only middle class left are those who work for the city and are required to live there. Chicago once had a vibrant black middle class,, which over the last 20 years has fled en mass to the south suburbs. The wealthy and upper middle class community is going to get hit hard with massive property tax hikes in the coming years. That combined with soaring crime rates will lead to another exodus to the suburbs.

McDonalds HQ...explains why there are a lot of bears in Chicago. Nom nom nom! Wooof buuuuuuuuuddy!!!

R9 - nah - Chicago is one of the most middle-class cities in the US. And 'soaring crime rates' - that's the gang shootings and murders primarily - and that happens mainly in areas that most people don't venture to.

I wouldn't say its best years is behind them - it's still a very vibrant city. It's not like other rust belt cities that have declined like Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Detroit.

GOD DAMN I hate that rancid orange Juice cunt

She is an awful person. She got what she deserved. A failed marriage, a failed dinner theater, a failed career plugging orange juice. And to top it off. This!

What exactly IS a "toddling town?"

Chicago's First Family.

Chicago used to the be the #2 city in America for decades and decades, which is why its comedy troupe was called "Second City." It wasn't overtaken by LA until the 60s or the 70s. it still is the country's #3 city (though not the country's #3 metropolitan area), and it has more rich cultural history than the western cities--more great literature comes from Chicago than LA or SF or Seattle.

It still has some of the greatest buildings downtown of any city in the USA. It is weirdly planned, though--unlike Manhattan, it has alleyways, and you walk from one street to the next street over and suddenly be in a scary terrible street (and then walk one more street over and everything's okay again).

There used to a Datalounger ten or twelve years ago lived there and just hated it and bitched about it in thread after thread, and everyone got sick to death of him. It's a good gay city, and there are many great things about it--it's cold and snowy, but not as miserably cold and snowy as Minneapolis/St. Paul or Buffalo. But there are terrible things about it too: it always has a corrupt city government, and for years its had terrible crime problems.

The aftermath of Prohibition and the organized crime image did a lot to dampen the "Babbitry" of late 19th century/early 20th century Chicago (Babbit was based on Sinclair Lewis' observations of Chicago & Cleveland) and the 1968 riots at the Democratic Convention damped the postwar comeback of the city's image. In other words, it could have remained an insufferable proto-Atlanta but it became something else.

I lived there in the late 80s which was beginning of its real renaissance. The theater scene was at its peak, movies were being shot in Chicago and it's cred as a good place to live with lots to do was beginning to building. I've been back numerous times--some of the character seems to have been lost in the last couple decades, but it's always fun and comfortable to be back in Chicago. It's still much less annoying and pretentious than any city on either coast. It's still a bit provincial and parochial, bonce you've established yourself, you're "in". Despite the wonderful architectural history, museums, music, etc., it's not become a fave with foreign or even many domestic tourists yet past their prime destinations like Austin, San Antonio, Memphis and Nashville are., but somehow those places have not yet turned into Atlanta--a big joke that finally reached the inevitable end of decades of bullshitting. Chicago remains a good place to live--I'd need to be withina mile of the Lake. It doesn't have the range of easy weekend getaways that some other cities have but there are still places like Saugatuck and a long weekend to the UP of Michicigan can be worthwhile.

[quote] I lived there in the late 80s which was beginning of its real renaissance. The theater scene was at its peak, movies were being shot in Chicago and it's cred as a good place to live with lots to do was beginning to building

Don't forget house music! I envy you btw, that sounds like an amazing time to be in the city. I feel like the 00s in the city were great too although towards the end of the decade, the CTA was having a ton of problems. Downtown and other neighborhoods (mainly on the northside but some southside ones too) continue to improve. In fact, Chicago has the fastest growing downtown in the country.

[quote] it still is the country's #3 city (though not the country's #3 metropolitan area)

It's still number 3.

The restaurant scene is the best in the country in my opinion. It’s also very walkable… and each neighborhood has its own flavor and character.

It has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world!

Fun fact: "Chicago" in Italian sounds like "Chi caco"....."I shit there"

[quote]movies were being shot in Chicago

Buck never would have died in a movie that wasn't shot in Chicago.

Not true that the only middle class is city workers. You do get a lot more housing for your money in the burbs than in the city. We're still in semi-lockdown and cases are going up. Staying inside your apartment and ordering groceries from Instacart and other stuff from Amazon is not vastly different than in other parts of the country, I guess. We're diverse, relatively enlightened and there are no Trump commercials or politicians proclaiming their love for Trump on my TV/

R24 There are some amazing suburbs in Chicago. Oak Park, Evanston etc ..

R25, can confirm. The best suburbs are generally closer to the lake--Lake Forest and Evanston have some of the best architecture. Oak Park is great too even though it's on the west side.

[quote]We're diverse, relatively enlightened and there are no Trump commercials or politicians proclaiming their love for Trump on my TV/

Really? I'd think that they'd be targeting the southern Wisconsin and northwestern Indiana areas that are part of metro Chicago.

Northwesern Indiana and Southern Wisconsin are not part of metro Chicago--they are part of the CSA (consolidated staistical area) though.

I lived in Oak Park as a kid. Only two years - but even as a child I enjoyed the city. It seemed different than the other cities of my childhood - Atlanta and LA.

I’d move there as an adult if I thought I could survive the winter...

I grew up on the North Shore of Chicago in the 90s. It was a prestigious area back then, but Chicago (and its best suburbs) aren’t as attractive an option to the upper middle class today as they were back then.

For one, Cook County and it’s surrounding counties have some of highest tax rates in the nation—income, state, property, etc. Many of those exclusive mansions in Kenilworth, Lake Forest, Highland Park, Glencoe, Winnetka, et al, languish on the market for months, because buyer demand has collapsed, and that was the situation pre-COVID.

As far as the city is concerned, I’ve always likened Chicago to a poor man’s New York, even though the cities have nothing in common. It may be midwestern, but it’s undeniably cosmopolitan. It’s also very gritty in places and very diverse.

My all-time favorite is when people from Atlanta call Atlanta the "New York of the South"! I mean, comparing NYC and Chicago I can understand, though they don't compare, but even to think of Atlanta as even similar in ANY fashion to New York just makes me gag.

I've lived in both Chicago and New York and both are great in their own ways but as said earlier, completely different. Chicago is definitely a good starter city for someone coming from a smaller Midwestern locale.

Chicago is just a very, very LARGE midwestern TOWN. That's all.

I moved to Chicago from NYC in 1991 and have stayed all these years and still love it.

R26 - they are beautiful, but the bonus is that they are still serviced by city trains, not just suburban trains. Most suburbs don't have city train lines, so it makes it feel much more urban.

There used to be some great dance clubs in Chicago as well - particularly as the home of House music in the 80's and 90's. But, like most cities, people don't want to fucking dance anymore for some reason.

[quote]Northwesern Indiana and Southern Wisconsin are not part of metro Chicago--they are part of the CSA (consolidated staistical area) though.

So they don't watch Chicago TV stations?

It has a shitty tourism motto: Chicago, There are numerous things to do!

R30 - there is no city income tax in Cook County or surrounding suburbs, unlike NYC. And the state income tax is relatively low. Yes, property taxes are high - but it's not unique to those areas. Property taxes in NJ, Mass, Long Island, and other large city suburban areas can be just as high. But, yes, retail tax is high.

There are a lot of anti-tax articles about Chicago's high taxes, but it really isn't that different than many other places and not all taxes are going to apply to you.

That being said, even if the tax rate is slightly higher, the cost of living is considerably lower than other major cities (e.g. NY, LA, SF, Seattle, Boston). And Chicago salaries are relatively high compared to COL. So, you don't really feel the tax burden as much as other areas.

R34 - NW Indiana is definitely in the Chicago DMA and they do watch Chicago TV. But they are typically blue counties as well.

Republicans really don't spend a lot of money on political ads in Chicago because they know the numbers are against them. You DO see local race political ads, but it is nothing to other markets.

R33, exactly. I lived in the downtown Oak Park area and you could take either a metra or CTA green line train to the city. The CTA would only take about 30-35 minutes to get to downtown. It was pretty convenient living there.

R34, I'm not sure. In Northwestern Indiana, I feel like they would watch Gary tv stations since Gary is actually their "big city".

I lived in Northwestern Indiana for school for 2 years--no thanks. The only nice part about it is being close to Chicago. Other than that, it feels like Indiana.

The green line to Oak Park May be convenient, but the way to travel is car 553 on the 5:35 express to Lake Forest

I found it hard to meet guys to hook up with there on the apps when I visited. They all seemed kind of off and not friendly or interested. No, I'm not a troll or a fug and always get hit up in cities I visit. I just found it odd and felt there was a some Chicago secret I wasn't in on.

R41, I had no idea that existed!!!

R42, did you come during winter?

Really R42? That’s how you determine the worth of a city. How many guys find you attractive on a dating app? K.

r39 Gary doesn't have any TV stations that are affiliates of the four major networks. They watch Chicago stations for that.

I’m from Chicago and it’s a city full of miserable people. It’s also very violent every summer. Nice architecture though.

What's a Florida whore doing in the Windy City?

Every man over the age of 16.

The problem with Chicago is that is doesn’t have enough of an identity. I like Chicaho far more than LA, but LA has a unique identity. The same can be said for much smaller cities like S.F, Seattle, Boston. Chicago has anything a great city needs and them some. And, it has an actual city feel unlike LA. But it just lacks that extra spark.

The Chicago threads all seem to fizzle out fairly quickly here. There was a recent thread on the best neighbourhoods and restaurants, but it didn't catch on. I like it here, though I've been in the suburbs with my partner since COVID.

I'm near the border with NWI, and it is palpably different. It still has a huge percentage of its population who commute to the city for work. There are some really nice parts of Indiana, but as the poster upthread expressed, it's still Indiana.

R49, people from Indiana always brag that they save so much money by living in Indiana. My respsonse is always the same--"yes....but you live in Indiana." Indiana really is like weird time warp. It's midwestern but without any of the friendliness you get in states like Iowa, Kansas, etc. or without any of the beauty of Michigan or Wisconsin. It's what Illinois would be like if Chicago wasn't here (shudders).

R48, that's actually the first time I've heard someone say that. I've heard people refer to chicago as a jack-of-all trades city (in a disparaging way) but I've never heard anyone say LA has more of an identity than Chicago.

Listen...

R50 The income tax is higher, and in the really nice (affluent) areas, property taxes really are not that much lower. There ate some quaint small towns like Crown Point, and the beach communities along the lake, but they're both fairly far away from the city. St. John, and Valparaiso are nice as well.

^ are

What else is there R44 ? It's a good baseline for a gay man.

Some of my best hook ups have been in Chicago. If you open up scruff in boystown you’re going to encounter more than a few assholes. Try wicker park, ravenswood, rogers park..

R51: You know exactly when you've entered Indiana , from any direction. Dumb fucking people who can't do anything well and yet insular as hell. I was glad that you never saw Indiana tags in Illinois, Michigan or Ohio (or even Kentucky). It's good that they stay there. I've met very few people who left Indiana who ever wanted to return or could summon wistful notalgia for a few things--once you leave you never want to return.

r57 Pete and Chasten are coming for you.

Where else can you eat a balloon and then talk like a Munchkin for $290?

[quote]Why don’t we discuss Chicago more?

Who's buried in Grant's tomb?

R57, The dictionary should have a picture of Indiana under the definition for parochial. My massage therapist was from Indiana. I asked him if he liked growing up there and his response was "I don't want to go back there ever again". It's like a redneck Amish state with decrepit factories with people who think they are sons of the earth. My friend also grew up in Indiana and she has lived in Chicago and San Francisco and never wants to go back. She said that in Indiana University, every single person you meet there says "wow, this is the first time I've ever left my hometown, it's so great to be here!".

And IU is just pathetic---insular as could be the faculty who stick around become Hoosiers. The smart ones leave get themselves hired somewhere else.

There are no Gary TV stations - the 2 counties in Northwest Indiana are part of the Chicago area and they are on a different time zone than the rest of Indiana because of its proximity to Chicago.

Chicago is a great city - with the caveat of winter. However, you can make good money, you can buy a place easily, you have direct flights to almost everywhere, and there is plenty of great restaurants, theater, bars, and things to do.

Winters aren't as awful as everyone paints them out to be - but, once you're indoors, does it really matter if it is 20 degrees or 30 degrees? In winter, you're inside mainly anyway. And they don't get that much snow - compare to the big snow dumps NYC have seen the past 10 years - Chicago rarely gets that.

It has decent mass transit, has a large international population, lots of unique neighborhoods, and a beautiful park system. The crime is located in areas you will never go to unless you become a drug-addicted mess. But Chicago isn't 'glamorous' - like NYC or Miami or LA.

The winter in Chicago is more depressing than New York's because of the lack of sunshine. On the plus side, as R63 mentioned, it snows less here. My friends from Toronto say that Toronto doesn't seem nearly as dead in the winter as Chicago, probably because they have that underground path and their rail transit is all below ground. It sucks waiting for the CTA trains in 0 degree weather.

Chicago has a very extensive pedway. But when employment fell from 1 miillion downtown to half that, of course it was bound to seem dead.

But it's gat that EEYACKSENT!

It was Trump before Trump and the blatant abuse of poor people paired with defense of corporate welfare continues.

It doesn’t matter what you know; it only matters who you know and they’re all conveniently white and straight and so are you.

Of course office to apartment conversions helped that real estate slide, but Cities thinking there was as huge market of elderly empty nesters were wrong. They wanted to stay put or move someplace cheaper, not to the city. And if they did move, turnover was so much higher it left a permanent oversupply of units downtown. Gays and blacks no longer need the urban ghetto, and as their jobs move to the suburbs, they tend to follow. Finally, the city made a mistake of epic proportion in privatizing parking. For a one year budgetary bump, they let parking pirates kill business in the city. First the mag mile raised rates from $10 a day to $25, eliminating suburban traffic; and then the parking meters eliminated all the unique naighborhood shopping places. Of course if they hadn't, covid would have killed them anyway, but even at the old levels, Chicago and other older cities are overzoned commercial: leaving space for retail that could never be filled if the city had five times its current population.

Anyway, reverse commuters won't pay that level of parking either, cutting out that segment. Downtown real estate then has been propped by Chinese speculators who leave the units empty.

Whoever said Chicago was Trump before Trump is talking about Canaryville and Mount McKinley, home to the city's cops. All I see in my neighborhood are BLM and "hatred will not be tolerated here" signs. My representative is a progressive and our mayor is a Black lesbian. We've had two elected and one interim Black senators when most states haven't even had one. I'm sure you can find fault with Chicago and the comments about parking meters are right on the money. The winters are not as bad, courtesy of climate change, but still not everyone's cup of tea. Of note, there's a ballot initiative right now to put the bulk of the income tax burden on billionaires and the state's richest asshole has spent $54M on commercials about how it hurts ordinary people.

I once knew a man who danced with his wife in Chicago.

They do things they don't do on Broadway.

Failed democratic city! Run by liberals! Burning down as we speak! 🤡

The Lake is like a big warm blanket that saves us in the winters. I have plenty of coworkers in the burbs who will get 8” of snow and the same storm will have just dissolved into wet and not stick on the ground (or leave a light dusting). So nice.

Chicago is practically pastoral compared to NYC and that’s just fine with me. There’s the opportunity to see this big, dazzling, lit up and open world without being surrounded by other people all the time.

Politics here blow chunks though. Crime IS so up compared to 20 years ago. There is a larger chunk of gentrified areas (as if I’d be in Fulton Market or take the 8 bus in 2002!) so it’s probably less in those areas but is and has been up in Boystown, Lincoln Park, etc. “Criminal Justice Reform” needs to be REFORMED and lock away these turds. The riots and looting of Mag Mile universally pissed everyone off - even those that supported BLM.

Chicago has problems, no question. And the headwinds are about to get worse because of the financial fallout from COVID. But the fact is as a city for gays, it’s a pretty good place to be. While not as diverse as the big coastal cities, the city limits population is almost over evenly split among whites, blacks, and Latinos. As others have mentioned, it’s much more affordable than the coasts, given that salaries aren’t much lower but housing costs are much lower. The tax burden is an issue, but there are ways around that. Because public transportation is well-developed, living car-free is a more realistic option than in most places in the US. I’ve lived without a car in Chicago fo 35 years and the money saved from doing that makes up for any extra sales or property tax I’ve paid.

Gays started making inroads in local politics 20 years ago and continue to advance. In addition to our current lesbian mayor mentioned above in the thread, there are two gay men on our city council and a gay rep from Chicago is the majority leader in the state house. Otherwise, the city is deep blue and politicians, particularly on the north side, know that they must court the gay constituency.

Socially, the city is large enough that there are varied options for key lifestyle choices, including areas to live where gays are visible and activities that are majority gay or at least welcoming of all. Overall, being an out gay person in Chicago is a on-issue for most. Things aren’t perfect, of course. Race and economic issues are complications for many, but that’s it unique to Chicago.

[quote]I once knew a man who danced with his wife in Chicago.

OMG! Were they toddling too?

R70, don't get me wrong, Chicago has its issues with racism but it isnt as bad as Boston.

Chicago's problem is that technology isn't a part of the footprint. San Francisco/San Jose, Seattle and Boston/Cambridge are the powerhouses. The city doesn't have the tech startups that are nurtured by universities. While Northwestern and Chicago are good schools, they're not the incubators that places like Cal Tech, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Harvard and MIT have been for tech entrepreneurs. The public schools suck and while the crime is relatively localized, it's still awful and hardly beneficial to the city's rep. But without knowledge industries, the future there is pretty limited.

Which is too bad. I've never had a bad time there, the restaurants are wonderful and the people are great.

I love "Hard to Say I'm Sorry!"

[quote] they're not the incubators that places like Cal Tech, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Harvard and MIT have been for tech entrepreneurs.

CalTech is not anywhere near SF/San Jose, Seattle, or Boston/Cambridge.

Knowledge industries mean everyone is from Asia. It also means that you’re probably not going to find a boyfriend.

CalTech is near LA yet LA has always underperformed when it comes to attracting those with Bachelors Degrees. Chicago used to lag behind other cities but it has caught up and now, Chicago has a higher percentage of adults with Bachelors degrees than any other American city with more than 1 million people.

We are always hearing about how black people are leaving Chicago but there is more nuance to the story:

[quote] The data showed that 42,000 black lesser-educated black residents left Chicago last year, but the city has gained 18,000 college-educated black residents since 2011, according to Crain’s.

I was RAPED there! Does that make ANY of you feel better???? As a Black transsie I was RAPED in CHICAGO!!! CAN I BE HEARD????? I mean that's all I got's to say. But I'm pretty shore the Datalounges is gonna cunt me off! That's all bitches!!!! Fingerme NOW!!!!

I'm from LA, lived in NYC for a long, long time (back in LA now). Of the three? I actually love Chicago the most. I'm a huge sports fan and the sports bar scene in Chicago is second to none. The food is great. The vibe is so much more mellow than NYC or LA. And I have been there in winter a few times and hated it, but not much more than NYC.

[quote]But I'm pretty shore the Datalounges is gonna cunt me off!

Oh, dear.

Is this in your head constantly?

sports fan? Ok, sure.

Weirdly, Anita (and the industry practice of storing the stuff for months or years in giant vats and using dubious "flavor packs" to engineer a salable product) ended up reducing OJ consumption in America. Only poor memories of her fuckery and being stuck at home due to COVID have brightened the recent outlook.

I loved the reference to her In the film Airplane! Leslie Nielsen's character, upon seeing a large number of passengers become violently ill, vomit, and suffer uncontrollable flatulence, remarked: "I haven't seen anything like this since the Anita Bryant concert.”

Dear God Almighty, R70, WHAT are you smoking?!

The Canaryville / Back of the Yards area has been a drugs-and-crime cesspool for YEARS! Any cop or firefighter with a brain the size of a Tic Tac bailed on those neighborhoods a LOOOOOONG time ago.

City employees gravitate to the safer (ie, majority white, sorry SJWs) neighborhoods.

Sauganash - O'Hare / Far Northwest Side? Sure.

Garfield Ridge and Clearing / Near Southwest Side - Midway Airport area? You bet.

Even Hegewisch / Far Southeast Side? Some do.

But most of all, Beverly, Morgan Park and Mount Greenwood, all on the Far Southwest Side. Hell, those three are practically suburbia.

BTW, "MOUNT McKINLEY?!" BWAH-HAH-HAH! Doesn't even EXIST, dumb-ass! There's the aforementioned Mount GREENWOOD, and there's a McKinley PARK neighborhood, but no Mount McKinley, fool!

DL has ENTIRELY too many know-nothings posting here. And while that can be enormously entertaining, it's also incredibly annoying.

All its competitors like NY, DC, Boston, Atlanta, the Bay Area and LA have more "buzz" than Chicago.

That said, Chicago is still the Second City of America in my book. LA is just not truly urban so it can't wear that crown.

L.A. is urban, have you even been there? Just because it’s not Manhattan, it doesn’t mean it’s not urban. You should at least do more reading about cities, could recommend some fine books.

LA and its inner suburbs have many,many places that are at densities similar to non-Lakefront Chicago. Streetcars defined the development of LA outside of the San Fernando Valley, ditto Chicago. Streetcar development went as far East as Arcadia and then you had towns along the rail lines that were walkable market hubs that served smaller towns with nut and citrus groves nearby.

r93 If you're referring to the Red Cars, they went a lot farther than Arcadia.

LA has a pop density of 8,485.74/sqmi Chicago has a pop density of 11,846.55/sq mi r93.

Chicago has about 28% of people who take public transportation to work. In LA that is about 11%.

There is no comparison. Chicago is much more of "real city" than LA.

Chicago, Illinois.

I love Chicago. Men always find me so attractive there.

That said, it really is in the middle of nowhere America

R97 Lol.. middle of nowhere? That would be the entire western half of the country outside of LA. Chicago is close to a ton of major cities.

[Quote] That would be the entire western half of the country outside of LA.

Ignoring the Bay Area there r98? The headquarters of world's tech industry?

But I think when people say middle of nowhere from Chicago they arr thinking compares to the east coast, The Boston to DC corridor is impossible to match.

Someday they say, we'll have an airport.

I guess its back to grocery delivery ugh!

And those tiresome Bay area types won't ever let us aignore them.

That thing he's sucking doesn't look like a real penis.

Oops NO ^

My husband and I just bought a place in Evanston. We love it!

[quote]Apologies in advance to eldergays who are triggered by the video.

You don't you have to be old to be "triggered" by that video.

Show some respect on a gay site! She was a WICKED creature and our enemy.

It’s a rough city in every way. No sense ever of “were in this together” with its citizens. Everyone out for themselves. Provincial middle class white male hetero mind set. Most racist place I’ve ever lived. Everyone hates everyone. Segregated. The random insanely violent Crime. The subway system is so violent with mentally ill, it is now unusable. The crime reported on @cwbchicago is the proof if needed. This twitter shows Boystown crime.

It’s a rough city in every way. No sense ever of “were in this together” with its citizens. Everyone out for themselves. Provincial middle class white male hetero mind set. Most racist place I’ve ever lived. Everyone hates everyone. Segregated. The random insanely violent Crime. The subway system is so violent with mentally ill, it is now unusable. The crime reported on @cwbchicago is the proof if needed. This twitter shows Boystown crime.

I moved from NYC to Chicago for work 10 years ago, Best decision I’ve ever made. I own a 3 bed condo- something not possible in NYC.

It's still in flyoverstan, meaning it's not on an ocean coast, just a lame ass "Great Lake".

The reason Chicago is not discussed more here is the same reason many other cities are not discussed more here. It's because a contingent of people here who live in NYC and LA are triggered any time anyone says anything good about any city other than NYC & LA. They know people are fleeing their cities and states in large numbers and they're terrified that one day they'll wake up and find that they no longer live in a city the think people are impressed that they live in. Fact is, that day came a long time ago, but mums the word. We don't want any unfortunate self harming situations here.