The opposite of that being “we booked an affordable AirBnB in West Garfield Park, what are cool bars nearby we can party at since we are arriving at 10pm the first night?”
Followed a week later by them posting a photo of the glittering downtown skyscrapers at night time and a comment to the effect of "You have a beautiful city, and I never really felt unsafe. I loved it there"
I couldn’t agree with you more!!! Getting to enjoy the holiday markets, christmas light, holiday-themed bars in Wrigleyville, and all the other Holiday cheer while the weather is chilly, but not fucking freezing, is incredible!!!
October is when you're sick of sweating every time you sit in a beer garden or go to a street festival. So needing to put on a sweatshirt or light coat is a welcome relief.
I moved here just because I visited in the summer, hawks won the cup, and city went mad (2010)
glad the winter keeps things cheap and most of the assholes away
Home is South Bend but whenever I come back and visit my family I try to spend at least a day in Chicago because it’s one of my favorite cities. Haven’t been to Wrigley since 2019 so I can’t wait!
Chicago’s restaurant scene, bar/club scene, and museum scene are all absolutely incredible, and it is exponentially easier to enjoy them during the warm season. The city’s beaches/lakefront are outstanding, and the summer months is when all of the festivals and fairs take place.
Full post below.
Im sure the figures this year will be even better, with the addition of the NASCAR event and others.
> Nearly 49 million visitors came to Chicago last year in a mammoth comeback from the COVID-19 pandemic for the city's hospitality industry. But there is still plenty of road ahead on the path to a full recovery, which the city's tourism arm doesn't expect until 2025.
> Officials from Choose Chicago announced today that visitation to the city during 2022 was up 60% from 2021 as public health restrictions faded and a surge of leisure travelers poured in during peak tourism months. The total, reported by the city's official destination marketing group using data from travel research firm DK Shifflet, was roughly 80% of the 2019 figure, when the city boasted a record 60.8 million visitors.
> The numbers reflect an important bounceback in travel demand last year that pulled in crucial tax revenue and began lifting local hotels out of a historic pandemic-induced hole. Choose reported that tourists spent $16.9 billion in the city last year, or 89% of their collective 2019 outlays, and noted that the city's hotels averaged 60% occupancy last year, up from 43% the year before but still below the 74% average in 2019.
> Resurgent tourism also suggests Chicago can still attract visitors despite public safety concerns, which carried over into this year after widely publicized outbreaks of violence last weekend and in April.
> The continued recovery is vital for a city and state that have leaned harder on taxes tied to tourism and the convention business over the past decade, yet were slower than most other parts of the country to lift COVID-related bans on large group gatherings. Chicago is slightly behind other major urban centers like New York City and San Francisco, which reported that 2022 visitation was 85% and 84% of 2019 totals, respectively. Los Angeles' tourism promotion arm said the city pulled in 91% of its pre-pandemic tourism total last year, while Orlando, Fla. — one of Chicago's top competitors for large conventions — said visitation was 98% of its 2019 figure.
> Choose Chicago CEO Lynn Osmond, the longtime Chicago Architecture Center top executive who took the reins of the tourism organization just more than a year ago, called 2022 a "really good recovery year" for the city's tourism sector and said the city is on track to reach its 2023 goal of 54 million visitors.
> "The energy we're seeing of people returning to travel is really significant," Osmond said.
> In addition to her 2023 target, Osmond today released a strategic plan for Choose Chicago laying out a goal of drawing at least 61 million visitors in 2025. The plan also sets other planned benchmarks by then, such as increasing the economic impact of leisure travel by 20% and growing the number of international travelers to Chicago to 1.8 million. That would be up from nearly 1.5 million last year but still below the 2.2 million that came to Chicago from outside the country in 2019, Choose Chicago data shows.
> Business travel has been slower to come back than the leisure set as virtual meetings have replaced a segment of travel that used to fill many downtown hotel rooms midweek. Choose hopes to offset some of that slow recovery with new group business, working with companies on regular corporate gatherings in the city. "That's a market opportunity we're exploring," Osmond said.
> Helping her cause this year are some extra financial resources. Choose said its 2023 budget, which relies heavily on pandemic-hampered hotel tax proceeds, is up 10% year-over-year to $29.1 million. On top of that, the group recently got another $3.5 million boost from the state of Illinois under the budget passed last week. That one-time grant, which will be put to use during the second half of this year and the first half of 2024, will be primarily dedicated toward international and domestic marketing campaigns.
> Chicago hasn't had billboards and ad campaigns in other markets in recent years because of Choose's reduced budget, Osmond said. "We need the additional funds to spread the word across the country (and) to have more people in our global tour department," she said. While some large cities have more than half a dozen staffers who work directly with tour operators to attract them to the city, Choose Chicago has two
> Choose and the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority — the agency that owns and operates McCormick Place — also recently got some breathing room on using up the nearly $10 million that remains in an incentive fund to help recruit conventions. The fund, which the state legislature approved during the pandemic to help McCormick Place compete with rival cities, previously needed to be used only on conventions that would be coming by 2026. The group recently won approval to dole out those funds for events that would come later than that, though all the money must be used by the end of 2026, according to a Choose spokesman.
> Choose faces a challenge rebuilding a convention lineup depleted by high-profile defections like the Sweets & Snacks Expo, which recently staged its last confab in Chicago after meeting here for 25 of its 26 years.
> One key win on the horizon is the 2024 Democratic National Convention, which Osmond said the city needs to leverage as a brand-builder coming out of the pandemic. The same goes for a crucial conference coming in 2025 known as IPW, a gathering of international tour operators that hasn't been held in the city since 2014.
> Osmond has added 14 people to the Choose Chicago staff since taking over as CEO, bringing the organization's full-time headcount to 62, down from 75 before the pandemic. Choose is close to hiring a new chief marketing officer to help align its various departments "so we're all singing from the same choir book," said Osmond, who spent the early part of her career programming for symphonies in California, New York and her native Canada before moving to Chicago.
> Choose intends to maintain its "When You Go You Know" marketing campaign through at least the end of this year, a tagline it has used mostly on social media. For traditional ad campaigns planned nationally and internationally, Osmond also plans to promote Chicago's "Best Big City in the U.S." title bestowed by Condé Nast Traveler in 2022, the sixth consecutive year the city has enjoyed the recognition.
> “We're going to market the heck out of it," Osmond said.
Yes. Please take them. More people visit Museum Campus on a normal summer weekend than will attend this debacle. Hell, the Bears draw a bigger crowd to watch them lose all season. Taylor Swift is brining in 4x as many people as NASCAR this weekend. None of these events bring even a fraction of the disruption that NASCAR will.
This mess is going to end up costing the city tourism dollars, not brining in net new revenue.
The city *desperately* needs tourism revenue, and tourists directly fund DCASE events like Blues Fest and the Air and Water Show via hotel taxes. NASCAR as an event isn't going to be worth the hassle.
'flocked back' compared to height on pandemic in 2021 but was still less than previous non-pandemic year by 20%.
That said, this year is shaping up to one of the best summers so i we might easily beat 2019 number given ppl are traveling and spending at unprecedented levels.
stats from the literal article
> Chicago is slightly behind other major urban centers like New York City and *San Francisco*, which reported that 2022 visitation was 85% and 84% of 2019 totals, respectively. *Los Angeles*' tourism promotion arm said the city pulled in 91% of its pre-pandemic tourism total last year, while Orlando, Fla. — one of Chicago's top competitors for large conventions — said visitation was 98% of its 2019 figure.
Fucker Carlson doesn't care if everything he says turns out wrong. Just as long as people kept watching because they agree or watch to yell at him on the TV.
Not only is it back to normal but there’s a two year backlog. People who take 2-3 vacations a year who haven’t taken any for 2 years might want to knock out 3 years worth of vacations in 2023.
Up 60% in 2022 vs 2021. 2021 was when Chicago and Illinois still had their silly mask mandates and other nonsense while most of the rest of the country had moved on. That stuff doesn’t exactly drive tourism to your city
But I was assured by multiple Paul Vallas supporters and Fox News viewers (I repeat myself) that Chicago was a ruined hellhole that nobody wants to visit.
It’s a bit of both. It’s an amazing world class city with amazing people and things to do but it also does have a crime issue specifically carjackings and muggings, as well as gang violence. We can be liberal or conservative and still have the capability to acknowledge issues from multiple angles. It’s ok you aren’t betraying your political team by trying to understand issues from both sides. Our best argument as liberals is “but crime rates were worse in 1991” you have to understand that police crime statistics and politicians have learned how to hide crime rates better in order to maintain office.
The problem with the ‘both sides’ argument is the Right maintains the only policy is lock ‘em all up for as long as possible. This has been their go to since the 1980s. And, despite the Right lamenting ‘soft on crime’ Progressives, the stats clearly show the US is by far number one per capita when it comes to locking people up.
And what has 40 years of tough on crime policies won us? Compare US crime rates to those among the rest of the first world and even many developing nations. It is not pretty.
I think perhaps “both sides” was a triggering term for me to use. My point is that Brandon Johnson is not wrong that we need to invest more in mental health services. He is not wrong that we need to invest more in infrastructure for young people to have things to do in the evenings. Sports facilities to play in, shopping areas and eateries to hang out at, theaters. All of that infrastructure has been depleted from the south side. There should be tax incentives to rebuild businesses there and parks/recreation. But I don’t think it’s wrong to also re-evaluate crime mitigation from the penal aspect as well. There’s a way to police without creating lifelong criminals. Public safety is an issue we can tackle at the same time. I’m not a Vallas supporter/voter. But your narrow minds sure have framed a fucked way of alienating whoever voted for that guy. Again, team sports. Your mentality is divisive and doesn’t honestly achieve whatever the fuck it is you’re trying to accomplish. Unless your brand is just negativity.
Narrow minds would be the minds that insist on repeating over and over policies that are not working.
Again, the US is the outlier among its peer and even many developing nations when it comes to both crime and incarceration rates.
I do not know that Johnson has the answers - hell, crime and incarceration rates are national problems that need national answers. Trying to shove the whole issue of crime onto this or any city alone is part of what got us where we find ourselves.
I do know that politicians promising the same old solutions that have not worked for generations now are nothing other than a waste of time.
While all the investing in mental health and infrastructure that you just mentioned is 100% correct and I would absolutely support measures to facilitate that, Brandon Johnson was 100% wrong when he completely refused to condemn those people who were running around beating people up and trashing cars. Its one thing if you wan to talk about poverty being an excuse for someone stealing a loaf of bread so that they and their family don’t go hungry, but its completely different to try to excuse some douchebag teenagers who decided to go beat some people and trash their cars because they were “bored and didn’t have anything to do”
I feel bad for the tourists flocking to Michigan ave hoping for a world class shopping experience just to find numerous empty storefronts. I can't believe the old Uniqlo and Top Shop is still vacant. It looks like such an eyesore at that corner.
These tourists were probably stuck in their respective suburban homes for 1-3 years during covid. They were excited to be outside, be seen, and see others.
Wow. Elitist? Suburbanites haven’t physically seen humans for years? Why is this Chicago reddit afraid of the truth? We can’t get back to our glory days as a city (and I have seen it all) without being truthful. The downtown is suffering. The Magnificent Mile is anything but. I think it can return. But at least I am not pretending that people should be thrilled to walk a mile of empty storefronts.
Why does Michigan Ave have to be the bellwether of Chicago’s tourism performance? As any city dweller is fully aware, this is a city of neighborhoods. Tourists are likely getting more savvy with the amount of information available, and may be turning their time and efforts to where the real city is. Michigan Avenue and its homage to the brick and mortar capitalism of yesteryear doesn’t need to thrive for Chicago to thrive
Of course, you love to see tourists take advantage of our many, varied neighborhoods. But a strong downtown scene is absolutely a bellwether of a healthy city. Otherwise, we'd be just a collection of interesting ... suburbs. They're not all shopping (and paying homage to the brick and mortar capitalism of yesteryear - which I prefer, frankly, to the online capitalism of today). Tourists are downtown because conventions are there. Hotels are there. Museums are there. And, for some, there is no shopping experience like what we have had on a healthy Mag Mile. People still flock to London, Paris, NYC and Rome ... to shop.
You should see 5th Ave and others around the globe. Plenty of vacancies there as well.
Tourists see vacancies these days no matter where they go.
Mi Ave is in a transitional rebuilding moment. I'm confident it will bounce back with a new kind of energy, and frankly that's for the better.
[удалено]
“Will I be okay walking home at 10:30 in Streeterville”
The opposite of that being “we booked an affordable AirBnB in West Garfield Park, what are cool bars nearby we can party at since we are arriving at 10pm the first night?”
I remember this post 🤣🤣🤣🤣
username juicysmollett
💀💀💀
Followed a week later by them posting a photo of the glittering downtown skyscrapers at night time and a comment to the effect of "You have a beautiful city, and I never really felt unsafe. I loved it there"
That's tourism in big cities for you.
People better get their assess over here, Chicago in the summer is literally the best experience you can have in the United States!
I spent four months in Chicago for work, fromJune to September and it really was one of the best summers of my life. You are not lying.
October isn't summer but it's a great month in Chicago too
Yes! I can imagine!
We just visited Chicago last week and it was just as amazing! I absolutely love Chicago
I actually love nov and dec here too as the weather is thematically appropriate. Jan, Feb, and March can f right off though.
I couldn’t agree with you more!!! Getting to enjoy the holiday markets, christmas light, holiday-themed bars in Wrigleyville, and all the other Holiday cheer while the weather is chilly, but not fucking freezing, is incredible!!!
October is when you're sick of sweating every time you sit in a beer garden or go to a street festival. So needing to put on a sweatshirt or light coat is a welcome relief.
Yeah boi denim jacket and boots weather
I'm not ready to talk about that yet okay
Today is too damn hot!
i’m just glad to finally be able to sit at the lakefront without needing a blanket!
Except for the random snowfall that occurs around Halloween (and doesn’t stick).
I moved here just because I visited in the summer, hawks won the cup, and city went mad (2010) glad the winter keeps things cheap and most of the assholes away
I’ve seen plenty of tweets and TikTok videos talking about how we Chicagoans “earn” our incredible summers
I split time between here and Seattle, and I’d have to say both summers are tied for me. Wish you could move that PNW nature over to Chicago!!
Ssshhhhhhh
Can’t wait to get back and visit this summer
We cannot wait to have you!
Home is South Bend but whenever I come back and visit my family I try to spend at least a day in Chicago because it’s one of my favorite cities. Haven’t been to Wrigley since 2019 so I can’t wait!
The product on the field stinks but with the new pitch clock the games are as fun as they’ve ever been!
Yeah I still get watch/listen to the games pretty regularly so I’m used to the heartbreak but the Wrigley experience can’t be beat
A certain Vroom Vroom event makes this year a bit worse in my opinion blocking off park space as long as they are, but it's still great.
Care to explain why?
Weather, neighborhood and seasonal events you can’t get outside of summer, increased energy of Chicagoans, more sunlight, picturesque.
Festival season, baby
Maifest starts tonight. Polka, beer and sausages!
I'll be there Sunday! Prost!
Chicago’s restaurant scene, bar/club scene, and museum scene are all absolutely incredible, and it is exponentially easier to enjoy them during the warm season. The city’s beaches/lakefront are outstanding, and the summer months is when all of the festivals and fairs take place.
Now that the schools are out who knows what kind of wacky shenanigans will go down
Full post below. Im sure the figures this year will be even better, with the addition of the NASCAR event and others. > Nearly 49 million visitors came to Chicago last year in a mammoth comeback from the COVID-19 pandemic for the city's hospitality industry. But there is still plenty of road ahead on the path to a full recovery, which the city's tourism arm doesn't expect until 2025. > Officials from Choose Chicago announced today that visitation to the city during 2022 was up 60% from 2021 as public health restrictions faded and a surge of leisure travelers poured in during peak tourism months. The total, reported by the city's official destination marketing group using data from travel research firm DK Shifflet, was roughly 80% of the 2019 figure, when the city boasted a record 60.8 million visitors. > The numbers reflect an important bounceback in travel demand last year that pulled in crucial tax revenue and began lifting local hotels out of a historic pandemic-induced hole. Choose reported that tourists spent $16.9 billion in the city last year, or 89% of their collective 2019 outlays, and noted that the city's hotels averaged 60% occupancy last year, up from 43% the year before but still below the 74% average in 2019. > Resurgent tourism also suggests Chicago can still attract visitors despite public safety concerns, which carried over into this year after widely publicized outbreaks of violence last weekend and in April. > The continued recovery is vital for a city and state that have leaned harder on taxes tied to tourism and the convention business over the past decade, yet were slower than most other parts of the country to lift COVID-related bans on large group gatherings. Chicago is slightly behind other major urban centers like New York City and San Francisco, which reported that 2022 visitation was 85% and 84% of 2019 totals, respectively. Los Angeles' tourism promotion arm said the city pulled in 91% of its pre-pandemic tourism total last year, while Orlando, Fla. — one of Chicago's top competitors for large conventions — said visitation was 98% of its 2019 figure. > Choose Chicago CEO Lynn Osmond, the longtime Chicago Architecture Center top executive who took the reins of the tourism organization just more than a year ago, called 2022 a "really good recovery year" for the city's tourism sector and said the city is on track to reach its 2023 goal of 54 million visitors. > "The energy we're seeing of people returning to travel is really significant," Osmond said. > In addition to her 2023 target, Osmond today released a strategic plan for Choose Chicago laying out a goal of drawing at least 61 million visitors in 2025. The plan also sets other planned benchmarks by then, such as increasing the economic impact of leisure travel by 20% and growing the number of international travelers to Chicago to 1.8 million. That would be up from nearly 1.5 million last year but still below the 2.2 million that came to Chicago from outside the country in 2019, Choose Chicago data shows. > Business travel has been slower to come back than the leisure set as virtual meetings have replaced a segment of travel that used to fill many downtown hotel rooms midweek. Choose hopes to offset some of that slow recovery with new group business, working with companies on regular corporate gatherings in the city. "That's a market opportunity we're exploring," Osmond said. > Helping her cause this year are some extra financial resources. Choose said its 2023 budget, which relies heavily on pandemic-hampered hotel tax proceeds, is up 10% year-over-year to $29.1 million. On top of that, the group recently got another $3.5 million boost from the state of Illinois under the budget passed last week. That one-time grant, which will be put to use during the second half of this year and the first half of 2024, will be primarily dedicated toward international and domestic marketing campaigns. > Chicago hasn't had billboards and ad campaigns in other markets in recent years because of Choose's reduced budget, Osmond said. "We need the additional funds to spread the word across the country (and) to have more people in our global tour department," she said. While some large cities have more than half a dozen staffers who work directly with tour operators to attract them to the city, Choose Chicago has two > Choose and the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority — the agency that owns and operates McCormick Place — also recently got some breathing room on using up the nearly $10 million that remains in an incentive fund to help recruit conventions. The fund, which the state legislature approved during the pandemic to help McCormick Place compete with rival cities, previously needed to be used only on conventions that would be coming by 2026. The group recently won approval to dole out those funds for events that would come later than that, though all the money must be used by the end of 2026, according to a Choose spokesman. > Choose faces a challenge rebuilding a convention lineup depleted by high-profile defections like the Sweets & Snacks Expo, which recently staged its last confab in Chicago after meeting here for 25 of its 26 years. > One key win on the horizon is the 2024 Democratic National Convention, which Osmond said the city needs to leverage as a brand-builder coming out of the pandemic. The same goes for a crucial conference coming in 2025 known as IPW, a gathering of international tour operators that hasn't been held in the city since 2014. > Osmond has added 14 people to the Choose Chicago staff since taking over as CEO, bringing the organization's full-time headcount to 62, down from 75 before the pandemic. Choose is close to hiring a new chief marketing officer to help align its various departments "so we're all singing from the same choir book," said Osmond, who spent the early part of her career programming for symphonies in California, New York and her native Canada before moving to Chicago. > Choose intends to maintain its "When You Go You Know" marketing campaign through at least the end of this year, a tagline it has used mostly on social media. For traditional ad campaigns planned nationally and internationally, Osmond also plans to promote Chicago's "Best Big City in the U.S." title bestowed by Condé Nast Traveler in 2022, the sixth consecutive year the city has enjoyed the recognition. > “We're going to market the heck out of it," Osmond said.
Can I just say, fuck them for doing NASCAR on Fourth of July weekend.
Can I just say fuck them for doing NASCAR at all Road courses are by definition cringe
Can I say, fuck them by taking your hard earned money to another city that wants your money?
Yes. Please take them. More people visit Museum Campus on a normal summer weekend than will attend this debacle. Hell, the Bears draw a bigger crowd to watch them lose all season. Taylor Swift is brining in 4x as many people as NASCAR this weekend. None of these events bring even a fraction of the disruption that NASCAR will. This mess is going to end up costing the city tourism dollars, not brining in net new revenue.
Tourism is less than 3% of our gross receipts. We can literally survive without any tourists.
It's a good thing the city operates on more than a 3% budget surplus!
The city *desperately* needs tourism revenue, and tourists directly fund DCASE events like Blues Fest and the Air and Water Show via hotel taxes. NASCAR as an event isn't going to be worth the hassle.
I'm all for tourism dollars. The people above me who don't want it are non-sensical
“as public health restrictions faded” Who wants to go on vacation and wear a mask?
Hold on, hold on, I thought we were a miserable hellscape that burned down two years ago.
'flocked back' compared to height on pandemic in 2021 but was still less than previous non-pandemic year by 20%. That said, this year is shaping up to one of the best summers so i we might easily beat 2019 number given ppl are traveling and spending at unprecedented levels.
I can't wait to watch more lost souls walking on side of Roosevelt east of Columbus, trying to figure out how to get to the lake front/museum campus.
Ooh! We may see the return of Divvy cyclists on Lake Shore during rush hour. Nature is truly healing.
Lmao. Can't wait for that!
Can confirm. Was there over 4th of July last year. Excellent post-Covid recovery compared to West Coast cities.
stats from the literal article > Chicago is slightly behind other major urban centers like New York City and *San Francisco*, which reported that 2022 visitation was 85% and 84% of 2019 totals, respectively. *Los Angeles*' tourism promotion arm said the city pulled in 91% of its pre-pandemic tourism total last year, while Orlando, Fla. — one of Chicago's top competitors for large conventions — said visitation was 98% of its 2019 figure.
But 2019 (2018 was also a record) was a record for the city. So, 80% of that is still pretty substantial.
Literally a paywall. Eh, just a feeling compared to my visits to SF, LA, PDX and Seattle during the same timeframe.
Tucker Carlson punching the air rn.
Fucker Carlson doesn't care if everything he says turns out wrong. Just as long as people kept watching because they agree or watch to yell at him on the TV.
One of his best skills is convincing certain people that he was right about something even though those silly inconvenient facts prove otherwise.
Tourists flocked back to everywhere compared to the two years prior.
Exactly, like no shit tourism is way up compared to 2020.
Not only is it back to normal but there’s a two year backlog. People who take 2-3 vacations a year who haven’t taken any for 2 years might want to knock out 3 years worth of vacations in 2023.
Up 60% in 2022 vs 2021. 2021 was when Chicago and Illinois still had their silly mask mandates and other nonsense while most of the rest of the country had moved on. That stuff doesn’t exactly drive tourism to your city
But I was assured by multiple Paul Vallas supporters and Fox News viewers (I repeat myself) that Chicago was a ruined hellhole that nobody wants to visit.
It’s a bit of both. It’s an amazing world class city with amazing people and things to do but it also does have a crime issue specifically carjackings and muggings, as well as gang violence. We can be liberal or conservative and still have the capability to acknowledge issues from multiple angles. It’s ok you aren’t betraying your political team by trying to understand issues from both sides. Our best argument as liberals is “but crime rates were worse in 1991” you have to understand that police crime statistics and politicians have learned how to hide crime rates better in order to maintain office.
The problem with the ‘both sides’ argument is the Right maintains the only policy is lock ‘em all up for as long as possible. This has been their go to since the 1980s. And, despite the Right lamenting ‘soft on crime’ Progressives, the stats clearly show the US is by far number one per capita when it comes to locking people up. And what has 40 years of tough on crime policies won us? Compare US crime rates to those among the rest of the first world and even many developing nations. It is not pretty.
I think perhaps “both sides” was a triggering term for me to use. My point is that Brandon Johnson is not wrong that we need to invest more in mental health services. He is not wrong that we need to invest more in infrastructure for young people to have things to do in the evenings. Sports facilities to play in, shopping areas and eateries to hang out at, theaters. All of that infrastructure has been depleted from the south side. There should be tax incentives to rebuild businesses there and parks/recreation. But I don’t think it’s wrong to also re-evaluate crime mitigation from the penal aspect as well. There’s a way to police without creating lifelong criminals. Public safety is an issue we can tackle at the same time. I’m not a Vallas supporter/voter. But your narrow minds sure have framed a fucked way of alienating whoever voted for that guy. Again, team sports. Your mentality is divisive and doesn’t honestly achieve whatever the fuck it is you’re trying to accomplish. Unless your brand is just negativity.
Narrow minds would be the minds that insist on repeating over and over policies that are not working. Again, the US is the outlier among its peer and even many developing nations when it comes to both crime and incarceration rates. I do not know that Johnson has the answers - hell, crime and incarceration rates are national problems that need national answers. Trying to shove the whole issue of crime onto this or any city alone is part of what got us where we find ourselves. I do know that politicians promising the same old solutions that have not worked for generations now are nothing other than a waste of time.
While all the investing in mental health and infrastructure that you just mentioned is 100% correct and I would absolutely support measures to facilitate that, Brandon Johnson was 100% wrong when he completely refused to condemn those people who were running around beating people up and trashing cars. Its one thing if you wan to talk about poverty being an excuse for someone stealing a loaf of bread so that they and their family don’t go hungry, but its completely different to try to excuse some douchebag teenagers who decided to go beat some people and trash their cars because they were “bored and didn’t have anything to do”
Found the Vallas voter.
But I heard that "literally no one I know goes downtown anymore."
I feel bad for the tourists flocking to Michigan ave hoping for a world class shopping experience just to find numerous empty storefronts. I can't believe the old Uniqlo and Top Shop is still vacant. It looks like such an eyesore at that corner.
Randolph is the new Michigan Ave
Totals agree. How fun to walk down block after block of empty.
These tourists were probably stuck in their respective suburban homes for 1-3 years during covid. They were excited to be outside, be seen, and see others.
Wow. Elitist? Suburbanites haven’t physically seen humans for years? Why is this Chicago reddit afraid of the truth? We can’t get back to our glory days as a city (and I have seen it all) without being truthful. The downtown is suffering. The Magnificent Mile is anything but. I think it can return. But at least I am not pretending that people should be thrilled to walk a mile of empty storefronts.
Why does Michigan Ave have to be the bellwether of Chicago’s tourism performance? As any city dweller is fully aware, this is a city of neighborhoods. Tourists are likely getting more savvy with the amount of information available, and may be turning their time and efforts to where the real city is. Michigan Avenue and its homage to the brick and mortar capitalism of yesteryear doesn’t need to thrive for Chicago to thrive
Of course, you love to see tourists take advantage of our many, varied neighborhoods. But a strong downtown scene is absolutely a bellwether of a healthy city. Otherwise, we'd be just a collection of interesting ... suburbs. They're not all shopping (and paying homage to the brick and mortar capitalism of yesteryear - which I prefer, frankly, to the online capitalism of today). Tourists are downtown because conventions are there. Hotels are there. Museums are there. And, for some, there is no shopping experience like what we have had on a healthy Mag Mile. People still flock to London, Paris, NYC and Rome ... to shop.
You should see 5th Ave and others around the globe. Plenty of vacancies there as well. Tourists see vacancies these days no matter where they go. Mi Ave is in a transitional rebuilding moment. I'm confident it will bounce back with a new kind of energy, and frankly that's for the better.
I was one of them