What Do People In Chicago Really Think About Detroit?

[Dbest]

The thing is, a splashy downtown or some nice neighborhoods don't hide the realities for Chicago either.


1. High Crime


2. Pension short fall


3. Failing public school system.


4. Residents living in poverty.


5. High unemployment


Sound familiar?

[Bham1982]

I know Chicago and Detroit were both spoken in the same breath all of the time during the 1940 to 1970s because they were almost strikingly similar in terms of size, development, infrastructure and functionality. But no one speaks of them in the same breath any more because all of the aforementioned is no longer the case.

You need to get out of the Midwest. All the Midwest is seen in the same light nationally. Chicago has a dismal national reputation, just like Detroit.

The Midwest is "corn country" per the stereotype. Everyone thinks it's Ma and Pa Kettle down on the farm. They don't distinguish between one declining metro and another because one happens to have a vibrant downtown and the other doesn't. They see the same headlines for both cities [[murder capitals, population decline, factories closing, bankruptcy, fat dudes who dress sloppy and like sports, etc.).

You ever notice that those horrible reality shows or paparazzi-laden articles never reference the Midwest? It's because it doesn't fit the script. You will never have a Desperate Housewives- Grosse Pointe or Million Dollar Listing Chicago or Kardashians hit Charlevoix. I know these things are ridiculous but they speak to what decision makers think of the public's perceptions. No one is saying "but Chicago has lost 40% of its population and Detroit has lost 70% of its population, and Detroit has gone bankrupt while Chicago is still careening towards bankruptcy therefore we're going to make some distinction."

It's all the same thing, from about Pittsburgh to Kansas City in the eyes of the non-Midwest public.

[TTime]

He probably means people outside the Midwest. Yeah, locally, everyone knows the differences, but not in other parts of the country.

If you ask someone in California or New York, it's all the same thing. Cows and factories and urban decline, everywhere from Ohio west to the Great Plains.

The fine folks in your social circle may see things that way but I find it hard to believe both coasts are populated almost entirely by simpletons.

[iheartthed]

The thing is, a splashy downtown or some nice neighborhoods don't hide the realities for Chicago either.


1. High Crime


2. Pension short fall


3. Failing public school system.


4. Residents living in poverty.


5. High unemployment


Sound familiar?

And outside of the Midwest, this is the prevailing attitude about Chicago, fair or not. Even for those with familiarity with both cities, I think it's hard to argue that Detroit has been better favored in the media since its bankruptcy than Chicago over the same period of time. For people who don't know either city very well [[which is most people on Earth) the two cities are assumed to be very similar.

[Bham1982]

The fine folks in your social circle may see things that way but I find it hard to believe both coasts are populated almost entirely by simpletons.

People on the coasts rely on general stereotypes, same as everyone else in the world. What do you first think of when you think "Paris"? I'm guessing it isn't giant, graffiti-laden housing projects full of angry Muslims. Yet much of Paris is exactly like this.

You really think the average person in the Midwest knows that much of California is as redneck as Indiana? Of course not. They think the ocean and hippies and tech and Hollywood and yoga-crazy new age chicks. No one thinks about beer-bellied Bud from Barstow.

Similarly, no one from outside the Midwest is going to pick up on the regional nuances. Detroit and Chicago are more alike than different, so the stereotype is going to be schlubby white dudes who are sports superfans, and angry ghetto black people, and backwards rednecks outside the cities. Yes, it's a wild exaggeration, but there's a nugget of truth in the regional stereotypes.

[TTime]

And outside of the Midwest, this is the prevailing attitude about Chicago, fair or not. Even for those with familiarity with both cities, I think it's hard to argue that Detroit has been better favored in the media since its bankruptcy than Chicago over the same period of time. For people who don't know either city very well [[which is most people on Earth) the two cities are assumed to be very similar.

Replace Chicago with Cleveland in this statement and I'm with you but otherwise this statement is laughable. Some people in Detroit simply must attempt to pull Chicago down to Detroit's level every chance they get no matter how absurd their argument is in reality.

[Bham1982]

RSome people in Detroit simply must attempt to pull Chicago down to Detroit's level every chance they get no matter how absurd their argument is in reality.

Chicago is doing a pretty good job at lowering itself to Detroit's level, it needs no help.

Chicago is on the verge of bankruptcy, same as the state. Unemployment is actually higher in Chicago than Detroit. Population growth for the city, metro and state is zero or slightly negative. The school system is on the verge of collapse, same as Detroit. Chicago's credit rating is worst in the nation; Illinois' credit rating is worst in the nation. Chicago has most murders in the nation.

The pension crisis in Chicago/Illinois is ridiculously bad. There will be huge tax increases and spending cuts in the coming years. If anything Illinois is worse off than Chicago.

[Jimaz]

DetroitYES Home » Non Detroit Issues » Thom Hartmann » Why Chicago Won’t Go Bankrupt—And Detroit Didn’t Have To

[G-DDT]

I'm going to side with the crowd-who gives a flyin' rip?!

When you've traveled enough through parts of Illinois and southern Wisconsin [[and even further parts), everything is considered a "suburb of Chicago". I've met a lot of those "fleeing" Cabrini-Green. Chicago seems to be a city that pumps lots of money into education only to have punk kids droop out with this "I don' wanna be no f-n' nerd." attitude. Meanwhile Detroit languishes with kids craving education only to have a third of our schools closed, some of the open ones infested with rats, and school supplies rotting in burnt-out warehouses.

I met a night-worker at a half-way home in Madison [[thought putting out "picked herring' for everyone was a real nice midnight treat). He was former drill instructor from Chicago, and he hated the Pistons. He referred to Isaiah Thomas as a "punk", and he expanding on that by saying all the other Pistons were "no good punks", too.

I did find that folks from that Deeper Faith/Deeper Life health-n-wealth homeless-exploitation cult [[the one that was putting flower-venders out on the corners of Southfield and Evergreen in bad weather-that same one that the folks in Louisville wisely cracked down on) were trying to recruit desperate folks from Chicago to move to Detroit. When one guy approached asked them where in Detroit he'd be located to, they responded by saying "every part of Detroit" is okay. He called B.S. on that.

[softailrider]

The thing is, a splashy downtown or some nice neighborhoods don't hide the realities for Chicago either.


1. High Crime


2. Pension short fall


3. Failing public school system.


4. Residents living in poverty.


5. High unemployment


Sound familiar?

Yes and no. Chicago is a city that works, Detroit isn't. As bad as the corrupt Chicago government is they have had way better leadership then Detroit has had.

[old guy]

Yes and no. Chicago is a city that works, Detroit isn't. As bad as the corrupt Chicago government is they have had way better leadership then Detroit has had.

I have to agree with this. Having lived in both cities, I couldn't tell you which is more corrupt. But hands down, Chicago is better at it than Detroit. They actually, at times make it work for the people.
I don't know what it is about Chicago, but the open corruption seems to trump the silent corporate corruption. It's one of the last bastions of free trade. More or less.

[G-DDT]

Let's just hope with all our Homeland Security patrolling and empty buildings, we don't have anything like Chicago has with Homan Square.
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/5/1...ictims_of_past

[G-DDT]

Why the hell do we care what people with an inferiority complex towards New York think about us?

Are we talking about Chicago or Boston here?

[A2Mike]

Many people born and raised in the Detroit area have left in search of better opportunities elsewhere and this was not just in the recent decades of Detroit's precipitous decline but began long before. While Detroiters generally regarded Chicago favorably, those leaving overwhelming chose places other than Chicago to make their careers. New York was unsurprisingly the biggest magnet of them all, but a few other east and west cities drew plenty of Detroiters as well. I think that people leaving their hometowns want to make a really big break with the familiar and look farther than whatever their own region affords. To an Englishman from Liverpool, Manchester is just not very appealing.

[Bucket]

New City, one of Chicago's alternative weeklies, current issue is all about Detroit:

http://newcity.com/2015/07/02/why-detroit/

[DetroitBoy]

New City, one of Chicago's alternative weeklies, current issue is all about Detroit:

http://newcity.com/2015/07/02/why-detroit/

Who cares?

[jjaba]

There is much glitz in Chicago but there are also square miles of ruins and very rough neighborhoods. Over 4th of July, 47 residents were hit by gunfire.
Detroit has been and still is part of their economy. Ford-Chicago is an old plant that produces wonderful cars. Machine tools are made there. Auto suppliers make parts there. To be asking young couples in love on Chicago's Northside what they think of Detroit is like axing them what they think of Disneyland.
jjaba, Proudly Westside.

[wolverine]

Who cares?

Well, we know you do care since you took the time to read, then quote and respond to that post.

Lots of people in the office read the article and learned about a lot of the new stuff going on in Detroit that they didn't know about. Wouldn't you agree that's it's good for people to learn about good things happening in Detroit?

[Honky Tonk]

Well, we know you do care since you took the time to read, then quote and respond to that post.

Lots of people in the office read the article and learned about a lot of the new stuff going on in Detroit that they didn't know about. Wouldn't you agree that's it's good for people to learn about good things happening in Detroit?

Yes, I would agree. However that isn't what this is about. This about some guys with a video camera, walking up to total strangers, who have never been to Detroit, and asking them what do they think about Detroit. Which if you ask me, and, of course, I realize you didn't, is a pretty pointless exercise.

[Dbest]

Yes, I would agree. However that isn't what this is about. This about some guys with a video camera, walking up to total strangers, who have never been to Detroit, and asking them what do they think about Detroit. Which if you ask me, and, of course, I realize you didn't, is a pretty pointless exercise.

What's your point in returning to the thread? If you want to come in and blast the thread and drop the mic, by all means.. But to keep picking the mic back up is laughable. Then again this seems to be your style on this board.

[wolverine]

Yes, I would agree. However that isn't what this is about. This about some guys with a video camera, walking up to total strangers, who have never been to Detroit, and asking them what do they think about Detroit. Which if you ask me, and, of course, I realize you didn't, is a pretty pointless exercise.

Honk Tonk, you responded to the wrong post if you thought I was taking about the video. My post had nothing to do with the video. I was talking about the Reader article not the video. Please take another look at the conversation above.