Why Can't Detroit Be More Like Chicago/

[detmich]

Can it really be all that hard?

[Bearinabox]

Can it really be all that hard?

I opened this thread expecting some barely-coherent drivel about shopping and trains. Instead, I got...this. Thanks for the laugh.

[Big Dog]

Several Mayors, may have had a hand Detroits demise. Is their city council like ours?

[lilpup]

We've got the corruption part down well, but the 'making it work' part seems to be a stumbling block.

I think more needs to be kept in-house instead of being spent with companies from Texas or spread around traveling and tapping Fed tail.

[313WX]

Can it really be all that hard?

Yes, Chicago actually has people who want to cooperate wit heach other.

[EastsideAl]

And Chicago has an actual economy. Based on more than one industry.

[LodgeDodger]

Can it really be all that hard?

And why can't I have a body like Raquel Welch?

[Crumbled_pavement]

Can it really be all that hard?

Yes, because Chicago is off a lake...

[Hamtragedy]

Let's see. Unaffordable real estate. $400 annually to park your car in front of your house. Instant $60 tickets for not displaying visitors pass when parking at friends house. 10.5% sales tax. Horrible traffic. Trash everywhere [[literally). And then there is that whole dirty little secret that the world, including Chicago's own politicians, forget about so easily: the South Side.

I've seriously considered Chicago, and after spending plenty of time there working and playing, I'll pass and take my own little piece of paradise in Hamsandwich.

[dtowncitylover]

Let's see. Unaffordable real estate. $400 annually to park your car in front of your house. Instant $60 tickets for not displaying visitors pass when parking at friends house. 10.5% sales tax. Horrible traffic. Trash everywhere [[literally). And then there is that whole dirty little secret that the world, including Chicago's own politicians, forget about so easily: the South Side.

I've seriously considered Chicago, and after spending plenty of time there working and playing, I'll pass and take my own little piece of paradise in Hamsandwich.

I left after only one month for those reasons. And don't forget the rudeness. I hate that city.

[48302]

And why can't I have a body like Raquel Welch?

you dont?

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[48302]

Let's see. Unaffordable real estate. $400 annually to park your car in front of your house. Instant $60 tickets for not displaying visitors pass when parking at friends house. 10.5% sales tax. Horrible traffic. Trash everywhere [[literally). And then there is that whole dirty little secret that the world, including Chicago's own politicians, forget about so easily: the South Side.

I've seriously considered Chicago, and after spending plenty of time there working and playing, I'll pass and take my own little piece of paradise in Hamsandwich.

are you joking?

[Hamtragedy]

No. And about which part?

[royce]

When comparing Chicago and Detroit, people always make the comparison that Chicago is more diverse economically than Detroit. What I want to know is, besides the merchantile exchange, what industries does Chicago have that Detroit [[really metro Detroit) doesn't?

[wolverine]

Unaffordable real-estate? Most of it is reasonable for a large midwest city. When you weight the number amenities and establishments with rent, you are getting a deal.

[Hamtragedy]

One ordinance that recently passed that I do really like is the one that requires all new establishments with a liquor license to also sell food. As a result, most of these establishments compete for your business by running specials every single day, and it's not always standard "bar-fare." When I'm working there, I can hit a different place every night and get decent food for cheap.

Sadly, there are no "bar and grills" left in Hamtown.

[ziggyselbin]

When comparing Chicago and Detroit, people always make the comparison that Chicago is more diverse economically than Detroit. What I want to know is, besides the merchantile exchange, what industries does Chicago have that Detroit [[really metro Detroit) doesn't?

Besides a vibrant bustling 24 hr a day city..........nothing

I don't disagree with hamtragedy. But lets face it for those seeking a city experience where the city is not moribund Chicago is the obvious choice for midwesterners.

[rb336]

are you joking?

chicago ain't all great, as i've said before. as a native of chicagoland, i have some of the same problems with the city others do. there is an arrogance people there display that is totally unwarranted, which results in much ruder behavior than I ever experienced in the D or NYC, including from people who are supposedly there to help visitors. I have long thought the arrogance/rudeness stems from an inferiority complex because ... it ain't new york. [[last time a person in the hospitality industry was rude to me, I did unleash my "new york junior" comment).

people think Chicago is integrated, but go uptown on the el and see how many brown faces there are.

[KOMPOST]

Why can't an avocado taste more like a nectarine?

[313WX]

chicago ain't all great, as i've said before. as a native of chicagoland, i have some of the same problems with the city others do. there is an arrogance people there display that is totally unwarranted, which results in much ruder behavior than I ever experienced in the D or NYC, including from people who are supposedly there to help visitors. I have long thought the arrogance/rudeness stems from an inferiority complex because ... it ain't new york. [[last time a person in the hospitality industry was rude to me, I did unleash my "new york junior" comment).

people think Chicago is integrated, but go uptown on the el and see how many brown faces there are.

It sounds a lot like Detroiters & how they feel about Chicago. To make us feel better about Detroit's insecurities, we try to put down Chicago & their accomplishments every chance we get [[because we're bitter of how far Detroit has fallen, yet Chicago failed to do so). That's pretty much why every big project or event we muster up, Detroiters try to hype it up like we're going to be another Chicago. That's also why we tried to imitated their El-Train by constructing the rather inferior People Mover.

hmm...well that explains the purpose of this thread in a nutshell...

[davewindsor]

Can it really be all that hard?

I think Detroit has a bad image problem because it doesn't have enough police, whether real or percieved, and that's why Chicago is perceived as better by outsiders. Double the police budget. Bring back police walking a random beat to any area preceived as unsafe. Have them pickup homeless people and panhandlers and take them to the shelter or throw them in jail if they're difficult.

I remember former NYC Mayor Guliani talking on Larry King and talking about how he fixed up NYC when he had the police write up tickets for all the small things like J-walking, throwing a candy wrapper on the sidewalk, and anything minor so people had respect for the more serious laws and it really cleaned up Manhattan.

I had a friend visit downtown Chicago a year ago. He stopped his car near a bank in downtown to take a picture. Within half a minute, a cop pulls up and tells him he can't stop near a bank and he has to move. That's hardcore. But, those cities feel safer I guess and maybe that's why those cities work so much better.

But then again, when Detroit is bankrupt, you can't increase the police budget unless all those tickets are paying for it.

[Detroit Stylin]

Why can't an avocado taste more like a nectarine?

How much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck COULD chuck wood?

[digitalvision]

I don't want Detroit to be like Chicago. Detroit needs to be... Detroit.

Learned awhile ago, as I used to be one of those "Detroit needs to be like "X" people, that if you want Chicago/New York/Seattle move there. Seriously. Leave. You WILL be happier than trying to slog it out here a decade and burn out like so many friends after a goal that won't happen. Even when Detroit gets the mass transit system, it still won't be those cities. All my friends who fell in love with another city and moved, they don't complain about X. It's just the course of life. If you don't fall in love, that's AOK too!

I think it's excellent to have the opportunity to see if you really like a city - or if Detroit really is what makes you happy. Everyone should take a risk like Hamtragedy and open their experience, even if you don't like it. I've done stints in New York, Los Angeles, but not Chicago [[but have gone more than a few times on long-term business). For me? If you said I had to move to another region, I'd go to Toronto, eh. That's my mistress to Detroit. Busy in places like New York, clean for the most part, mostly polite, lots of international influence, lots of multi-use, lots of creatives, funky neighborhoods and a functional mass transit system.

The other side of this point is that Detroit has it's own culture and it needs to be accounted for. Transposing Chicago or New York on Detroit is not a good fit. For instance, the reality is, we're a car culture. Our shoppers like walkable areas, but they will not walk more than a block to go anywhere and it's going to be decades before they change in enough numbers to make it work. We're also ethnically and racially different than those cities and shouldn't be forgotten as that DOES have something to bear with the decisions made and preferences chosen. All these things aren't bad, they are what they are.

Even with mass transit, mass transit is not going to be the "nirvana" everyone says it will - it will be awesome, it will be great for access to jobs, it will bring up property values, it will help the poor get to work and life themselves out - but it won't change our culture like so many here think it will.

[CornBot]

You know what I like about Chicago? It has viable, identifiable, bona fide neighborhoods. You can live on any number of residential sidestreets, in just about any section of town in the city proper, and you can walk to the nearest main road, turn in either direction, and find fast food, slow food, liquor, clothing, dry goods, hardware, groceries, and a church.

Point me to anywhere in Detroit where you can do this.

[DetroitPlanner]

In order to compete with Detroit, Chicago needs more casinos and car factories. It also needs to get a better hot dog. Who puts celery salt and tomato wedges on a hot dog? They also need more stores like John King, and maybe something like an Eastern Market.