Population dropoff (Chicago: transplants, crime rate, school)

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by via chicago

Compared to other major metros, Chicago is still extremely affordable. Its still possible to find a classic Chicago bungalow near the city for 250, or less.

Lol, no kidding. Try that in NYC. For a major metro area, Chicago's affordable. Maybe not KC or Detroit affordable but still very affordable given the available amenities.

[Tex?Il?]

Four things:

1. Tear down of all the public housing projects that used to line the Dan Ryan. Robert Taylor homes, etc. Those people became much more scattered, in many cases leaving the city limits.

2. Smaller households. A typical Chicago bungalow that might have housed a working class Polish, Irish, Italian Catholic family of 5 kids 50 years ago, house either single households, or married couples with no or one kid.

3. There are still large areas on the South and west sides (Englewood, Woodlawn, Garfield Park, etc.) that are characterized by vacant lots and bordered up houses (that used to have full households. Similar to what you might see in St. Louis or Detroit, just not quite that bad.

4. I think some of the new condos going up, might be populated by people, who have it as a fun place/investment but don't actually keep their permanant residence there. My Aunt has a place in the Navy Pier building, its not here permanent residence, and she told me there were many others like her who doe the same.

Put all these together, and its not suprising why despite the fact that Chicago proper has increased in population, it is still a half million fewer than it was in 1950. 3.6. million versus 2.8 million.

I think its fine where it is, Chicagos appeal, probably lies in the fact that is NOT like New York.

[ParadiseIsland]

cheaper burbs, to me a lack of interesting things to do, and maybe cause of all the crime.

[mps74]

Higher taxes especially if they raise them to 11%! Difficulty of getting in and out of the city- And I agree with Paradise Island people are starting to leave the state all together, beyond Chicago Illinois really doesn't have too much to offer in terms of natural beauty, culture etc..

[j33]

Originally Posted by ParadiseIsland

cheaper burbs, to me a lack of interesting things to do, and maybe cause of all the crime.

Care to expound? Crime is going down in the city and has been for years. What sorts of things do you like to do that you cannot do in Chicago? Deep Sea Diving? Mountain Climbing?

Don't get me wrong, Chicago has its problems (and certain members of the Cook County government need to be tarred and feathered) but for the most part, the burbs (at least the good ones) are not all that much cheaper, and there is plenty to do in the city proper, it isn't exactly a boring place where the streets roll up at night.

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by j33

Care to expound? Crime is going down in the city and has been for years. What sorts of things do you like to do that you cannot do in Chicago? Deep Sea Diving? Mountain Climbing?

Don't get me wrong, Chicago has its problems (and certain members of the Cook County government need to be tarred and feathered) but for the most part, the burbs (at least the good ones) are not all that much cheaper, and there is plenty to do in the city proper, it isn't exactly a boring place where the streets roll up at night.

yea, that one threw me for a loop too. Thats like calling London, New York, or Tokyo boring. Do you even pick up a Chicago Reader or Timeout Chicago and look at all the stuff thats going on on any given day? Today alone the online edition of Timeout Chicago lists 212 events taking place.
Time Out Chicago: Search Events (http://www.timeout.com/chicago/EventSearch.do?recommended=ON&date=today&section=& page=1&limit=10&order= - broken link)

[Drover]

LOL, speaking of TimeOut Chicago, their motto is dead-on: "If you're bored, it's not our fault."

[Lookout Kid]

Like I pointed out in another forum, the Chicago Metropolitain area is gaining population and is around 9 million right now. It's only the city itself that is losing population, and the reasons are largely economic. If you look at the census data, it's largely the working class and poor sections of the city that are losing population. I'm hoping that the gentrification of certain neighborhoods will one day outpace the urban population loss, but that's not yet the case.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Like I pointed out in another forum, the Chicago Metropolitain area is gaining population and is around 9 million right now. It's only the city itself that is losing population, and the reasons are largely economic. If you look at the census data, it's largely the working class and poor sections of the city that are losing population. I'm hoping that the gentrification of certain neighborhoods will one day outpace the urban population loss, but that's not yet the case.

Don't forget that the census is only predicting a population loss will be found in the 2010 census. In the mid-90's they predicted a loss as well, but the population of Chicago grew by over 100,000 when the data from 2000 was compiled (and the metro area grew by over 11%).

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by Drover

LOL, speaking of TimeOut Chicago, their motto is dead-on: "If you're bored, it's not our fault."

My personal motto for Chicago is: if youre bored in Chicago, its only because youre dead.