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Chicago: A City in Freefall

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Posted By: DW626, 11/10/2023 6:31:22 AM

Water Tower Place, an eight-story, 758,000 sq. ft. high-end shopping mall in downtown Chicago, is in the news. Once one of the biggest and most exciting malls in the Midwest, it quietly leaked that the owners are interested in renting out the top five of its eight floors “for purposes other than retail.” Not just wealthy shoppers, but even browsing tourists, too, it seems, are staying away in droves. Chicago could support such a luxury mall once. The Magnificent Mile was a thrilling destination for generations. What happened to Chicago’s iconic Michigan Boulevard? Or to back up even farther — what happened to Chicago?

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Reply 1 - Posted by: Lala 11/10/2023 7:18:36 AM (No. 1595666)
I’m sure I would not disagree with the author’s point, but I confess, writers lose credibility when they make a glaring error like calling it Michigan “Boulevard” in the very first paragraph. No editors at American Thinker?
25 people like this.

Reply 2 - Posted by: Strike3 11/10/2023 7:37:48 AM (No. 1595678)
I had the experience of working in downtown Chicago in the 1980s a couple of blocks away from Water Tower Place and it was an exciting time. Modern Chicago is a different city with the only link to the past being corrupt democrat government.
23 people like this.

Reply 3 - Posted by: smokincol 11/10/2023 7:50:52 AM (No. 1595689)
Question and observation: is Lake Michigan deep enough to hold the city of Chicago? just asking.
20 people like this.

Reply 4 - Posted by: LesUNo 11/10/2023 8:58:35 AM (No. 1595724)
I too was struck with the glaring error. Michigan BOULEVARD?? Please…… Like #2 I had the distinct pleasure of living in a Chicago suburb for several years in the late 1990’s. I took the train into the city often. The many museums were magnificent. The shopping was top notch and a stroll down Michigan Avenue just plain fun. We loved the theater and the pro sports venues. So glad to have had the privilege to enjoy all that was special about Chicago when it was still such a beautiful city. The destruction in maddening and heartbreaking.
20 people like this.

Reply 5 - Posted by: enemyofthestate 11/10/2023 8:59:01 AM (No. 1595726)
Entrenched Democrats are in charge. There's your problem. Ubangi on Lake Michigan.
19 people like this.

Reply 6 - Posted by: Venturer 11/10/2023 9:07:42 AM (No. 1595731)
Is Chicago any more in freefall than San Francisco, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Baltimore or any other Democrat city filled with homeless tent dwellers, ghetto shooters, criminals, and Judges who return these people to the streets?
23 people like this.

Reply 7 - Posted by: Kafka2 11/10/2023 9:08:28 AM (No. 1595733)
When the only qualification to get elected is to be a Democrat, this is what you end up with - the bottom of the barrel.
15 people like this.

Reply 8 - Posted by: gmholler 11/10/2023 9:20:01 AM (No. 1595743)
I grew up in Niles, on the near NW side. The problem I saw until I moved away in the 1980's was that Chicagoland had the attitude that they were better than anyone else, they didn't need anyone telling them what to do (if anyone remembers the Mayors Daley and the Machine, you know what I'm talking about). But years of corruption (from entrenched politicians that often refused to admit a changing demographic, not to mention technological changes)left Chicagoland where it is. Lynn.
11 people like this.

Reply 9 - Posted by: Rotten in Denmark 11/10/2023 9:31:48 AM (No. 1595746)
Democrats destroyed a once civilized, first-world city. Now, little more than a third-world aitch hole.
11 people like this.

Reply 10 - Posted by: Dodge Boy 11/10/2023 9:36:28 AM (No. 1595748)
Illinois is my birth state. Born and raised in Libertyville located about 35 miles north of Chi-town. In the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, it was a rather fine place to be raised. But the state's march in decline over the last 40 years or so has been stunning. The moral, spiritual, and political decline is hard to describe in words.
16 people like this.

Reply 11 - Posted by: zephyrgirl 11/10/2023 9:46:07 AM (No. 1595753)
My father went to graduate school in Chicago and loved the city. When I was a child, my family visited it many times, and I learned from my father to love it as well. Not any more - I see it for the h---hole it is to day. I wouldn't go there on a bet. I have friends who own a condo in a nice building on Michigan Avenue. They recently told me they can't sell it - no buyers. They consider themselves lucky that they found a tenant who signed a 2-year lease. They have no idea what they'll do when/if she leaves.
13 people like this.

Reply 12 - Posted by: PChristopher 11/10/2023 9:49:31 AM (No. 1595754)
I am truly surprised that constituents have not up and offered their 'leaders' a last cigarette and a blindfold, cuz that's where it's headed. Those highly disgruntled citizens I saw at the town hall are about ready to explode.
10 people like this.

Reply 13 - Posted by: stablemoney 11/10/2023 10:35:02 AM (No. 1595788)
You can use past tense when referring to Chicago falling.
7 people like this.

Reply 14 - Posted by: seamusm 11/10/2023 10:37:44 AM (No. 1595789)
My own family fled Chicago for suburbs long ago - not so much as white flight though our neighborhoods did change color as we left. I have such great memories of the shore, the museums, the Miracle Mile, and the parks, that I could weep over the death of my birthplace. My family members still mostly vote with the DimoTwit Party while I learned to vote otherwise when my parents moved us to Dallas for Dad's work. But it is true that we elect the leaders we deserve and Chicago, I fear, will never learn - they sure as hades haven't yet.
14 people like this.

Reply 15 - Posted by: Ditto1958 11/10/2023 11:39:28 AM (No. 1595830)
I’m from Wisconsin where we love to hate the Bears, Illinois drivers and Illinois tourists. But there is also no denying Chicago used to be an amazing place to visit. So sad the libs are hellbent on destroying it.
6 people like this.

Reply 16 - Posted by: Krause 11/10/2023 12:13:58 PM (No. 1595848)
I don't think the city leaders realize how far the city has fallen. They don't seemed to be too concerned about it. Of course, recent leaders didn't seem to be too bright.
4 people like this.

Reply 17 - Posted by: john56 11/10/2023 12:23:29 PM (No. 1595855)
My bucket list for the remainder of my life is never to ser foot in Chicago (including airports). Thank God for Delta's connections to my favorite Wisconsin airports (Green Bay, Appleton, Milwaukee).
5 people like this.

Reply 18 - Posted by: ussjimmycarter 11/10/2023 1:29:01 PM (No. 1595882)
Traveled monthly to Chicago in the mid 80’s! Loved it! I wouldn’t get within 200 miles of it today!
5 people like this.

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