5 ms·

We recently left Chicago after living there for 11 years, and this was one of the ~dozen reasons why. We had a kid, started looking at buying a place, and could

We recently left Chicago after living there for 11 years, and this was one of the ~dozen reasons why. We had a kid, started looking at buying a place, and couldn't justify making a long bet on the city given its financial situation. Chicago has lost population for three years in a row. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-chicago-cook-county-population-20180320-story.html http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-chi...

jostmey 9y ago
I left too and could not be happier! My situation and experiences in Chicago were awful and I couldn't see that until I moved to a new city.
tptacek 9y ago
Chicago is losing population from the south and west sides --- for good reason --- but has hit historic low unemployment rates. If you're in the middle class, you can safely pretend none of what's happening to low-income residents has anything to do with you.
- rrdharan 9y ago
  Not arguing that any individual should stay or go since that's obviously a complex decision, but at some level if you believe the municipal and/or state government are broken, yet you are in the middle class and you decide to stay, are you not implicitly funding the brokenness with your continued tax dollars? A huge part of why I decided to leave California was because I lost faith in the municipal and state government and didn't feel like funding them anymore. As a high-earning non-citizen, I "vote" with my feet and my taxes. I guess the point is that you can still pretend it doesn't have to do with you until it's really staring you in the face... and also by my same argument all Americans are also funding US neocolonialism and war etc. by contributing our productivity to the nation. At any rate, I want to emphasize again I'm not saying anyone choosing to stay in Chicago is somehow making an ethically questionable decision, just wanted to bring up this line of thinking for consideration.
  - nwsm 9y ago
    >if you believe the municipal and/or state government are broken, yet you are in the middle class and you decide to stay If everyone that disagrees with a government leaves, it almost ensures that government will stay the same. The only voters left are the ones who don't have a problem with the current administration.
    - kolbe 9y ago
      That sounds pretty nice, actually. Everyone gets what they want.
      - nkrisc 9y ago
        Not those who can't afford to leave.
        sol_remmy 9y ago
        If poor South American families can afford to sneak into the U.S., than 99.9% of Americans can afford to move to a neighboring state. Or, why don't you give me a counterexample of someone who "can't afford to leave". A news story would be acceptable.
        nkrisc 9y ago
        Are you suggesting the poor citizens of our country ought to be refugees within their own country in order to escape violence? That's a very bleak view of our country, but one that might actually be accurate. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-african-americans-population-cook-county-met-20160623-story.html http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-african... Moving costs money. Are you suggesting they simply leave everything behind and walk to a new city? While we're talking about sources, how about a source for your claim that 99.9% of Americans can afford to move to a neighboring state.
        9y ago
- gregorymichael 9y ago
  Hi Thomas!

jostmey 9y ago

I left too and could not be happier! My situation and experiences in Chicago were awful and I couldn't see that until I moved to a new city.

tptacek 9y ago

Chicago is losing population from the south and west sides --- for good reason --- but has hit historic low unemployment rates. If you're in the middle class, you can safely pretend none of what's happening to low-income residents has anything to do with you.

rrdharan 9y ago
Not arguing that any individual should stay or go since that's obviously a complex decision, but at some level if you believe the municipal and/or state government are broken, yet you are in the middle class and you decide to stay, are you not implicitly funding the brokenness with your continued tax dollars? A huge part of why I decided to leave California was because I lost faith in the municipal and state government and didn't feel like funding them anymore. As a high-earning non-citizen, I "vote" with my feet and my taxes. I guess the point is that you can still pretend it doesn't have to do with you until it's really staring you in the face... and also by my same argument all Americans are also funding US neocolonialism and war etc. by contributing our productivity to the nation. At any rate, I want to emphasize again I'm not saying anyone choosing to stay in Chicago is somehow making an ethically questionable decision, just wanted to bring up this line of thinking for consideration.
- nwsm 9y ago
  >if you believe the municipal and/or state government are broken, yet you are in the middle class and you decide to stay If everyone that disagrees with a government leaves, it almost ensures that government will stay the same. The only voters left are the ones who don't have a problem with the current administration.
  - kolbe 9y ago
    That sounds pretty nice, actually. Everyone gets what they want.
    - nkrisc 9y ago
      Not those who can't afford to leave.
      - sol_remmy 9y ago
        If poor South American families can afford to sneak into the U.S., than 99.9% of Americans can afford to move to a neighboring state. Or, why don't you give me a counterexample of someone who "can't afford to leave". A news story would be acceptable.
        nkrisc 9y ago
        Are you suggesting the poor citizens of our country ought to be refugees within their own country in order to escape violence? That's a very bleak view of our country, but one that might actually be accurate. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-african-americans-population-cook-county-met-20160623-story.html http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-african... Moving costs money. Are you suggesting they simply leave everything behind and walk to a new city? While we're talking about sources, how about a source for your claim that 99.9% of Americans can afford to move to a neighboring state.
        9y ago
gregorymichael 9y ago
Hi Thomas!