So I love it when folks who live 90 minutes away from Chicago tell those of us who live and work in downtown Chicago that it is not that bad. It is! Two Catholic Schools (one from Aurora) refused to come to the near west side and play the black christian school at which my wife works because they heard there had been a shooting on the west side near the school the week before. They were right there are 10-20 every week in the area. That is Chicago. Whether it is 3/4 desolation or 2/3 (West, South West and South) or not is irrelevant. To be sure we have had a few republican governors over 60 years but they are defanged by super majorities in the the state government. They get voted in when even liberals have had enough but the facts remain: 60 years of Dem Mayors in Chicago, Decades and decades of super majorities of democrats in the state government, the state losing 50,000 residents per year, the taxes mentioned are among the highest in the country and even with $30B in tourist revenue annually the city is $35B in debt and sinking. Last year the super majority in the state houses solved the problem by raising taxes $5B and promptly increased spending $5B. Factual as well are the Graduation rates and I left out the hardest fact which is that at the 15 year mark after HS 1/3 of black males are dead and another third have been in prison. The debt for the city is unrecoverable and even with the highest tax rates (except California) in the country the City is in twice the debt that Detroit was in when it when under and the state debt battle is lost at over $100Billion. While it is tempting to Blame the people (and Eric I do) the only votes that really count are those in greater Chicago Metro and those overwhelm any attempt at policy change and vote the same people and party in year after year. The Magnificent mile is now largely abandoned and perhaps should be renames the Malevolent Mile. The people that will stay are those that can afford to be democrats and those that can not afford to be anything else. If you do that same thing over and over please do not expect a change. As for me I am here for now and will continue to count the gun shots I hear from my porch every Saturday night and wonder what it will take to get folks to vote differently.
Charles | Oak Park, IL | Report Abuse

Blaming democrats for the decline of IL is ignorant. First the state hasn’t been ruled by one party for 60 yrs. Gov Thompson was a Republican so was George Ryan among others in past 60 yrs. The problem in IL is the people, the state of IL reflects the people living there. The people accept this archaic corrupt system & continuously vote the same people into office. The people of IL aren’t victims of government incompetence, they’re the source of the incompetence.
Eric | Aurora, CO | Report Abuse

You say “3/4 of the city is a poverty wasteland”. Stop being a drama queen Chuck & go explore the city. Oak Park is just a train stop away. True Chicago has it’s issues but probably more like 1/4 poverty wasteland. That’s still terrible & needs to be improved. Chuck you live in Oak Park a 3/4 rich suburb not Chicago so quit your bitching.
Eric | Aurora, CO | Report Abuse