I lived on the south side, in Kenwood, for 20 years, but I finally gave up and moved to Houston. I agree with everything I heard said in the 13 minute video I listened to, though I think the situation is hopeless, at least in the productive years I have left. The kept democratic voting blocks, the public unions etc., have relegated the underpriveledged, and consequently basically everyone else, to indentured servitude, essentially.
The companies I worked with and for in the 30 years I lived in Chicago created thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue, maybe in the low billions, including across the south side. I sat in Preckwinkle's office in the early mid-nineties and got her buy-in for a store I was responsible for opening at 53rd and Lake Park Boulevard. In my memory she was imperious and dismissive, (I was also young and nervous) but we got that store (and several others) open in Hyde Park. In the ensuing years taxes and regulations exploded, permitting time frames became unmanageable, and at the same time services degraded and crime went through the roof, etc. (one night about eight years ago, while I was travelling on business, two kids machine gunned each other in front of my house on Woodlawn).
It's heartbreeaking. Chicago was filled with hope in the '90's. It's hopeless now. I don't see how it can climb out of the hole, because there is no way to bypass the entrenched pols and bring in competent leadership. It's heartbreaking. I joined the exodus and voted with my feet after years of effort. My wife and I built our lives together and raised our children there (who both took their youthful energies and passions to other cities after graduation from college). What a bummer.
I lived on the south side, in Kenwood, for 20 years, but I finally gave up and moved to Houston. I agree with everything I heard said in the 13 minute video I listened to, though I think the situation is hopeless, at least in the productive years I have left. The kept democratic voting blocks, the public unions etc., have relegated the underpriveledged, and consequently basically everyone else, to indentured servitude, essentially.
The companies I worked with and for in the 30 years I lived in Chicago created thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue, maybe in the low billions, including across the south side. I sat in Preckwinkle's office in the early mid-nineties and got her buy-in for a store I was responsible for opening at 53rd and Lake Park Boulevard. In my memory she was imperious and dismissive, (I was also young and nervous) but we got that store (and several others) open in Hyde Park. In the ensuing years taxes and regulations exploded, permitting time frames became unmanageable, and at the same time services degraded and crime went through the roof, etc. (one night about eight years ago, while I was travelling on business, two kids machine gunned each other in front of my house on Woodlawn).
It's heartbreeaking. Chicago was filled with hope in the '90's. It's hopeless now. I don't see how it can climb out of the hole, because there is no way to bypass the entrenched pols and bring in competent leadership. It's heartbreaking. I joined the exodus and voted with my feet after years of effort. My wife and I built our lives together and raised our children there (who both took their youthful energies and passions to other cities after graduation from college). What a bummer.