Could this be the tipping point for Illinois?

[jbkunt2]

Wow what is that lake called?

Chicago is an absolutely brilliant place to live. An incredible city.

As Bourdain once said, the only other real metropolis in the US.

The state and city politics are dire. But the city is fucking fantastic.

Fuck your sprawling, car-riding oversized towns like LA or your little baby cities like SF or Miami.

 

[jamaicabound]

In regards to Chicago always having their hand in your pocket on top of already high taxes and what have you, I mentioned Netflix and Hulu now getting taxed, then saw this article this morning...

Rahm is now gonna put an additional tax on AirBNB rentals...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-rahm-emanuel-airbnb-fee-20180612-story.html

 

[jordypip23]

Illinois is a lost cause, especially Chicago. Corruption, anti-business, dying city, horrific crime.

It's a sinking ship. The only thing that's gonna change the situation is that people keep moving out in droves, and the legislators/ politicians come to their senses and see the error in their ways. I don't see that realistically happening any time soon.

I think Chicago has a lot going for it, so if it really does go the way of Detroit it's going to take a lot longer for it to happen.

For anyone who wants to be near Chicago but not deal with the taxes and bullshit of Chicago and Illinois NW Indiana is pretty nice. Munster area in particular is voted one of the best places to live. A lot of people treat Indiana as if its a dump and full of white trash, but many parts of NW Indiana, ie especially Munster and surrounding areas are pretty much like the Western Suburbs of Chicago which are pretty nice. Munster has 3 Floyyds Brewery and a good number of other breweries and while technically your out of state, Munster and surrounding areas are actually closer to Chicago than many of the actual "Chicago suburbs". They even have a train line going into the city and it's a short drive.

That said I suppose if Illinois goes to shit who wants to be in NW Indiana to be close to it anyways though.

Munster is a nice town. As a 3 year old, my parents briefly had us living in Highland, Indiana nearby. Highland isn't quite as nice (probably a bit more weathered & middle of the road at best type of area). Also had relatives that lived in Lansing, Illinois for some years (not as nice as Munster). Another highly desirable town a bit south of Munster is Saint John, Indiana. I've also heard good things about Dyer, Indiana.

 

[jordypip23]

Chicago is essentially the NYC of the Midwest. A liberal metropolis that still lives because its private sector continues to attract "young professionals" that can't get enough of the opiate of fat private sector checks, slutty post sorority chicks, bars/nightclubs & trendy restaurants. LOL, I mean in my 20's I often fell for the mirage myself. Chicagoland also has a shit ton of aging middle managers, trial lawyers & other white collar types that continue to feed off of this economy lol. Let's not even get started on the government sector & the hood, lol. We're gonna have to think bigger in order to fix the larger problem at hand.

BTW, I live in Michigan now (near Detroit) but I was born in Chicago & grew up in the Chicagoland area so I'm well aware of the Chicago way & how things operate around there. jamaicabound, I'm gonna watch that Mike Madigan documentary on YouTube when I get a chance.

Yeah check it out, really fascinating documentary. One of my favorite stories in there, and there's a lot, is one where a young guy tried to run against him. He purposely waited till the last minute to drop off his packet because he knows the shenanigans that go on. He goes to walk it up to the counter with minutes to spare and low and behold all the sudden two hispanic guys stand up adn turn in packets as well.

Madigan is in a hispanic district so he knows they'll draw enough votes away from this opponent to where Madigan wins. The guys who were running were not politicians, heck I don't even think they spoke English, just some hispanic names to draw away votes, thats the type of stuff Madigan does. Madigan also did a pretty dirty campaign digging up a and really promoting the hell out of some mischief the guy had gotten into during his youth with credit card fraud or something like that. The last part isn't that surpring politicians dig up dirt on each other but the thing with the fake candidates was pretty shady.

How are you liking Michigan? I've actually been considering moving there. Grand Rapids is a really cool city. I really love SW MIchigan Berrian county and would love to live there in the spring and summer but winter I think would be boring as hell as most of those towns are beach towns and everyone clears out and businesses close down in the winter. That said your still only like an hour maybe an hour and a half from Chicago and you can even catch a metra back from new buffalo if you wanted to.

Total side note but have you ever been to Torch lake out sorta near Grand Rapids? It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, water is turqouise like the caribean. Wanted to get an air bnb out there adn check it out this summer.

Main reason I'm sticking around the Detroit area is divorce rape (lol) & son is growing up here. Michigan as a whole is a beautiful state indeed. The weather is very similar to Illinois. But the lake effect snow is much more pronounced in western & southwestern Michigan. But yeah summertime there's a reason why folks from all over love to head to those lakeshore towns in west & northern Michigan. Yep you mentioned New Buffalo. I have vacationed out there before & I know Chicago's storied Daley family maintains a compound right around there as well. If you head a bit further north along the coast up to South Haven you'll notice that it's almost 50% Illinois & 50% Michigan license plates in the summer (ok maybe a few Indiana plates too lol).

 

[jordypip23]

Well I guess the latest big news story outta Chicago is that Elon Musk's firm has been tapped to build a high speed shuttle between downtown Chicago & O'Hare International Airport. A shuttle service that can whisk passengers from the center of the city to the airport in 12 minutes! LOL.

That's the funny thing about the Chicago Way & the financial mismanagement over the years. Despite all of that, the city still embarks on these futuristic projects whether skyscrapers or transportation breakthroughs (ie. O'Hare, etc.).

 

[jbkunt2]

McDonald’s also just opened its new billion dollar HQ in the West Loop.

We have a fantastic, diversified private sector and a large pool of educated workers.

Chicago will not go the way of Detroit.

However, we may end up with NYC/CA level taxes at some point.

 

[jordypip23]

McDonald’s also just opened its new billion dollar HQ in the West Loop.

We have a fantastic, diversified private sector and a large pool of educated workers.

Chicago will not go the way of Detroit.

However, we may end up with NYC/CA level taxes at some point.

Yep I tell everyone that Chicago really is a tale of 2 or 3 cities rolled up into one.

It's alright if you have a highly compensated corporate job or own a well established business that generates a lot of revenue & can withstand the heavy taxes. For others, however, there are probably greener pastures elsewhere in the Midwest & America.

 

[Thomas Jackson]

Will continue to bleed the rich/upper middle class and cause tax increases on everyone else. Recipe for disaster in the long run. The importation of a hispanic servant class makes electing a true fiscally conservative option unrealistic.

 

[jordypip23]

Will continue to bleed the rich/upper middle class and cause tax increases on everyone else. Recipe for disaster in the long run. The importation of a hispanic servant class makes electing a true fiscally conservative option unrealistic.

Good point. Chicagoland has more Latinos by far (sheer numbers & percentage-wise) compared to any other metro area in the entire Midwest region.

 

[jamaicabound]

McDonald’s also just opened its new billion dollar HQ in the West Loop.

We have a fantastic, diversified private sector and a large pool of educated workers.

Chicago will not go the way of Detroit.

However, we may end up with NYC/CA level taxes at some point.

My Uncle works for McDonalds, they are outsourcing like crazy and the jobs they are creating they are bringing over people from India to fill, they aren't exactly creating a ton of jobs for Chicagoans.

Another kind of funny thing I think they didn't think about is the other day you had a bunch of people outside of McDonalds protesting minimum wage. Up until recently they were in Oak Brook on a beautiful campus.

McDonalds gets a lot of hate being the biggest player in their industry, they have now put themselves within easy reach of every social justice warrior who wants to protest about min wage, fatty foods, eating meat, etc, etc, etc.

 

[jamaicabound]

McDonald’s also just opened its new billion dollar HQ in the West Loop.

We have a fantastic, diversified private sector and a large pool of educated workers.

Chicago will not go the way of Detroit.

However, we may end up with NYC/CA level taxes at some point.

Yep I tell everyone that Chicago really is a tale of 2 or 3 cities rolled up into one.

It's alright if you have a highly compensated corporate job or own a well established business that generates a lot of revenue & can withstand the heavy taxes. For others, however, there are probably greener pastures elsewhere in the Midwest & America.

I just read another post online recently about is Chicago feasible for anyone who isn't a highly paid professional worker?

Chicago isn't cheap, there's obviously much cheaper places to live and believe me I like to hate on Chicago and Illinois as much as anyone because it's corrupt as hell and everything is mismanaged, it's a big shit show here.

That said Chicago is nowhere near as costly as California, New York, heck even not first tier cities like Denver and Las Vegas are going to be surpassing Chicago in home prices and living expenses.

Chicago does have to turn shit around or its in a world of hurt but really as long as you don't "need" to be in Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, The Loop you can live in Chicago pretty affordably.

 

[Mycelium]

McDonald’s also just opened its new billion dollar HQ in the West Loop.

We have a fantastic, diversified private sector and a large pool of educated workers.

Chicago will not go the way of Detroit.

However, we may end up with NYC/CA level taxes at some point.

Yep I tell everyone that Chicago really is a tale of 2 or 3 cities rolled up into one.

It's alright if you have a highly compensated corporate job or own a well established business that generates a lot of revenue & can withstand the heavy taxes. For others, however, there are probably greener pastures elsewhere in the Midwest & America.

I just read another post online recently about is Chicago feasible for anyone who isn't a highly paid professional worker?

Chicago isn't cheap, there's obviously much cheaper places to live and believe me I like to hate on Chicago and Illinois as much as anyone because it's corrupt as hell and everything is mismanaged, it's a big shit show here.

That said Chicago is nowhere near as costly as California, New York, heck even not first tier cities like Denver and Las Vegas are going to be surpassing Chicago in home prices and living expenses.

Chicago does have to turn shit around or its in a world of hurt but really as long as you don't "need" to be in Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, The Loop you can live in Chicago pretty affordably.

You must be having a holy Sunday. Chicago is affordable?

Nevada is a haven for mini-mansions in the $300k range.

$300k in Chicago in the northwest suburbs will yield you a 1200 SQFT home built in 1940 with a cute tax of $9k easily.

Fuck Chicago lol

 

[jbkunt2]

How on Earth can you compare Chicago with Nevada?

For a tier 1 global city, Chicago is very affordable.

Compare it to it’s like-for-like peers. Not to Mid-size Midwestern towns or rural areas.

 

[jordypip23]

McDonald’s also just opened its new billion dollar HQ in the West Loop.

We have a fantastic, diversified private sector and a large pool of educated workers.

Chicago will not go the way of Detroit.

However, we may end up with NYC/CA level taxes at some point.

My Uncle works for McDonalds, they are outsourcing like crazy and the jobs they are creating they are bringing over people from India to fill, they aren't exactly creating a ton of jobs for Chicagoans.

Another kind of funny thing I think they didn't think about is the other day you had a bunch of people outside of McDonalds protesting minimum wage. Up until recently they were in Oak Brook on a beautiful campus.

McDonalds gets a lot of hate being the biggest player in their industry, they have now put themselves within easy reach of every social justice warrior who wants to protest about min wage, fatty foods, eating meat, etc, etc, etc.

What a long ways from the days of Ray Kroc. LoL.

 

[jordypip23]

How on Earth can you compare Chicago with Nevada?

For a tier 1 global city, Chicago is very affordable.

Compare it to it’s like-for-like peers. Not to Mid-size Midwestern towns or rural areas.

I totally get where you're coming from as well. But when it comes down to it, I don't think Chicagoland's leaders truly care about the middle class anymore. The ROI is pretty horrible. Is there much difference between being a middle class suburbanite in the suburbs of Chicago vs. a suburb of some other decent sized Midwest city?

Now if I'm filthy rich and able to eat out at Michelin rated restaurants in the city of Chicago & have enough clout to land on the board of trustees of storied institutions, sure, Chicago trumps its Midwestern peers, lol.

 

[jamaicabound]

McDonald’s also just opened its new billion dollar HQ in the West Loop.

We have a fantastic, diversified private sector and a large pool of educated workers.

Chicago will not go the way of Detroit.

However, we may end up with NYC/CA level taxes at some point.

Yep I tell everyone that Chicago really is a tale of 2 or 3 cities rolled up into one.

It's alright if you have a highly compensated corporate job or own a well established business that generates a lot of revenue & can withstand the heavy taxes. For others, however, there are probably greener pastures elsewhere in the Midwest & America.

I just read another post online recently about is Chicago feasible for anyone who isn't a highly paid professional worker?

Chicago isn't cheap, there's obviously much cheaper places to live and believe me I like to hate on Chicago and Illinois as much as anyone because it's corrupt as hell and everything is mismanaged, it's a big shit show here.

That said Chicago is nowhere near as costly as California, New York, heck even not first tier cities like Denver and Las Vegas are going to be surpassing Chicago in home prices and living expenses.

Chicago does have to turn shit around or its in a world of hurt but really as long as you don't "need" to be in Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, The Loop you can live in Chicago pretty affordably.

You must be having a holy Sunday. Chicago is affordable?

Nevada is a haven for mini-mansions in the $300k range.

$300k in Chicago in the northwest suburbs will yield you a 1200 SQFT home built in 1940 with a cute tax of $9k easily.

Fuck Chicago lol

By no means am I saying Chicago is a super affordable city but when comparing it to a something like New York, yeah it's pretty affordable. If you don't need to be in the "cool" neighborhoods you can find a house for under 300K in a decent safe neighborhood, it's not gonna be a mini mansion though. I was just reading the other day Vegas property prices are up almost 25% on the year. I used to think it was affordable, I have a buddy who lives out there and was casually looking at properties and things in Vegas aren't very cheap anymore these days at least from what I was seeing.

I feel like property on the whole is really overpriced these days. A couple years ago I was looking at places in Pilsen and Logan Square which were very affordable and now you can't find anything for under like 350k maybe even 400k and Pilsen while I think it's a cool neighborhood hasn't really fully gentrified yet so those prices are insane.

That said if you go to the South Side to a neighborhood like Mt Greenwood or Beverly yeah your not in Wicker Park but its pretty affordable.

As far as Chicago vs Vegas, like Jbcunt2 said, can you still buy a bit more house in Vegas than Chicago, well yeah but comparing Chicago to Vegas is apples and oranges, I mean there's some dirt cheap property in Iowa and Wisconcsin and Nebraska but your also payingn for the area and the job market. I hate to throw out the term "world class city" because it annoys me when people justify Chicago being so shitty by saying its still so affordable for a world class city but it really is

 

[jamaicabound]

How on Earth can you compare Chicago with Nevada?

For a tier 1 global city, Chicago is very affordable.

Compare it to it’s like-for-like peers. Not to Mid-size Midwestern towns or rural areas.

I totally get where you're coming from as well. But when it comes down to it, I don't think Chicagoland's leaders truly care about the middle class anymore. The ROI is pretty horrible. Is there much difference between being a middle class suburbanite in the suburbs of Chicago vs. a suburb of some other decent sized Midwest city?

Now if I'm filthy rich and able to eat out at Michelin rated restaurants in the city of Chicago & have enough clout to land on the board of trustees of storied institutions, sure, Chicago trumps its Midwestern peers, lol.

You actually bring up a really good point and a question I ask alot. If you live in the city of Chicago, and like city life I would argue Chicago is definitely worth it. Every weekend during the summer there's some awesome street festival going on, we have amazing restaurants both Michelin stuff as well as great taco joints and all other types of great restaurants. We have the lakefront, a pretty decent job market, there's a lot to do here.

What I often wonder is exactly what you asked. If your living in the suburbs of Chicago, how different is your life in the Chicago suburbs than it would be in the Indianapolis or Milwaulkee suburbs? Probably not too different which begs the question if your not actually in the city are you kind of overpaying for your house and living expenses just for being in proximity of a place you don't even really take advantage of?

The one argument I can see for Chicago burbs still being decent is while you aren't "in" the city you are within say 45 minutes of a major International Airport, commuting to Chicago for jobs or to see a show or go to a game. YOu have a lot of sports teams for sports fans. I think even being in the perifory of Chicago you still reap many of the benefits.

Again by no mean trying to stick up for this cesspool we call Chicago and Illinois but it does still have some cool things going for it

 

[jordypip23]

How on Earth can you compare Chicago with Nevada?

For a tier 1 global city, Chicago is very affordable.

Compare it to it’s like-for-like peers. Not to Mid-size Midwestern towns or rural areas.

I totally get where you're coming from as well. But when it comes down to it, I don't think Chicagoland's leaders truly care about the middle class anymore. The ROI is pretty horrible. Is there much difference between being a middle class suburbanite in the suburbs of Chicago vs. a suburb of some other decent sized Midwest city?

Now if I'm filthy rich and able to eat out at Michelin rated restaurants in the city of Chicago & have enough clout to land on the board of trustees of storied institutions, sure, Chicago trumps its Midwestern peers, lol.

You actually bring up a really good point and a question I ask alot. If you live in the city of Chicago, and like city life I would argue Chicago is definitely worth it. Every weekend during the summer there's some awesome street festival going on, we have amazing restaurants both Michelin stuff as well as great taco joints and all other types of great restaurants. We have the lakefront, a pretty decent job market, there's a lot to do here.

What I often wonder is exactly what you asked. If your living in the suburbs of Chicago, how different is your life in the Chicago suburbs than it would be in the Indianapolis or Milwaulkee suburbs? Probably not too different which begs the question if your not actually in the city are you kind of overpaying for your house and living expenses just for being in proximity of a place you don't even really take advantage of?

The one argument I can see for Chicago burbs still being decent is while you aren't "in" the city you are within say 45 minutes of a major International Airport, commuting to Chicago for jobs or to see a show or go to a game. YOu have a lot of sports teams for sports fans. I think even being in the perifory of Chicago you still reap many of the benefits.

Again by no mean trying to stick up for this cesspool we call Chicago and Illinois but it does still have some cool things going for it

Yeah you're right. Those reasons are why the region hasn't really collapsed yet. It's no secret that the region is losing population though.

 

[jamaicabound]

How on Earth can you compare Chicago with Nevada?

For a tier 1 global city, Chicago is very affordable.

Compare it to it’s like-for-like peers. Not to Mid-size Midwestern towns or rural areas.

I totally get where you're coming from as well. But when it comes down to it, I don't think Chicagoland's leaders truly care about the middle class anymore. The ROI is pretty horrible. Is there much difference between being a middle class suburbanite in the suburbs of Chicago vs. a suburb of some other decent sized Midwest city?

Now if I'm filthy rich and able to eat out at Michelin rated restaurants in the city of Chicago & have enough clout to land on the board of trustees of storied institutions, sure, Chicago trumps its Midwestern peers, lol.

You actually bring up a really good point and a question I ask alot. If you live in the city of Chicago, and like city life I would argue Chicago is definitely worth it. Every weekend during the summer there's some awesome street festival going on, we have amazing restaurants both Michelin stuff as well as great taco joints and all other types of great restaurants. We have the lakefront, a pretty decent job market, there's a lot to do here.

What I often wonder is exactly what you asked. If your living in the suburbs of Chicago, how different is your life in the Chicago suburbs than it would be in the Indianapolis or Milwaulkee suburbs? Probably not too different which begs the question if your not actually in the city are you kind of overpaying for your house and living expenses just for being in proximity of a place you don't even really take advantage of?

The one argument I can see for Chicago burbs still being decent is while you aren't "in" the city you are within say 45 minutes of a major International Airport, commuting to Chicago for jobs or to see a show or go to a game. YOu have a lot of sports teams for sports fans. I think even being in the perifory of Chicago you still reap many of the benefits.

Again by no mean trying to stick up for this cesspool we call Chicago and Illinois but it does still have some cool things going for it

Yeah you're right. Those reasons are why the region hasn't really collapsed yet. It's no secret that the region is losing population though.

I'll be very curious to see what the future holds for Chicago. While we are on track to turn into another Detroit, you can't really compare the two because Detroit was 100% reliant on a dying industry for the most part where as Chicago is a bit more diversified in terms of the amount and types of businesses we have here.

While Chicago isn't really known for tech we have a pretty good tech presence in River North, McDonalds and a lot of other companies are here, some movies and television shows being shot here, good restaurant, tourism and some confrences and stuff. For that reason I think Chicago's decline will be a lot slower.

I know there's a lot of talk about Chicago gaining white collar professional citizens but losing a ton of people overall in general.

Also, another thing that will have a big factor is that while Chicago overall is a fairly affordable, but you do have to factor in property taxes as potentially living somewhere besides Chicago I could afford another $300 on my monthly mortgage so I think people keep that in mind when figuring out what type of home they can afford. Surprisingly Chicago's property taxes aren't as bad as some surroudning suburbs which somewhat surprises me but they do get you with all types of other fees

 

[jordypip23]

I think there was a recent Chicago Tribune article that came out that pointed out that the majority of the city of Chicago's citizens are in their 20's. I'm sure a lot of the transplants leave to the suburbs or out of state if they pop out kids (probably happens more in their 30's). We all know the school system leaves a lot to be desired.