If you don’t recognize the picture, during the Presidential Inauguration Ceremony, Chief of Staff designee Rahm Emanuel made this well known gesture to the Republicans on the stage in front of a worldwide audience to begin the Era of Civility in politics.
Mr. Emanuel has his work cut out for him. Chicago isn’t yet Detroit, but it’s on the way there.
Of all the places I’ve ever lived, Chicago is the most race conscious and strictly segregated. The 2000-2010 census map tells most of the story.
If you’re not familiar with Chicago, let me describe the “lay of the land” – including the rules. Disclaimer, I lived there 20 years ago, and some things have changed.
The purple area in the middle on the lake is “The Loop”. It is the business center of the city and a fair number of people live downtown and to the area just to the North of the Chicago River.
Roosevelt Avenue used to be “the” dividing line. If you are black, you live to the South, if you are white, you live to the North and never the twain shall meet except at work – with one important exception – the area along the lake around 50th street known as Hyde Park – Barack Obama’s neighborhood. Hyde Park is consciously mutli-cultural, “progressive” and relatively safe, unlike much of the South Side. Over the past 20 years, middle class and professional blacks have moved north of downtown filling the space left by whites leaving the city, making the black South Side even poorer.
The west side of Chicago was the designated turf for Hispanics and Asians. “Limousine Liberals” lived along the lake from the North Side all the way up to Wisconsin. That’s where Bill Ayer’s dad lived. Gays lived in Old Town on the North Side of downtown, north of Cabrini Green up until the 1980s and migrated north from the to New Town, the area around Lincoln Park and Wrigley field. “Ethnic” working class white people (like the Daley family and its supporters) lived in a few enclaves on the far South West side around Cicero.
Chicago was the city that really bought into the “Great Society” the most enthusiastically – they built huge public housing projects to warehouse poor (mostly black) Democratic voters and “take care” of them – meaning send their children to worthless public schools at least a few days a year, give them free meals and have them focus on creating as many future nonproductive Democratic voters as possible without regard to ability to take care of themselves.
The most infamous of these housing projects was Cabrini Green, just NW of downtown along Division Avenue. Most of it has been torn down during the tenure of the younger Mayor Daley, and replaced with upscale housing for people who work downtown. That’s probably a large part of the Purpleishness. Several new high rise residential skyscrapers have also been built along the waterfront.
The South Side has lost most of what industry it had. The old Pullman factory that made passenger train cars is being turned into a solar energy farm. US Steel and Wisconsin Steel are gone. Western Electric is long gone. Sears moved to the suburbs. Publishers faded as the Sears Catalog and Spiegel Catalog lost influence. Ford still has an assembly plant on the South Side near the Indiana border (Remember the Great Northern Migration?).
So what you have is a vibrant inner core downtown full of rich business people trading made up derivative contracts surrounded by a gang controlled wasteland shedding population and jobs like crazy. The people who can afford to are moving as far away from downtown as possible. Chicago has an extensive commuter rail system that makes it relatively painless to live way in the ‘burbs and work downtown.
Chicago (unike Detroit) does not have a city Income Tax, but the State of Illinois just passed a “temporary” 75% increase (from 3% to 5.25%), which is likely to further drive business out of the City (and the State).
Wish him luck – he’s gonna need it! Fortunately, he has friends in high places with big buckets of free money to solve problems.
I’d the city deserves their new mayor, and the new mayor deserves the city.
I await for for the great rebirth of Chicago into the utopia that was envisioned by LBJ and his “Great Society” in which we all learn to live together in peace and harmony; where we take care of each other and those receiving government assistance will strive to become productive members of society to give back as a form of gratitude for receiving assistance in their time of need…
Of course, we know none of that will never happen except on “Fantasy Island” which I think is where Mayor-Elect Emanuel and our beloved president probably spend way too much time…
The sad part is that back in the early ’50s, while literally ruled by the older mayor Daley, Chicago was clean and safe. It is true the older Mayor Daley was essentially a benevolent dictator, but he was devoted to Chicago. He lived in a small wooden house all his life, and he walked to work at City Hall every day. Some corruption existed in the police department, which eventually was cleaned up by O. W. Wilson. Governmental effort during the older Daley’s reign was dedicated to making the city efficient and functional, so ordinary folks could work and raise their families. Those who behaved uncivilly were dealt with harshly.
The year the Democratic convention was held in Chicago, Leftists used the opportunity to manufacture an uncivil confrontation with the police, which the police dealt with harshly (as usual), and the Leftist media exploited the situation to discredit Chicago. After Mayor Daley died, subsequent mayors used the Chicago political system the older Mayor Daley created to essentially destroy the city, while making themselves and their friends rich.
But, in the early ’50s, as a white 15 year old, I and my friends walked all over South Chicago visiting little war surplus stores so we could learn all about the usefulness of electrons. The streets were clean and there were no people hanging around causing us trouble. There was no governmental welfare system so everyone was working. I still retain a visual memory of the thick DC power lines on hung on the power poles. There was no AC power in parts of Chicago at that time.
Sixty years of “Progressive” rule destroyed Chicago I knew.
Rahm Emanuel’s goal is NOT to improve Chicago, but to feed on the carcass. Then if not Rahm, who can save the day?
” The old Pullman factory that made passenger train cars is being turned into a solar energy farm.”
Of course – solar can save the day! Because Chicago is known worldwide as having SO MANY SUNNY DAYS! No chance of a lot of public money going into that sink hole!
BTW, during the Savage show yesterday, a caller mentioned the donations of money to Rahm and Obama and other Dem officials and candidates from the new Conservative Presidential Candidate – Donald Trump!
Why you ask? Seems he has a downtown Chicago high rise project or 2 that will need a little push thru the local zoning and union issues.
Chicago – the easiest place in the US to do business as long as you have buckets of cash for the people’s elected representatives!
Kinda like Mexico!