Posted on 11/10/2023 3:17:09 PM PST by jfd1776
Water Tower Place, an eight-story, 758,000 sq. ft. high-end shopping mall in downtown Chicago, is in the news.
Once one of the biggest and most exciting malls in the Midwest, it quietly leaked that the owners are interested in renting out the top five of its eight floors “for purposes other than retail.”
Not just wealthy shoppers, but even browsing tourists, too, it seems, are staying away in droves.
Chicago could support such a luxury mall once. The Magnificent Mile was a thrilling destination for generations. What happened to Chicago’s iconic Michigan Boulevard? Or to back up even farther — what happened to Chicago?
Chicago.
The Second City. The Biggest Airport in the World. The City of Big Shoulders. Hog Butcher to the World.
Back when it was The City That Worked, Chicago had a lot of nicknames, and for good reason, before we lost them, one by one. We were known as a global corporate center, a transportation hub, a theatre district second only to New York, a restaurant destination second to none.
But Chicago has been other things too, all along. A machine town run by one corrupt party, the Democrats. A world-famous home of organized crime, from the mafiosi of the Prohibition Era to the drug gangs of today. A tax and regulatory hell where the government’s share of your income, both above board and under the table, was always painful....
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
There are no places of urban squalor on my visit list.
Wife and I used to get a upscale hotel in the Loop for the weekend and shopped along the Magnificent Mile and dine at really nice restaurants. No more. The powers to be RUINED downtown Shitcago.
They had a Second City theater, that featured some actors that went on to SNL.
I remember going out to Navy Pier and riding on that 12 story Ferris wheel.
Wife and I used to get a upscale hotel in the Loop for the weekend and shopped along the Magnificent Mile and dine at really nice restaurants.….
Hubby and I enjoyed doing the same.
Upscale Hotel
_______________
Since they raised the hotel tax in the city, staying in the hotel there is impossible. You may thing you got good price, but then the tax comes in.
I stayed there once, but never again! End up staying in the burbs since.
They were actually proud of that - let the out of towners pay for city largesse, you know!
I think they drove all City hotels out of business.
We no longer go to Chicago at all. I’m tired of having to arm myself to the teeth and constantly rotate my head just to have a meal or see a show.
Used to be a great city. Damned shame what the Democrat Party has done to it.
L
A lot of localities have done the same thing.
Tourist tax - sleazy politicians act like it is free money. And of course, they come up with ways to spend it that benefit themselves. These include cozy sinecures for after they can’t get re-elected. Etc.
It’s not just Chicago...
And yes, it has been a machine town for decades and decades. But the Daley machine while corrupt still delivered on services and kept the city running. Lightfoot and the current mayor and their ilk are utter incompetents and ideologues.
We have a huge black underclass crime and single motherhood problem.
IT'S THE THUGS.
Start locking them up and get rid of the stupid EITC that allows Shaniqua to have 6 kids by 4 different baby daddies so she can get a tax credit even though she's not working and also getting SNAP, SSI Disability for her "slow" kids, and WIC benefits.
It’s not even an elephant anymore, it’s the fricking Kraken right now. Hell, it’s probably a Greek God even.
High crime and not enough Social Workers to respond.
I can walk two blocks north from my home to the Lake Michigan shore and see the Chicago skyline. That’s as close as I have been to Chicago for 4-5 years. A couple of trips to Midway don’t count. I don’t know that I have missed anything except for potential trouble.
My daughter was living in Shytcago for a few years. She moved to Ft Collins, CO a couple of years ago at which time my wife and I gave a big sigh of relief. Shytcago may be the worst city in the USA
I was in a river ward. Alderman Kelly was my alderman. I also remember the name of my precinct committeeman and made certain to say hello and shake his hand when I went to vote. Never hurt when you have a problem with a pile of dirt in front of the apartment or need a 50 gallon trash can painted green!
I have no relatives in the City and have no intention of even visiting.
Navy Pier had the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, a fantastic stained glass museum, it was wonderful. I would love to see the Art Institute, the Museum of Science and Industry, Shedd, and the Planetarium again, but there is no way I will go near those places again.
And it’s a damn shame…
It IS the thugs, plus police have lost people- why should they risk their lives if the city won’t be tough on the criminals?
PLUS the unions. TOO MUCH CORRUPTION.
>They had a Second City theater, that featured some actors that went on to SNL.
I used to live in a high rise across from there - could walk over there without putting on a jacket in January.
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