I was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. In the late 50s early 60s you could get on the L Train with your other 12 year old friends and go downtown to see a movie, and ride up to the top of the Prudential Building.
The place now is a toilet. Yeah, most of the shooting is confined to a few neighborhoods, but it’s slowly engulfing the other neighborhoods too, and downtown.
I’ll never go back there again, never.
I went to boot camp at Great Lakes back in the late 70s and then later, after I was commissioned, served there as a division officer. I can remember back then, both as a just-graduated boot and an officer, being able to walk pretty much anywhere after getting off the train from North Chicago and Waukegan, even late at night, without having to worry about dealing with the “wildlife.”
Now? “Bad day in Bosnia” comes immediately to mind. ;-)