Posted on 08/16/2024 6:14:07 AM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
It was the summer of 1996. Chicago was on a high.
Michael Jordan had come out of his brief retirement to lead the Bulls to the best-ever season at the time, winning the first of what would be a “three-peat” of NBA championships.
Crime was down. The economy was soaring. Notorious slums were being cleared, hopefully to be replaced by mixed-income developments.
A guy named Daley was the mayor. A guy named Obama had yet to be elected to anything.
I was 19 years old, and I was covering the Democratic National Convention for Harvard’s college radio station. It was easy to commute to the United Center — the House That Michael Built — from my parents’ home in the Near North suburb of Skokie.
I interviewed Al Franken and Ariana Huffington. I bumped into one of the Baldwin brothers, who mistook me for someone else and invited me to a party. I tried to hang out with Bill Maher, who made fun of me.
Chicago had never been better.
Perhaps everyone remembers their youth that way. I had great summer jobs, dividing my time between an internship for Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL), and an internship for National Public Radio’s local affiliate. I dated a girl from the office; we made out on the beach all night.
But teenage nostalgia aside, Chicago really was better then. There were problems — poverty, gangs, bad schools — but things seemed to be getting better.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I am so glad they chose this city to highlight their convention and record. It will be something to behold.
100,000 “mostly peaceful protestors” are expected.
It should be amusing. In fact, it will be a real riot!
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Since 1970, the official population of Chicago has decreased by 702,000.
For some contrast, Austin, Texas’s population in 1970 was 251,808. The population in 2023 is 979,882.
I THINK the main difference (between Austin and Chicago) is a very conservative (compared to the Austin City Council) Texas legislature and governor residing about 6 blocks north of the Austin City Council that doesn’t hesitate to slap the City Council morons up side the head when needed. Illinois/Chicago does not have that dynamic.
A great column, a must read.
Thank you for posting it.
You are welcome
What’s the over-under for the headlines on the shootings that weekend?
I think the big question is: will the RNC provide bag lunches to the busloads of radicals and illegals heading there?
I wonder when the writer’s “Come to Jesus” moment was?
Somebody needs to do a Crosby, Sills and Nash parody of Chicago with a Hamas theme.
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