"But before the reader left the store, the clerk discreetly placed the bag in a more anonymous sack. The implication? It’s not safe to walk down Michigan Avenue with a Tiffany bag anymore. That anecdote focuses the mind on the perception of high crime bedeviling what long has been known as the Midwest’s most prestigious shopping destination.... According to the Urban Land Institute, the vacancy rate on Michigan Avenue stands close to a troubling 25%.... The Urban Land Institute report has... good ideas, including an upgrade in dining options. Michigan Avenue never has been hospitable to restaurants, especially on the ground floor, a function of high rents and canyon-like ambience. That’s also true on New York’s Fifth Avenue but was never the case on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, where you can sip and watch people promenade...."
From "Editorial: The Michigan Avenue crisis is getting worse" (Chicago Tribune).
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63 comments:
Let's Go Brandon™!
Elections have consequences.
Hello: the United States of America is in crisis.
Really sad. I used to live on East Ohio about 4 blocks east of its intersection with Michigan. It was always a great area to walk, people watch, shop and eat. It's night and day based on my last trip. Police were stationed at intersections with their squad lights perpetually on to demonstrate a security presence. I was glad there was that overt demonstration of authority, but was forlorn by the need for it.
Why would restaurants flourish any better in the presence of crime? I guess you could wear a signboard "I didn't buy anything" when you go out to dinner. Me, I'd pass on the "opportunity".
Your link to the story is self-referential.
The sales tax revenue in Chicago pays for the city services. Is anyone surprised at this when the Dems in Chicago let the rioters run free?
The Dems have run Chicago for decades. They deserve this.
Our culture and country are collapsing right before our eyes. Over 2 million illegal aliens were let in since 2021 and millions more are coming.
"was never the case on the Champs-Élysées in Paris . . . Michigan Avenue is in crisis"
It's a mystery.
It's not safe to walk around ANY Liberal city anymore.
Michigan avenue has never been hospitable to restaurants? Well, if you go 1 block off Michigan Ave, you start to encounter a multitude. Unfortunately the general retail transformation couple with the Democrats in charge in Chicago have increased the crime and the George Floyd riots with mobs ransacking stores was the last straw for many.
Mag Mile - A formerly nice area of what has become a total shithole.
Well I'd blame Lori Lightfoot for "it's dangerous on Chicago's Miracle Shopping Mile". Inflation--well that's more Brandon's fault.
If they don't bring back Michigan Avenue north of the river, an important part of Chicago is dead. The foot traffic looks a little better these days, but the storefront vacancy rate is appalling, and the the temporary signs on the boarded up stores is visually distressing. News stories like this one, which is accurate, do not help the recovery.
In May 2020, when COVID restrictions killed travel, I told my wife that Michigan Avenue reminded me of Chicago's State Street in the 1970s, when it became the resort of panhandlers, hustlers, sidewalk preachers, and punks. The foot traffic on Michigan Avenue has improved a bit since 2020, but if you want to see something bad happen, hang around the subway stops at Chicago Avenue or Division Street. They are where the bad actors come out of the ground to disport themselves on Michigan Avenue and in the Gold Coast.
Link is bad (points to your blog)
And the connection between restaurant prevalence and the inadvisability of carrying a Tiffany bag around is ... ?
So keep electing democrats. It’s almost like Stockholm syndrome.
A key function of government is to provide security and justice. Tasks not easily done by private sector.
But Dems are more focused on teaching 3rd graders to mastubate, and government funding and accommodating transgenders. That’s just two examples, but I could come up with 200 pages of government coloring outside the lines.
Shithole cities.
Effectively abolishing the police has negative consequences for high-end shopping districts? How unforeseen.
"The implication? It’s not safe to walk down Michigan Avenue with a Tiffany bag anymore."
Hmmm, ya just never know when or where the typical attendees at a George Floyd riot might show up.
I was there after one of the smash-and-loot riots.
Too bad, Chicago used to be one of my favorite towns.
But when the rich folks move out, it's hard to get them to come back...
Public safety is part of the problem, but New York crime is much, much lower than Chicago, and you still don't have that Champs-Elysees experience (as described -- I don't believe I have ever sat out at a cafe on the Champs-Elysees and watched the people stroll by, unless perhaps as a teenager in which case I don't remember it). It's that canyon-like effect, the shadow, and the wind rushing past the high rise buildings. The patchwork of smaller, lower-rise neighbourhoods elsewhere in New York sometimes offer that streetside dining experience, albeit without the grandeur of a Parisian boulevard. Washington DC, if it cracked down on crime and beggars, could probably do pretty well for that sort of thing. But it might work best if, perhaps, on weekends, they turned some of the prettier boulevards into pedestrian only zones. They do (or did) that with Marunouchi, Ginza, and some other neighbourhoods in Tokyo. Marunouchi, in particular, worked well, with tables set up outside under the trees lining the street. Ginza has fewer streetside cafes and restaurants, so it doesn't have the same ambience.
In the future, we'll look back on the death of George Floyd as the urban landscape's version of Archduke Ferdinand's assassination. Here's hoping the war for safe streets doesn't go on as long as WWI.
it's Too Bad, that we've let animals run rampant all over our cities..
But, at Least there are many rabid foxes (except where there are)
Serious Question. Which would you rather encounter? Homeless drug addicts? or a rabid fox??
The greatest city in this country. The Broad Shoulders of the middle of this country. In tatters. Boarded up Magnificent Mile. Empty offices, empty storefronts. People looking to leave the high crime, high taxes, horrible leadership from the Mayor on up to the Governor.
Who can turn Chicago around? I've spent more time in Chicago than any other US city- by choice. Yet I've not been back there in over 2 years- again by choice- and have no plans to go there in the near future. No more. If I want to look over my shoulder, I can just visit any other US city. Hell, I can go to my birthplace, Detroit, and feel more optimism.
I've traveled extensively throughout this country for years and almost every one of our great cities are disasters now. All of them with Progressive leadership. What a misnomer that word 'progressive' has become. By any objective measure, it is if anything, regressive. For most of these cities there has been no Republican and certainly no Conservative leadership for 50-100 or more years. At one point the old style Democrats managed in a different way. It was corrupt, but the cities functioned and blossomed. Once the old style Democrats morphed into new age 'progressives' all attachment to reality left and we have these dystopian cities scattered around the country now.
It'll change only when the people have had enough and leave or demand the change where they're at. That means that people living in the cities have to realize: If you keep voting for the same party for a century and expecting different results...
Is this study seriously suggesting 'having more restaurants' on Michigan Ave. as a solution to violent crime there?
And then suggesting that 'high rents and the canyon-like ambiance' can somehow be fixed- by what, exactly?
Are the daylight muggings of shoppers "mostly nonviolent" like the riots were?
Chicago, the most corrupt city in the most corrupt state , which is run by black gangs. The gangs own half the city council. What do you expect ?
I live outside of Philly and spend 2-3 days a week in the city, usually from 2Pm to 8PM, when I take the regional rail train back home. I also grew up in the city many many years ago. My location is Walnut Street/Rittenhouse Square, which is the high end retail and residential area. Mask mandates were dropped a month ago in most stores (though rumor has it they may be reinstated soon) but foot traffic on the street is about half of normal and homeless is about 2x normal and getting aggressive. No police to be seen on the street or in cars. Lot's of retail for rent in what used to be high demand locations, probably due to riots of last year. I am no scardy cat but I use a lot of situational awareness in the 4 block walk to the train station. No one seems to admit to it, but it is a disaster and may never return to normal.
Don't forget that Chicago has about 15 warm weather weeks per year, coupled with 6+ months of too-cold-for-the-street dingy snow weather. Restaurants often set up plastic tents along the street or parking lot with overhead dish heaters to simulate the street dining experience.
Cold and wet places like Seattle, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia focused on controlled pleasant indoor mall-like experiences in years past. Chicago must do the same.
Minneapolis also has building-to-building elevated "skyways" that connect most of the downtown and allow workers and shoppers to move about away from traffic and out of the cold. They expressly barred the homeless from living there, and closed the skyways at 7:00 pm last I knew. This may have changed post George Floyd and COVID too.
I’ll have to accept the premise regarding crime, but if my intent was to obtain a Tiffany’s bag as a gift, then I might want to protect it from the elements (crime, weather, contact) by placing it within another bag.
Yes, dining options, that will fix it.
Another Taco place will definitely help.
btw, the deep dish thing is a ruse. Most people I know eat thin crust. Most places are thin crust. Also deep dish is more a north side thing.
Only time I ever have it is when someone is in from out of town. Stop it please.
'I live outside of Philly...'
You have my condolences : )
"I heard my mama cry.
I heard her pray the night Chicago died.
Brother, what a night it really was.
Brother, what a fight it really was.
Glory be!"
@Butkus51 wrote "btw, the deep dish thing is a ruse."
It takes a ridiculous 45 to 60 minutes to cook a deep dish pizza! They are effectively a variation on lasagna, but with crust on the top and bottom. IMO lasagna tastes a lot better because the pasta layers are separated, fully coated with tasty stuff, and thinner than a doughy crust. Calzone is also better than deep dish pizza, as it tastes similar but cooks much faster due to its smaller size.
People hear about Chicago and think they have to try deep dish pizza. Don't bother. Try the excellent Polish/German food or go with their contemporary Mexican/Latin instead.
Even if masks are eliminated on airplanes, does anyone really think the USA is once again going to be flooded by foreign tourists visiting New York, Chicago, SFO, DC or LA?
Not me.
Joe Smith- It's odd to me that my area gets dissed a lot. The house next to ours was a corporate rental for the first 10 years when we lived there. We had neighbors from Europe and most of the US- families who stayed at least 2 years each. Honest Injun, every one of them was very unhappy when they had to leave, some were in tears. This is probably the best quality of life and most affordable place in the NE US. The suburbs here each have their own identity and topography, unlike most cities.. Our township just celebrated it's 320 year anniversary and I can walk across the street to a revolutionary war gravesite. Philly not so great. Most suburbs here are really nice- so far at least.
btw, the deep dish thing is a ruse. Most people I know eat thin crust. Most places are thin crust. Also deep dish is more a north side thing.
As a former Northsider (Rogers Park and Lincoln Park) I agree that most people eat thin crust. However, I also think that deep dish, while mostly served on the North Side is for tourists. Do tourists still visit Chicago?
Southsiders are much more likely to eat White Castle sliders, at least back in the day. That is part of what keeps the tourists away. Well that and the horrific crime.
The Editorial Board of the Times hasn't been strolling down the Champs-Élysées lately.
Businesses are probably finding the name "Michigan Ave." off-putting. They should change the name to "Iowa Ave."
The high crime in Chicago is a choice, made repeatedly and consistently, by the voters of that city, and invariably supported by the educated class there. The residents of Chicago live the way they choose to live.
Everything the Democrats touch turns to shit. It's obvious to anyone who is willing to see reality. If it wasn't for the fact that Democrats are running the federal government the only solution to Chicago and the state of Illinois would be a Republican President and Congress to revert Illinois back to a territory status under the guarantee clause and appoint replacements at the territorial level and the local levels.
One thing a Republican Congress and President could do is reverse the Supreme Court rulings that diminished the rural vote. That would go a long way towards bringing back to reality the mal-governed Blue States.
Also deep dish is more a north side thing.
Only time I ever have it is when someone is in from out of town. Stop it please.
The plan is to slow the crime through progressive girth normalized by high carbohydrate meals.
The large cities in the democrat lead states will never recover. They will become more and more a donut hole. Plus there will always be another excuse for a reparations riot to occur. And since the democrats who run those cities condone and support these riots, there is very little way for them to come back.
" good ideas, including an upgrade in dining options."
Let them eat lead.
Butkus51 said...
Also deep dish is more a north side thing.
That's Because, Chicago IS the north side... The south side is actually part of Gary Ind
gilbar: Lived in Hoffman Estates, Worked in Des Plaines and in Skokie
so will Obama library/mausoleum/monument/museum/art-gallery gentrify this area?
so will Obama/Ozymandias library/mausoleum/monument/museum/art-gallery gentrify this area?
how can I be sure that I am not reading plagiarized Chapter 1 from Atlas Shrugged?!
fact check by anyone?
I may have posted a comment to the wrong thread.
madAsHell said...
teaching 3rd graders to masturbate
They need to be taught?? How much time does this take away from teaching the 3Rs? You know.....reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic.
****************
This is an important point: EVERY SECOND of EVERY CLASS that is NOT focusing on education----rather than ideological indoctrination like DEI; sexual behavior in early grades; celebrating and promoting LGBTQwhatthefuck life styles, gender and victimology studies---is a second that robs our kids of knowledge and skills they will need to function in what's left of "progressive" society.
(Unless, of course, they wind up content to be given crumbs by their "woke" Masters")
Just today, feral children posing as University of Buffalo "students" tried to rough up a fellow student for inviting Allen West to speak on campus.
O Brave New World!
High End retailers like Tiffany, Neiman-Marcus, and Dior are all clustered on streets within a short walk to Union Square, but there are few restaurants with outside dining because it's usually too cold and windy (even in the sun) to bother with. Not to mention the preference for not being accosted by crazy street people.
All of these stores can be found just 25 min down the freeway at the Stanford Shopping Center, in Palo Alto. Free parking and the weather is fabulous.
I spent Christmas in Chicago in December, as I have done almost every year since I left to go to school “near Boston” fifty(!) years ago. For the first time in over 40 years, I stayed through New Year’s. After two nights at the glorious Oak Lawn Hilton (near Southwest suburb; at least there’s a hotel bar) for access to family stuff in the Southwest boondocks, I spent a week in the West Loop, which has gentrified exceedingly since I went to high school about a mile away (still dicey if you go about a mile or so further west). FWIW, I went in the fall to a reunion at the high school, which is flourishing, particularly now that it's more or less surrounded by the Chicago campus of the U of I.
West Loop, where I’ve been staying the last ten years or so, was very nice, even though the hotel bar/restaurant was shut down for the season. Lots of other very nice (if sometimes expensive) bars and restaurants in the neighborhood. A humongous Whole Foods (with liquor license!) a block away from the hotel on Halsted (back home, I live a block away from what is literally the smallest Whole Foods in the country; you could fit the whole thing in the produce section of the one in the West Loop). Took the Halsted bus to a nice French restaurant further north (and, later, to a pub in Lincoln Park where the owner didn’t give a sh*t about the city’s mask mandate).
Steppenwolf (across the street from the very non-descript-on-the-outside Alinea) had reopened but didn’t have a current production. However, I went to a fun Drunk Shakespeare performance of MacBeth on Wabash downtown. Also a musical version of Love, Actually up in Lincoln Park (Halsted bus again!). And, finally, a Broadway in Chicago farce in a theater at Water Tower Place, after some drinks and a snack at Harry Caray’s on New Year’s Eve.
Took the el to and from downtown a number of times, including late evening, in addition to the trips on the Halsted bus. Didn’t feel uncomfortable (hell, I used to take the el to Englewood in the middle of the night), although the el stops from the Loop to the Water Tower Place were swarming with cops on New Year’s Eve. Millennium Park was packed on a pleasant afternoon in late December.
Things didn’t seem hopeless, though, admittedly, I didn’t walk around much further south on Michigan Avenue or around downtown (I did take a picture of the Picasso with tons of garbage in front after the end of the ChristKindle market). But they do need to get control of this sh*t on Michigan Avenue. Whether they can do so with the feckless Lori L. in charge (not to mention the fat penguin in Springfield), who knows? And the taxes and state/city finances are, of course, hopelessly f*ed.
My male relatives in the area want to get the F out, but you couldn't dynamite my sisters and nieces. And everyone knows who wears the pants, so to speak, in the family.
--gpm
>>btw, the deep dish thing is a ruse. Most people I know eat thin crust. Most places are thin crust. Also deep dish is more a north side thing.
Preach, brother. I have never had a deep dish pizza with any of my (very large) Chicago family in my life. The few times I've had it, it's been at Uno's in Boston (until recently, there was a Uno's in Kenmore Square and, I think, there used to be one in Copley). OK, maybe we went to the original Uno's in Chicago once but, of course, with tourists.
Here's another thing. In Boston, pizzas are cut into (usually) eight wedges. In Chicago, they're cut into, wait, wait for it, A GRID!
--gpm
>>People hear about Chicago and think they have to try deep dish pizza. Don't bother. Try the excellent Polish/German food or go with their contemporary Mexican/Latin instead.
And, for God's sake, don't skip the Eye-talian beef! Preferably at Al's on Taylor Street, across the alley from my high school.
--gpm
Temujin:
Omaha is a great city and it is NOT a disaster. Come visit!
>>Southsiders are much more likely to eat White Castle sliders, at least back in the day. That is part of what keeps the tourists away. Well that and the horrific crime.
It's been probably fifty years, but I'm partial to sliders. And I'm led to understand that there's some mighty fine fried chicken on the South Side, if you have the balls to seek it out.
>>That's Because, Chicago IS the north side... The south side is actually part of Gary Ind
With all due respect, FU! I grew up on the South Side 60 years ago. As did a number of other current or former commenters here. The North Side is/was what it is. Unfortunately, the South Side, which was a different but respectable thing (and it wasn't Gary, Ind), no longer is what it was.
--gpm
I used to love visiting Chicago and have some good memories.
I won't go back.
Denver is a progressive crime-hive too. Ruined by white left antifa terrorists, and now it's transient druggies and thugs and crimes. yay blue leadership! but now at least you can kill your baby at 9 months.
'Joe Smith- It's odd to me that my area gets dissed a lot.'
If you are in the suburbs, then God bless you.
New Jersey gets hammered by everyone, but I've spent a lot of time there near Princeton and it is flat-out gorgeous.
To be totally honest, I've been to Philadelphia 4 or 5 times, and it is my least favorite big city in the country.
I find nothing redeeming about it.
I am a walker. My wife was there for a meeting a few years ago and I walked for 3 hours all over the city. For me thats a good 10 miles.
I saw little but really bad neighborhoods and urban blight.
Again, I know the suburbs are likely beautiful beyond belief, but the city itself?
Not for me...
'I grew up on the South Side 60 years ago.'
Well the South side of Chicago, is the baddest part of town...
gpm--great comments and nice after-action reports regarding your December trip. I ride the bus all the time, too, but I am not yet a fan of the Red Line subway--there is no easy exit if teh bad actors appear, unlike the buses.
What has happened to the South Side since 1970 is a shame. The West Side was cooked by the MLK riots in 1968, but the South Side had a longer decline as block-busting tactics by realtors preyed on peoples' anxieties and changed some very stable neighborhoods over 20 years. 60% of the secretaries at my law firm (all very able) had gone to Catholic schools "out by Midway Airport". A friend of mine who was a minister in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood said, "You go out the Stevenson Expressway to Central and then go south fifty years." The SW side now is very hispanic and full of hardworking people, but there are too many gangs. The next mayor of Chicago may well be hispanic. Chicago is still about 1/3 white, 1/3 hispanic, and 1/3 black, with the black population shrinking as people who can afford to get out do so. Generally, the Democratic Party has used divide and conquer tactics to keep reformers out of office. The GOP has no influence whatsoever. It is amusing to hear Democrats blame Republicans for their own failures when the GOP has absolutely no power in the state.
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