Chicago’s homicide rate down for another year, but is anyone swayed?

For the second straight year, it appears Chicago’s tally of homicide will decline, and certainly isn’t anywhere near how high it reached back in the days of some three decades ago.

Workload not as violent, but it doesn't feel easier

Yet let’s be honest; I have no doubt that the instant another incident occurs that we’ll get another diatribe from Donald Trump and his ilk about just how god-awfully violent the Second City is.

AS THOUGH THE key to our improvement is to replace our elected officials with people inclined to sympathize with this Age of Trump we now live in. Allowing ourselves to be perceived as “blue” and the reason why Illinois is so intensely hostile toward Republican interests is the real reason for the diatribes.

For I doubt the people who make such absurd statements really care about the conditions in Chicago. It’s just another partisan piece of rhetoric they can use against the political opposition.

I doubt they care in the least about the people who actually have to suffer in the parts of Chicago that provide the bulk of the incidents that comprise most of the city’s homicide rate. If anything, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the ideologues who most complain about the city’s statistics related to violence think the people who are the brunt of the incidents are to blame for their own circumstances.

That’s the reason why I have such hostile reactions toward anybody who tries to make an issue of the homicide total – which in coming days is going to get another update.

FOR WE’RE IN a New Year. As of Friday (Dec. 28), there had been 570 people killed by the deliberate actions of another human being (which is the very definition of ‘homicide’). When one adds in the weekend running through incidents as late as midnight Monday, that’s bound to increase a bit.

But it would take a total bloodbath for the death tally for Chicago to exceed the 675 of 2017, which itself was lower than 2016 – which is starting to appear more and more like some sort of statistical fluke.

Rather than a return to the days of the late 1980s into the early 1990s, when it was typical for there to be between 900 and 1,000 homicides per year – which means the recent spurt isn’t even close to what this city used to experience.

Not all explosions are celebratory fireworks

I’ll be honest and admit that era sticks in my mind particularly harshly; largely because that’s back in the day when I worked for the now-defunct City News Bureau of Chicago and the daily activity of the Chicago Police was on the forefront of my mind.

BUT EVEN THEN, the bulk of violent crime in Chicago was contained to certain neighborhoods. There were parts of Chicago where a single violent death would be considered a major headline, while other parts of Chicago would have so many incidents that most of them were never covered beyond anybody but a “City News” kid reporter.

The sad part of this story is that, according to a Chicago Tribune report on Monday, it appears the leading police districts for violent crime will be Harrison on the West Side and Englewood on the South.

Which, to be honest, were the leaders for violent crime back in my own police reporting days.

It’s as though nothing has changed, and certain parts of Chicago continue to get the brunt of everything that is wrong with the city – while other parts manage to benefit from the city’s improvements of recent decades.

WHICH IS WHAT I’m sure the ideologues will complain is some form of hypocrisy on the part of Chicagoans – talking up our strengths while ignoring those of us who don’t fall into certain demographics.

TRUMP: Numbers won't matter, he'll complain!

Yet I’d also note that the ideologues are more than willing to see certain peoples amongst us (most often, the ones of us whose complexion doesn’t resemble their own in the least) continue to suffer from violence and the other societal problems that are brought about by such attitudes.

As in they’re merely interested in using a high homicide tally to tag the rest of us with a dirty brush. And as for the people who will suffer, I can’t help but think of those who (invariably) will perish in the early hours of Tuesday – starting off a new year with the same ol’ nonsense,

You just know someone will be hit by stray shrapnel from a nitwit who thinks the way to kick of 2019 is to fire off a weapon into the air; hitting an unintended target several blocks away.

  -30-

Did McCarthy single-handedly win, or lose, the mayoral election on Monday?

Chicago woke up Monday morning to the first significant snowfall of the season, which of course got some more trivial-minded broadcast types determined to ask the ultimate political question.

McCARTHY: Cracking down on 'dibs'

Dibs, or no?

AS IN SHOULD people be allowed to stake out a parking spot near their homes and claim it for their own, just because they managed to clear it of snowfall.

Because it also was a day for many of the mayoral aspirants to file their nominating petitions to get on the ballot, it meant candidates got the question put to them – yea or nay?

And no pussyfooting about how it’s a stupid non-issue meant to divert attention away from serious problems confronting Chicago. Which is the way I feel about the issue – a stance that I’m sure will cause some to want to mock me.

For the record, most of the candidates tried to get out of answering the question, but ultimately wound up deciding that people have a right to stake a claim to a parking spot come winter weather.

ALL EXCEPT FOR Garry McCarthy – the one-time law enforcement official from metro New York who came to Chicago to be police superintendent, then got fired by soon-to-be-former Mayor Rahm Emanuel to try to divert criticism from himself over the police shooting death of teenager Laquan McDonald.

McCarthy is likely to be he preferred mayoral candidate of those people eager to express support for law-and-order and police above all others, and who see anything less than such an extreme attitude as being chaos run amok upon our society.

But on this issue, he came out in favor of cracking down on people who think they have a “right” to a particular parking space.

“That’s a bad idea. It causes conflict. Anything that causes conflict, I think, is a bad idea,” McCarthy told reporter-type people.

NOW I’LL BE the first to admit that it’s a total pain in the behind to have to use a shovel to clear one’s car free from heavy snowfall. It takes time, it can be freezing, and one comes off totally soaking wet – then having to get into the car and tend to whatever business they’re doing.

To then come back home to find out someone else took the space for their own automobile? I can comprehend how some people would be p-o’ed.

But it’s one of the realities of urban life. Parking one’s car is always a problem. If you want to have a guarantee of a private spot, then you have to pay for it.

Either that, or go move to a suburban area, or some part of the country where snowfall just isn’t much of an issue. My guess is that if you go out there, you’ll find out just how preferable your life situation is better off here, and your complaints about winter-time parking will come off as downright petty.

BUT THERE ARE those people who want to view it as some sort of inherent right, somewhere along their ability to own a firearm, to have a personal parking spot and stake a claim to it. Almost as though they think they’re 19^th Century prospectors panning for gold in isolated spots.

So I have no doubt that McCarthy’s comments, no matter how trivial they truly are, will instigate some people to vote against him, Heck, I’ve already seen one anonymous commenter label McCarthy a “communist.”

Which I’m sure would grossly offend Sen. Joe of Wisconsin, as though his name were being taken in vain.

But the fact that some voters will make their Feb. 26 decision based off of the early Monday snowfall is the fact that actually grossly offends me – quite possibly more than those who think they have the right to vandalize a car that dared to park in a spot they think is theirs!

  -30-

A decade later, and Chicago still wonderful; no matter what Trump says

Chicago is a wonderful city – the greatest on the planet, if I may say so myself.

And I say that knowing full well its history of crime, corruption, petty partisan and racial politics and the stench that once emanated from the livestock being slaughtered in the Back of the Yards neighborhood but which now comes from the professional sports teams that dare to represent the image of the Second City.

--An Introduction; December 20, 2007

  -0-

Chicago's unofficial marquee

It has been a full decade since the date upon which this weblog was created as part of an effort by myself to tell of the wonders of this great city on the shores of Lake Michigan – one that I honestly believe will always be amongst the highlights of our society.

No matter what nonsense Donald Trump may spew in hopes of gaining political support for himself from those people not fortunate enough to have ever lived here, Chicago is a place with unique attributes.

HECK, I’D ARGUE that Trump let his money speak most loudly when he built that self-monickered monstrosity of his along the Chicago River shores. He must have seen a way to make money for himself in our presence, just as many others have done throughout the decades when they chose to relocate here.

This really is a place where people from across the Midwest, and other parts of the globe to be honest, come if they want to reach greater heights than they could ever achieve in their native communities.

Would Trump have built here if Chicago really that awful?

And for those of us who are native to this place, we don’t really see the need to go elsewhere. Or, if you’re like myself, we move off to places like Springfield, Ill., or the District of Columbia – only to find ourselves become the obnoxious guy who’s constantly telling everybody there how wonderful Chicago is, and we find a reason to ultimately come back.

Now, I rarely venture any further east than Gary, Ind., where I happen to do some work for a local newspaper and I see a community that in some ways resembles the hellhole that Trump-ites would like to think Chicago is.

Holy Name, where mob hit once occurred

BUT EVEN THERE, I see what I sense is an overflow of the Chicago spirit in terms of community officials who would be justified in just packing it all in and heading off for places elsewhere. Yet they haven’t written off their chances of someday rebuilding into something significant.

Which is the spirit I most admire of Chicago – certain people who are always looking forward and how to advance our lot in society.

I’m sure some will say that anything Chicago has, New York has in greater quantities. That may even be true to a degree. Yet I don’t know of many Chicagoans who’d make the move. Or if they do, they always find ways of keeping in touch with their roots.

I’d hope that this spirit of Chicago has come through during the past 10 years, which I’ll admit I never envisioned would occur when I first started writing this weblog.

IF ANYTHING, I figured it was a way of expressing some random thoughts – almost like what I’d do if I were seeing a psychiatrist. Only instead of paying a “shrink” a fee for doctor’s visits, I’m posting for free and subjecting readers to my ramblings.

It helped that this weblog coincided with the Barack Obama years, which put a Chicago spin on many of the nation’s and world’s events. Even more so than what usually exists just because of Chicago’s position within society.

Old Gary post office as decrepit as some think Chicago is

Now, we are the target of political potshots – many from people who I sense are jealous of Chicago’s significance in ways their home communities can never be.

Now I’m not going to deny the city’s flaws. We have our self-serving politicos and certain neighborhoods that the masses are more than willing to ignore in so many ways – which results in the higher poverty levels and Gary-Ind.crime rates that the Trump-ites would like to think are typical of Chicago as a whole.

BUT THOSE OF us who get into the spirit of Chicago being a collection of some 120 neighborhoods and sub-communities know that each and every one of us has a unique version of Chicago in our minds. It’s almost as though there are 2.7 million different takes on Chicago – and that’s a good thing.

That Bear wishes he could become a Packer

This city allows all of us to maintain our sense of individuality without being gobbled up into a mass. Which is something I often have sensed of other communities – which are all too eager to tell certain people they “don’t belong.”

Of course, there are certain things that do manage to unite us. Take the aforementioned sports teams that represent Chicago.

We somehow find a way to continue to care about the Chicago Bears, who haven’t had a winning season in oh so long. And that line in the team’s fight song about the team being the “Pride and Joy of Illinois?” It seems like a fantasy that it ever was true.

  -30-

A DAY IN THE LIFE (of Chicago): Not living up to bloody reputation Trump tries to tag our city with?

Whatever shall Donald J. Trump have rants about when he sits at his keyboard and taps out another 140-character missive meant to make himself feel better about his existence?

TRUMP: He should stifle self on Chicago

For a common topic for Trump to get worked up over is the homicide rate for Chicago, which is actually running a little bit lower this year compared to last but is still significantly higher than it has been in most recent years.

BUT FOR THE time period stretching from Feb. 26 through Saturday, there were no deaths in Chicago caused by any other human being's deliberate actions. On Sunday, a 23-year-old man was shot repeatedly in the Austin neighborhood, dying from his wounds. You have to go back to a week in December of 2009 to find a stretch of time with less fatal activity than we had in Chicago this past week.

Now as the Chicago Tribune points out, we have had more shootings occur in Chicago this year compared to last. But fewer fatalities. People are surviving. Which is good.

For everybody except Trump and his miscreant followers who are absolutely determined to look down upon the Second City. My own suspicion is they are bitter that a Chicagoan provided our society with the president they came to despise so intensely because he was so unlike them, so they're going to keep up the rants for as long as they're alive.

Maybe we'd hear less ranting about Chicago if the city hadn't been so overwhelmingly opposed to Trump last Election Day that his campaign might have been somewhat competitive in Illinois and this state might have joined other Great Lakes/Rust Belt states like Michigan and Ohio in backing the Trumpster.

De Blasio: Ate a Portillos, but prefers Nathans

WE'D BE HEARING more about New York or Los Angeles or the neighborhoods of Washington, D.C., that many of us don't have a clue even exist. Anacostia?

Even New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, in Chicago for a speaking engagement last week said he was tired of hearing Trump's Chicago rants, adding they surprise him because Trump himself is not some rural bumpkin but a genuine Noo Yawker.

Although I'd argue the view on the 69th floor of the Trump Tower in Manhattan provides a much different glimpse of urban life than does living in a place like Brooklyn. Particularly if they have the Mar a Lago mansion in Florida (whom various reports have pointed out is near a Florida municipality whose crime rates per capita are remarkably similar to that of Chicago).

An old Peanuts comic strip has Lucy spew a slew of statistics for Charlie Brown about how bad their baseball team is, with the final panel having Charlie retort, "Lucy, tell your statistics to shut up!" Don't you wish we could do the same to The Donald? What else is notable about life these days on the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan?

RAUNER: Needs to find education solution

YOU WILL LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY!!!: Chance the Rapper, who on Friday was granted a token audience with Gov. Bruce Rauner to talk about the financial problems confronted by the Chicago Public Schools, felt the need to speak out again Monday.

Then again, he only got a half-hour, and I suspect the governor wasn't exactly subtle in letting it be known he wasn't terribly interested in hearing opinions other than his own about how the state's financial mess (which he wants us to believe is the fault of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and state Comptroller Susana Mendoza) is impacting public education programs.

Anyway, the music star who actually won a Grammy Award this year held a press conference at the Westcott Elementary School in the Auburn/Gresham neighborhood, where he made a $1 million donation to the Chicago Public Schools. People were able to watch his largess via his personal Instagram account.

Which means you could have heard the whole lot of nothing being spewed that Rauner was ignoring. Of course, I have to confess the entity that is most worthy of criticism in this whole matter are those news media organizations that felt compelled to cover any of this as though it mattered. Focusing on the trivia is the easy way of pretending to have significance, rather than pushing people to try to find a real solution to the state's financial mess.

IT'S GOOD TO BE THE KING (and Queen):  Barack and Michelle Obama may not live at their Kenwood neighborhood residence these days, but they are capable of possessing drivers' licenses issued by the state of Illinois.

Nobody gets drivers' license photos ...

The State Journal-Register newspaper in Springfield reported that the secretary of state's office issued the now-former first couple new licenses without them having to make a return trip to Illinois. The deal was done through the mail, and the state even waived the $30 renewal fee, sending the new licenses -- which used old photographs the state already had on file -- to a D.C.-area address.

... that look this good

Officials said the deal was done right about the time of Election Day, and they say they would have made a similar accomodation for anyone "serving in that office" who happened to have an Illinois license. Not that any others have had one.

It also helped that both Barack and Michelle qualified for the automatic renewal program intended for anyone who manages to go all four years without accumulating traffic tickets. Then again, it's not like Obama has been in a position to get a ticket -- unless you really think some motorcycle beat cop is going to pull over the presidential motorcade to cite the president for having a busted taillight.

  -30-

Not a record, but still bloody gory. We ought to lower rate to spite Trump

I’m not going to go so far as to say that President-elect Donald J. Trump is a liar because of his latest Tweet from a twit that says 2016 was a “record-setting” year for Chicago’s murder rate.
 

Would Trump set foot outside his Chi tower?

Largely because the 762 homicides that the Chicago Police Department is acknowledging for the year isn’t even close to the 943 homicides of 1992 or the 931 of 1994.

BUT SOME 762 people who presumably ought to still be living amongst us, but are not, is still a tragedy worthy of our outrage.

Although let’s be honest. Trump could care less about the situation in Chicago. When he throws out his stupid little Tweets or other statements that take pot shots at our fair city, he’s doing so because he knows the reason he didn’t take Illinois in the Electoral College is because Chicago has far too much sense to fall for his bunk!

We’re going to be the target of many a cheap shot in coming years. Perhaps that is the way the cosmos balances everything out, for the way in which Chicago had extra super levels of clout and influence with the federal government during the soon-to-be finished presidency of Barack Obama.

To the degree that we’re going to be the setting of his “farewell” to the nation come next Tuesday at the McCormick Place convention center (the same place where he celebrated his 2012 re-election as president).

I SUSPECT THAT if Illinois had gone for Trump and Chicago weren’t so blatantly hostile to his nonsense, then Trump likely would find someone else to pick on.

Because I don’t think Trump cares the least bit about the individuals who are amongst the deceased. I suspect many of the kinds of people who actually voted for Trump probably have a sarcastic thought going through their head that the world is a better place without those specific individuals.

Who, after all, came largely from the parts of Chicago that were much less white than the average, and in some cases were the parts where Trump got maybe 2 percent or so of the overall vote.

Returning to re-election scene for his farewell to nation

So when Trump hints at a federal action to deal with the crime problem in Chicago, I know full well he’s not telling the truth. He’s not being serious. He could care less about our urban situation.

IF ANYTHING, THIS is a problem we are going to have to settle ourselves. And we certainly have it within ourselves to do so.

Because I can remember the days when I was a reporter-type person covering criminal activity in Chicago (the late 1980s) when it seemed like it averaged out 2 ½ killings per day. Which actually meant that murder wasn’t uncommon, and every now and again we’d get a particularly bloody weekend that pushed up the overall total.

We saw our homicide rate plummet into the 400s, which was close to the old days of the 1920s – when the statement was oft made that there were 365 killings a year in Chicago (one for every single day).

What accounts for the sudden surge in slayings? I’m sure the academic types who spend their lives weeding through numbers to try to analyze them can offer up their own theories.

BUT WE TRULY are better off resolving this ourselves – particularly if it means we can deny Trump the “stupid talk” of sending in troops to the Sout’ Side of Chicago to resolve order.

 

OBAMA: Soon to give 'farewell' to nation

He spews such images because he wants to create the image for those parts of the country that want to believe the worst. The partisan political nature of all the homicide rate trash talk is a large part of why I can’t take any of it seriously.

Such as every time Trump will claim that Chicago tops New York AND Los Angeles when it comes to crime – which I sense is a statement that partially pains Trump to make.

He’s probably like to claim that all three cities have crime rates on the rise – and that it is because of the lack of Trump that causes the natives to want to hurt each other. Then again, he’ll probably use his own interpretation of “the truth” to make such a statement anyway!

  -30-

I’m looking to return to Chicago, no matter how much the very concept of such a move freaks some people out

One of the lessons I gained from my time some three decades ago working as a police reporter-type person for the now-defunct City News Bureau of Chicago is that violence and stupid stuff can happen anywhere.

Too much variety in neighborhood life to ignore

As much as we want to believe that nonsense only happens in the Englewood and North Lawndale neighborhoods (with the bigots amongst us spewing nonsense about how “those people” just don’t know any better), there is no getting away from it.

THERE ARE BAD people amongst us no matter where we live, and certain circumstances can bring out the worst in anybody.

So when I read a recent Chicago Tribune commentary written by a person who tried rationalizing his recent move from the city proper to a suburban community, I couldn’t help but find his tone too over-the-top to take seriously.

Particularly since this person was also trying to urge other people to make the move. As though the 2-1 suburban/city ratio isn’t a large-enough gap.

Yet that person seems to think he can get away from violence. Even though it really has cropped up around me too often in life. The reality is that those of us in society who want to be influential are the ones who can stand up to stupidity and try to do something to fix it.

THOSE OF US who run are going to wind up finding that the violence follows us.

My birthplace neighborhood, heavily idealized

One aspect of this particular commentary that I found amusing is that I had my own stint living in the very neighborhood that he had fled from – Ravenswood and Albany Park.

It was one summer back when I was in college, and I can recall the neighbors warily warning me of “the gangs” that supposedly were running roughshod over the neighborhood.

I don’t doubt they were there. But I also remember that they didn’t bother with me, largely because I had no reason to bother with them. Maybe because I minded my own business, we co-existed.

I didn't flee because of this

IT MADE ME wonder how much of my neighbors, most of whom I haven’t seen since I left there some 32 years ago, was fear of the unknown. Besides, I see that that particular area has become a popular one for certain young professional types to live if they are not of an income bracket to afford Lincoln Park or Lake View.

How bad could it have been, even if there was a recent homicide that now taints the neighborhood in the minds of this one writer.

Perhaps it’s just a difference of opinion. But I have lived in places that have acquired a local taint because of a criminal act. I remember one day back when I was in Tinley Park when police stopped me and demanded some sort of evidence I belonged in the neighborhood.

It was the day (in fact, within the hour) that a man yet to be found to this day killed five individuals at a nearby shopping center. That Lane Bryant store where the slayings occurred is no more, but the rest of the area thrives. It certainly wasn’t enough to get me to flee the area.

BECAUSE THE TRUTH is best told by Martha and the Vandellas, who had the right idea when they sang, “Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide.” You can’t live life in a plastic bubble – bad things happen even in there.

My own life story is that I’m born South Side (the Ed Vrdolyak version in the 10^th Ward, not the Mike Madigan or Beverly versions, as one person recently described them to me) and have lived in several neighborhoods of Chicago south and north, along with selected suburbs.

There even have been stints of my life in central Illinois and within the District of Columbia and I actually spend quite a bit of my time these days around Gary, Ind., due to my reporter-type work. Yet I always have felt a certain draw to the city proper – as though it is the reason why the rest of those communities exist to begin with.

And is why I envision the day coming when I return, yet again, to Chicago; which just has too strong a pull on me to ignore. Despite the plea of one who says, “I can’t find any good reason to live in the city,” I can’t justify going through life living in fear and ignorance.

  -30-

Wade thinks Trump behavior sorry, but not completely because problem is real

New Chicago Bull Dwyane Wade got himself some national media attention Friday, what with an interview he gave to ABC News where he talked about the death of his cousin – who was killed a week ago by a stray bullet fired on the South Side.

ALDRIDGE: Celebrity death due to her cousin

The death of Nykea Aldridge, who was only 32, truly is a story of how stupid and pointless life can sometimes be – she was walking along the street with a baby carriage when she was hit by the gunshot.

THE BABY WASN’T hurt. But the mother is now dead. The child is orphaned.

The sad part of this story is that nobody would be paying any attention to Aldridge’s death if not for the fact that she’s a cousin to Wade – the one-time prep basketball star from Richards High School in Oak Lawn who has played the past 13 seasons with the Miami Heat and now hopes to spend the final days of his time as a professional athlete with the Bulls.

Almost as though her life had no meaning in and of itself. Then again, that is the real problem with the homicide rate in Chicago – too many people are willing to presume that the problem only impacts people who don’t matter.

All of this got national attention last weekend when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump used Twitter to make a comment about how a vote for him would be a vote for reducing urban violence.

HE SPECIFICALLY MENTIONED Wade by name (and managed to mis-spell it in the process).

Which led to George Stephanopoulos of ABC (and also one-time communications guy to former President Bill Clinton) asking Wade for his thoughts.

I’m sure he offered aid and comfort to the Hillary Clinton camp when he said he was bothered by Trump bringing up his family to score political points for himself.

WADE: From his days as a local prep star

But he also said he realizes that anything drawing national attention to the urban violence of Chicago is a plus. Because otherwise, we’re too likely to continue to ignore it.

OF COURSE, WADE also made a point of saying he wants tougher gun laws in Chicago – which definitely is something that the Trump types will oppose.

For Chicago has tried to pass absolute bans on firearms ownership within the city, only to have conservative-leaning courts issue rulings that have thwarted the city’s desires.

If anything, the Trump types are the kind of people who probably think they ought to be allowed to carry their firearms on their person so they can shoot first, so to speak, at anyone who gave off a menacing aura in their presence.

They’d probably argue that if Aldridge had been armed, she could have shot back at the two brothers who now face criminal charges for the incident. Of course, she didn’t realize a shot was fired until it was too late. Which makes that kind of logic completely absurd!

REALIZE THAT I have my own bias when it comes to firearms – I think they’re the equivalent of automobiles. Many government officials are quick to cite the cliché that a driver’s license is a privilege, not a right, and that such license can be revoked.

But talk about restricting firearms brings up an illogical rant about one’s right. Even though I’d argue that in daily life, one needs access to an automobile more than a pistol.

It will be interesting to see how Dwyane Wade continues to bring up this family situation; what with Aldridge’s funeral set for Saturday. Could Wade become a figure of prominence both on urban violence and on the basketball court for the Bulls?

Or is he going to be more important back in Miami, where he will be part of an event on Sept. 17 where he will bicycle for six miles with Miami police to promote public safety.

  -30-

EXTRA: More homeless in Chicago?

A Chicago spring. Photo by Gregory Tejeda

I realize that homeless people begging for spare change is a part of the urban landscape, and the idea of someone destitute enough to beg juxtaposed with the wealth of the Loop isn’t at all odd.

Yet I couldn’t help but notice one woman who on Saturday chose a very prominent place to set up shop and request money from people – State and Madison.

YES, STATE STREET and Madison Street – that point from which Chicago’s street grid originates. The point from which it spreads in all directions (albeit the easternmost stretch is only a couple of blocks away before one runs into Lake Michigan).

I was in downtown Chicago Saturday afternoon, and couldn’t help but notice the many people seeking my change. Including one couple whose cardboard sign billed them as a father and daughter both in need of money for a meal.

Yet something about the woman at State and Madison, with her sign and her plastic bag containing her possessions and using the signpost to lean up against while she hoped for some change just somehow seemed wrong.

While some people on Saturday were all obsessed with whether or not Hillary Clinton could keep her campaign wishes alive (apparently, she did), I somehow suspect there are others to whom it literally won’t matter who wins the primary and general election to be held later this year.

THEY ALREADY HAVE sunk to the bottom, and who knows if they’ll ever be able to climb back up in life.

Before you say that’s not of your concern, keep in mind that our society as a whole isn’t any stronger than its weakest link.

This woman reminded me of one I encountered about a month ago – when I was in the Loop to meet up with some old friends for lunch at the Berghoff restaurant. When she hit me up for money for food, I would have felt like a complete dirtbag if I had walked right on by to eat well.

I wound up giving her a $10 bill, and still remember the glee she expressed because that would be enough money to get her a pizza. I haven’t seen that woman since, but I hope she enjoyed that bit of mozzarella with sauce.

AS FOR MY encounter on Saturday, I couldn’t help but reach into my pocket for spare change. She seemed pleased with the roughly $1.50 I tossed into her can before snapping the above photograph.

An image of Chicago I wish I could say was a rare one, or one I wouldn’t see often enough in the future!

  -30-

Come back, grads! Come back to Chi

I found it amusing to learn that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is going about these days urging high school graduates not to give up on Chicago.

The Chicago Tribune reported about Emanuel speaking at three commencement ceremonies on Saturday, giving essentially the same message.

WHEN THOSE STUDENTS finish their education elsewhere, they ought to make sure to make a return trip to Chicago. Apply that education here. Make something of themselves in the Second City.

“You are our future,” Emanuel told one group of students, according to the newspaper. “We have a great future as long as you make Chicago home.”

What next? Will he be calling out for “Shane” to, “Come back!”

Although my guess is that Emanuel is far from the only political person who worries about the potential for brain drain causing problems for the future. I have heard too many instances of Michigan residents who, upon completing college, make a beehive right for Chicago.

THOSE WITH AN education and some special skills seem to think our metro area is a finer place to have a life than Detroit, or anywhere else in Michigan – a place many Chicagoans with some financial means use as a place for the summer cottage, of sorts.

Maybe Emanuel figures that Chicagoans with the same spirit of wanting to move up will make the same beehive for New York (except for those geeks who studied political science who will rush for the District of Columbia instead).

Although I just stumbled across New York Times story about the added cost of living in New York – to the point where many people who wish to live there just can’t swing it. Particularly if they also have significant financial debt that put themselves through college in the first place.

So where do lifelong New Yorkers with greater aspirations in life make a beehive to? Are they the ones who decide that they just have to live in Paris (if their education included any foreign language training) or London (if it didn’t)?

OR DO THE most sensible of those people realize how much nicer Chicago is in terms of being a place to actually live a life. Primarily for the fact that New York costs of living really do make Chicago out to be a financial bargain (unless you’re one of those people who thinks that slumming it is living anywhere outside of a penthouse apartment in the Trump Tower that sits on top of the foundation of the Sun-Times Building of old).

 

Am I alone in looking at Trump Tower and longing for what used to be?

Personally, I don’t think Emanuel has much to worry about. I believe many of those younger people who leave Chicago for a four- or five-year stretch (depending on how studious they are) will wind up returning.

I know I did. The only area college I applied to (Columbia College on Michigan Avenue) was purely my backup, and I quit thinking about the place once I learned I had options to experience life elsewhere for a few years.

Which was a smart move on my part. I got exposed to other people I never would have encountered here. While also having summer breaks to roam about the city and soak it in to the point where I couldn’t get in the car and drive back up Interstate 55 fast enough the day I graduated some 27 years ago.

EVEN WHEN I took work elsewhere (including a seven-year stretch in Springfield), I always have managed to come back to Chicago. The city just has a lure to bring people back.

And as for those who just aren’t latched by that lure? The ones who somehow decide that some place like Southern California is more attractive?

As far as I’m concerned, they can live in fear that the big earthquake will come along, and they will drop into the Pacific – a long way away from here where we'll enjoy the shores and beaches of Lake Michigan.

  -30-