(03-12-2010 01:56 PM)niuhuskie84 Wrote:  I really dont see what your problem is. You dont live here and apparently have no desire to. I guess its fun just to pass the time by looking down at neighborhoods you have no stake in, huh?

I understand your sentiment, to a point. However, so much state/fed money pours into Chicago and is spent poorly (through corruption, especially) that we all have a stake in the city if we want it or not.

The same can be said of city dwellers looking outside the corporation limits of Chicago.

We are all in this together.

(03-12-2010 03:21 PM)GeorgeBorkFan Wrote:  

(03-12-2010 01:56 PM)niuhuskie84 Wrote:  I really dont see what your problem is. You dont live here and apparently have no desire to. I guess its fun just to pass the time by looking down at neighborhoods you have no stake in, huh?

I understand your sentiment, to a point. However, so much state/fed money pours into Chicago and is spent poorly (through corruption, especially) that we all have a stake in the city if we want it or not.

The same can be said of city dwellers looking outside the corporation limits of Chicago.

We are all in this together.

I realize as much, and agree with you. But I do take it kind of personally when people who could care less about urban issues (or dont understand them) start spouting off their grievances for a city and neighborhoods which they never step foot in (outside of the random sporting event/concert/drunk fest), and who really arent interested in addressing or solving the problems at large.

So when someone makes a blase comment such as "Chicago is a disaster", yes, I take that personally because you're talking about MY home, a city I truly love and care about, and my neighbors who do give a damn.

Yes, we are in this together. But when vital urban necessities for millions of people such as public transit get branded lazy cliches like "socialism" by those who probably couldnt even read a bus map, it just goes to show you how at odds our state population is.

(03-12-2010 12:20 PM)niuhuskie84 Wrote:  

(03-12-2010 12:18 PM)Huskie_Jon Wrote:  

(03-12-2010 12:03 PM)niuhuskie84 Wrote:  

(03-12-2010 11:56 AM)Huskie_Jon Wrote:  You see, this is why Mark Twain included statistics among the three types of lies.

So what would that make the lie you told? You know, the lie that actually was a lie which you thought no one would notice.

I was using your own stastics.

You might want to work on your reading comprehension. I never cited 2009 until I was compelled to correct you. Those pesky facts....

Fine, eliminate 2009, and you still have

2004: 448
2005: 449
2006: 467
2007: 442
2008: 510

That's an upward trend. But it should fall once the gun ban gets lifted.

(03-12-2010 03:50 PM)niuhuskie84 Wrote:  I realize as much, and agree with you. But I do take it kind of personally when people who could care less about urban issues (or dont understand them) start spouting off their grievances for a city and neighborhoods which they never step foot in (outside of the random sporting event/concert/drunk fest), and who really arent interested in addressing or solving the problems at large.

So when someone makes a blase comment such as "Chicago is a disaster", yes, I take that personally because you're talking about MY home, a city I truly love and care about, and my neighbors who do give a damn.

Yes, we are in this together. But when vital urban necessities for millions of people such as public transit get branded lazy cliches like "socialism" by those who probably couldnt even read a bus map, it just goes to show you how at odds our state population is.

I have no beef with people living in three flats or 50 story condos. Simply not my cup of tea.

Politically, I do believe the city is a disaster. Look at the constant line of alderman going to jail over the past thirty years. Look at all the convictions in the Daley administration. Look at their fighting of the Shakman decree. Compare that to the burbs even. Palos Heights, Northbrook, Elgin, St. Charles, whatever. No where else in this state is the corruption so high as in Chicago. How can anyone with a clear heart pull the lever for Mayor Daley?

This is why more government should be locally funded. If the state and feds didn't pour money into the city, (and money into the non-city, to be honest), I and maybe others wouldn't care what happens in the city. It is this shell game with money. If Mayor Daley needs the effective tax rate in the city to be 60% and you want to pay it, God bless. Don't take my state/federal tax dollars to support his mess.

If I purchase something in St. Charles, I pay the pace/metra/cta tax. There is a single Pace bus route anywhere close to that area. So, most of those $$$ go to the east to be spent. I respect your opinion that the CTA is great. Then let the City itself pay for it. Lower your state and federal income tax and then the City can raise taxes on those that live there to whatever they want to cover all this.

Make Mayor Daley and his cronies accountable for their actions. If you want to pay for it all, then that is your call. Just cut the rest of us out of it. And, that way, your taxes are less mingled with ours for whatever services are provided outside of the city.

Of course, we are all going to pay for interstates, rural and in the city, and other, and other sorts of public improvements. I am happy that my tax dollars go to protect the Great Lakes as well, etc.

My personal final straw with the city came over a ticket at the airport given a family member who was picking me up. He got a ticket not for parking in the pickup lane, but for apparently going too slow. Never stopped. We argued it and of course it was denied. When the city has the authority to lien your house over a ticket, life has gotten ridiculous.

(03-12-2010 06:13 PM)GeorgeBorkFan Wrote:  

(03-12-2010 03:50 PM)niuhuskie84 Wrote:  I realize as much, and agree with you. But I do take it kind of personally when people who could care less about urban issues (or dont understand them) start spouting off their grievances for a city and neighborhoods which they never step foot in (outside of the random sporting event/concert/drunk fest), and who really arent interested in addressing or solving the problems at large.

So when someone makes a blase comment such as "Chicago is a disaster", yes, I take that personally because you're talking about MY home, a city I truly love and care about, and my neighbors who do give a damn.

Yes, we are in this together. But when vital urban necessities for millions of people such as public transit get branded lazy cliches like "socialism" by those who probably couldnt even read a bus map, it just goes to show you how at odds our state population is.

I have no beef with people living in three flats or 50 story condos. Simply not my cup of tea.

Politically, I do believe the city is a disaster. Look at the constant line of alderman going to jail over the past thirty years. Look at all the convictions in the Daley administration. Look at their fighting of the Shakman decree. Compare that to the burbs even. Palos Heights, Northbrook, Elgin, St. Charles, whatever. No where else in this state is the corruption so high as in Chicago. How can anyone with a clear heart pull the lever for Mayor Daley?

This is why more government should be locally funded. If the state and feds didn't pour money into the city, (and money into the non-city, to be honest), I and maybe others wouldn't care what happens in the city. It is this shell game with money. If Mayor Daley needs the effective tax rate in the city to be 60% and you want to pay it, God bless. Don't take my state/federal tax dollars to support his mess.

If I purchase something in St. Charles, I pay the pace/metra/cta tax. There is a single Pace bus route anywhere close to that area. So, most of those $$$ go to the east to be spent. I respect your opinion that the CTA is great. Then let the City itself pay for it. Lower your state and federal income tax and then the City can raise taxes on those that live there to whatever they want to cover all this.

Make Mayor Daley and his cronies accountable for their actions. If you want to pay for it all, then that is your call. Just cut the rest of us out of it. And, that way, your taxes are less mingled with ours for whatever services are provided outside of the city.

Of course, we are all going to pay for interstates, rural and in the city, and other, and other sorts of public improvements. I am happy that my tax dollars go to protect the Great Lakes as well, etc.

My personal final straw with the city came over a ticket at the airport given a family member who was picking me up. He got a ticket not for parking in the pickup lane, but for apparently going too slow. Never stopped. We argued it and of course it was denied. When the city has the authority to lien your house over a ticket, life has gotten ridiculous.

There are two ways of looking at the Chicago aldermen going to jail.

The glass half empty approach is that it shows how much corruption has infiltrated City Hall.

On the positive side, at least people are getting punished for it. It would be worse if the corrupt politicians did not go to jail.