CHICAGO is once more hunched against the winter, though this winter feels strange. It's cold, but it's not Chicago cold: we keep tottering back into the 40's and 50's. Rain storms in January in place of snow. As happy as we are to escape a deep freeze, strange things are happening. A mysterious rust-colored powder, for example, sifted out of the sky one night and covered parked cars on the street. Chicago police officials on the late news couldn't explain it. They had other things to worry about, like the peculiar shift in the murder patterns in Chicagoland.
The murder rate in the inner city has dropped. The rate of killings has increased, however, in the suburbs. This is attributed to the movement of poverty. Whereas "white flight" was a pattern in the city for decades, Chicago is reaping the benefits of the sly social engineering that has taken place in areas like the South Loop around the University of Illinois. Upscale communities tied to the university have systematically replaced tenements. Farther south, stalwart symbols of urban decay like the Cabrini Green housing project are giving way to brighter, shinier developments. As one of my students noted, "It's awful white up in here, and I don't mean snow."
This movement into the cities I think caught a lot of people by surprise. I keep getting surprised when they build condos in downtown Seattle and they get sold out in a month or so instead of causing a glut on the market. But then, downtown Seattle has always been a viable area to live.
What's blowing me away is that downtown LA is having similar experiences.......one expensive condo building across from the Staples Center sold out in 7 hours. As for Chicago, its downtown population in the past 20 years has become huge.........its pretty much saved State St.
ted |
