Soldier field area on most days is very safe. Much safer than South Main imo. The issue isn't crime, it's the stadium. It's the oldest and the smallest in the nfl, which is a ridiculous in such a massive market, and they don't own it so they don't control revenue. They can't renovate (fix those issues) Soldier Field because, 1) they don't own it outright, 2) architecture has to be preserved, 3) area is built out already, no space left, etc... Arlington Park is MASSIVE and they can build a stadium and full entertainment district () where they OWN everything! Think SoFi on steroids. Crime sucks in Chicago, especially south side, but to add the Bears move as part of that is just piling on. Also shame on the mayor for offering almost 1Billion to the Bears instead of using that money for education, outreach, security programs, in the south side to help those communities.
Yes, Chicago has pockets of extreme violence within the city surrounded by areas that are some of the safest in the USA and actually the world. There are a lot of reasons that these pockets of violence in Chicago exist, and it is also true that these victims and perpetrators are almost always black and live in segregated areas. It is also true that a lot of Chicago tolerates it because it seldom extends into their areas of town or impacts their lives beyond hearing about it in the media. Chicago is a very large drug hub from Mexico through Texas, and there are "gang" problems in Chicago but it isn't in the way most people think. The reality is that the gangs in Chicago have very little power, are largely fractured and tend to have zero influence outside of their neighborhood.
Where Soldier Field is located is safe, safer than where most football stadiums are located. The Bears have wanted to leave Downtown Chicago for many years because they are a family owned team and they derive their income only from the team and believe they can get a lot more money by moving. FWIW I think moving to the suburbs would be a long term big mistake. Downtown Chicago isn't like downtown Houston or Dallas or almost anywhere else in the USA. Downtown Chicago is the epicenter of the city, and most of the top tourist destinations, restaurants and things to do are in close proximity to Soldier Field. It is arguable that Soldier Field is from a location standpoint in the absolute best spot. It is great from a branding standpoint and a connection to the city.
I agree but the Halas/McCaskey family doesn't own those tourist destinations or restaurants and they want too. That's why they will move. But I agree, I don't know of much more amazing beautiful cityscape places in the USA than Downtown Chicago and Grant Park area. One of my fav places/cities I've ever been too.
Exactly, the only reason they want to move is because they will in the shorter term make more money. I understand that is the call of ownership in general, but they lack the resources or wealth to plan bigger where they are and work. So they will do everything possible to move to the suburbs.
these dudes got no national press will Chicago's mayor actually do something about the crazy violence there?
Why do people keep harping on a city that Barely cracks the top 20 in Violent Crime in the U.S.? It's literally #20 on the most violent cities in the U.S. The twenty cities with the highest violent crime rates (number of incidents per 100,000 people) are: St. Louis, MO (2,082) Detroit, MI (2,057) Baltimore, MD (2,027) Memphis, TN (2,003) Little Rock, AR (1,634) Milwaukee, WI (1,597) Rockford, IL (1,588) Cleveland, OH (1,557) Stockton, CA (1,415) Albuquerque, NM (1,369) Springfield, MO (1,339) Indianapolis, IN (1,334) Oakland, CA (1,299) San Bernardino, CA (1,291) Anchorage, AK (1,203) Nashville, TN (1,138) Lansing, MI (1,136) New Orleans, LA (1,121) Minneapolis, MN (1,101) Chicago, IL (1,099) source: https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/most-violent-cities-in-america
What would you like her to do? I don't think she is a good mayor, and she isn't likely to be re-elected but she has very little to do with the violence in Chicago. For over 100 years Chicago has been an extremely segregated city, going back to the first and second great migration of blacks from the South to Chicago for high paying machine jobs. The people in Chicago at the time were white people, and they wanted nothing to do with all the black people coming into Chicago, and ever since the city has made sure that the city is segregated. The machine jobs were gone by the 1970's and you had a permanent class of poor black people that were all grouped together in places like Englewood, Garfield Park, Lawndale. The crime rates in these neighborhoods are sometimes 1000% higher than other parts of Chicago. The city has broken laws and torn down places like Cabrini Green and Robert Taylor Homes that were government assisted housing projects. They have worked with the Feds and eliminated the most dangerous and violent gangs in America like the Vice Lords, P-Stone Rangers and others. The feds (me included) went and gutted organized gangs in Chicago. We literally arrested everyone that committed any violence, and there were entire neighborhoods where half the black men were arrested or dead. Now the gangs are splintered and there is still violence but the gangs are teenagers and the targets are robbery and common violence. Violent crime in the worst parts of Chicago is nothing new, and the majority of Chicago doesn't really care honestly because they don't live in these neighborhoods. In the 1970's after the race riots and the manufacturing left, murders and violent crimes were an all time worst with almost 1,000 murders in 1974 and the cities crimes rates remained high through the 1990's until some federal legislation got the crack epidemic under control, it was cut by over 50% after that for the next 20+ years and went way back up again in 2016. It still isn't as high as the 1970's but it is definitely higher. The only way it will go down again is if violent crime gets bad outside of the ghetto and at that point we will see civil rights and constitutional rights violated to keep the non ghetto part of the city safe again. We already are seeing it start. The murder "solved" rate has gone from about 20% to about 50%. The police and prosecutor are not magically better than two years ago, they are just feeling the pressure to solve crimes and "we think this person did it" is good enough and it no longer is "We know this person did it". Consider that only 4% of all murder victims in Chicago were white. 76% of murder victims were black and 20% were Puerto Rican or Hispanic. In a city of 3 million people, there is a white person killed every 10-12 days and most of those are white people buying drugs. I am not defending Chicago, I am trying to explain it. It is a city where the overwhelming majority of the city is insanely safe and those with money and resources are very insulated from violence. The flipside is that the 4-5 black neighborhoods (and it isn't a stereotype, these neighborhoods are 99% black) and two Hispanic neighborhoods (over 90% Hispanic) are incredibly dangerous between 7pm and 5am. However, when it comes to voting and quality of life, people in Chicago are willing to accept that for the most part because where they live and shop and go is very safe and they all know to avoid places like Garfield Park or Humboldt.
The short answer is politics and Fox News. Having said that, Chicago really isn't the 20th most dangerous. It is the most dangerous in the country in 5 neighborhoods and it is safest major city in the other parts of the city. So it is an extreme. For example, on that list Rockford is #7 and St. Louis is #1. I am in those towns all the time. The entire towns are sketchy but the worst part of St. Louis isn't nearly as bad and Garfield Park in Chicago, where it is a war zone on the weekend with constant gunfire until 5 am. Almost all of the shooters are under 26 and most are teenagers.
It's easily the biggest city on the list. St Louis doesn't have 500K residents. And being 20th worst is not ideal when we have 100s of cities.
None at all…no BLM, no statues in their names or murals …interesting On a sidenote these guys got killed horrifically I mean their bodies were thrown what looked like 100 feet or more down the street
