urbanSTL

According to this NPR article, a significant chunk of St. Louis' job growth has actually come from the Metro East.

https://www.stlpr.org/economy-business/ ... fGWG8I3jyQ

"The report from the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that job growth is highest in the Metro East, with Madison County adding nearly 4,000 people to the workforce. The area is quickly recovering from pandemic-related business closures, said Tony Fuhrmann, director at Madison County Employment and Training in Illinois."

At this point, I think the financial situation of the City of St. Louis is closer to that of Wildwood than the City of Chicago.

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/c ... 709/?amp=1

Complete disaster. Debt is officially back to out of control with limited remaining solutions. Credit reductions pending. Mayor has a single digit approval. Which is only slightly worse than the approval rating of the TEACHERS UNION. He’s so bad he ruined the public’s perception of the teachers union!

https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/new-p ... or-ctu.amp

Mayor Johnson and Governor Pritzker may hate each other more than Mayor Jones and Governor Kehoe.

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/c ... 398/?amp=1

To make matters worse, Bears are likely headed to the burbs. Chicago has no recall process and stuck with him until 2027.

A billion dollar deficit is just wow. They will probably get bailed out by the state (though it is still recovering from years of defcits). I do wonder if they will ever stop spending money - Chicago and the CTA spend money pretty irresponsibly just to keep public works jobs going. If that ever stops, I’m not sure what will happen. One of the few cities that could actually use the ridiculous DOGE treatment lol

Though I am jealous that they were able to procure a sale of a horrible land owners holdings all over the south and west side:
https://www.gmtoday.com/business/hundre ... 99f06.html

I truly think if we could get all of our northside properties to a sale to multiple owners and developers, and not in the hands of basically two sitting on them and letting them burn and fall apart, we could see an actual regeneration. I think there could be a market for ownership of homes in the lower-middle to middle market in the northside if we just had some movement on building new housing and rehabbing around the stronger intact northside streets.

I am hoping Jones accomplishes this

I think politically Illinois would not be able to bail Chicago out. I don’t even think a majority of Chicagoans would support it, let alone suburban and rural voters.

I think some in public accounting would also suggest a bail out of Chicago would eventually lead to Illinois fragile financial state to collapse itself.

If they need to make infrastructure improvements, they should make them. I’d rather St. Louis be in the red with sidewalks and roads of the quality of Chicago’s. Instead every half block here a tree root has popped the sidewalk 6-12 inches up but hey we’ve got a great surplus

People here act like Jones and STL are as bad off as Chicago and Johnson. It's really a joke.

I genuinely don't understand how Chicago is in such a horrible state if not corruption siphoning off tons of money. You don't see Chicago level issues in peer cities like NYC, Los Angeles, or San Francisco.

I spoke with some Chicago residents a while back and they talked about how they overspend on police, but both STL and Chicago spend about the same % of their budgets on police. So it certainly can't be chalked up to that, as most liberals like to do.

Spending tax money on the Bears was really the last thing the city needed to do. So I don't really think they lost out on much if that was what they were being asked to do. So long as the new stadium has adequate transit access, the city will still be the primary place where visitors stay and spend their money when not at the game.

What makes their situation even more frustrating is that they have the immense benefit of being in the state of Illinois, who gone way out of its way to help Chicago while cities like indianapolis, Milwaukee, STL, and Kansas City are largely on their own with minimal state help.

I kinda get the vibe that Pritzker wants to run for POTUS in 2028, and bailing out Chicago would be a pretty bad idea for that. He's been working on fixing the state's financials and creating a budget surplus. I think potentially forcing Chicago to figure itself out could be ideal in the long run. Isn't that kinda what Michigan did with Detroit? Chicago's (Cook County) GDP growth has trailed inflation by 1.7% since 2021 and trailed St. Louis by 4.5%.

Would love to see Illinois invest more in the metro east.

It’s the #1 destination for basically every graduate of a major midwestern college/university. That will cover a lot of what ails them.

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

It’s the #1 destination for basically every graduate of a major midwestern college/university. That will cover a lot of what ails them.

Then why do they have a 1B deficit ?  

STLAPTS wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

It’s the #1 destination for basically every graduate of a major midwestern college/university. That will cover a lot of what ails them.

Then why do they have a 1B deficit ?  

Also #1 in corruption in the midwest

STLAPTS wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

It’s the #1 destination for basically every graduate of a major midwestern college/university. That will cover a lot of what ails them.

Then why do they have a 1B deficit ?  

Because they are either spending too much or raising too little revenue. Or a combination of both.

Here’s a helpful website where you can learn what a budget is. It’s never too late to start learning: https://www.investopedia.com/budgeting-4689726

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

STLAPTS wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

It’s the #1 destination for basically every graduate of a major midwestern college/university. That will cover a lot of what ails them.

Then why do they have a 1B deficit ?  

Because they are either spending too much or raising too little revenue. Or a combination of both.

Here’s a helpful website where you can learn what a budget is. It’s never too late to start learning: https://www.investopedia.com/budgeting-4689726

My point being's that it has always been the #1 destination for every graduate of a major midwestern college / university.  Yet, they still a 1B budget deficit.  

STLAPTS wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

STLAPTS wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

Then why do they have a 1B deficit ?  

Because they are either spending too much or raising too little revenue. Or a combination of both.

Here’s a helpful website where you can learn what a budget is. It’s never too late to start learning: https://www.investopedia.com/budgeting-4689726

My point being's that it has always been the #1 destination for every graduate of a major midwestern college / university.  Yet, they still a 1B budget deficit.  

Yes because wealthy educated people demand services. They demand trains and buses that run frequently and on time. Streets without pot holes. Schools that don’t completely suck. Walkable sidewalks. Bikeable streets. Streets that get plowed. Trash that gets picked up. All things that cost money and strain budgets. All things Chicago has in spades over St. Louis.

Chicago and Illinois’ problem is that their tax policy hasn’t caught up to their other policies. That will eventually change. The question is how soon.

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: Yes because wealthy educated people demand services. They demand trains and buses that run frequently and on time. Streets without pot holes. Schools that don’t completely suck. Walkable sidewalks. Bikeable streets. Streets that get plowed. Trash that gets picked up. All things that cost money and strain budgets. All things Chicago has in spades over St. Louis.

Laughing but simultaneously trying to be thankful for what I do have. Chicago has big city things, that’s true. The density is nice.

Transit is a different type of terrible. Many days I find myself dreaming of MetroLink. Half of Chicago households pay for private trash. Almost every day I ride a bike in Chicago, I miss biking in St. Louis.

Chicago post-Covid is gridlocked, poorly managed, with high taxes. I’m not going anywhere (I’m gay and need to be close to parents) but it’s not what it was.

As a progressive, progressives have destroyed Chicago.

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

STLAPTS wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

Because they are either spending too much or raising too little revenue. Or a combination of both.

Here’s a helpful website where you can learn what a budget is. It’s never too late to start learning: https://www.investopedia.com/budgeting-4689726

My point being's that it has always been the #1 destination for every graduate of a major midwestern college / university.  Yet, they still a 1B budget deficit.  

Yes because wealthy educated people demand services. They demand trains and buses that run frequently and on time. Streets without pot holes. Schools that don’t completely suck. Walkable sidewalks. Bikeable streets. Streets that get plowed. Trash that gets picked up.  All things that cost money and strain budgets. All things Chicago has in spades over St. Louis.

Chicago and Illinois’ problem is that their tax policy hasn’t caught up to their other policies. That will eventually change. The question is how soon.

Illinois has one of the highest state and local tax burdens in the US.  There is not much left to tax.  Also, outside of the touristy neighborhoods Chicago's infrastructure is in as bad as disrepair as St. Louis's. 

Again, Chicago is what STL detractors say St. Louis is. This is a great juxtaposition to show how much better STL has been run than Chicago in recent years.

^ Yes. For all the bickering we’ve done over Jones and Spencer. Know that I would kill for Mayor Tishaura Jones of Chicago.

Outside of SLPS, St. Louis is being managed. I can’t say the same about Chicago right now.

I Pritzker though. He’s a perfect Midwestern governor. My Mount Rushmore is Walz, Evers, Pritzker, and Whitmer.

STLAPTS wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

STLAPTS wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

My point being's that it has always been the #1 destination for every graduate of a major midwestern college / university.  Yet, they still a 1B budget deficit.  

Yes because wealthy educated people demand services. They demand trains and buses that run frequently and on time. Streets without pot holes. Schools that don’t completely suck. Walkable sidewalks. Bikeable streets. Streets that get plowed. Trash that gets picked up.  All things that cost money and strain budgets. All things Chicago has in spades over St. Louis.

Chicago and Illinois’ problem is that their tax policy hasn’t caught up to their other policies. That will eventually change. The question is how soon.

Illinois has one of the highest state and local tax burdens in the US.  There is not much left to tax.  Also, outside of the touristy neighborhoods Chicago's infrastructure is in as bad as disrepair as St. Louis's. 

There is plenty left to tax. Illinois has a regressive income tax system that unnecessarily burdens working people. Pritzker tried to fix it with a ballot initiative in 2021. Unfortunately it failed to pass. It will eventually pass.

Any claim that Chicago’s underinvested neighborhoods look as bad as St. Louis’s is laughably stupid and easily refuted with a trip to Chicago’s south and west sides on google maps. You don’t even if have to use street view lol

Chicago wins national awards frequently for bikeability.

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑

Feb 28, 2025

STLAPTS wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑

Feb 27, 2025

Yes because wealthy educated people demand services. They demand trains and buses that run frequently and on time. Streets without pot holes. Schools that don’t completely suck. Walkable sidewalks. Bikeable streets. Streets that get plowed. Trash that gets picked up.  All things that cost money and strain budgets. All things Chicago has in spades over St. Louis.

Chicago and Illinois’ problem is that their tax policy hasn’t caught up to their other policies. That will eventually change. The question is how soon.

Illinois has one of the highest state and local tax burdens in the US.  There is not much left to tax.  Also, outside of the touristy neighborhoods Chicago's infrastructure is in as bad as disrepair as St. Louis's. 

There is plenty left to tax. Illinois has a regressive income tax system that unnecessarily burdens working people. Pritzker tried to fix it with a ballot initiative in 2021. Unfortunately it failed to pass. It will eventually pass.

Any claim that Chicago’s underinvested neighborhoods look as bad as St. Louis’s is laughably stupid and easily refuted with a trip to Chicago’s south and west sides on google maps. You don’t even if have to use street view lol

Chicago wins national awards frequently for bikeability.

Not going to get too deep into the city debate that always ends up happening (as comparisons are rather unproductive), but Chicago absolutely is not some outstanding biking city. It ranks pretty low actually. For a city its size, it’s rather bad. Its bike score is the second lowest for populations over 300K, tied with…Louisville, Arlington and Corpus Christi (https://cityratings.peopleforbikes.org/ratings). Just because of the lakefront trail (which is dangerous for riders, many collisions) and a few new bike lanes in the loop that are bright green, does not mean they have a good overall system. The roads in the north and northwest side are so congested too, that it is not a pleasant experience, anecdotally. I think they do use good designs when they engage in it, and they are presently spending lots of money on it.

But let’s not crazy overrate it.

I think we are just surprised to see such a deficit for any city. Idk what it really says about the future of the city, probably not much - they have been near the bottom of job growth for a while but will still attract enough college graduates and remote workers to keep the city feeling at least stagnant.

And I understand people in the metro east, who start going “what about us?” if the state continues to funnel everything they can get funding and projects wise up to Chicago.

Saw this today I guess because Ballys big project is struggling to get going - gotta say Ballys casino running shuttle buses to and from Chinatown there is one of the most blatantly problematic things I’ve seen in a while

Chicago Cinco de Mayo Parade canceled over Trump immigration policy fears, organizers say

The new Pope is from Chicago - Robert Francis Provost is now Pope Leo XIV