Rant: Spring in Chicago

[jim]

When I graduated college in Dec '85, I took a job in downtown Chicago in january. I knew it was going to be cold, so wasn't too shocked. What did shock me was how late spring gets here - especially near the lake. That lake water is so cold for so long, and any breeze off of it just suppresses temperature bigtime.

Here are the forecasts for Chicago/St. Louis, which is pretty typical for this time of year:

Tues: 38/62
Wed: 42/70
Thu: 41/74
Fri: 48/61
Sat: 46/55
Sun: 49/59
Mon: 51/57

[slide_into_first]

The thought of several million miserable people makes me feel happy.

[Radbird]

The thought of several million miserable Cubs and White Sox fans makes me feel happy.

FTFY

[jim]

Yesterday was really nice actually, up until about 6:00. Couldn't ask for better opening day weather for the White Sox. The rest of the week ... check that month? Not so much.

There is a biting wind this morning. It's an April polar vortex.

[pioneer98]

It could be worse: parts of North Dakota got 12" of snow yesterday. All we got was some cold and wind. Plus, it's North Dakota.

[heyzeus]

I don't understand living up there. Nope. Never going to do that again.

[jim]

I try to go back and think of how I setup roots here, and I have to say that part of me says it's the one regret I have in life and the other half understands how I did it. I had a unique career opportunity that has paid off, giving me more interesting experiences than I could have predicted 20 years ago. If it were just money I would have absolutely regretted it - if I could have setup roots in another part of the country and taken a 25% hit - hell a 40% hit - I would have done it. Fortunately I didn't do it for the money, and fortunately it has paid off to do some cool stuff and be around some cool stuff, but unfortunately that has dried up and now it's just like any other [expletive] job out there.

But it's a miserable place to live, it really is. Anyone deciding to setup roots here really needs to factor that in. Don't come up here in July and make your decision, take a peek here in January and then again in April and then decide if it's for you.

[Michael]

I love living in Chicago, but if I didn't I'd move in a heartbeat. The weather sucks and Illinois is pretty close to insolvent. Recently my wife expressed an interest in upgrading our condo to a house in the city, but I don't want to. Illinois is a terrible place to invest money. I'm much more interested in retiring early.

[pioneer98]

There is definitely something messed up about Illinois. Here in QC the unemployment rate on the Iowa side is 5.8% and the unemployment rate on the Illinois side is 8.2%. This is within the same metro area. Also, the IL side seems to lose a small number of people every year while the Iowa side is slowly gaining people. The net gain/loss is a wash, but the Iowa side is slowly but surely becoming way more important to the area. It wasn't always like that.

Here's the very odd thing: Illinois has lower income taxes than Iowa. Yes, even with Quinn's increase. Most Illinois people are paying 5% while most of us in Iowa pay 6% to 8% income tax. Illinois has higher taxes on other things (gas, tolls, etc). Sales taxes and property taxes are similar here. I'd say overall taxes are probably a wash. If the Illinois government is at the root of the problem, then it is a problem that is more complicated than just "taxes".

[jim]

Chicago is what is messed up about Illinois. It's a political cesspool, sucking in tax money from hundreds of miles away to fund the dysfunction. Splitting this into two states would be fine by the majority of people outside the sucking vortex of the black hole called Chicago.

Michael at least enjoys what the city has to offer. There is very little Chicago has to offer that I appreciate or care for. Major league sports - but even there I don't like the teams except the Bulls and the stadiums are a pain in the ass to get to.