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Chicago Is America's Last Remaining Affordable Skyscraper City

chicagobusiness.com

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Re: Chicago Is America's Last Remaining Affordable Skyscraper City

#71

Post by weberc2 »

pastage wrote: post #67
weberc2 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tallest building in Iowa is 44 stories in Des Moines, and it's far more affordable than any of the three. But I would never call DM a skyscraper city. EDIT: Downvoters, what's up? Do you object to "Tallest building in IA is 44 stories" or "DM is more affordable" or "DM is not a skyscraper city"? None of these are particularly controversial, and the first two are empirically true.

The argument here is about how zoning can create dense cities with tall buildings in an affordable way. At a fifth of the population density of course Des Moins is going to have cheaper land.

I agree. That was my point; it's silly to say "there is at least one skyscraper in ${CITY} and ${CITY} is more affordable than Chicago, ergo ${CITY} is a skyscraper city", which is the argument the OP made about Pittsburgh and Atlanta. I just demonstrated the silliness of the reasoning by taking it to its extreme conclusion with Des Moines.

Re: Chicago Is America's Last Remaining Affordable Skyscraper City

#73

Post by mikestew »

ChicagoDave wrote: post #64
psweber wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, I can help with your home sickness. It's brutal winter here for 8 months followed by a manic, hot four months of summer. No spring or fall. It takes two hours to get to anything that could reasonably be called nature. The people are great, but their main form of socializing is heavy drinking. It's cold? Let's drink about it. It's hot? Let's drink about it. It's great, but no city is perfect.

The cold keeps bug size small, we don't have snakes or deadly spiders, and the change of seasons invigorates the mind.

We don't have poisonous snakes or spiders where I live, and the bugs are few despite rarely getting below freezing. But it rains all the time in Seattle. And the volcanoes; third one that's blown up this week. Stay away, we have other things that will kill you beside bugs and reptiles.

Re: Chicago Is America's Last Remaining Affordable Skyscraper City

#74

Post by m0rose »

falcolas wrote: post #70
dreamcompiler wrote: post #61

I have only two problems with Chicago: 1. Winter 2. It's in Illinois. Which will take a century to dig itself out of a century of being the most corrupt state government in the US.

Lake effects winters are nothing to scoff at. Cold temperatures, wind, and excessive snow/freezing rain make for some really miserable times.

Sitting here in the middle of a heatwave, I have to ask: are they really that bad when you can just add warm-weather clothing? Or when even just moving will generate some heat? I've heard in Wisconsin you have to breathe a certain way to warm the air before it gets to your lungs, so maybe that's the problem? I've only lived in hot climates, so I have no concept of true cold. But with how summers have been getting hotter and hotter lately, I'm tempted to make a change.

Re: Chicago Is America's Last Remaining Affordable Skyscraper City

#75

Post by cafard »

wuliwong wrote: post #57
mactintyre wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to your source (Wikipedia), Chicago has around 78 buildings over 550 feet. Pittsburgh has 19 and Atlanta has 16. So the article is right and Chicago is still in a league of its own in that regard.

The article specifically mentions Boston, San Francisco, Washington and New York as other skyscraper cities. I think their "definition" of skyscraper city is a more about density than just the number of 40+ story buildings. I think possibly the only legit "skyscraper city" that has been left out according to the article's "definition" would be Philadelphia which is affordable still.

Wikipedia doesn't show anything in Washington, DC, higher than 15 stories, for what that's worth. I certainly have never thought of it as a "skyscraper city".

Re: Chicago Is America's Last Remaining Affordable Skyscraper City

#76

Post by AtlasBarfed »

remyp wrote: post #5

I've lived in Chicago for nearly 10 years and will continue preaching its advantages to anyone who will listen. Crime isn't as big a problem as people think it is (it's isolated to a few long-disadvantaged neighborhoods), it's affordable, cars are optional, and we have two airports to escape the winter weather.

Is crime key to keeping affordable housing for the poor available?

Re: Chicago Is America's Last Remaining Affordable Skyscraper City

#77

Post by SEJeff »

RubenSandwich wrote: post #9

I'm going to dispute this claim. Pittsburgh, PA has skyscrapers[1], defined as any building with or over 40 floors, and is more affordable then Chicago[2]. In fact Atlanta, GA also fits in this category as well. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_P... [2] https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...

I suspect it really means 60+ stories in the "supertall/megatall" skyscraper category, of which there are quite a few in Chicago. Chicago is biased however, as the technology to build supertall and higher skyscrapers was invented by a Chicago architect. The same tech in the Sears/Willis tower is used in the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Re: Chicago Is America's Last Remaining Affordable Skyscraper City

#78

Post by ac29 »

SilasX wrote: post #37
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it’s written into the state constitution Which can be amended if there is popular will. I don’t think state pensions are enforceable under federal law.

But isn't the population of Chicago (like the rest of the US) getting older? Aren't the demographics shifting against the political popularity of cutting pension payments?

The US isn't aging, at least not significantly. The number of people in each 5 year bracket from 0 to 60 is roughly even: https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/newsroom/blogs/201...

The number of people over in the brackets over 60 is substantially less than the younger brackets. Median age of the US population is 37.9.

Going back farther in history (like 1930 and before), the population pyramid did look quite different, though. There's a fun tool here to check it out (1900-2000): https://www.census.gov/dataviz/visualizations/055/

Re: Chicago Is America's Last Remaining Affordable Skyscraper City

#80

Post by onetimemanytime »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #29
toomuchtodo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not before they’re due, and it’s written into the state constitution (Article XIII, Section 5). Those obligations (~$105 billion) won’t be shed. “Benefits to public employees are protected under the Illinois Constitution, and a recent attempt to reduce the unfunded liability by reducing retirees’ benefits was struck down by the Illinois Supreme Court” http://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-illinois-pension-law-court-...

> it’s written into the state constitution Which can be amended if there is popular will. I don’t think state pensions are enforceable under federal law.

Do you know if they can modify existing contracts ? So they take out that article but I doubt it applies to the contracts (pensions) done while the provision was in force.
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