Chicago, now’s

not the time for quitters.

It saddens me to hear of people who have decided to leave the city. Crime and costs of living are the two most often reasons for pulling up the stakes.

Of the people that I talk to it seems it is the younger families that truly struggled with the decision. I do not begrudge the young families that had to come to these terms by obviously making some very tough decisions. Where my begrudgery appears is with the often-wealthier cohort who it seems have a much easier time with the decision process. Whether born here or migrated here after college this City gave them the opportunity to create the wealth they have. No one moves to Rockford if you were born here for a better life. No one moves to Rockford after college for opportunity (All due respect to Rockford).

The opportunity was here and if you were industrious, the city that was built by generations of hard-working people and entrepreneurs, made it that much easier for everyone else that came along. Chicago is an international brand that states something about you if you were lucky enough to live and or work here.

In a recent trip to Italy, I find myself in a small town in a small café and the owner asks where I am from. I say Chicago. The eyebrows go up and immediate recognition and credibility is given for living in a city with the deep history and impact on world culture.  Imagine if I said Dekalb Illinois.  I would get a very curious look and a follow up where??  From Chicago means something.

When I was a freshman in college, I asked a classmate where he was from, and he said Chicago. I said cool which part. He said Kankakee. I said OH. He asked where I was from, and I said East Lakeview. He said where is that ? I did not think it was worth trying to explain...

It seems to me there should be a sense of obligation to the place that created the opportunity for you.

The city opened its arms and said take in the lakefront and my parks and my world class architecture and my music and food and immense diversity and financial district and neighborhoods and make a life here. You accepted the invitation, and the city brought you a level of sophistication and culture that more than likely made you a better person. You leveraged her for a life that would arguably could not have been duplicated in many places in the world.

The issue as I see it is perceived risk and your current station in life. If you made your money and let’s, say for sake of trying to make my point there was a 1 percent chance

of being involved in a violent crime. The perception though is that your risk is now 10% higher and reality maybe it is really 2%. Well, you are no longer willing to take the risk because you earned your quality of life and money. On a risk adjusted basis for many people who come here the rewards are worth marginally more risk.

The famous maxwell street market in the 1930s up to the 1950s had a homicide rate that would probably be 20 times what that neighborhood is today. That did not stop many Russian and Ukrainian Jews from moving there.

Why???  Because it was less risky than hanging out in Tsarist Russia. To this day bar none this  is the greatest city in the world for ease of entry into the workplace and opportunities for upward mobility. Dishwasher becomes busboy who becomes waiter who becomes restaurant owner.  If you want it is here for in exchange for your desire and commitment.

I never met an employer who cared what color you were or which god you prayed to  if you showed up were not late and put in eight.

I will not deny her problems, but bad news goes viral and gets exponential attention in our culture. Fear gets your attention, and this is sold to us to keep us tuned into more bad news. There are 100,000 events that occur in this city every day that represent the best of us. No one will ever celebrate or be newsworthy enough for us. The Uber driver  who dropped off my wife and waited until he saw her get through the front door before he drove off.  The nurse who does her best to console an elderly woman as her husband is taken into the ER at Northwestern hospital.

The doorman at a local hotel who takes a few minutes every day to at least acknowledge a homeless woman that passes by his  station.  There is more greatness in

the people of this city than most of us are led to believe.

Our new Mayor was by far the smartest and more charismatic of all the candidates. Unfortunately, the city’s issues as pressing as they are do not allow for some on the job training. The business community did not like some comments from the candidate and now Mayor relative to his position on crime.   I want to give him the benefit of the doubt of course and wish him the best.  My advice to him though would be to create a knights of the round table. No politicians just the best minds on crime and business retention and growth.

The city houses some of the best minds in the world and there are solutions if the city is rowing with both oars. It seems that half measures and politics have made it seem like we are rowing with one oar and around we go.

There is a long list of very important issues to address but crime and business growth and retention it seems to me must come first. Otherwise, there won’t be the continued investment we need that it turn will finance our other problems.

In Short or just a long way of saying that in time of need we should not quit. If you made it here and are leaving that’s ok. That does not prevent you from taking a part in trying to help the city. It took me 45 minutes to write this and in my small way I am doing something. Imagine what would happen if everyone did the same….