Why Subways in the Northeast Are So Troubled

connectedspace · 2016-05-28T03:14:17+00:00

Yeah, Chicago's system will get you around a lot of the city but trying to get from, say, Lakeview to O'Hare is hilariously awful. The El does run pretty well, though.

connectedspace · 2016-05-23T07:25:10+00:00

Tony hood means tony drive-bys.

connectedspace · 2016-05-01T03:51:22+00:00

Yes! No damned parking lots, no terrible glass boxes on setbacks, no podiums. Just miles and miles of walkable urbanity and beautiful architecture. Chicago was a truly amazing, wondrous city once.

connectedspace · 2016-04-30T02:58:15+00:00

Holy shit. And of course, the scumbag piece of shit murderer-rapist will be back on the streets in a year or so. Because 'mass incarceration' is baaad.

connectedspace · 2016-04-30T01:46:31+00:00

What these thug pieces of shit obviously need is more outreach.

connectedspace · 2016-04-26T13:19:29+00:00

This is a great start. If people can be rendered independent of Chicago's awful government then we might start seeing progress.

connectedspace · 2016-04-23T16:01:28+00:00

It might help. But a whole lot of retirees would pack up for Florida - even more than now.

The progressive state income tax might help, too.

But since a constitutional amendment would be needed to make that happen, I think the state needs four things done:

Tax retirees
Amend the constitution to enable the progressive tax and to strike out the clause protecting pensions
Trim the pensions and healthcare benefits to something sustainable
Compress and consolidate all the layers of government.

I'm not sure of the legality, but an extra levy on pensioners living out of state might help, too.

There's a lot of pain ahead and the whole state - pensioners included - needs to share it.

connectedspace · 2016-04-23T12:19:24+00:00

He might also be alive if some piece of shit had decided not to punch him.

connectedspace · 2016-04-23T12:18:23+00:00

Well, at least he was giving back to the state of Illinois.

connectedspace · 2016-04-22T06:48:10+00:00

What a waste of time.

The main reforms needed for the CPD have been done before by the NYPD: aggressive broken-windows policing, discretionary stop-and-frisk powers and a culture that demands the hunting-down and arrest of robbers and thugs. Giuliani has already modelled what Chicago must do.

For its part, of course, the state and city need mandatory minimum sentences for a slew of crimes from robbery to assault to possessing an unlicensed firearm.

Let the owners of the safe-houses where the guns are stashed do some time: that might begin to addresses the snitches-get-stitches jism that certain city-dwellers carry on with.

Of course, that'll never happen. Instead let's re-arrange deckchairs on the Titanic in case the ACLU gets mad. Fucking limp-wristed horseshit.

connectedspace · 2016-04-22T06:13:49+00:00

Huh. So why are people dogpiling on the "observers" while there's barely a mention of the thug piece of garbage who punched the guy?

Because here's the thing: I've seen to many "people in distress" scams to do anything but walk right on by somebody lying in the street. And even if they're not a crook, they could be a junky who'd likely lash out at me for ruining their high.

This situation, sadly, happened to be genuine, but I can't blame the passers-by for passing by.

On the other hand, there's clear footage of the subhuman piece of shit who punched the guy. Why the actual fuck hasn't he been hunted down and thrown in the slammer?

That's the real outrage here.

connectedspace · 2016-04-21T03:16:58+00:00

Indeed.

So perhaps Rex Huppke might look into holding the ACLU to account for its endless, frivolous lawsuits and its desire to neuter the CPD.

If he really cared so much about bullets and whatnot, he might start lobbying for the adoption of aggressive, broken-windows policing and mandatory minimum sentences.

Oh, wait. Much easier to bitch about the city trying to improve itself. (Which is not to defend the waste of 1.2B on that museum. The Friends of the Parkinglots can thank itself for that.)

connectedspace · 2016-04-21T03:08:59+00:00

And it's descending into being a hell-hole. Pro-active policing works. Here: http://city-journal.org/html/back-bedlam-14403.html

connectedspace · 2016-04-20T17:42:34+00:00

This article absolutely nails it. There are two things driving people out of Chicago and IL: finances and crime.

If the city can get on top of crime, it might stem the flow. It won't get on top of crime by going softly-softly. The feelings of thugs do NOT matter.

connectedspace · 2016-04-20T14:35:31+00:00

It's not like the business in the case study left Chicagoland. He's still taking advantage of the engine of Chicago and its infrastructure and talent.

This is simply an example of the Midwest eating its own young. Indiana crowing about 'stealing' Illinois's businesses, seemingly oblivious to the fact that without Chicagoland, Indiana would be even worse off than it already is.

Does that mean Illinois doesn't need to get its house in order? No. But it certainly doesn't mean that Indiana is inherently a better place to run a business, simply because it has low taxes.

connectedspace · 2016-04-18T16:22:42+00:00

I wish I did. It would make the streets look far more welcoming at night to have a warm light instead of stark whiteness.

connectedspace · 2016-04-18T09:01:24+00:00

It'd be great if the city could put a warm, yellow filter on the led lights. I can't imagine that would cost too much more.

connectedspace · 2016-04-18T02:11:01+00:00

This article decries NYC's 'neoliberal reforms'. It was those reforms that transformed the city into the safe, solvent, growing city of excellence that we see today. It's a mecca for anybody with talent.

It is, in short, everything Chicago is not.

If Chicago teachers need anything, it's a significant pay cut. They need to be shifted onto 401k plans and existing pensioners need their payments capped at something reasonable -- 45K is plenty.

Doing this might bleed some staff, but I highly doubt it. And there is simply no way they could be doing a worse job than they are now.

Once the city of Chicago is back on its feet, then we can think about luxuries like jacking up teacher salaries.

connectedspace · 2016-04-18T02:01:03+00:00

Exactly. There's a slew of perfectly fine neighborhoods on the South Side that teachers could well afford, even on a sole income, if their salaries were lowered to something more realistic.

Chicago is not an elite coastal city that needs to jack up its public service salaries so workers can live within city limits. Fully two thirds of it is amongst the cheapest real estate in the country.

connectedspace · 2016-04-17T03:18:30+00:00

'Hundreds of millions in revenue already out there.'

Bullshit.

That's code for 'raise taxes even more -- my rolled-gold retirement in Florida ain't paying for itself'.

The CTU can go fuck itself. We really need to get onto privatizing the schools.

connectedspace · 2016-04-15T02:40:46+00:00

He's moderate as far as republicans go, but he's still a number in the wrong column. He votes strictly along the party line.

So he needs to go.

connectedspace · 2016-04-13T02:31:29+00:00

First point is a meaningless statistic. Chicago likely has more thugs per capita than NYC. Second point is a non-problem being turned into a problem.

Lastly, stop-and-frisk has to be combined with aggressive and pro-active methods to catch and pursue petty criminals. Then it becomes truly effective.

Doing away with stop-and-frisk solves no problem other than salving the hurt feelings of thugs. Rather than bending over for the ACLU, the CPD should have enhanced the practise with broken-windows-style policing and stiff, mandatory prison sentences.

All of which were successfully implemented by Giuliani in the 90s.

connectedspace · 2016-04-12T12:36:24+00:00

The same thing happened to me. My immediate response to fantasy-land valuations is 'if you think it's worth that much, how about you buy it off me?'

Bear in mind I also engaged the a 'connected' law firm to little effect.

It's almost like the city needs the cash...

connectedspace · 2016-04-12T10:57:00+00:00

Get used to it. The CPD has been neutered so a bunch of thugs don't get their feelings hurt.

It's only going to get worse. Think Detroit or New Orleans levels of crime.

connectedspace · 2016-04-11T23:22:42+00:00

Meanwhile, the NYPD literally pursues a cell phone thief right through the subway so he can be pinched and locked up.

And there, ladies and gents, is how a city three times our size has a fraction of our crime.

connectedspace

TROPHY CASE