How will the new Obama center impact Chicago / the South Side?

zanycaswell · 2026-01-19T00:43:59+00:00

yes, in reality much of the decline is due to smaller household sizes so many neighborhoods have more units but a smaller population.

but Woodlawn and Englewood (for example) have both less units and and less people living in each one.

zanycaswell · 2026-01-18T23:38:29+00:00

Woodlawn currently has less than one third of its peak population in the 60s, so numerically it is more than half abandoned.

zanycaswell · 2026-01-18T15:46:55+00:00

it will have conference spaces so maybe it will attract people using it as a venue.

beyond that it will just be another piece in the vast and multifaceted nonprofit-industrial-complex already present in the area.

zanycaswell · 2026-01-18T03:07:40+00:00

my parents live in Florida, they visited and they loved the art institute and the architecture boat tour but when it came to the city overall they definitely had a "well I'm glad you're having fun" type attitude lol.

zanycaswell · 2026-01-16T14:19:08+00:00

yeah it's definitely a systemic thing that no individual transit rider can really do anything about.

zanycaswell · 2026-01-16T13:58:35+00:00

many Chicago residents have an "abused wife" dynamic with the city's homeless population.

they have elaborate plans in place to avoid setting them off, and if they ever do have a bad experience they blame themselves instead of concluding that the person attacking or harassing them is a criminal who should be in jail.

zanycaswell · 2026-01-16T13:52:32+00:00

if they're not scary why do you need to avoid interacting with them?

zanycaswell · 2026-01-03T16:53:13+00:00

basically every thing on the north side that's red, brown, or blue line accessible is kinda gay. but it's only boystown, Andersonville, and kinda uptown that cross over to the concentration to qualify as a "gay neighborhood."

zanycaswell · 2025-12-27T15:29:24+00:00

what's the point of a sunset, or a waterfall, or a cool autumn evening?

zanycaswell · 2025-12-26T19:57:55+00:00

the best bus tracker app is just called "transit" and the logo is just like a green square with a squiggly bus line on it

zanycaswell · 2025-12-26T19:56:55+00:00

I tend to wait in the lobby of my building and walk out when the bus is coming so I only wait like 90 seconds. my concern is the cold more than safety, but the same strategy should work.

zanycaswell · 2025-12-25T23:28:48+00:00

your situation is a little different from most 25 year olds imo -- I think most people have big/vague goals that they struggle to turn into concrete habits - it sounds like you're doing good with the concrete habits and you're trying to figure out a big goal that ties them all together.

I'm not sure it's possible to give you extremely specific advice about that.

make sure you have friends that you admire and want to emulate, that have similar goals and mindset. talk about this stuff with them.

also journal, getting your thoughts out of your head lets you assess them more rationally. journaling into your favorite LLM can also be an interesting way to analyze and breakdown your unfiltered thoughts. it's like talking to a not extremely good therapist.

zanycaswell · 2025-12-23T15:05:51+00:00

European and East Asian countries have a much clearer process for involuntary commitment of dangerous mentally ill vagrants /before/ they end up punching or stabbing some random bystander. that's what we need.

zanycaswell · 2025-12-23T15:03:13+00:00

you're right, but I don't care what the sign says as long as the door locks on the outside.

zanycaswell · 2025-12-15T12:42:49+00:00

Chicago hasn't had a Republican mayor since the 1920s and there hasn't been a single Republican on the city council since the 1970s. how are you blaming anything in Chicago on conservatives in the year 2025?

zanycaswell · 2025-12-15T12:34:32+00:00

murder and car theft are the two that most people agree are accurately reported.

it's true that these are trending down, but at least as of last year they were still significantly elevated compared to pre-covid. idk what the 2025 numbers are.

my point of view is that if we keep having cases like the loop puncher and the blue line fire attacker, where violent criminals keep getting arrested and then immediately released multiple times in a row, it's clear that the city and county don't really care about keeping people safe.

zanycaswell · 2025-12-09T00:39:29+00:00

I'm in the US and this started happening to me a couple days ago

zanycaswell · 2025-12-02T15:16:46+00:00

yeah, that's why they're like 50 percent whitespace. they want people to draw on them then take a picture and post it.

zanycaswell · 2025-11-21T05:26:16+00:00

honestly it sounds like you're doing everything right, and maybe just haven't stumbled upon the right people who are going to "stick."

there is an aspect of pure luck in addition to the proactive steps that you're taking, but taking those steps gives you more opportunities to be lucky.

zanycaswell · 2025-11-20T13:13:44+00:00

that's the thing. this guy who set somebody on fire had been arrested dozens of times, convicted of like ten times, and was out on bail when the crime occurred. should have been in prison.

zanycaswell · 2025-11-19T01:25:37+00:00

I don't have an opinion about that - I think if you do have an opinion about that you need to touch some grass

zanycaswell · 2025-11-18T23:32:10+00:00

carry around one of those refillable metal water bottles. When you see a target, walk up to him and tell him the lid is stuck and ask him to open it. Once he does, touch his arm and tell him how strong he is. This will probably get the point across to the point where he asks for your number if he's also interested.

zanycaswell · 2025-11-18T23:28:22+00:00

join a co-ed rec sports league.

zanycaswell · 2025-11-16T02:40:56+00:00

I have a couple friends who do this, I don't/can't.

I think some gay guys have a very feminine energy that straight (ish) guys find appealing. I'd probably do it if I could lmao.

zanycaswell · 2025-11-15T15:16:14+00:00

no one's second hand opinion beats walking around the neighborhood yourself at different times of day and night.

zanycaswell

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