Marie Sams – Why I’ll
Never Live in Chicago
For me, the biggest reason why I could never live in the city is because it is so flippin’ expensive. I
believe my negative feelings associated with high cost of goods in Chicago can
be directly connected to capitalism, which the second chapter discusses. I’ll admit that I am a happy suburbanite in
that I love trees, hills, my garage, and an abundance of free parking
everywhere I go. When I venture out to the city, it’s basically just to hang
out with my sister and her wife who live in Bucktown, or to watch a rugby game,
or to go to get my culture on at a museum or something, and then I’m out of
there. It’s extremely difficult for me to wrap my head
around the price of everything in Chicago, especially food and parking, and how
a six pack of (even crappy) beer costs me almost double what I would be paying
just twenty-five minutes away near my apartment in Schaumburg. I almost feel as
though the city is able to charge a premium for goods because they know that people
who live in the city are less likely to own a car and therefore have
significantly fewer shopping options available to them in order to save money. I think the high prices could be considered exploitation.
When
we discussed chapter two in class, we talked about the components that are
necessary for a city to be successful. The list of components included cooperation,
services, laws/codes, safety, water and a stable food supply. Regarding the
cooperation and the laws/codes portions of what helps a city to run I would
like to make the connection between these things and capitalism. A while back,
I heard about the interest that Chicago expressed in a tax on every bicycle in
the city. Although I have only biked in the city one time in my life, this proposed
tax really irritated me, especially when I thought of all the cyclists across
the city that look at this form of transportation as a free, and environmentally-friendly
approach to commuting. This form of travel is also a good form of exercise, which
you would think would be a good thing in a time when many governmental
higher-ups are supposedly promoting Chicagoans getting up off the couch. Instead
of praising Chicago biking for all of the positive things that the activity
brings to the table, the level of support the proposed law garnered was really confusing
to me.
As
bothered by this proposed tax as I was, if I look at it from another
perspective, I suppose it makes perfect sense. When it all comes down to it,
the environment is not as big of a concern to lawmakers as is the city’s financial
deficit. The city of Chicago is in a lot
of financial trouble, and I would imagine the deficit is going to keep growing
exponentially, until something happens to change it (things that would probably
be completely over my head as a Sociology major). I would also argue that the
health of the population of Chicago is of little concern to the powers that be.
They can pretend to care, but I’m not buying it. So many things are connected
to the health of a city that are also linked to profit. There is no money in a
whole city being in good health, and doctors, hospitals, drug companies are just
a few examples of those who make money off of a population having health
complications associated with being overweight and obese. If people are
actively trying to better themselves and the planet by cycling in the city, you
can be sure the city will respond in ways to make a buck out of it. If the city
eventually does decide to make cyclists register their bicycles annually, I
would hope that Chicagoans would be less than cooperative. If the idea goes
through, then there is yet one more reason not to live in the city, and why I
am happy to live in the suburbs. I can ride my bike the way it was intended to
be ridden, for free. I do see the value of city life, it’s probably more social
and great for the LGBT community, there’s more culture as well as diversity. To be fair, I included a link to a site that lists other reasons people love living there.
However, I think the more that people realize they are getting screwed in so
many ways just to live in Chicago and they get sick of it, the more people will
relocate to places like Schaumburg, and this area will become more diverse,
like Chicago. It’s really only a matter of time in my opinion.
Photo copied from http://www.upchicago.com/chicago-biking-events
No comments:
Post a Comment