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Column: Our year in Chicago: Moving back to the city
Chicago Tribune ^ | 15 May 2020 | J. Kass

Posted on 05/16/2020 8:38:14 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT

Thousands upon thousands have moved out of Chicago and Illinois as part of the great Illinois Exodus, fleeing crime and corrupt politics and the always ravenous taxman. But we decided to go in the other direction.

Back to Chicago.

...We’re not in any place fancy. We’re in a neighborhood. I love the neighborhoods. The bakeries, the butcher shops, the odd little storefronts. The density. The heat on your neck in August. The dibs in winter.

I’m looking down on the alley now. Yes, the yards are small. The density takes some getting used to, how it works on your body, the compression of space, people living closer together.

The street parking is tight. In the winter when it snows, Judge Dibs will find out whether this is a neighborhood of people who proudly enjoy the fruit of their own labors, or if this is a neighborhood of anti-dibs Karens and other collectivist shamers.

Our year in Chicago begins.

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: blissfulidiot; chicago
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A pleasant homage to the city I have learned to hate.

DIBS? In the winter after you shovel a ton of snow from YOUR parking spot, you place an old chair to show that you have'dibs' on that spot. A Chicago thing?

1 posted on 05/16/2020 8:38:14 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Has the Tribune ever printed a positive story about someone who was happy they moved from Chicago?


2 posted on 05/16/2020 8:45:21 AM PDT by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Yep, its illegal. You can shovel it and put your car there. But if you go shopping, don’t expect to have it when you come back. If you want a parking space that is yours, you can rent one. Streets are public property. You don’t own it because you shoveled it. You shoveled it to get you car out.


3 posted on 05/16/2020 8:48:27 AM PDT by poinq
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To: jeffc

“Has the Tribune ever printed a positive story about someone who was happy they moved from Chicago?”

A while back one of the papers had an article about welfare recipients moving out to greener pastures; the suburbs.

I do not recall if it was positive?


4 posted on 05/16/2020 8:49:34 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Well, Mr. J. Kass, if it’s alright I’ll just call you “Jack”.


5 posted on 05/16/2020 8:50:23 AM PDT by katana
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Not a Chicago thing..we did it in Boston when I lived there.


6 posted on 05/16/2020 8:52:22 AM PDT by Mears (..)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

“DIBS? In the winter after you shovel a ton of snow from YOUR parking spot, you place an old chair to show that you have’dibs’ on that spot. A Chicago thing?”

I have seen it more in New Jersey than in Manhattan, but maybe it is done in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx.

A neighbor of mine puts orange traffic cones in one of his spots (between him, his wife and three adult children they have five cars plus my neighbors tow truck).

The more suburban it gets - houses further apart and every house with a driveway and a two car garage - the less you see it in New Jersey. I think that is true of lots of places in the Northeast.

I didn’t know Chicago folks also had the Dibs thing in the winter.


7 posted on 05/16/2020 8:52:37 AM PDT by Wuli
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To: katana
Sorry, couldn't resist. My favorite line in Young Mr. Lincoln.
8 posted on 05/16/2020 8:52:40 AM PDT by katana
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To: poinq
Let me tell you what happens to people like you who take other's spots after they've shoveled them out:

Garden Hose. Water. Car. Apply Liberally, especially in the door jams, on windows, hood and top. Allow to freeze.

You won't be moving that car until a warm Spring day and that assumes someone like me didn't pile a shit ton of snow on top of your car first and then applied half of lake Michigan's water to it.

Just sayin' ...

9 posted on 05/16/2020 8:53:22 AM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Chicago life:

https://heyjackass.com/


10 posted on 05/16/2020 8:54:19 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: poinq

The local law enforcement usually tolerates “dibs” parking on a temporary basis, but as soon as the weather moderates a bit warnings are issued to remove the chairs and boxes from the street.


11 posted on 05/16/2020 8:58:24 AM PDT by PBRCat
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To: Wuli
Not just in Chicago, any of the near burbs that have street parking are much the same way.

I used to live in a near-west suburb of Chicago. I had a one car garage off the alley behind my house which meant my other car got parked on the street. We'd gotten a pretty bad snow storm, some 16 inches plus so I cleared my car off and shoveled out the spot it was in. Went to move the car and the snot-nosed punk across the street moved his car into the spot I just shoveled. I told him to move, he refused and told me to go eff myself.

I ran my snowthrower all over my front lawn and buried his car, then took the garden hose to it. It was WEEKS before he could uncover it enough to move it. He never did it again. Never told me to go eff myself either. He'd see me coming and go the other way.

12 posted on 05/16/2020 8:58:42 AM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: DUMBGRUNT

You’d have to chloroform me, stick me in a sack, shove me in the trunk and drive me to Chicago these days.

It used to be a fun place to visit - the museums, shopping, theater, restaurants, Rush Street and such are top notch and all used to be SAFE. But to live there, now?

Nope. Nope. Nope! :)


13 posted on 05/16/2020 8:58:51 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: jeffc

Chicago is a great city that is slowly being choked off by public servants. Those guys who cheat the system in every way to collect taxes for their pay and their pensions. The city is great but its destined to become Detroit. Its like watching someone die of consumption (TB). The disease slowing takes over the lungs until you can no longer breath. Chicago public unions don’t know how to be a viable parasite. They always ask for too much, then they ask for more. Because Chicago was a strong and prosperous city for many years, the city was able to grow past their union problem. But not any more.

Oh and by the way, its the Tribune who is at fault. The Tribune and all the other Chicago based media take the public union’s side on everything. They complain about pension debt, but they rail against pensions being lowered. They demand that politicians fund pensions pay for government and only tax rich people. Its never the case that they see how impossible that is. The Tribune owns this issue. They caused it as much as anybody has.


14 posted on 05/16/2020 9:02:08 AM PDT by poinq
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
You’d have to chloroform me, stick me in a sack, shove me in the trunk and drive me to Chicago these days.

Well, ok ... if you insist!

15 posted on 05/16/2020 9:05:31 AM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Wish the guy good luck finding any of those nice little shops open before his “year” ends.


16 posted on 05/16/2020 9:06:31 AM PDT by milagro (There is no peace in appeasement!)
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To: jeffc

This is not an uncommon phenomenon. There are still some habitable enclaves within the city limits.

What often happens is that young married couples frequently bail on Chicago when their offspring are ready to enroll in school. With the exception of a handful of privilege academies (reserved for the wealthy and the politically connected), the Chicago Public Schools are a pathetic joke despite insanely high taxes wasted on public education. Parents are faced with two alternatives: finding an affordable private school where they can pay tuition (which is becoming more difficult as the number church affiliated schools are dwindling) or relocating to suburban school districts where children can be enrolled in better quality public schools.

Once the children graduate and move out, it is not unusual to see empty nest parents downsize and move back to the city, provided that they can find an acceptable house or condo.


17 posted on 05/16/2020 9:07:29 AM PDT by PBRCat
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To: poinq
Chicago is a great city that is slowly being choked off by public servants.

Chicago is a once great city that is slowly being has been choked off destroyed by public servants, welfare rats and illegal immigrants who all have their hands out for more, more, more!

Sorry, had to fix that.

18 posted on 05/16/2020 9:07:36 AM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: PBRCat
Once the children graduate and move out, it is not unusual to see empty nest parents downsize and move back to the city, provided that they can find an acceptable house or condo.

That used to be a trend, now it's far more common to see empty nesters and retirees leave the state because of the high taxes and fees. Especially since Kim Jun Pritzker came to power.

19 posted on 05/16/2020 9:09:42 AM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: usconservative

True enough, some are fleeing before Pritzker tries to pass an “exit tax.”


20 posted on 05/16/2020 9:11:47 AM PDT by PBRCat
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