KATHY POSNER ON THE BEST IN CHICAGOLAND
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THE CHICAGO GOSSIP
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THE CHICAGO GOSSIP
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Kathy PosnerThe Chicago Tribune and WGN commissioned a poll to find out what was the best of Chicago and what was the worst about the city. Out of the nine categories in the best column, I only cared about the one that I will reveal at the end of this blog.
Since respondents to the poll done by Market Shares Corp of 800 heads of households in Chicago’s six-county area were not confined to Chicago residents only, I discount many of the answers. I do that because a suburbanite has no right to respond to what is good or bad about actual living in Chicago. They don’t live here! I don’t care that they live in the “Chicagoland area,” because once one is outside the borders of the city they are a different animal. They have no more authority to comment on my city than I do about Northbrook, Oak Park or Crestwood. I hate when someone introduces themselves as being from Chicago and it turns out they live in Forest Park or some other suburb. You are not allowed to say you live in Chicago if you don’t! My rule!
McHenry is one of the six counties referred to in the survey. I checked and the distance from a Walgreens in Spring Grove (McHenry) to my Walgreen’s on the corner of Michigan and Chicago Avenues is 59.44 miles. How often is a Spring Grovite or Spring Grovidian coming to the “big city?” Not enough for them to be qualified to answer questions about the quality of life in Chicago.
The number one category of choice on the best of Chicago list was the cultural activities. Eating yogurt is the closest I get to culture. It is nice is know that there are 40 museums in Chicago, but I only enter one when some out of towner comes to visit and I have to pretend I know what’s going on. The suburbanites filling out the survey probably considered Taste of Chicago and Lollapalooza as cultural events and that is why the category ranked so high!
According to the survey, the second best thing about Chicago is the lakefront. I have lived here fulltime since 1987 and have never stepped onto any Chicago beach: public or private. Why anyone would swim in a body of water where fish defecate is beyond me. There are less germs in my dirty old bath water; want to come over for a dip?
Convenient transportation was very high on the list. Since I have written many times about my non-usage of public transportation, this is also a meaningless category for me.
The quality of colleges and the sports teams hold no thrill. I was happy that the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup this year but that was followed up by a front page story in the Tribune recently about how much money the team is losing. If a team can win a championship and still be fiscally in the red, how good a team can it be?
Way down on the list was the reason I live in Chicago--the people. Every major city on the world has museums, gourmet restaurants, buses, universities and many have lakefronts; but Chicagoans are special. In Manhattan a stranger steps over your fallen body, in Chicago ten strangers rush to pick you up off the ground.
Friends are what makes Chicago the best city and as St. Thomas Aquinas said” There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.”
Friendship is why I choose Chicago.
Editors Note: I consider Chicago my second home. I may stay a few days at the famed Congress Plaza, then it's off to Crystal Lake to visit my family who moved there years ago from Long Island. My family considers themselves a part of Chicago. They go to the Opera, restaurants and just about everywhere else in the famed Windy City. They know whats good and whats bad there and believe it or not, I know some good places and some that are not so good. I have my favorite Chicago places. Some of them Mayor Posner took me too or her lady in waiting Lady Shafran. Others I discovered while exploring the great city. I do agree with Mayor Posner's take of the people there. The people are the best, but not just in Chicago, they are great in the whole state of Illinois. I love her comment on how Chicago people will pick your body off the ground and New Yorkers will step over you. Thats not true. We kick it first then move on. I also never have swam in the famed Chicago lake, but now that I know that Mayor Posner's dirty bath water is cleaner, I'm calling Lady Shafran on my next visit and we are swimming in her bath water. If I behave, maybe Mayor Posner will also have bubbles!
Read More From Planet Posner Here....
Since respondents to the poll done by Market Shares Corp of 800 heads of households in Chicago’s six-county area were not confined to Chicago residents only, I discount many of the answers. I do that because a suburbanite has no right to respond to what is good or bad about actual living in Chicago. They don’t live here! I don’t care that they live in the “Chicagoland area,” because once one is outside the borders of the city they are a different animal. They have no more authority to comment on my city than I do about Northbrook, Oak Park or Crestwood. I hate when someone introduces themselves as being from Chicago and it turns out they live in Forest Park or some other suburb. You are not allowed to say you live in Chicago if you don’t! My rule!
McHenry is one of the six counties referred to in the survey. I checked and the distance from a Walgreens in Spring Grove (McHenry) to my Walgreen’s on the corner of Michigan and Chicago Avenues is 59.44 miles. How often is a Spring Grovite or Spring Grovidian coming to the “big city?” Not enough for them to be qualified to answer questions about the quality of life in Chicago.
The number one category of choice on the best of Chicago list was the cultural activities. Eating yogurt is the closest I get to culture. It is nice is know that there are 40 museums in Chicago, but I only enter one when some out of towner comes to visit and I have to pretend I know what’s going on. The suburbanites filling out the survey probably considered Taste of Chicago and Lollapalooza as cultural events and that is why the category ranked so high!
According to the survey, the second best thing about Chicago is the lakefront. I have lived here fulltime since 1987 and have never stepped onto any Chicago beach: public or private. Why anyone would swim in a body of water where fish defecate is beyond me. There are less germs in my dirty old bath water; want to come over for a dip?
Convenient transportation was very high on the list. Since I have written many times about my non-usage of public transportation, this is also a meaningless category for me.
The quality of colleges and the sports teams hold no thrill. I was happy that the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup this year but that was followed up by a front page story in the Tribune recently about how much money the team is losing. If a team can win a championship and still be fiscally in the red, how good a team can it be?
Way down on the list was the reason I live in Chicago--the people. Every major city on the world has museums, gourmet restaurants, buses, universities and many have lakefronts; but Chicagoans are special. In Manhattan a stranger steps over your fallen body, in Chicago ten strangers rush to pick you up off the ground.
Friends are what makes Chicago the best city and as St. Thomas Aquinas said” There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.”
Friendship is why I choose Chicago.
Editors Note: I consider Chicago my second home. I may stay a few days at the famed Congress Plaza, then it's off to Crystal Lake to visit my family who moved there years ago from Long Island. My family considers themselves a part of Chicago. They go to the Opera, restaurants and just about everywhere else in the famed Windy City. They know whats good and whats bad there and believe it or not, I know some good places and some that are not so good. I have my favorite Chicago places. Some of them Mayor Posner took me too or her lady in waiting Lady Shafran. Others I discovered while exploring the great city. I do agree with Mayor Posner's take of the people there. The people are the best, but not just in Chicago, they are great in the whole state of Illinois. I love her comment on how Chicago people will pick your body off the ground and New Yorkers will step over you. Thats not true. We kick it first then move on. I also never have swam in the famed Chicago lake, but now that I know that Mayor Posner's dirty bath water is cleaner, I'm calling Lady Shafran on my next visit and we are swimming in her bath water. If I behave, maybe Mayor Posner will also have bubbles!
Read More From Planet Posner Here....
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