[concrete-faucet]

I stay in Chicago because I have a very high quality of life here. Higher than I could get in many other places.

Every single person that I work with that complains about taxes and money lives in the suburbs. It's no wonder, of course. Property taxes in many Chicago suburbs are double or even triple than those inside the actual city of Chicago. Many of these people once lived in Chicago, but had kids and then left for a house with a yard in some suburb with good schools and high taxes. "It's cheaper than private school" is how they justify it. They buy a second car and drive it to the train station, paying a monthly parking fee in addition to their monthly train ticket.

I ride a bicycle to and from work, except when it is too wet or slippery to be safe. I take the bus when that happens. I get home from work and am spending time with my family before the commuter train leaves the station with my suburban colleagues on board. Within a 20 minute walk, we have 5 different parks to choose from. We have some of the best museums and cultural attractions in the world available to us. These places offer free workshops and learning events for children and are required by law to offer a minimum number of days per year of free admission for local residents.

I live in a high-rise building filled with a wide variety of people of all different skin tones. Immigrants from Europe, Asia, Latin America and even Africa. Same sex couples. Interracial couples. Muslims, Catholics and Evangelicals. This has been what my children know as normal and have for their entire lives.

Perhaps you may want to consider that leaving a place like Chicago is the ethically questionable decision, especially if you are concerned about the thought processes, viewpoints, and experiences that are required to make neocolonialism and war seem like good ideas.

[sol_remmy]

The simple fact is that Chicago does not have enough bedrooms to house all the people working in the city.

SOMEONE has to live in the suburbs

[tptacek]

This does not at all ring true. I mean, yes, you could not take all of Chicagoland tomorrow and cram it into the city limits. But that's in part because a fraction --- a significant fraction, and probably the majority --- of suburban residents chose to live in the suburbs because they did not want to live in the city.

I live in Oak Park, just across Austin, because when we moved here we were concerned about the schools in the neighborhood we wanted (Lincoln Square). We had no trouble finding houses to look at, though! (I sort of regret the decision we made, though I like where we live now.)

In fact, even in the most desirable neighborhoods in the city, it's straightforward to find housing in Chicago. People do not move to the suburbs because there's no room in Chicago. There are cities that have that problem. And Chicago has a lot of problems! But it does not have that problem.

[concrete-faucet]

Oak Park is very urban and not at all a typical suburb, though the property taxes are astronomical! You already know that though...