The Democratic National Convention has concluded, and you can feel the collective sigh of relief from Chicago that nothing went wrong. It’s always gratifying when the city you love gets positive attention at a national level. It’s hard to explain to people who don’t live here why Chicago is a great city, since we get so much bad press coverage when it comes to taxes, corruption, and pension debt.
We know the city has a shitty history when it comes to political leadership. We know taxes are too high. You don’t need to remind us. But people also seem to forget that we’re a midwestern city with an ocean view. We have real public transit. You can actually walk places and don’t need a car. We’re mostly insulated from extreme weather. At some point you just have to accept that Chicago is a great place to live if you value walkable communities and culture.