Choosing Chicago Part 7

Part 1 (Go the beginning of Choosing Chicago, if you missed the first part of the series. Otherwise, read on.)

Part 7

When I returned to Albuquerque I threw away the article I had saved about how places like Miami are on the verge of becoming the most pedestrian friendly cities in the country. Barring a natural disaster of epic proportions, Miami and similar cities will never achieve high walk scores for most of their residents in my lifetime. Their best hope is to find alternatives, like the PeopleMover, which creates options beyond the single occupancy use of cars.

Albuquerque is a suburb in search of a city. Living there I’d done lots of volunteer work in trying to reimagine how we could change the city to go beyond our reliance on cars. After my train trip I realized it was time to let it go. I needed to recognize the city is just what it is. Like the lover in a bad relationship I needed to leave, instead of thinking I was going to radically change things. And I needed to be more mindful in choosing my new city. I needed to take a hard, honest look at what I would be getting myself into with the move.

I began to study maps of different cities in earnest. As I examined I realized I was overlooking the Midwest. I grew up in Northeastern Ohio. My husband and I both had relatives in nearby states. Travel back to New Mexico wouldn’t be too far away. While winters are a bit too cold in the region, fresh water is plentiful, unlike the drought stricken areas of the West.

I narrowed down our search. We decided we’re too old to be urban pioneers in places like Cleveland or Detroit. Minneapolis was too cold. A lot of places had too small of populations. Eventually I kept coming back to Chicago.

Once we really started to dig into our research my husband and I realized Chicago doesn’t get its due respect. I was amazed at the number of harbors and yacht clubs. While rents in the most desirable neighborhoods were unaffordable to us, we could find acceptable areas to live. Some were quirky, others pleasant or beautiful.

My husband, a child of suburban desert sprawl, became fascinated with the idea of living in a high rise. Philadelphia has almost none, and we couldn’t afford Seattle’s, even if we had chosen to move to the West Coast.

In the end I decided both Philly and Seattle were too far away from New Mexico. Besides, no other city offered the sheer volume and diversity at such low cost as Chicago. Many neighborhoods were their own villages, complete with a range of cultural activities. The economy was solid and based on a range of activities. We didn’t have to worry that one industry failing would unravel the whole city.

The subway and trains are second only to New York City. The parks and public artworks rival any city in the world.

Best of all Chicago has seemingly endless miles of viable sidewalks. It’s normal to see residents roaming their neighborhoods while walking dogs, running errands, and going out. There are plenty of public spaces. Instead of cars being everywhere, there are people. We'd found our new home.


End.