Whould it be fair to say that chicago has many problems now because of its fast growth as a city? -

I am not sure now, but Chicago is or was one of the fastest growing cities in the world in the first sixty years or so. It went from roughly 4000 people to 1.7 million people in the first 60 years of existence! No other city has done that, at least around the 19th century, not even New york! Do you think that is why Chicago has corruption, crime, and political thugs?

You would enjoy the PBS Show American Experience. They did a 3 show series called Chicago: City of the Century about the very growth you are talking about, all of the problems you mention nd how Chicago was really a wild west city of a million people. Chicago had crime but the more notable and organized crime came after that period, notably the mafia and drug cartels. Both frankly came from restrictive laws. The mafias, originally Irish north siders and Italian south siders, were an issue but rose to prominence after the prohibition. Drugs were not really enforced until the 20th century and opium parties among the rich were not uncommon before that. Criminalizing them made criminals rich, and still does. I don t personally care for legalizing pot but is it really worth jailing someone for something so minor? Political thugs, yes those have always been around and always will be. They will evolve and societal morays on what they can get away with will change. Just human nature. New York had Tammany Hall, Indiana was run by the KKK in the 1920 s (the fine outstanding Christian Organization they sold themselves as) and Louisiana had Huey Long in the 30 s. Chicago is not alone.

Every big city has problems, the main problem is Daley, if the police could crack down on gangs or use different methods things would be better, all of the aldermen are afraid of Mayor Daley and agree with everything that he says. But against what you said about how Chicago is a fast growing city, in the last few years the population has actually been decreasing. Also Chicago doesn t have the dirtiest politics in the US, there are others, but just since it s a big city our politics are noticed more.

i think so too, but almost every growing city is like that but there is a lot of crime.there is also a lot of crime in beloit but only some parts. chicago is big,growing fast and full of crimes you are correct but it is still a great place to go.

that stuff is in every city. Chicago by far more than other cities though has it s assets far outweigh the little negatives. it keeps growing for a reason. people love it here