Revitalizing Chicago's downtown isn’t as simple as waving a magic wand to make the city streets safer. People need to be compelled to come downtown.
The bleak reality facing the crown jewel of downtown Chicago is this: Crime is up, and business occupancy is down. For decades, the stretch of Michigan Avenue between the Chicago River and Oak Street was one of the top shopping streets in the world, a destination thronged with high-end brands and their moneyed customers. Now, much of it is a ghost town of lifeless storefronts, with a vacancy rate approaching 40% around Water Tower Place.
The neighborhoods in these sections of the city, plagued by violence, joblessness and disinvestment and lacking something as basic as a Walmart, desperately need help from City Hall. But for Chicago to regain its footing, Johnson must do all he can to revitalize the city’s majority Black and Hispanic wards and Michigan Avenue and the rest of greater downtown. In fact, revitalized neighborhoods and a vibrant downtown are complementary, each sustaining and energizing the other.
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