Alright, in order to begin this discussion I must address the fact that “Chicago began to promote itself as a site for convention, trade show, and tourism business at the beginning of the twentieth century” (Spirou, 2006, p.296). Focusing on tourist-oriented development is obviously not new to Chicago, but how quickly everything is built and restructured is definitely new. Even though tourism and urban beautification initiatives have proved to be crucial parts of creating a global city it might not be the best decisions for the city as whole. I do realize that it technology and globalization play a huge role in the world today, so it makes sense why Chicago has gone through many changes. However, I do not believe that spending millions of dollars in tourist-oriented development, like Millennium Park, Navy Pier, McCormick Place, the new museum campus and the new Soldier Field, has been in the best interests for actual Chicagoans.
It is smart of Chicago to be investing millions of dollars in tourist-oriented development if they want to continue to be a toursit city. However, when taking the time to actually think about what this does to a city is crucial because even though more tourists have been coming into Chicago does not mean that everything is perfect. For example, Millennium Park is unique and beautiful, however, the amount of money spent on creating the park, in my opinion, is not truly worth it at all. There are many different festivities that are held in the park to attract all sorts of individuals not only in Chicago but in the world; however, this extreme spending is not really worth it. Even though the park lures in more tourism provides certain kinds of jobs, especially service jobs, does not mean that every person who is underprivileged or unemployed will obtain any of these jobs. Also, these jobs are service-based jobs and sometimes they are seasonally and do not provide much benefits, such as health-care. City and political officials have to truly acknowledge the fact that there are greater social issues that need to be dealt, like poverty, education reform, unemployment, and etc. Beautifying and globalizing the city was a part of not only Burnham’s Plan but also Mayor Richard M. Daley and even today Rahm Emanuel. We have really beautified and transformed Chicago into a global city, so not it is time to really take into account the social issues that exist in the city.
We have to realize that all of the millions of dollars spent on luring in tourists hasn’t done anything to decrease social issues within Chicago. The public schools of Chicago continue to struggle with students falling behind when compared to other cities and countries, even though there has been numerous different kinds of reforms. Also we cannot forger that, “criminal activity continues to undermine the quality of life in many Chicago neighborhoods,” and “housing issues persist, as more and more residents are forced to cope with effects of gentrification, displacement, and limited affordable housing options” (Siprou, 2006, p.302). These issues should be central to Chicago city and political officials, not spending millions of dollars to lure in people who only visit for a few days and go back to their own countries. It’s time to focus our attention on those who are truly falling behind in our society.
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