Worse thing to happen to Chicago since the great fire. Mabey Amazon gave him an early, heads up, no because of the shootings in the hoods foisted to the top in the news that it was a no go, as in no go zones.
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/greg-...ng-re-election
Greg Hinz On Politics
September 04, 2018 10:51 AM |UPDATED A minute ago
Emanuel not running for re-election
In a stunning move that throws the city's future very much up for grabs, the mayor announced today he will not seek a third term.
In a major surprise that throws the city's future very much up for grabs, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced today he will not seek a third term by running for re-election in the February city election.
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Emanuel gave no reason for his decision, which came despite strong signals from staffers and aides in recent weeks that he would indeed run but that he was delaying the decision until an opportune moment.
But his decision comes just before the beginning of the trial of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke for killing Laquan McDonald, an extraordinarily divisive case whose outcome could spark great unrest.
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http://www.chicagobusiness.com/joe-c...-it-just-might
Amazon HQ2 is Chicago's to lose—and it just might
Chicago should land Amazon's HQ2 if it picks the place with the biggest, cheapest reserves of its most-needed resource—tech talent.
But the city has plenty of downsides to give Amazon pause.
Chicago should win the multicity contest for Amazon's second headquarters. That doesn't mean it will.
After reading my colleague John Pletz's excellent analysis in the Aug. 20 issue of Crain's, I'm convinced Chicago has the strongest business case for the e-commerce giant's second headquarters. In short, Chicago's advantage boils down to this: We have more of what Amazon needs most, and at lower prices, than the other 20 locations on Amazon's short list.
The resource Amazon needs most is talent, and lots of it. Torrents of fresh talent power its rapid expansion into seemingly every corner of the economy. As Amazon grows, its hometown of Seattle can no longer meet its ravenous appetite for talent. That's a big reason for setting up a second operating base. Amazon is looking for a place where it can find enough workers with the right skills to fill as many as 50,000 jobs—without breaking the bank.
It's a basic business …
So Chicago should win if Amazon follows customary business practice and picks the place with bigger, cheaper reserves of its most needed resource, right? If only it were that simple.
Amazon surely will consider many factors in choosing its HQ2. And while it likely will place a high priority on access to sufficient quantities of talent at sufficiently low prices,
Chicago has plenty of downsides to give Amazon pause. Massive public pension funding shortfalls remain unresolved, which could lead to massive future tax increases. Political gridlock in Springfield could leave Illinois unable to perform basic government functions.
But if I had to pick the shortcoming most likely to sink Chicago's chances with Amazon, it would be crime. In two bloody weekends this month, 19 people were killed and 113 wounded in the city. The carnage got national attention, reinforcing Chicago's reputation as a dangerous, crime-ridden place.
True, most of the shootings happened in a few neighborhoods on the South and West sides, far from the sites the Emanuel administration pitched to Amazon. And city officials are right when they say overall crime rates are declining in Chicago, or note that other cities have higher murder rates.
But there's no denying that Chicago has a serious crime problem. A recent spate of widely reported carjackings and muggings in the Loop and other areas long considered safe stoked public anxiety over street crime.
No company wants to expose its workers to unacceptable safety risks. So far, crime fears haven't deterred tech firms such as Google, Facebook and Salesforce from bringing thousands of jobs to Chicago. Let's hope Amazon isn't the first to decide Chicago's risks outweigh its advantages.
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