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Nation’s Leading Job Creator
Step aside Dallas-Ft. Worth. During the most recent 12-month period (March 1998-March 1999), the greater Chicago area produced a net 96,700 new jobs, the largest gain in the country and surpassing the number created in Dallas-Ft. Worth by 3,300. This translated into a 2.4% expansion of the local employment base and led to a drop in the area’s unemployment rate from 4.5% to 3.8%. According to the State Department of Employment Security, this was the first time the local unemployment rate came in below 4% in more than 24 years.|
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Over 60,000 New Jobs in Services
The metropolitan area’s service sector created 60,600 new jobs during the 12 months ending in March. This was, by far, the largest gain of any of the eight major employment categories. Over half of these jobs (33,500) were created by the business services sub-category. The second-largest advance-24,000 new jobs-occurred in retail trade. Construction grew by a new 10,200. The transportation and public utilities (TPU) sector added a net 6,000 jobs. It was followed by gains of 3,600 and 2,100, respectively, in the finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) and wholesale trade sectors.
Construction’s gain translated into the largest proportional advance (7.2%). Services’ 4.7% expansion was next, followed by retail trade (3.8%), transportation (2.4%), FIRE (1.1%), and wholesale trade (0.8%).
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Contraction in Manufacturing
The local manufacturing sector has been suffering from mergers (particularly in the telecommunications field), declining sales overseas of high-tech products and the relocation of certain production operations to less expensive locales. These factors helped contribute to a 1.1% contraction of the metropolitan area’s manufacturing base during the last 12 months, which translated into the loss of 7,100 jobs. The public sector also experienced a net decline during the most recent period-losing 2,800 jobs for a 0.6% slippage in its base.|
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FIRE Capital of the Midwest
Greater Chicago, as noted above, has a growing service sector. It still employs close to the same amount proportionally (32%) as it does nationwide (30%), though. Retail trade and manufacturing are battling to become the region’s second-largest sector-employing 15.9% and 15.7%, respectively, of the local workforce. This is 10% below retail trade’s national norm and about 8% above manufacturing’s. The public sector has been declining for the last several years and now employs less than 12% of the local labor force, well below the 16% average nationwide.
The major anomaly here, though, is in financial services. The FIRE sector employs nearly 8% of the metropolitan area’s workforce, 30% above the national norm. Wholesale trade also employs more here than it does nationwide (6.6% versus 5.4%) as does transportation (6.2% versus 5.2%). The local construction sector, however, falls well below its national average (3.7% versus 4.6%).
Jewel Is Area’s Largest Employer: The metropolitan area’s largest private sector employer is the Jewel-Osco supermarket chain, with nearly 39,000 workers. (These employee numbers, provided by Crain’s Chicago Business, include full-time and part-time workers, and, unless noted otherwise, are current as of June 1998). Motorola is next, with 25, 000 employees, though this does not reflect any layoffs that occurred after December 1997. Telecommunications giant Ameritech employs 22,000 throughout the metropolitan area. Other private sector firms with more than 10,000 local employees include United Airlines, Advocate Health Care, Dominick’s (which was recently purchased by Safeway), Bank One (which acquired First Chicago NBD in 1998), Dayton Hudson, Abbott Labs, Sears, American Airlines, Northwestern University (including Northwestern Memorial Hospital), Unicom Corp., and ABN Amro Bank.|
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New Campuses for Technology Companies
High-tech and biotech businesses are dominating much of the corporate development news here. Tor instance, Monsanto’s Searle & Co. subsidiary is building a $60 million life sciences research facility in Skokie. The 187,000 square foot plant will feature 61 laboratories and is scheduled to open by the Summer of 2000. Information technology consultant Whittman-Hart, with $23.5 million in tax increment financing help from the city, is moving into 485,000 square feet of new and rehabilitated office space on W. Fulton Street. Though 3Com’s new facility in Rolling Meadows opened in June 1998, it is still attracting attention. The 500,000 square foot campus, which consolidated four local offices, offers some innovative on-site amenities, including a concierge to help employees handle personal tasks during the day, a dry cleaner, a 24-hour health club, and a cafeteria where meals are cooked to order.|
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Headquarters and Head Counts Decline
Not all the corporate news is positive, however. Las Summer, Schaumburg-based Motorola announced plans to cut 15,000 job worldwide (about 10% of its workforce) and reduce (or eliminate) several money-losing product lines. Zenith Electronics laid off 2,000 workers in tandem with the closure of its picture tube plant in Melrose Park. BP Amoco plans to eliminate 1,500 area jobs by year-end and move seven divisions and more than 300 employees out of its downtown tower to space in the Cantera office park in Warrenville, which will leave just 700 workers downtown. Before the Amoco/British Petroleum merger, 2,200 Amoco employees worked in the downtown building. The company is attempting to sublease 400,000 square feet of its 900,000 square feet there.
Amoco’s acquisition by BP was just one more example of greater Chicago’s decline as a corporate headquarters stronghold. Other locally-based companies that have been acquired during the past 24 months include U.S. Robotics, Inland Steel, Dominick’s (which cut 112 jobs at its Northlake headquarters after its acquisition by Safeway), First Chicago NBD (formerly the city’s largest bank), Ameritech, and Illinois Central Railroad. About 1,500 Oak Brook workers lost their jobs last year after Waste Management was acquired by USA Waste Services of Houston; 175 jobs were eliminated when L’Oreal, the new owner of Soft Sheen Products, closed the company’s manufacturing plant on the South Side. All is not lost, though. The area still houses the headquarters of more than 30 members of the Fortune 500, including McDonald’s Sears and United Airlines.|
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City Coughs Up Cash
In order to increase the region’s reputation as a hospitable home for high-tech companies, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has proposed establishing an information technology incubator in the landmark Lytton building on S. State Street. One company that has expressed interest in locating there is on-line auctioneer Ubid Inc. The mayor’s office has also pledged to help start-up high-tech companies and to help install high-speed telecommunications service in buildings throughout the city. Additionally, City Hall has launched a campaign to dub Chicago “The Hub” to promote its high-tech capabilities. Certain parties, however, still prefer the Silicon Prairie moniker.
One initiative that would increase the high-tech appeal of the city’s northern suburb of Evanston is the plan by Northwestern University to wire every residence in town with high-speed connections. This would make Evanston the metropolitan area’s first “technopolis”. (The University of Michigan is working on a similar program in Ann Arbor, with plans to wire 20,000 residences there.)
The mayor is earmarking funds for non high-tech companies, too. In fact, city tax credits, worker training funds and low-interest state loans are being used to help convince manufacturers to stay within the city limits. Most recently, the city persuaded Uniforms to You to reverse plans to close two local plants. The company, instead, plans to invest approximately $10 million in an expanded facility in Bedford Park and to hire an additional 250 workers within the next three years (for a total of 930).
As has been noted in past Quarterly reports, Chicago is also becoming famous for its use to tax increment financing to spur inner-city development. In fact, the city has established 44 TIF’s in the last nine years. The city boasts that each dollar invested in this way has generated $6 of private investment. The latest TIF push is focused on seven newly-designated factory districts, totaling about 4,400 acres, on the West Side.|
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Money Flows to City’s Cultural Institutions
In addition to dollars for commercial projects, the city is establishing quite a reputation for infusing its cultural institutions with floods of cash. In the last ten years, 15 of Chicago’s major museums and performing arts groups have raised over $1 billion for capital improvement projects. The top money raisers were the Art Institute, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, the Chicago Symphony, and the Lyric Opera. The money has financed an unprecedented burst of construction. A new $30 million Sky Pavilion has opened at the Adler Planetarium that houses a new theater with a computer-based star show, exhibit spaces and a 200-seat restaurant with views of Lake Michigan. The Chicago Academy of Sciences will more into a new $31 million building in Lincoln Park this Fall. And in front of the Museum of Science and Industry at 57th Street and Lake Shore Drive, a $57 million project has resulted in moving the former 1,300-space parking lot underground and replacing it with a much more inviting green lawn.|
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New Life for Local Entertainment Venues
In addition to the above-mentioned, big-ticket projects, the city’s landmark Oriental Theatre, which has been closed since 1981, has re-opened as the Ford Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to new seats, new bathrooms and updated electricity, the stage was enlarged by moving into the neighboring Oliver building on N. Dearborn Street. The project, which was partially funded by the city via tax increment funds, is part of the revival of the North Loop. Other projects include the renovation of the Palace Theater at LaSalle and Randolph Streets, the combining of the historic Selwyn and Harris Theaters into the new $53 million Goodman Theater at Dearborn and Randolph Streets, and the relocation of the Art Institute’s Film Center into a building at State and Randolph Streets.
At the same time, a $200 million plan is underway to turn part of Grant Park into the Lakefront Millennium Park. Plans call for replacing the Petrillo music shell and providing a mix of indoor and outdoor performance venues. The new design, however, may force some of the park’s current events, like the Chicago Jazz Festival, Blues Festival, and Taste of Chicago, to find other venues.|
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Bears Are Hunting for Space
Speaking of entertainment, that is what the indecision over the location of a new home for the Chicago Bears (NFL) is providing the local citizenry. In the latest play, the team seems to have given up on its plan to move to the suburbs and is instead re-focusing its efforts on finding a site in the city. Though a new stadium has been discussed, the team has reportedly hired an architect to design changes to Soldier Field.
Minor league baseball teams, on the other hand, are receiving lots of attention in the suburbs. In fact, two stadiums are being built-one in Schaumburg, the other in Crestwood. The two parks will host, respectively, the Schaumburg Flyers and the Cook County Cheetahs. The Schaumburg park will seat 5,600; the Crestwood facility will have 3,500 seats. Meanwhile, the Kane County Cougars, a minor league affiliate of the Florida Marlins, play in a stadium in suburban Geneva. Last year, the Cougars had their eighth consecutive sell-out season, averaging more than 7,000 fans a game in their 5,900-seat stadium. Team management has announced a $7 million plan that will increase seating and add a ring of skyboxes to the park.|
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Visitor Count Is Up
Chicago attracted 26.4 million domestic visitors in 1998, up 3.5% from 1997. Business travelers made up a large portion of that total. In fact, more conventions are held here than anywhere else in the country. Last year, the city hosted 1,431 conventions, 33,360 group meetings and 156 trade shows. Approximately $5.3 billion was spent in the city in 1998 by 4.4 million meeting-goer, an 8% increase from 1997. This year, visitor expenditures are expected to reach $5.6 billion.
The optimistic forecast has been made possible by recent changes pushed through by Mayor Daley. Last year, several groups threatened to move their meetings elsewhere due to Chicago’s cumbersome union contracts and lack of hotel rooms. After Mayor Daley stepped into the negotiations, four unions agreed to a new set of labor rules to reduce exhibition costs at McCormick Place, the city’s 2.2 million square foot convention center. Local hotel managers agreed to guarantee more rooms to large groups, to help subsidize transportation between the hotels and the convention center, and to consider lowering convention rates during the Winter when replacement business is difficult to find. The response was immediate. The Radiological Society of North America, for instance, which had considered moving its meeting to Orlando, recently decided to hold its November meeting here for another six years. The society pours an estimated $99 million into the city’s coffers each year.
Some groups still complain, however, about the city’s tourist-related levies. For instance, Chicago’s hotel tax is 14.9% (versus just 11% in Orlando, its main competitor for large conventions) and its car rental tax is 18% (Orlando’s is 16% at the airport, 6% if the car is picked up elsewhere). While the combined state-city sales tax rate is 8.75%, an additional 1% food levy brings the city’s restaurant tax to 9.75%. The proceeds from the 1% assessment are used to help repay the debt on the recent expansion of McCormick Place.|
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New Hotels Downtown
Despite the large crowds that come here, the metropolitan area has just 73,400 hotel rooms (fourth in the country after Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Orlando). That and the fact that occupancy levels continue to be healthy have kept hotel developers busy. Downtown Chicago saw the opening/re-opening of six hotels last year. The largest new project was the 800-room Hyatt Regency at McCormick Place which opened in June. In addition, the 370-room House of Blues/Loews hotel opened on N. Dearborn Street and a 140-room Crowne Plaza was completed on S. Wabash Avenue. Altogether, there were 2,203 rooms added to downtown’s inventory last year (for a total of 31,533 rooms).
Another 4,000 new rooms are expected to be added during the next 24 months. Current projects include the conversion of the lower floors of a building on N. St. Clair Street into a 417-room Wyndham hotel, a new 400-room Hotel Sofitel at the corner of Chestnut and Wabash, and a 340-room luxury hotel (by the Peninsula Group) on top os the new retail development at 730 N. Michigan Avenue. Nikko plans to re-enter the market with a new 450-room hotel on Illinois Street. There is also development outside the city core. A La Quinta and Studio Plus are being built in Schaumburg; and three hotels, including a 300-room Hawthorn Suites and 206-room Hyatt, are under construction in Rosemont. The Hyatt is just one mile from the 1,150-room Hyatt Regency at O’Hare Airport. The planned 250-room expansion of the Holiday Inn in Rosemont has been put on hold, however. The hotel will concentrate on renovating its existing 507 rooms instead.|
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Hotel Indicators Are Strong
The occupancy rate for greater Chicago hotels averaged 71.1% in 1998, a slight(0.75%) drop from 1997, according to Smith Travel Research (STR). The average room rate moved up 8.2% to $110. Though the biggest price increase came in the north suburbs (11.2%), the highest room rates are assessed in the CBD (138$) and around O’Hare Airport ($113). STR predicts the area’s occupancy rate will experience another slight dip (to 70%) by year-end 2000 and that room rate increases will just keep pace with inflation.|
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Increase in Downtown Living
Several new residential projects are also in the pipeline downtown. The 67-story Park Tower, which includes a new Hyatt hotel and 117 luxury condominiums, is under construction next to the Water Tower off Michigan Avenue.
Though most of the new residential developments are clustered north of the Chicago River, a few projects are underway at the southern end of Lake Shore Drive, including the Museum Place at Central Station (on Indiana Avenue and 14th Street) and Dearborn Tower (on S. State Street). A former garment factory on N. Wolcott Street is being converted into 24 condominiums (to be called Signature Lofts). Occupancy is expected to begin in the Summer of 2000.
One of the newest Chicago neighborhoods to catch the eye of residential developers is Prairie Avenue between Cermak Road and 16th Street. The first new project there is construction of 74 townhomes at Prairie Avenue and 20th Street. In addition, the Wheeler-Kohn mansion on nearby Calumet Avenue is being converted into a B&B. It is the first project to benefit from a new Cook County program aimed at encouraging historic renovations by halving property taxes for ten years.
Just north of Skokie, the 1,120-acre former Glenview Naval Air Station is being redeveloped to include 290 residences. Construction is scheduled to begin in June with the first move-ins expected next Spring. Two golf courses (totaling 27 holes) are also being developed (necessitating the movement of one million yards of earth to transform the flat terrain). A new Metra station is expected to open this Fall on the east side of the property.|
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Region’s Boundaries Keep Expanding
To help track the outward spread of this metropolitan area, it is worth noting some of the large new residential projects in the suburbs. For instance, the town of Ottawa in LaSalle County has a new 114-home subdivision under construction. Developers say a large number of the purchasers are coming from inlying Chicago suburbs. Ottawa is 83 miles from Chicago.
New residents may also swarm to the community of Algonquin if plans for a 1,000-acre office and industrial park are consummated. The property is on the border of Kane and McHenry Counties. The project is being pulled together by village leaders and would try to duplicate the success of the nearby Prairie Stone project in Hoffman Estates and the 650-acre Cantera business park in Warrenville. In addition to up to six million square feet of office and industrial space, planners envision a golf course and townhomes. Though some land parcels still need to be acquired, local officials hope to begin attracting developers soon.
Chicagoites are also moving south. For instance, 300 new single family homes have been built each year since 1995 in the Will County community of New Lenox (38 miles from Chicago’s Loop). Currently, there are 20 subdivisions in the town where houses are either being built or for which plans have been approved. The town’s population has grown from a 1990 population of 9,000 to newly 16,000 today. The Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) predicts it will expand to 41,000 by 2020.
Riverboat casinos are the cash cow that is prompting development in the fast-growing communities of Aurora (Kane County) and Joliet (Will County), which trailed only Naperville last year in new-home construction in the metropolitan area. Revenue from floating casinos there have helped pay for the repaving of streets, new water and sewage systems, improved downtown, and the restoration of old homes. Harrah’s Casino in Joliet employs 3,700 (11% of the city’s workforce); the Hollywood Casino is the second-largest employer in Aurora with 1,600 workers.|
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Construction Follows Transit Lines
Several new residential projects outside the city follow the region’s public transit lines. And with three new Metra proposals in the hopper, more development is likely to result. The proposals call for an 11-mile extension of Metra’s southwest line from Orland Park to Manhattan (Will County), and eight-mile extension of the west line from Geneva to Elburn (Kane County), and laying a second track along the Wisconsin Central corridor from Franklin Park to Antioch. This last project would cost an estimated $204 million.
The additional transit lines are sorely needed. According to a recent study by Texas A&m, only two other metropolitan areas (among those with at least three million residents) suffer from heavier gridlock than Chicago-Los Angeles and Washington DC. Two years ago, Chicago was ranked fifth. The study indicates that local traffic tie-ups cost $670 per year in wasted fuel and productivity for each Chicago area resident. Drivers here spend an average of 42 hours a year stuck in traffic, up from 34 hours two years ago. And the region has the second-largest number of workers in the country (11%) who commute at least one hour to work each way.|
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Electricity Deregulation Coming This Fall
Illinois will enter the world of electricity deregulation in October 1999. Proponents expect it to lower energy costs here by as much as 30%. (We heard the same about markets where deregulation occurred in 1998, though, and those areas have yet to see the promised savings.) Illinois has, like other states, created a staggered system. On October 1, large commercial and industrial users will be able to choose their providers. All other business will be able to choose on December 31,2000. The selection period for residential customers will begin on May 1, 2002. And, as has been true in other states, Illinois will allow utility companies to assess a special transition charge (to help cover their “stranded costs”) until at least 2006.
There is some immediate good news, though. Feeling the competition on its heels, Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) recently negotiated a generous new contract with the city of Chicago, it has agreed to build a $250 million generating plant, embark on $200 million worth of projects to improve transmission and distribution services, and rebate $25 million to the city for each of the next four years.|
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O'Hare Slips to Second Place
O’Hare handled 72.4 million passengers in 1998, a 3% increase from 1997. This was not enough to keep Atlanta from surpassing it in the global ranking list, though. Atlanta’s 7.7% gain in passenger activity last year made it the busiest passenger airport worldwide; O’Hare was second. The Illinois Department of Transportation predicts a 35% increase in passenger activity by 2012. The city’s estimates are a bit more conservative, predicting passenger growth of about 24% during the same period. O’Hare’s cargo activity increased 2.3% last year, to 1.4 million metric tons, making it the eighth-busiest cargo airport in the world.
The number of flights allowed here could increase soon. The Clinton administration has proposed lifting the rule that limits the number of flights at O’Hare, JFK and LaGuardia. Under the current proposal, the limits would be lifted in the Fall of 1999 for regional air traffic; the restrictions on large jets would be eliminated in 2004.|
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Airport Expansion Up in the Air
Mayor Daley has put forth a plan to build two new terminals (for a total of six) at O’Hare Airport. The $1 billion plan would add at least 20 new gates. (In addition to accommodating additional passengers, the gates are needed to handle the new 777 jets, each of which takes up two gates.) The plan also includes a new customs inspection facility, additional parking and upgrades to the roads surrounding the airport (including a $30 million extension of Balmoral Drive to create direct access to O’Hare from Rosemont). In another development, the airport has approved a plan by Host Marriott to transform an 8,000 square foot area between terminals 2 and 3 into a work area for business travelers.
The airport is also going to be ground zero for a new office project. United Airlines, the airport’s primary carrier, is considering moving its headquarters from nearby Elk Grove, where it employs 3,000, to a new development at O’Hare. Property here, that is being vacated by the military, has been earmarked for a 300-acre office project. United’s plans call for building 300,000 square feet of space. The company says the facility would employ 800-some would be relocated from Elk Grove; others would be new hires. The company plans to keep the Elk Grove office open. In addition, United recently leased 18 acres here for construction of an aircraft parts facility and Federal Express has leased 50 acres for future development.|
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Business Increasing at Midway
The city’s second commercial airport (Midway) is also becoming a major enterprise. The airport handled 11 million passengers in 1998 (the largest total since 1959). Last year, four airlines-including American, Delta and US Airways-resumed (or announced plans to resume) air service at Midway (all airline service departed Midway for O’Hare in 1962).
To help accommodate the new activity, a $760 million redevelopment project is underway that includes the construction of a new 920,000 square foot terminal (three times the size of the existing facility) and a parking garage. The terminal is expected to open in 2002. Southwest has announced plans to invest $250 million into improvements of its Midway facilities and Signature Flight Support plans to build a $10 million hangar to service corporate jets.
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Talks Continue About New Regional Airport
The above-mentioned expansion plans at O’Hare and Midway have not quieted the chatter about building a new regional airport near Peotone, about 40 miles south of Chicago in Will County. This is a pet project of Governor George Ryan. His $468 million plan calls for one runway and 12 gates on 4,100 acres of land. The airport would ultimately serve about two million passengers a year. Even though the FAA has removed Peotone from its airport planning list, which makes it ineligible for federal funds, the Illinois Department of Transportation is investigating the feasibility of attracting private investors. Chicago Mayor Daley is against the project and is instead pushing his aforementioned plan for new terminals at O’Hare. Meanwhile, officials from the city of Chicago and Illinois Central/Canadian National Railway (the merger between the two was approved in March) have agreed to lay eight new miles of track for a high-speed connection to Peotone, which would surely add fuel to these discussions.
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Healthy International Trade Volume
The Chicago Customs District mirrored the nation as a whole last year. Its international trade volume increased 2.4%. The $58 billion worth of trade handled here was dominated by $39 billion worth of imports (a gain of 5% over 1997). Export volume declines by 2.5% to $19 billion.
One of the factors that fueled the increase in imports was the fact that international shipping activity on the Great Lakes was up 30% last year, primarily the result of low-cost steel from overseas. In fact, a record seven million tons of steel were unloaded at Great Lakes ports in 1998, nearly one-third of all the foreign tonnage handled, and the seaway’s highest cargo volume since 1974. International trade issues bear watching, though. A coalition of U.S. steel producers has filed unfair trade complaints against Brazil, Japan and Russia, India, Indonesia and South Korea may soon be added to the list. In 1997 (the most recent data available at the metropolitan level), Chicago was the sixth-largest export market in the country. Goods produced here for export were valued at $23 billion, up 5.4% from 1996. It is important to note that even though Motorola exports approximately $11 billion in goods from 11 different states, greater Chicago gets all the credit since the company is based in Schaumburg.|
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State Has Competitive Tax Rates
Illinois is known for its moderate tax structure. The state corporate income tax is 7.3%. In addition, the city assesses companies with over 50 workers a head tax of $4 a month per employee. The state’s personal income tax rate is a comparatively low 3% for all income brackets. The sales tax is 6.25% with a maximum local levy of 2.5% (of which Chicago takes full advantage, for a total of 8.75%). In 1997, Illinois residents paid $57 worth of state taxes per $1,000 in personal income, $10 below the national norm.
Property taxes are not nearly as competitive, however. Commercial property in Chicago is assessed at an effective rate of $3.68 per $100, according to Vertex Inc., the sixth-highest rate of 50 metropolitan areas analyzed by the INDEX. Runzheimer International reports that residential property is taxed at an average $2.02 per$100 throughout the metropolitan area.|
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Mayor’s Budget Cuts Property Taxes
Mayor Daley’s $4.1 billion 1999 budget includes a $20 million property tax cut, an additional $260 million of investments in neighborhood infrastructure, an affordable housing program, and no new fees or taxes. Forty million dollars has been earmarked for construction of five new police stations. Four new branch libraries are scheduled to open throughout the city by year-end and additional funds have been put aside for child care programs for 30,000 low-income children.
The property tax cut comes in the form of a 3% decrease in the city’s levy. The mayor’s office is quick to point out, however, that most property owners here are subject to about a dozen taxing jurisdiction, so the actual drop in tax bills may be minimal.|
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Well-Educated Adults
Local educational attainment rates surpass the national norms. Approximately 29% of the area’s adult residents (over the age of 25) have completed college versus just 23% nationwide. Locally, nearly 83% have graduated from high school compared to the 81.7% national norm.|
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More Classrooms: Improving Test Scores
Last Fall, 221 new classrooms were added throughout the Chicago Public School District. In the past three years, eight new schools, 21 additions and 27 annexes have been completed and renovations are underway at nearly all of the district’s 559 schools.
The district has been equally busy inside the schools. In fact, since Mayor Daley took over control of the district (in 1995), the number of schools on the state’s academic “watch list” has plummeted from 148 to 58. Compared to ten years ago, standardized test scores are up, while truancy and drop-out rates are down. Mayor Daley’s changes have included eliminating automatic promotions and instituting mandatory Summer school for failing students.|
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City’s Crime Rate Unchanged
The Department of Justice does not provide crime statistics for the Chicago metropolitan area. Information is available for the city and some area counties, though. According to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, there were 2,392 incidents of violent crime reported per 100,000 residents in the city in 1997, essentially unchanged from 1996. The property crime rate also changed little (by0.4%) between 1996 and 1997, to 7,180 incidents. Both these numbers are well above the national metropolitan norms-684 and 4,641, respectively-which is not surprising since the norms include suburban crime data. It is therefore worthwhile to check the rates in suburban Cook County. In 1997, there were 395 incidents of violent crime, down from 4.6% from 1996 (and 42% below the national norm). There were 4,182 incidents of property crime. Though that is a 3% increase from the number reported in 1996, it is still 10% below the national average.
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Population Pushes Forward
the metropolitan area’s population increased 7% between 1990 and 1998 to 7.9 million. For careful readers, this will seem like a very significant increase compared to the 1990-97 change. That is because the Census Bureau just recently revised the 1997 population of Cook County upward by a dramatic margin. What had been a 0.6% negative decline (for 1990-97) became a 1.6% gain. As a result, the growth in the metropolitan area’s population (for 1990-97) changed from 4.9% to 6.4%.
The revision revealed that Cook County’s population (currently 5.2 million) increased by a net 85,000 people during the first eight years of this decade. Of the region’s remaining eight counties, the fastest grower has been McHenry. Its population has expanded by 31.5% since 1990, for a total of 240,900. After Cook, the next-largest counties are DuPage and Lake, with 880,500 and 605,100 residents respectively. The population of Lake County is projected to grow to more than 800,000 by 2020 according to the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC). The towns that are expected to shoulder most of this growth are Antioch, Round Lake and Vernon Hills.
Though the Census Bureau has not come out with official city populations since 1996, the above-mentioned review of this metropolitan are readjusted Chicago’s total. The new 1996 figure for the city is 2.8 million (an increase of 3.3% from the previous number). After Chicago, the largest cities in the metropolitan area are Aurora (116,400), Naperville (107,000), Joliet (86,700), Elgin (86,000), Arlington Heights (76,700), Schaumburg (74,300), and Waukegan (74,200).|
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Source: Metro Market Facts, National Real Estate Index, CB Richard Ellis and E&Y Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group, 2000
See www.realestateindex.com
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