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I’m really pleased to get a local rebuttal. The conversation I spoke of happened a little over a decade ago and I’ve been curious ever since if it was a momentary perspective or a longer term trend. Did you see anything around 10 years ago that would agree with my cab driver’s thesis or was he off base then as well?

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Sorry I missed this. I think perhaps 30-40 years ago the cabbie would have had a point, but a weak one. If he was around back then he probably watched people and companies leaving the city.

The past 20 years have been the opposite though - suburban campuses relocating downtown, and at least on the North side of the city you saw a ton of urban renewal during that time. While Chicago saw net population loss, it saw a lot of growth elsewhere in the city.

You came across one of the more common "wives tale" tropes cabbies will tell you though. I've probably heard similar a dozen times over the years. You just nod and smile :)

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