Today’s number: 30 years
Monday, Jun 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Two Chicago neighborhoods, just eight miles apart, are worlds apart in so many other ways…
A recent analysis from the City Health Dashboard, published by the department of population health at New York University, found that the two neighborhoods have the most divergent life expectancy of any in the US that share the bounds of a city.
In predominantly white Streeterville, Chicagoans can expect to live to 90. In Englewood, where the population is virtually all black, life expectancy is just 60. […]
Streeterville is almost a caricature of physical and economic health. The lakefront neighborhood, a mere 14 blocks north to south, is home to a Northwestern University campus and three hospitals. On a late spring day, teens toss footballs and volleyballs as joggers zig-zag with leashed dogs in tow. On a full-length track in front of a pair of highrise condominiums, Kate Gardner jogs. She can’t muster one complaint about life in Streeterville, save for a few weeks of unseasonably cool weather. […]
The different health outcomes are multifaceted and correlate to almost every socioeconomic factor. The median income in Streeterville is nearly $100,000 a year, according to the US census. In Englewood, smack dab in the center of Chicago’s Southside, it’s a quarter of that. More than 80% of Streeterville residents have a college degree, compared with 8.2% in Englewood.
Then there’s the violence and the trauma it brings. … Englewood has long held a reputation as one of Chicago’s most violent neighborhoods. According to the Chicago Tribune, between 2000 and 2017 there were more than 4,800 shootings here.
- Steve - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 10:46 am:
It’s difficult when a whole neighborhood is almost a father free zone.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 10:48 am:
===It’s difficult when a whole neighborhood is almost a father free zone.===
So that’s how today is going go with ya - Steve -?
First it’s the “taxpayers” spiel… now this?
Learning more and more about ya…
- PublicServant - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 11:01 am:
Ever been to Charlottesville, Steve? Just wondering.
- Last Bull Moose - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 11:03 am:
A few years back there was discussion and concern about creating a permanent underclass. I still fear that. Not sure how to prevent it.
The breakdown of the nuclear family has not helped. But it is not the only factor. Some still find ways out, but too few.
In my youth the military draft hauled some people out of their neighborhoods and opened their eyes. That won’t happen now. Suggestions are welcome.
- City Zen - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 11:21 am:
Ken Griffin owns two homes in Streeterville. He’ll probably live to 190.
- Peorgie Tirebiter - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 11:29 am:
He’ll probably live to be 190—-
The good, they die young.
- A guy - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 11:45 am:
Streeterville remains quite a Utopia, no thanks to Jussie Smollet. /s
- Montrose - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 11:54 am:
“It’s difficult when a whole neighborhood is almost a father free zone.”
Wow. I don’t even know where to begin with this statement, so I’ll just end with attitudes like Steve’s are why this disparity exists.
- Steve - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 11:55 am:
OW
It must be Bruce Rauner causing such a disparity. Rauner and Republicans must be using Jedi mind tricks to keep certain neighborhoods down.
- illinois_citizen - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 11:55 am:
There are many factors for this discrepancy single mother homes is one of them. You may imply that someone is racist for stating that but that does not change reality.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 12:05 pm:
===It must be Bruce Rauner causing such a disparity. Rauner and Republicans must be using Jedi mind tricks to keep certain neighborhoods down.===
Aw… ‘nember when Rauner put $1 million in a neighborhood bank for use to help the neighborhood.
Why was that *so* significant?
How often are the wealthy like Rauner investing in those neighborhoods? Not enough it appears when a single million is a large enough blip it matters.
You may want to walk away, - Steve -… you’re digging a deeper hole. Promise.
- don the legend - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 12:07 pm:
Probably not in my lifetime but as the wage gap and skills gap widens even more, a solution that will gain traction will be the guaranteed basic income. When both progressives and conservatives are forced to look at the massive bureaucracies and their billion dollar budgets that run the hundreds of government aid programs in the areas of food, prescriptions, clothing, rent, utility, mortgage and heating bills, travel assistance and more they will see the fiscal truth of the guaranteed basic income.
Government would be reduced, tax dollars would be saved, people would be better able to make their own decisions. Charities would be freed up to fill in gaps without competition from government programs.
- Froganon - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 12:12 pm:
Lots of people are fatherless as they grow up. Good Moms, involved extended family, strong communities, good schools and safe neighborhoods help overcome the loss of a parent. I lost my Dad to illness. Like Ex Speaker Ryan we survived with Social Security and Vet benefits. Invest in safe communities/schools and pay people enough to live and fatherless kids can do well.
- 47th Ward - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 12:12 pm:
More lead in the water is as good a theory as lack of fathers. OTOH, it’s also easier to fix.
Yet we still haven’t done it.
Also, when your first reaction to this study is blaming broken families, you might be better served to focus on the many ways we have isolated poor people into broken neighborhoods for several generations. Blaming a lack of fathers is fun because that’s not our fault. Not seeing all of the ways our public policies, official ones and unofficial ones, have contributed to this alarming disparity means you are refusing to accept any responsibility for this.
Also, that you can read about this disparity and instead of contemplating the horrors of urban ghettos and marginalized communities, you seek to blame the victims is rather telling.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 12:26 pm:
==It’s difficult when a whole neighborhood is almost a father free zone.==
You have proof of this?
- Gooner - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 12:52 pm:
I’ve been a resident of Streeterville since 1997.
Initially, there is no doubt that income corresponds to life expectancy. It just does. When you have more money, you benefit from everything from diet to safe and secure housing.
However that being said, I think the comparison of the new two neighborhoods over-states the actual issue.
Streeterville, particulalry north of Chicago, has many elderly people, many of whom moved there when they got older.
When people moving in are 65, you have a built in edge when it comes to life expectancy. They already achieved the relevant milestone, so those years don’t reflect on the neighborhood as much as it reflects on a self-selecting group of people.
Second, the presence of Northwestern is huge. When you have a medical emergency, minutes matter. The odds of suriving a heart attack are higher in Streeterville because a top ER is only a few blocks away.
I suspect if you compared another neighborhood with similar economic criteria as Streeterville, you would get a significantly different outcome.
Again, this is not to deny that income leads to longer life, but instead to say that comparing the two areas in question can lead to misleading results.
- A Jack - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 12:59 pm:
White immigrants had this problem in Chicago in the 1930’s and 40’s. One way they escaped was cheap housing in the suburbs. Housing is no longer cheap in the suburbs, but perhaps the state can help with affordable housing in areas where unemployment is low. We need to help these citizens move out of an area where the lead levels are high and job prospects are nonexistent.
- VerySmallRocks - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 2:13 pm:
Wonder what the divorce, separation and out-of-wedlock rate is in Streeterville, probably a lot closer to Englewood than we care to admit. So spare me the Archie Bunker mythology. These Streeterville residents primarily are born into wealth/affluence, with a boost from education for the ones who had to earn it.
- Jibba - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 3:43 pm:
This article isn’t about Streeterville, which is just there for comparison. It is about destruction of South Side neighborhoods by job losses due to national and international closures and consolidations, leading to drug use, poverty, and destruction of the family. Actions needed are being taken at the community levels, but better schools, more social spending, and better security are needed. Think of this as something that you personally can do to help via your property tax increases.
- Nonbeliever - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 3:49 pm:
This issue is very complex and multi facted and most people know that.
But anyone trying to implicitly or explicitly blaming White people, myself being typical, is not adding anything to the discussion.
- Last Bull Moose - Monday, Jun 24, 19 @ 4:31 pm:
When I was first at DCFS Director McEwen had groups of parents meeting in mutual support groups. They had the motto “Love is not enough. “. They recognized that loving their children was not enough. Good parenting is a learned skill and they were helping each other to become better parents.