On Thursday, Nov. 16, WBBM's Cisco Cotto hosted "Audacy's Conversations: The State of Downtown," a wide-ranging discussion with experts about, you guessed it, the state of our downtowns. From New York, to Los Angeles, Dallas to Minneapolis, to Chicago, downtown has been the cultural center, the hub for business, retail and politics. Residents wanted to live among the office buildings and fast-paced world in sky-high apartment buildings. Then, the pandemic hit the world and now it is clear that things have changed – a lot.
The conversation's guests included Michelle Reisdorf, District President- Robert Half International, a company placing temporary workers into hundreds of offices nationwide; Michael Edwards, President and CEO of the Chicago Loop Alliance who is working with colleagues across the country to analyze downtown trends that impact regions across the country; Michael Kogelis, CEO Big City Optical; Dr. Joseph P. Schwieterman, Director of the Chaddick Institute and professor in DePaul's Graduate School of Public Service for metropolitan development; Lakisha Hunter, owner of That Jerk Spot, a food truck and catering company that had a unique start; and Christopher R. Berry, Faculty Director of the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation at the University of Chicago.
WBBM's reporters also covered the story from at home. How has tourism been affected by the pandemic? Crime on Michigan Avenue is actually down compared to 2020. Traffic is back, if not worse, for commuters. Chicago has more people working downtown than most other big cities. While businesses in the Loop are looking to rebuild. And the real estate market has survived.
Check out our full coverage on this topic here.
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