Cairo IL and downstate IL

[temporal1]

Subject: Cairo IL and downstate IL

Cairo used to have a population of 15,000 and was an up and coming city. Now it is basically a ghost town. But thanks for making my argument for me of how bad urban areas can become.

Been through Cairo recently. It IS essentially an abandoned city. I have never seen such a mess in the US. IIRC all of the industry has left. The retail sector then left. Only solution is bring on the bulldozers.



The difference between Cairo and Paducah/Cape Girdeau......party in power.

Cairo IL is an interesting topic.

JM,
Note, your audio clip is from 2017, when things were generally on an economic upswing, before the pandemic, before present escalating crime, present politics. Before Ukraine. 2017 was a different world.

i’ve been in Cairo, not an expert, southern Illinois is distinct from central Illinois, distinct from northern Illinois/Chicago.
The deep disregard Chicago generally has for southern Illinois eclipses their deep disregard for central Illinois.

We were remiss to not prepare our two state college freshman for the insults and cruelty they would experience via Chicago students.
We presumed they knew. They didn’t, but quickly learned. We didn’t raise self-centered haters.

Our daughter went to a large central Illinois university, our son went to northern Illinois (Chicago suburb) then to southern Illinois to finish.

It is a formally recognized problem in Illinois that university graduates quickly leave Illinois for work and every other reason.
They can’t wait to get out. i grieve i cannot hope or dream of my family’s return. i can’t argue with reality.
This formerly great place to find work, raise families, find churches and great education .. no more. Moving companies thrive.

In retrospect, i would throw myself in front of an oncoming train to prevent either from attendng a state college, esp Illinois.
IL state colleges are satellites of the Chicago DNC machine. i’m glad many are recognizing the pitfalls of lib gov education.
i digress.

Cairo is an interesting topic. i hope to add more.

Illinois politics (AKA, the Chicago DNC Machine) and its devastating, downstate-gutting policies, are interesting,
i would hope to warn other states, esp warn away voting for Chicago politicians to go to D.C., the White House, federal appointments.

BUYER BEWARE.
Voting for federal reps from failed states makes no sense. That would seem rather basic, if “all things were equal.”
They are not.

[temporal1]

In my earlier life, rural AND urban areas were thriving. i remember well. i grieve for young people who probably can’t imagine it.

[Szdfan]

The deep disregard Chicago generally has for southern Illinois eclipses their deep disregard for central Illinois.

Does it eclipse your disregard for Chicago? It seems that the feeling is mutual.

[Ken]

The deep disregard Chicago generally has for southern Illinois eclipses their deep disregard for central Illinois.

Does it eclipse your disregard for Chicago? It seems that the feeling is mutual.

More importantly, how does the choice voters make for mayor in Chicago affect Cairo IL or any other downstate town in IL in the slightest?

And Cairo itself is largely the way it is due to changing economic circumstances. Goods are no longer shipped by steamboat down the Mississippi and Cairo is no longer a transit hub in the global economy. So it no longer serves any economic purpose. It is no different from a mining town in the west that crumbles away after the mine plays out and closes. Maybe they can reinvent themselves around tourism like Moab Utah. Or maybe not.

[Szdfan]

My main association with Cairo is that it's mentioned in the novel "Huck Finn."

Per Wikipedia, the last time Cairo had 15,000 people was in 1920 and has been in decline ever since the 1930s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo,_Illinois

A major reason for this decline was that Cairo's economy was heavily tied to river and ferry traffic. The construction of the Cairo Mississippi River Bridge and the Cairo Ohio River Bridge ended the ferry traffic that the city relied on. Other reasons stated for the decline are decrease of river traffic in favor of trucks and trains, racial riots in the 1960s and the construction of Interstate 78 which bypassed the city.

I don't understand what Chicago has to do with any of this.

[ohio jones]

My main association with Cairo is that it's mentioned in the novel "Huck Finn."

It's also mentioned in Life on the Mississippi, in which Twain explains that due to the wonders of oxbow cutoffs, Cairo and New Orleans would soon consolidate their city governments since the distance between them had eroded.

[barnhart]

My main association with Cairo is that it's mentioned in the novel "Huck Finn."

It's also mentioned in Life on the Mississippi, in which Twain explains that due to the wonders of oxbow cutoffs, Cairo and New Orleans would soon consolidate their city governments since the distance between them had eroded.

I forgot about that. Good book, it makes me laugh thinking about it.