u/DesperadoPrime

Hi I'm coming here from the US to do Masters Degree in Building Sustainability. But we should also be socially sustainable and be friends. I'm worried about moving here and not knowing anyone so I figured I'd get ahead of it by asking now.

Why is this important? Having friends is fun and makes life better. I don't really know any other reason actually sorry. I start in October.

About me: I went to school in Massachusetts doing engineering for my Bachelor's. I did some cool projects and work as an energy engineer now. I spend my time play games, skating in my city, protesting, eating lots of good food. If you're in my program and added me on linkedin already just know I hate linkedin.

Anyway good luck in classes everyone hope we can be friends.

https://preview.redd.it/m01p6a6brcbh1.png?width=1886&format=png&auto=webp&s=9ce3c695e642c649b3aff30313261b8c2fca8a30

https://preview.redd.it/2g54rte4ocbh1.png?width=1017&format=png&auto=webp&s=f9af5b647a1a124c1dc0b5cfb308a060520e3540

Maybe this is old discourse because these dealerships are old, but this section of Irving Park rd between Long and Leclaire is such a disappointing part of Portage Park. The park is beautiful and there are nice places surrounding it. But then as soon as you walk or drive past the gelato place and bar right there on Long, its an ugly eyesore with nothing all the way until around where Lavergne is.

If you're a pedestrian, its a massive heat island and a dread to walk through as its barren and the dealerships here park their cars on the sidewalk. And if you're driving, there's often cars halfway out of the drives or testdrivers doing u-turns like mad because they know its not their car. And the car carrier trucks basically always hold up one lane on the eastbound. Maybe its a non-issue for most but I feel like its really valuable wasted space and makes the whole neighborhood worse.

West of Portage park has a lot of charm even with some of the slightly quirky new spots. But I'd take an overpriced coffee spot over a car dealership any day. Also maybe I'm dumb but... isn't a car dealership kinda lame to use our space for? I mean I get maybe have a few cars so people can test drive or see the styling in person but most people are just buying big ugly bulbous "mid-size" SUVs regardless of how poor the quality of the car is. Does taking up the equivalent space of hundreds of apartments or dozens of businesses not sound just a little bit silly?

I'm not picking on any of these dealerships specifically. The majority of all of their cars are ugly and wasteful space wise. But like, is there a good reason they last and stay? Is property tax dirt cheap for them? Is it really that profitable? Are they some sort of dealership mafia (yes I know that does happen sometimes)?