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Another prominent New Yorker is throwing some shade at Chicago.
New York Mayor Eric Adams, who assumed office at the start of the year, made a talking point of Chicago having to shut down its schools for four days because of a standoff with the local teachers union over COVID-19 safety concerns.
“This is not Chicago. We are working with the UFT,” he said on Friday, referring to the United Federation of Teachers union. Adams has pressed to keep New York schools open, despite the recent virus surge due to the omicron variant.
On Thursday, Adams did discuss the possibility of offering a remote-learning option at New York schools. But even then, he tried to frame his city’s approach as being different than that of the Windy City. “This is not Chicago, this is New York, where we are communicating with each other because we’re both emotionally intelligent and we can resolve this,” he said.
““This is not Chicago, this is New York, where we are communicating with each other because we’re both emotionally intelligent and we can resolve this.””
There has always been a rivalry between the two cities when it comes to their respective statures. Some note that Chicago’s “Second City” moniker may indeed stem from its positioning in relation to the Big Apple.
Of course, there are plenty of people who will defend Chicago’s place in the American firmament. One writer gave a dozen reasons why the Windy City is far superior to New York, pointing to everything from its lower costs to its transit system.
There’s also Chicago’s pre-eminence in certain sports — for example, basketball. Led by Michael Jordan, the Chicago Bulls won six championships in the 1990s. The New York Knicks, by contrast, have not won one since 1973.
Perhaps the biggest bone of contention between the two cities has to do with a certain culinary specialty — namely, pizza.
Chicagoans swear by their deep-dish style. New Yorkers by their classic, well, New York-style pies. In a memorable rant, New Yorker Jon Stewart, back in his Comedy Central days, took deep-dish to task. “Deep-dish pizza is not only not better than New York pizza, it’s not pizza,” he declared unequivocally.
Regardless of such rivalry issues, many cities are having to contend with the issue of trying to stay open as virus case numbers surge. On Friday, the Culver City Unified School District in California announced it was closing schools next week to give students and teachers time to “recoup and recover” from the virus, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
