Greg Hinz, over at Crain's Chicago, produced a terrific column on the impact of having our first urban president in too many years.

But in it he also made some interesting observations about the ways city life is different and how it is changing:

"City folks are, well, different. I intend no insult if you live in Winnetka, Wheaton or South Holland. But how you and I live and travel and socialize are different — radically so if you live even farther out.

"Chicago author Ed Zotti, whose book, The Barn House: Confessions of an Urban Rehabber, is a paean to the frustrations and joys of life on the gentrified North Side, writes with trepidation about how he feared his children might grow up to prefer 'the broad lawns of suburbia.'  In fact, 'the kids loved the city, without prompting or indoctrination from us.' Not only did they find the suburbs boring, Mr. Zotti writes, but Chicago's renaissance has proceeded far enough that the city now is 'a mainstream choice' to raise a family, not just a way station for those without options.

"But that doesn't mean it can't be better. Enter Mr. Obama."

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