News-Record.com

Having spent nearly a week in Chicago for the Unity minority journalism conference, I find myself more and more enamored of the place.

The metallic skyline, in shimmering hues of blue and gray, looks surreal, like a sci-fi futurescape (in fact, the city did stand in as Gotham City in the last two Batman movies).

And those are only the tallest buildings. Sprouting throughout are smaller high-rise condos -- smaller, that is, by Chicago standards.

The nearly two dozen I saw were all taller than the tallest high-rise in Greensboro. What a difference even one of them could make if we could whisk it out of Chi-town and transplant it on North Elm Street.

Another impressive thing about Chicago is its walkability. The lakefront area consists of miles and miles of biking, jogging and walking paths that interconnect neighborhoods and parks.

The wider, tree-lined paths near the city's Museum Campus are divided into left and right lanes with blue stripes, like a superhighway for people.

It is a pleasant place with a view of downtown on one side and the bright-blue waters of Lake Michigan on the other.

There are bridges across railroad tracks and well-lit tunnels under Lakeshore Drive.. As you stroll past Soldier Field, you imagine going to a Bears game on a fall Sunday.

I'm guessing this is what the Downtown Greenway people have in mind for Greensboro.

I'm beginning to see their point more clearly.