I am surprised to learn this. Fort Wayne was the site of the first-ever Chicago POWER indoor soccer game on 4 November 1988, and I was there. I've been there numerous times. Once, I even got the 'hard hat' tour of the Falstaff Brwy. before it closed {It was not expecting visitors, so...}. Most of my travels there were concentric to US 30. How far off this path are these venues?

Katie wrote:That is odd. I wonder why Fort Wayne isn't on that list. Separately, I wonder why the third largest city in the US doesn't attract this particular immigrant population (and perhaps others) to the same degree that smaller cities such as Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis-St. Paul do. Obviously, a seed population, an existing immigrant community, draws more immigrants from the same country. So what's off-putting about Chicago? Cost of living, perhaps? But that doesn't explain why New York is third on the list (or fourth, if Fort Wayne is erroneously omitted).

You're asking the wrong questions or aren't understanding something fundamental here regarding the refugee experience. The vast majority of the Burmese in Ft. Wayne, just like Chicago, are refugees. They don't get to pick where they live. I grew up in Rochester, MN - there's a bunch of refugees from Somalia, Vietnam, and Cambodia who came there in the early 1990s (even more went to the Minneapolis area). I grew up with a ton of them. They didn't get to pick where they ended up at all. It's not how it works. They were all just happy to get away from the violence they were fleeing, even if it meant enduring winters in Minnesota after coming from SE Asia. This isn't like some Uncle who settles in Nashville of all places and gets his family there. The refugee process is a bit different and has more to do with local governments and partnerships. In the case of Ft. Wayne, it just so happens that most likely they were one of the first to be open to refugees from Myanmar and still are to this day. They have many services to people from this country, and this just helps even more in getting more refugees from the same country there.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/aske ... d-live-u-s

The refugees who agree to enter the resettlement process don’t get to choose where they go, said Boian. UNHCR works with countries willing to accept refugees to determine where to refer them, taking into account the country’s quotas, if the refugees have friends or family already living there, and their cultural affinities, he said.

It's weird how Chicagoans crap so much on their own city even when dealing with a refugee population who almost never gets to actually pick where they end up.

Of course, the US Census thinks differently regarding the population born in Burma. This is from the 2017 ACS 5 year, table B05006 for population born in Burma by metropolitan area:

1. San Francisco MSA: 10,405 people born in Burma
2. Los Angeles MSA: 8839 people
3. NYC MSA: 8223 people
4. Indianapolis MSA: 6744 people
5. Minneapolis MSA: 6058 people
6. Dallas MSA: 5229 people
7. Atlanta MSA: 4648 people
8. Washington DC MSA: 3622 people
9. Ft. Wayne, IN MSA: 3282 people
10. Chicago MSA: 2994 people
11. Buffalo, NY MSA: 2655 people
12. Tulsa, OK MSA: 2650 people
13. Des Moines MSA: 2368 people
14. Jacksonville MSA: 2351 people
15. Omaha MSA: 2248 people
16. Houston MSA: 2200 people
17. Baltimore MSA: 2075 people
18. Utica, NY MSA: 1909 people
19. Nashville MSA: 1876 people
20. Seattle MSA: 1826 people
21. Phoenix MSA: 1766 people
22. Kansas City MSA: 1757 people
23. Denver MSA: 1577 people
24. Boston MSA: 1544 people
25. Portland MSA: 1508 people

Hi all,

We've removed a few OT posts and let a few that were straying stand. And as long as the thread's back on track, we'll let what's left of this sequence stand and move on. But please, do try to keep the conversation focused and on-topic.

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Thanks,

=R=
for the Moderators

FYI - The owners are trying to sell the restaurant as a turn key. I got carry-out Tuesday night, and a sign on the door with phone # was posted.

Mohinga was pretty good, same for tea leaf salad, but they had some chopped raw thai chile pieces in there (easy enough to remove, but would take real commitment to enjoy with that much heat). They had asked whether I wanted spicy when I placed the order, but it seemed to only have been asked in reference to the last item (Mee Hoon Goreng), when it may have been applied to everything.

Closed.

cilantro wrote:Closed. [sad emoji]

Such a shame! Maybe someday Chicago will be in Omaha's league. That city of under half a million has two Burmese restaurants (both Karen, I think). Even Huron SD (population under 15,000) has one restaurant and at least two markets. Chicago can only dream about being like Fort Wayne or Indianapolis, with their thriving Burmese dining and shopping scenes.

Y'all will just have to come out to Pa Lian!