Boeing Leaves Chicago as City Struggles With Crime, Other Problems

The logo for Boeing appears on a screen above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on July 13, 2021. (Richard Drew/AP Photo/file)

Boeing said it is moving its headquarters from Chicago though it will still maintain a “strong” presence in the city, whose reputation as a major hub that welcomes corporations and their staff stands in contrast to a recent upsurge in crime.

The plane-making giant said in a May 5 statement that it will relocate its global headquarters to its Arlington, Virginia campus on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., where Boeing hopes to tap into an engineering talent pool and leverage the proximity of key stakeholders.

“The region makes strategic sense for our global headquarters given its proximity to our customers and stakeholders, and its access to world-class engineering and technical talent,” Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun said in a statement.

Besides relocating to Northern Virginia, Boeing plans to develop a research and technology hub there.

Areas of focus for the hub will be cyber security, autonomous operations, quantum sciences, as well as software and systems engineering.

‘Incredibly Disappointing’

Illinois lawmakers reacted to the news with disappointment while the mayor of Chicago offered assurances that the city remains hospitable for businesses.

“Boeing’s decision to leave Illinois is incredibly disappointing,” Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth said in a statement.

“We are working together to ensure Boeing leadership both understands how harmful this move will be and does everything possible to protect Illinois’s workers and jobs,” the Democrat pair added.

Boeing said it will maintain a “significant presence” in Chicago and the surrounding region, with a Boeing spokesman telling the Chicago Tribune that the move will not lead to significant job cuts.

Calhoun said Boeing appreciates its continuing relationships in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois as the company looks to maintain a “strong presence” there.

Boeing’s announcement comes just days after the company reported a $1.2 billion loss in the first quarter and after the expiration at the end of 2021 of a tax subsidy agreement that helped draw Boeing to Chicago in the first place some two decades ago.

“Clearly, Boeing was able to leverage the expiration of their Illinois financial incentives to get themselves a sweeter deal out of Arlington, Virginia,” Chicago Alderman Brendan Reilly told the Chicago Sun-Times in a statement.

“It’s disappointing to lose Boeing,“ he continued. ”But, if I were from Arlington, I’d make sure it’s a very long-term deal because, the minute those terms expire, the company will leverage that for another raft of taxpayers incentives.”

A Boeing spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the company is “not taking any economic incentives” from Virginia.

‘World-Class City’

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot reacted to Boeing’s announcement in a statement that acknowledged the company’s plans to maintain a presence in what she called a “world-class city” with a booming economy and good infrastructure.

“We have a robust pipeline of major corporate relocations and expansions, and we expect more announcements in the coming months,” she said. “What remains to be true is that Chicago is a major hub for global corporations that recognize our diverse workforce, expansive infrastructure, and thriving economy.”

While many major corporations continue to call Chicago home, the city has seen a number of departures over the years, as it has struggled with budget chaos and hikes to property and business taxes.

Another problem often cited in reference to Chicago is crime, which is up 35 percent so far this year compared to a year ago, according to police statistics (pdf).

Murders and shooting incidents are down 8 percent and 14 percent respectively, but property crimes have surged, with burglaries up 35 percent and theft up 67 percent compared to last year.

Recent studies done by moving companies show Illinois is one of the top states seeing an exodus, with high taxes cited as the top reason to leave by nearly half of Illinoisans polled by Paul Simon Public Policy Institute several years ago (pdf).