[Chicago] Pycon 2008

[Ted Pollari]

On May 1, 2006, at 3:55 PM, Jason R Huggins wrote:

> Yes, but (low) cost isn't everything. I don't want newcomers to  
> think that
> O'Hare (and what you can walk to around it) == Chicago. Conferences at
> airport hotels are for sleezy wannabee tycoon types selling
> get-rich-quick-with-real-estate "infotapes". I don't want that karma.
> Seriously, shlepping it onto the blue to take the 45 minute trek into
> downtown to experience "the night-life" would be a total buzz kill  
> for the
> poor airport-bound event-goers. Lots of people would just hang out  
> at the
> O'Hare Hotel's bar and think "Wow, this sucks".


That's not too far off of many people's take on Dallas -- except the  
Dallas location has a lot of (decent, albeit chain) restaurants  
around though they're somewhat difficult to get to while avoiding  
legions of birds and large volumes of traffic.  I guess I'd prefer  
that we start looking at non-airport locations first, but I think  
it'll come down to a question of cost -- it will certainly cost more  
to be in the city and I know cost is already an issue for many PyCon  
attendees....  If we were to find a venue that was reasonably  
accessible to a CTA train line then it would still be superior to the  
current Dallas venue as there's nothing comparable for public transit  
there.

-t