My city is kinda a tourist town. There have been some nice indie stuff that disappeared, but a lot more has come in to replace it and has survived in the city. Sure a lot of bars, but a lot of niche clothing/outdoor/etc. shops. The malls are depressingly empty, but many of the stores all still exist .. they just moved out to standalone stores and strip malls.

As far as the dude in the video, he seemed like a moron. The guy with a dashcam had to break hard to avoid hitting him. I've crossed three laners at non-intersections before, but you really got to look way down the road and be patient. You want traffic to be at a total stop, make sure the light is red, don't step in front of a truck a raised truck that won't see you, and stop and make sure you're clear before you cross the next lane.

It does suck that so much of America is suburban strip mall now, but at the same time, there are big downsides to living is the confined claustrophobic streets of Chicago. Sure you can walk to the BestBuy, grocery store and movie theater in 15~20 min and you get that nice 15th floor view of everything, but you're also crammed in a box and the streets smell like sewage, bum piss and communism.