Monday, April 30, 2007

What Downtown Streets Won't You Cross Against the Light?

If native New Yorkers and native Chicagoans have one thing in common, it's the trait to cross the street irrespective of the pedestrian signal. If there's an opening in the traffic, off go we natives, generally to the consternation, amazement, or simple dumbfoundedness of law-abiding Midwestern (or God-forbid Californian) suburbasauran out-of-towners still waiting on the street corners behind us.

A curious factor is that transplanted (newbie) Chicagoans rarely seem to clue into this vibe, epsecially the ones who move here from the local hinterland.

My question for the brazen, normal jaywalkers among us: what downtown streets will you simply not cross against the light? Where does your jaywalkng comfort zone end?

Being from Gotham, where we view pedestrian signals with the derision that Chicagoans view ketchup on a hot dog, I have a very wide comfort zone for jaywalking. The only streets where I always wait for the light are West Wacker and Michigan.>

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