Saturday, April 14, 2007

Got you there: Is Daley like Moses?

Is Rich Daley a bit like Moses. Daley may have been the chief architect of getting Chicago to the Promised Land. Is it just possible that he may not be the best while we cross the Jordan...er...Chicago River?

When the Bulls replaced a very successful Doug Collins with Phil Jackson, they said they wanted to up the ante and go with the guy who would win the championships. Which Jackson did. Six times.

Now I, for one, like what Rich Daley has done for the city. And i am by no means advocating someone else would do a better job with the city than he has (although I am more than a little concerned about his scandal filled administration).

But I'm really seeking a different type of a discussion here.

Is it possible that Chicago has arrived as a major city whose position has been secured that it just might not need the iron hand of a Rich Daley to take the city to the next step? Is it just possible that the way the mayor has altered the landscape (i.e. Navy Pier, Mil Pk, Museum Campus) and encouraged the Chicago building boom and the rise of downtown living, etc., no longer is necesary in Chicago that has come of age?

Could Daley just possibly be the guy we needed to get us here, but not to lead us once we have arrived?
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Stability of Far Southwest Side

The far southwest side (around Midway or so) used to be a very stable and safe area. However, it seems to be suffering some of the symptoms that have inflicted various inner suburbs. Do you think the Southwest Side will decline a lot or is just a temprorary phase?>

Did Chicago's New Zoning Ordinance save the city from demise?

Looking at development prior to (implementing the) new Zoning Ordinance in Chicago, and comparing it to some of the newer stuff, I have to say that Chicago may have saved itself. Or perhaps, it saved itself when it recognized the problem.

In the late 90's and even early 2000's Chicago was still building gated communities and strip malls. Perhaps some of that will always be inevitable, but luckily (and early on during the building boom), Chicago has cracked down on this kind of development and is promoting more urban, pedestrian-oriented, and mixed-use development in its hoods. I believe it has saved the city, because if Chicago would have allowed the business-as-usual suburbia to continue, surely these new developments would come to dominate the cityscape in years to come.

So here's the question. Do you think recognition of the problem and the new Zoning Ordinance is to thank for this change, or do you think the market would have dictated more urban style development anyhow (in the hoods, not downtown)?>

Blue Line

Anyone have pictures of the Blue Line since it was redone?>

Chicago's commuter schools--becoming more on-campus?

I see a trend in Chicago's traditional commuter schools.

DePaul, Roosevelt, Columbia, and UIC are all building a lot of on-campus housing. Even schools that have already not been commuter (ie Loyola, IIT) are expanding housing.

Do you predict that, eventually, all of these schools will be almost completely non-commuter schools and will have their own urban campuses/student population?

That would be a huge boost--college/university students are some of the most desirable residents of a city>

Column written with Chgo Forum in mind!!

This one was written for us folks, recongizing what we've known about Chicago far longer than most have.

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Tiresome Chicago cliches are 50 years out of date

July 24, 2005

BY RICHARD C. LONGWORTH
Chicago Sun Times

Once upon a time, there was a city called Chicago. Yeah, you remember the place. That Toddlin' Town, right? The city that works but ain't ready for reform yet? That City on the Make, that Beirut by the Lake? Why, you could write a poem about it, and they did -- City of the Big Shoulders.

Trouble is, most Chicagoans still think this way. For one thing, it's fun. There was a real swagger to the old place. You could live in Winnetka and talk out of the side of your mouth and pretend you hung with the Outfit. For another, it was a received wisdom. If everything from Nelson Algren's lyricism to Saul Bellow's romanticism painted Chicago the same way -- tough, rollicking, somber, casually crooked, loveable like Algren's woman with a broken nose -- then there had to be something to it, right?

Wrong. That Chicago died a while back, without benefit of a decent burial, and has been replaced by a new Chicago, and we're just beginning to notice.

Not that some of the old cliches don't hold true. It's not that we don't still tear down good buildings, or pay off an alderman, or brag about our local food, or call our town "a city of neighborhoods." Certainly, Chicago is the "city that works," except when it doesn't.

Well, there must be a city somewhere that doesn't do all these things -- Goteborg, Sweden, maybe -- but I've never been there.

The fact is that we've adopted a glossary of sentimental and nostalgic cliches from an earlier, smokier, bawdier era and built them into a civic consciousness that bears no relationship to the real Chicago, anno 2005.

We loved the stockyard smells, so long as we didn't live downwind, and the gangland guns, so long as they shot someone else, and the painted ladies and saloon aldermen and the truly crooked politics, and used them to create a myth that is 50 years out of date.

No wonder foreigners come here for the first time and say, "What a surprise! I never knew Chicago was like this." Some 135 years after The Fire, we should stop being a surprise, but we sure work at keeping it that way.

What's the problem? Context, that's what. Chicago's context has changed, utterly, but its self-image hasn't.

That self-image is stuck in the old industrial era, when neighborhoods really did last more than a generation, when aldermen and committeemen really did run their fiefs, when the city's ambience was more grit than green -- in short, when we deserved the oldest cliche of all, "City of the Big Shoulders."

That's all changed, but you'd never know to hear us talk.

The Industrial Era is gone. The old Machine is gone and the new one is really different. The city looks different, smells different, acts different.

Why? No mystery. We are what we do. That's true for people, and it's true for cities. Lawyers act like lawyers and druggists act like druggists. Industrial cities act like industrial cites. Post-industrial cities don't.

How we earn our living defines our character. Chicago isn't an industrial city any more. There's some industry left, of course, but it doesn't define us, as the mills and yards once did. We keep a few crooked aldermen around for light relief and some low-lifes get city contracts they have no business getting. But crime today is a subplot, not the story. Maybe the mob once ran Chicago, as it seems to run Russia now. But we're a normal place now, like France or Hungary, with a substratum of corruption that, let's face it, really doesn't affect most of us very directly.

OK, so the old image is out of date. But that begs the question.

"Post-industrial" says what we aren't. So what are we?

We are what we do. And we're a global city now, one of two or three in America -- one of 15 or 20 in the world -- that run the world's business in this new global age. Indian lawyers and Chinese consultants define us, not Polish steelworkers. Mexican cooks in Thai restaurants provide our night life, not Irish barkeeps in neighborhood saloons.

Our local logo is a syphilitic capo dead a half century, but the real clout lies with the universities, with doctors from Nigeria and Iraq, with consultants from around the world, with a glorious symphony and great theater.

The Park District defines Chicago now more than the Police Department does. Terry Nichols Clark wrote a book called Trees and Real Violins. His point is that Daley II, unlike his father, will be remembered for the trees he planted and the parks he created, while those guys you see with violin cases are Chicago Symphony musicians about to fly off on a world tour, not hitmen headed for a Clark Street garage.

Daley, like his father, tolerates casual corruption that tarnishes his success in refashioning Chicago for the global age. There's no excuse for all the scandals -- Hired Trucks, the bogus minority contracts, the Millennium Park restaurant contract, the city towing boondoggle, the immortal Duff family. These scandals, among other things, eat into Daley's political capital at home, eroding his ability to run a global city.

The outside world, when it notices, really doesn't care. Instead, it's dazzled. "This magical, beautiful city, perhaps the most beautiful city in America," crooned the Atlantic Monthly.

We are what we do. We're a different town now -- a better town in many ways, I'd argue, if not so colorful. We keep the scamsters around, like Sue the Dinosaur, as relics of a more primitive past. Meanwhile, the city grows, moves, thrusts, makes money, tears down and builds up, shoving the poor out of the way (again, show me a city that doesn't). Not a city to idolize -- life here is too unfair for that -- but a city to recognize, for what it really is.

We run the world. Isn't that enough?

Maybe not. The old Chicago, with its Studs Lonigan neighborhoods and gangland glitz, fashioned a myth that conquered the world. If the old Chicago is dead, the myth lives on, fading into the past. We need a new myth.

It's still unique, this secret Oz. Its people are unique, a layering of Mexicans and Koreans on top of Slavs and Irish. Its history is unique: what other town created May Day and Saul Alinsky, then invented Milton Friedman and, yes, the global economy itself.

The problem is, we haven't fashioned a new myth. History and economics have reshaped us into something new, while we wax nostalgic about another, vanished city. That's not accurate, nor useful. Just cute.

And really, folks, Chicago ain't ready for "cute" yet.


Richard C. Longworth is executive director of the Global Chicago Center at the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations.>

Chicago's regional dominance: how unique?

I want to share a Chicago paradigm I have with you folks on the Chicago forum to find whether or not it has merit.

This is one of the posts I purposely make on the Chicago board for a couple of reasons:

• I'm most interested here in what Chicagoans have to say on the subject

• I'm trying to avoid places where my post may seem offensive to outsiders


OK, here's the perspective: Does Chicago dominate its own region in ways that no other US city does to their region? Is Chicago unique in this respect.

There are many fine cities in the Midwest. None come anywhere near Chicago in importance, nor are any of the others viewed nationally as being that formidable. Minneapolis, at this point, may be the healthiest and most thrieving, but it is still small potatoes compared to Chicago. Pre-WWII Detroit shared Chicago's industrial might, but is a shaddow of itself today. You'd almost have to go back to ancient times to see when Cincinnati dominated the region.Truthfully, alot of people look at midwestern cities in two categories: Chicago is one and the other consists of the likes of KC, StL, Mpls, Milw, Det, Indy, Clev, Cin.

This scenerio doesn't hold true in any other US region.

New York may see itself as the dominant city in the universe, but in its own northeastern region, it shares the scene with the incredible power and importance of DC and the impressive offerings of Boston. That this region also contains Philadelphia is just icing on the cake.

In the South, nobody dominates. Cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, Houston, Dallas duke it out, with no clear winner and also no true world class city. New Orleans stays in the mix for historical reasons which, along with Savannah and Charleston, runs rings around the dominant cities in pure urbanity.

Mountain West: Denver, Salt Lake, Phoenix, Vegas...who cares?

West Coast: one dominant city (SF) was joined by and surpassed by another (LA), but both the California cities are incredible powerhouses today and unquestionably major players. Regionally Seattle must also be viewed on a serious level.

So how about, am I reading the regions incorrectly and this is coming across as incredible BS, or is Chicago's regional dominance truly as unique as I think?>

Is Streeterville the loser in this 3 way battle?

Three downtown lakefront areas are sprouting high rise condominiums at a remarkable place:

Streeterville, Lakeshore East, Central Station

To me, Streeterville is the unquestionable loser in the group and when all is done and built, will be the worst of the three areas.

Both Lakeshore East and Museum Park stem from planned developments. As such, they were able to give considerable discretion to appropriate placement of parks. In addition, they even had power in altering the city's street grid to help soften the effect of extremely tall buildings. Further, town houses/rowhouses were part of the plan to prevent a forest of high rises. Overview and planning has helped to create an inviting atmosphere in both areas.

And then there's Streeterville.

Always popular, it is now more than that. It's hot. It 's old shipping/industrial era is now out of sight and the location, the lake, and the river were too powerful forces to keep it down. Meanwhile, that endless string of parking lots were something no developer could pass up. So what do we have going on today? Endless high rises where residents will be looking into each other's windows. No master plan, no open space, perhaps Manhattan like density. All high rises....and no rapid transit in a setting that is beginning to look as oppressive as the bland high rise stretch due west of the Mag Mile.

A pity.>

From a coastal point of view, Chicago is weird!

My love/frustration with Chicago as a city continues. It has SO MUCH going for it, probably more than any city on the western hemisphere besides New York, yet it kind of does things that.....don't make sense.

For example, LA's newly elected mayor recently pledged to make LA more urban than it ever has been--build new train lines, build more development around train stations, change the zoning, the style of development, etc etc. He has a specific mission to do this--period.

Here in DC, there are TONS of condo buildings, both in DC and (more so) in Virginia/Maryland, that are built around the DC Metro, and they use that as their primary selling point. The entire city of Fairfax, VA just announced that they want to reurbanize their entire city, restrict (even punish) car use, and recreate a downtown in a manner not seen in a city of its size before.

Yet Chicago behaves so differently. It sort of builds a TOD/urban format matter-of-factly, and often by coincidence. For example, they will announce a building and comment on all of its features (granite countertops, parking, etc etc) and then say "oh, by the way, it's near the 'L".

The part that I love is that Chicago, in its sort of hesitant way, still uses its transit system.

The part that I am frustrated with, coming from a coastal perspective where all of these cities are breathing down Chicago's neck for business and to emulate its urban vitality, is the hesitancy part. Why not juice this system up? And no, I'm not talking about sighing and rebuilding the brown line. Why not breathe more life into the system--build more housing around the stations (especially the south and west sides)? Chicago has an advantage that LA and numerous other cities could only DREAM of, and it remains so ho-hum about it.

This attitude comes from the top down. Daley himself continues to be lukewarm to the issue. He doesn't seem to get it, even though he's not standing in its way, either.

I know, you've heard me complain about this before. But most of you live in Chicago and haven't lived out here on the coasts, where there is definitely a more proactive attitude towards transit than there is in Chicago.

Do any of you agree/disagree? Living in Chicago, have you noticed a change in attitudes towards transit recently that would prove my supposition wrong?>

Midwest swelters in grips of heat wave


Beachgoers seek relief from the heat along Lake Michigan in Chicago on Sunday.

CHICAGO - Skyrocketing temperatures surpassed the 100-degree mark here for the first time in six years, prompting Chicago officials to implement an emergency response plan honed after hundreds of people died in a heat wave a decade ago.

Sweat-drenched city workers fanned out across Chicago on Sunday, checking on elderly residents and shuttling people to cooling centers. By late afternoon, temperatures at Midway Airport had reached 104 degrees, just one degree lower than the highest temperature ever recorded in the city, according to the National Weather Service.

Â"If you looked at who died in 1995, it was not triathletes, it wasnÂ't people at ballparks, it wasnÂ't people at outdoor festivals; it was the elderly who were living alone,Â" said Dr. William Paul, acting commissioner of the cityÂ's Public Health Department.

Chicago's discomfort is part of a blazing heat wave that stretches across the upper Midwest and beyond. Sunday's high temperatures included 106 in Osage Beach, Mo., 102 degrees in St. Louis and 101 in Iowa City, Iowa. Omaha, Neb., peaked at 105 on Saturday.

At least three deaths this summer in Missouri have been blamed on the heat and authorities were look at the death of a woman found Sunday in a home without air conditioning.

Twenty-one people, mostly homeless, have died from heat in Arizona this summer.

Some 200 cities and towns in the West hit daily record highs last week, including Las Vegas, Nev., at 117, and Death Valley soared to 129, the weather service said.

Demand for electricity to run air conditioners has hit near-record peaks from Southern California to the region served by the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Excessive heat warnings and advisories were in effect through Monday for states from Illinois to Louisiana and from Nebraska to the District of Columbia, the weather service said. In the Florida Panhandle, meteorologists said a high of 94 combined with high humidity could make the heat index 114 Monday afternoon.

"It's makes-you-wanna-cry hot," Angela Wood said as she walked with her husband and 15-month-old daughter Sunday in Fayetteville, N.C., where Sunday's high was 90 and Monday's was expected to hit 98.

Chicago officials on Sunday implemented an an automated calling system that began contacting 40,000 elderly residents at 9 a.m. to inform them about the heat.

Â"You canÂ't wait for an emergency to find these folks,Â" said Joyce Gallagher, commissioner of the cityÂ's Department on Aging. Â"On a day like today, letÂ's just say every single senior who doesnÂ't have air conditioning is at risk.Â"

Three deaths reported
Chicago Fire Department spokeswoman Rosa Escareno said three people appear to have died Sunday from heat-related injuries, but she added that it would be days before causes of death would be confirmed. The Cook County medical examinerÂ's office had not attributed any deaths to the weather.

SundayÂ's broiling conditions came on the 71st anniversary of the highest temperature ever recorded in Chicago. The mercury hit 105 degrees at University of Chicago on July 24, 1934, said Bob Somrek, a weather service meteorologist.

An excessive heat warning was to remain in effect until Monday for most of central and eastern Missouri, as well as western portions of Illinois.

The sweltering temperatures, however, did not stop tens of thousands of people from attending Lollapalooza, a two-day music festival held in Chicago this weekend.>

Chicago Vertical Panorama

I just got back from a trip to your great city!
From the Sears Tower I made this panorama. I think you'll like it.





I'll post the other photos later.>

Chicago neighborhood pics part2

Garfield Park







Pilsen








Portage Park







Lincoln Square





Wicker Park








Bridgeport









Lower West Side














Ukranian Village





West town/West Loop










Rogers Park










Avondale residents celebrate during this 4th of July








Washington Park




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