Category: Housing

October Chicago roundup

October 21, 2010 / / 0 Comments

As much as I try to write about national or international news and events, I can’t keep the Chicago in me suppressed.

Pedestrian safety at Grant Park

Award winning Chicago Tribune writer, Blair Kamin, takes up a cause leading to construction (he won a journalism award from ASCE Wednesday night – not his first engineering award). In 2009, after the Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago opened, along with Renzo Piano’s bridge over Monroe, people started jaywalking more frequently. Blair pointed out how the bridge made the walk across Monroe too distant and inconvenient (agreed) and how the crest of the small hill on Monroe made it so car drivers (naturally driving fast on a four lane street) would not see pedestrians crossing here. CDOT spokesperson Brian Steele said they would investigate it and come up with some options. Eventually some signs and curb cuts were installed, but that wasn’t good enough.

Jaywalkers, they! Photo taken before pedestrian safety measures installed. By Andrew Ciscel.

Now, Blair reports, CDOT has installed a pedestrian refuge island and push button-activated flashing lights. Even still, it’s not the best. Blair is advocating for a clear and simple sign that says, according to new state law, “Stop for pedestrians.”

Here’s to hoping that Blair will take up some new causes, like bicycling perhaps. I wrote to him asking him to help me with the Dominick’s bike parking issue, but a well-worded email and letter to the CEO solved that. But I support Blair’s continued case for this street, including making this block car-free. It carries 13,500 cars per day, while Jackson Boulevard to the south carries 7,900. I think the surrounding streets can absorb the additional traffic while some of it will just disappear.

Chicago skyline on pause

Medill reports that there are now 2,500 vacant condos and apartments (rental condos) downtown. (Does that seem like a lot to you?) The Chicago Spire is the “big deal” building that’s not going to happen.

All that remains is a very large (and deep) hole. Photo by Duane Rapp.

Getting into real estate

I’m loving Curbed Chicago. It’s all about real estate, but it’s not just about transactions or what’s for sale. They post a lot of good links about neighborhood drama and events, and even link back to Steven can plan.

I’m not a “real estate person” but I didn’t know how exciting it can be. And real estate has EVERYTHING to do with transportation. The existing of buildings and the need to go from one to another causes transportation. A UIC professor told the class, “Nowhere does transportation happen for transportation’s sake.” – Professor Joe DiJohn.

And I’ve been dealing with property owners to arrange for the installation of bike parking. The zoning code requires bike parking at new developments but only when car parking is required. I want to change that.

This one house, facing Lawndale Avenue, seems to be one of the only occupied structures in this stalled subdivision in West Elsdon. Photo by Eric Rogers.

Apple adding Genius Bar capacity to Chicago

Speaking of new developments… The “Apple Store Lincoln Park” opens on Saturday, October 23, 2010, at 10 AM. In the most congested shopping district of Chicago I can think of – it truly sucks to bike on North Avenue through here, but people do it. (North Michigan Avenue is only pedestrian congested – car and bus traffic actually does move most of the time.) There’s no Apple Store parking garage, but I imagine they could have secured the always empty spaces in the parking garage connected to the Borders across the street. Even so, I don’t believe the zoning code would then require bike parking.

Looking east at the Apple Store, with a wall around it, showing the Borders. The often empty parking lot is behind Borders. Photo by Kevin Zolkiewicz.

I’m hoping that Apple says, “there’s one more thing,” and provides well-designed bike racks (by Jonathan Ive, fingers crossed!) in the new plaza they built between the store and the CTA Red Line station they paid to have renovated.

TOD doesn’t have to be fancy

December 27, 2009 / / 38 Comments

Developers and real estate workers like buzz words. They’re a great way to grab attention. But a development doesn’t need “TOD,” “near trains,” or “transit friendly” written on marketing materials, or subsidies and tax breaks from the municipality, to pass as Transit Oriented Development.

A photo of the Los Angeles Gold Line light rail passing the Mission Meridian “transit oriented development” (above, top) and marketing materials for the project (above, bottom).

Sometimes you just need a stairway and a sidewalk.

Townhomes on Carey Trail (view in map) in Wood Dale, Illinois, have easy access to the Wood Dale Metra station on the Milwaukee District West line. Look at the map to see how the neighboring developments fare in access to the station.

Finding geographic information about Chicago and elsewhere

February 10, 2009 / / 0 Comments

The City of Chicago’s GIS division of the Department of Information and Technology as well as the Zoning Department provide copious data on boundaries, crime, zoning, etc… And I’m not talking about a library of PDF files. You can’t analyze or manipulate or calculate using PDF – I’m talking about data sets, shapefiles, or aerial photographs.

You can start here on the GIS website.

 The Chicago Police produce the CLEARMAP website. And even the Bicycle Program throws down with bikeways and bike parking data. Check out Wicker Park’s Center for Neighborhood Technology and its urban data visualization websites, like their Housing and Transportation Affordability Index.

List sources for your city’s data in the comments. Milwaukee has its own Spatial Decision Support System called COMPASS. Here’s Maricopa County’s (Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe) ArcServer-based online GIS website.

Check to see if EveryBlock has started data mining your city. They began their news collection and repackaging efforts in Chicago, naturally 🙂 They are the first organization to find a new way to present Chicago’s bike rack installation info.

UPDATE: The community at OpenStreetMap has a huge list of datasets available for cities and places around the world.

Bike shops’ social responsibility

February 5, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Bike shops have a responsibility to teach their customers safe cycling.

This is because the bike shop salesperson has the customer’s attention, and it’s when the customer will be most receptive to tips, advice, and training. The bike shop salesperson, in many cases, will be the first and last person the customer talks to about biking. Lastly, it’s because the bike shop is a community center with a wealth of knowledge and experience – all of which should be shared.

The customer’s family is probably not a good resource and websites and friends can only teach them so much. But a bike shop salesperson has two advantages over other friends, family, and the internet: the customer’s time and trust.

Each bike shop should take it upon themselves to teach each new customer how to ride safely and legally on the street, the local laws regarding its operating and accessories (buy some lights, please!), etiquette for multi-use paths (like Chicago’s Lakefront Trail), and proper locking techniques.

  1. All bikers will, at some point, have to ride on the street in mixed traffic.
  2. It’s unreasonable to expect cyclists to know the laws applicable to cycling when they’ve had very little experience cycling and when there are no widespread institutions that teach cycling.
  3. Multi-use paths are fountains of rage and dangerous commingling. 
  4. The cyclist will be in a situation that requires them to secure their bicycle.

No matter how adamant the customer is that they won’t be riding in the street, they will. The sidewalk is illegal territory in so many communities, and isn’t safe for the cyclist themselves or the pedestrians they might run over. On sidewalks or on multi-use paths, they will have to cross streets with automobile traffic. It’s a little different than being a pedestrian and crossing these streets because you are operating relatively heavy equipment and you move at a different speed. Eventually, this cyclist will graduate from scaredy-cat to coffeehouse comfortable, biking to a café down the street. Talking one on one about these things, using diagrams from a brochure will influence the new cyclist that safe cycling matters – for themselves and those with whom they’ll interact. Then show them how to read a map.

Bicycle laws are not handed to 16-year olds in high school (actually, they most likely are, but who reads that?). That might have been 10 years ago, and they won’t remember that a front headlight but only a rear reflector are required for post-dusk riding. Or that red lights are for all street users (and really dangerous to disobey). Don’t forget that some bicyclists were taught to ride against traffic, facing cars down on the wrong side of the street.

Those customers who might be telling the shop salesperson that they won’t be riding in the street probably think they’re only going to ride on the multi-use path. These customers need trail etiquette stressed to them. They need to know when it’s safe to pass, what to say to those they’ll pass, the right speed to travel, and when to stop or slow down. The trail is not a speeding zone; rollerbladers, children, strollermoms, teams in training, walkers, and in some places even horses and their riders, will all be groups with whom the cyclist must interact and take care of – this mix is fun to watch and be around, but path users must pay attention to each other. 

Real locking techniques may be one of the most useful things you can teach any cyclist. They won’t be cyclists if they can’t keep their bike! The City of Chicago offers a guide on theft prevention and proper locking, two unique but related concepts. You shouldn’t do one without the other, because they enhance the overall “theft-proof-ness” of a bike. The salesperson can spend five minutes demonstrating to the customer cross-locking, and then having the customer practice. They can also quiz the customer on appropriate locking locations. What structures are secure and which ones aren’t? Why or why not?

Preface this lesson to the customer that “in 20 minutes, you can become a bicycling expert!” The bike shop-customer bond will strengthen and you’ll have proved to them your service is necessary and appreciable. Because you took the time to show a customer how much you care about them, their new bike, and the sport or utility of bicycling, they’ll spread the word and come back.