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Five favorite places in Chicago

November 12, 2007 / / 0 Comments

jackson park 1. This is Jackson Park, the Columbia Basin, and the East and West Lagoons. This is a beautifully landscaped park, originally built for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. The Museum of Science and Industry was built for this show and was called the Palace of Fine Arts. Unfortunately, it is the only surviving building from that festival, but my god, it is gorgeous as is the entire park – designed by one of the world’s premier landscape designers, Frederick Law Olmsted, who left a legacy in Chicago as well in New York City.

The park, ideally, should be biked or walked to. One must visit the Japanese Gardens in the park on the Wooded Island in the lagoon.

2. Lower Wacker, Michigan and Columbus. The lower levels of these three streets (plus many intersection others) are very intriguing and unknown to most, if not all, visitors to the city. They can only be explored by walking or biking (except for Wacker which is too narrow and high-speed vehicle traffic makes it dangerous). It is home to loading docks for so many downtown buildings, and also to many homeless Chicagoans. For a short length, there is even a lower lower Wacker Drive. There are a handful of other things that can be accessed on these lower levels: the Randolph Street Metra station, an independent stage theater, and the city’s towing pound. Looking at the bigger streets above from below puts one in the scene of one of many futuristic movies. The support beams for the streets and skyscrapers show the importance of these lower levels of Chicago.

3. Not Millennium Park. The amusement park on the lake is quite a fantastic place. The Pritzker Pavilion could not have been better designed or featured in the city. However, Millennium Park is not a place in or of Chicago that makes the city what it is. It’s only been around for four year, but it’s also not something that city residents themselves are quick to brag about. The artistic playground is just one itty bitty parcel of the interestingness of the city.

4. Roosevelt Rd. bridge over the South Branch of the Chicago River. This bridge is the largest viewing platform for trains in and out of the city. Come rush hour on a summer weekday, you will spot Metra after Metra after Metra, all leaving Union and LaSalle St. Stations. It is a fantastic opportunity to fill up a camera’s memory card with train after train after train. There won’t be much variety of compositions or subject matter, but you will have enough practice time to get the perfect shot.

5. Madison St. after the workday is done. Madison St. just happens to be one way east of Des Plaines. It’s a major exodus route for buses, taxis and private vehicles. Its sidewalks are also teeming with commuters walking or rushing to the train stations. Ogilvie Transportation Center sits on Madison St., but Union Station also has a Madison St. annex, and the main platforms for the busier station are only two blocks south of Ogilvie. In a two-hour window, more than 100,000 people will make their way to either train station and take Metra home. It’s a fantastic sight to see so many people walking in the same direction to the same place. And it only happens once a day.

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The Olympics in Chicago, 2016

November 11, 2007 / / 0 Comments

I’m excited that Chicago is a prospected city for the 2016 Summer Olympics. I think that it will be an interesting time to live here while hundreds of thousands of people from all over the country and the world will descend upon this amazing city. I think that we will easily be able to accommodate them all, both with our infrastructure (I must surely sound like a nut now) and with our good attitudes.

Chicago is a pretty well-known city to the world, especially in the landscape, planning, and architecture cultures. Chicago leads the world in architecture in so many ways.

Atlanta is the American city which most recently held a Summer Olympic Games – that was in 1996. Atlanta received many great benefits from hosting the games: the stadium was converted to become the home of the Braves; the Olympic Village became student housing for Georgia State University; and the city got a major park with Centennial Olympic Park.

However, Downtown Atlanta missed the opportunity to piggyback the Olympics and be revitalized and MARTA, the transit system, was not improved – it hardly can handle the city’s own population.

Transit improvements is one thing that Chicago and Atlanta have in common: we both need more funding to improve quality and speed of service. Fortunately, Chicago has a very broad and deep service system – trains and buses go where we need them, and both of our international airports are directly serviced by trains that leave often. However, yearly funding issues put the CTA’s service in jeopardy and only a few legislatures have stepped up to fix the problem with public funding of the Chicagoland transit agencies.

Chicago is already ahead of many other cities that want the Olympics, including Atlanta. We already have a large, beautiful park to serve as a central meeting location for athletes and spectators. We already have practically all the sports venues we need; facilities at our universities will play a key role, including UIC. Chicago will follow in Atlanta’s footsteps by using as little public money as possible and getting private investors and corporations to pay for the games. We also have a well-established hospitality industry that can temporarily grow to meet the needs of the influx of visitors. And since Chicago is so diverse, travelers will be able to feel welcome in neighborhoods reflecting their home cultures.

Most Chicagoans agree that the CTA will need some help before we can host the Olympics, and I think many people are relying on this prospect to turn the transit agency into something wonderful: always fast and always on time.

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Can Illinois and Louisiana be compared?

November 10, 2007 / / 0 Comments

Governing magazine’s 2005 report, Grading the States, evaluates all 50 states on Money, People, Infrastructure, and Information. In class we looked up and talked about Illinois and Louisiana. Without any references, I guessed that Illinois would get a higher grade than Louisiana, mainly because I believe it has a more positive perception and we have more people, jobs, capital, and I guessed, a healthier economy.

The report didn’t necessarily take these things into account. It is “Governing” magazine. The researchers looked at more governmentally-based levels of analysis.

Bottom line: Louisiana scored above Illinois, but you wouldn’t get that by reading the summary. The one for Louisiana starts off by mentioning their huge budget shortfall ($596 million) and talking about they hold $3 billion in “backup” trust funds. And they haven’t spent a dime (well, just a paltry $90 million per year) on maintaining state-owned buildings and assets. What Louisiana excels is at performance budgeting: agencies get more when they get more results, are more efficient.

Compared to Illinois in that respect, Louisiana is a decade ahead. Illinois doesn’t require performance data recording but agencies are still required to report quarterly performance data to the Office of Management and Budget. I’m going out on a limb by suggesting that these data aren’t based on universal collection and recording methods, and are subject to some fudging. Another problem for the state of Illinois is funding its employee pension fund.

What is Illinois doing well with? Well, it’s consolidating agency functions like auditing, legal counsel, IT planning, and procurement. Because of this the state is saving tons of money. How much? I don’t know. But the summary did stress again that Illinois has made some strides in eliminating redundant IT systems. Go us.

All states and the entire project can be accessed through a well designed website.

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Chicago Commercial Club and the Metropolis 2020 report

November 8, 2007 / / 0 Comments

The Chicago Metropolis 2020 is a report released in 1999 by the Commercial Club of Chicago that speaks to the strengths and weaknesses of Chicago and the region. There is empirical research involved to create the report and it recommends specific changes that community and political leaders and business executives can take to improve the myriad situations of living for all metropolitan citizens.

In the Executive Summary, one reads about what physical, environmental and social elements constitute the city and its inequalities. Part 4 is the abstract on Land Use and Housing.

In the beginning of this section, one reads about the facts that most Chicagoans already know: public housing is a center of “joblessness, social isolation, and family and community dysfunction…”

One remedy or suggestion for positive change included in this section of the executive summary is one that involves business owners and employers. I’m glad to see that the Commercial Club members did not exclude themselves from solving some of the region’s problems. However, their involvement, as proposed by the report, remains quite weak.

It says that businesses, “in collaboration with local governments, consider these approaches” and “should coordinate” [italics mine] housing programs that are employer supported. That is very weak language and doesn’t exactly commit any business member of the Commercial Club to move forward with programs that will get their employees in housing subsidized by the companies themselves. If anything, local governments should ask the employers for some backup in rare moments.

Nowhere in the land use and housing section of the report’s summary is any responsibility left solely in the hands of business owners and corporations. That’s disappointing.

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Davis retains platinum status as bike capital

November 2, 2007 / / 0 Comments

Davis retains platinum status as bike capital:
If Davis is considered a bike friendly city, then larger cities like New York and Chicago are only biking “acquaintance” cities. The two cities only express mere recognition of biking and bikers in their spaces.

Davis has built tunnels and overpasses to easily cross the highways traversing the town. No road will hinder any Davis cyclist. There are many off-street trails as well as bicycle boulevards: streets designed with cyclists taking first priority. Boulevards have lots of signage and lane markings and have very low speed limits for motor vehicles. Also on the boulevards are concrete islands and neckdowns to block vehicles but allow bikers.

Neckdownsdavis
Neckdowns are landscaped fixtures that jut into the street, narrowing it, which essentially causes motorists to slow down. It’s also a beautifying feature.

Davis also installs at many intersections light signaling for bikes.

In Chicago, we have none of this. I think we can start with Milwaukee Ave. because it’s a popular and well-used thoroughfare for commuters riding to downtown. The lakefront path could also use some work to increase average speed and keep out those users which hinder bikers. A north-south road could be converted to a bicycle highway – a street with no on-street car parking and all intersections (except for a handful) are yields in favor of cyclists.