One neighborhood group seems, kind of, to get it about parking: the “Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference”:http://www.hydepark.org/transit/parkingwoes.htm#uofc, and apparently also the university, sees that parking demand and parking supply both matter. Maybe that Chicago School economics comes in handy after all.

Clear across town, the “Andersonville Chamber of Commerce’s”:http://www.andersonville.org/ crusade against chain stores (following similar efforts in cities like “Austin”:http://www.ibuyaustin.com) has morphed into “Local First Chicago”:http://www.localfirstchicago.org/ (link not yet working), a cooperative marketing program for those “Signs of a Vibrant Community”: local, independent businesses. The little logo shows The Bean superimposed on a “Chicago flag”:http://introvert.net/2005/chiflag, and the back lists 46 businesses in Andersonville, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, and Wicker Park/Bucktown.