Lesson #1: Never eat yellow snow.
Lesson #2: Never eat blue ice.
Lesson #3: Take special care when traveling on the Chicago River under an open grate bridge, as vehicles overhead may suddenly discharge “brownish-yellow” “liquid substances.”

The South Fork of the South Branch of the Chicago River, more commonly known as Bubbly Creek for its legendary pollution, merits a cover story (by Alby Gallun) in Crain’s this week:

“It doesn’t look like the most appealing river at that stretch, but as money comes in, the people are definitely going to fight to make sure it’s cleaned up,” says [Shawn] Reddy, who paid $1.2 million for a 6,600-square-foot house that’s being built right next to the notorious waterway in Bridgeport.

A cesspool of rotting livestock carcasses back when Chicago was Hog Butcher for the World, Bubbly Creek still gets a bit smelly in hot weather. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago dumps millions of gallons of untreated sewer water into the 6,600-foot channel during heavy rains, and the sewage has nowhere to go because the creek has no current. The creek still bubbles, caused by gasses from decaying riverbed sediment floating to the surface.

And thus a strange little piece of Chicago’s environmental history goes: so filthy that much of it (the section south of Pershing) was simply obliterated, now lined with townhouses and parks and promises to magically clean it up. Interesting to note, though, that the current bubbliness comes from modern-day pollution and not offal from a previous century.

“I think it�s a zany looking building,” says 42nd Ward Alderman Burton Natarus. “I think this is very fine architecture. I think it�d be nifty, though if Aladdin were on top of it.” [GlobeSt]

Whoever knew that their fundraising was back up to speed? The building sales in the Loop were announced last year, and maybe it’s still just a proposal awaiting financing. In any case, the Piano expansion will definitely be an exciting addition to Grant Park.

found at thislife.org:

Ira Glass and artist Chris Ware: this Saturday night in Chicago …

I got the tour because cartoonist Chris Ware and I were invited to present a story we put together about a boy who loved Chicago architecture as part of the opening festivities, in a late-night event that’s basically a slideshow, plus a radio story, all synchronized. If you’re in or near Chicago, come out and see it under the stars this Saturday night, July 17, at 10:45 p.m., on the rooftop of the Harris Theater. That’s right on Randolph, the big white building on the north edge of the park, right next door to the Gehry-designed pavilion. We’re appearing with two bands � the Aluminum Group and 8th Blackbird.

Tooting my own horn, of course, but I really am excited about the conference. However it means that I won’t be blogging and probably hard to reach this week.

The twelfth Congress for the New Urbanism is rolling into town this week, and even if you can’t register for the whole shebang or aren’t a member of CNU (although you should join), there are many events that Chicagoans who care about walkable, diverse communities should consider attending:

WEDNESDAY, 6/23
– The Coalition to Lower Obesity in Chicago’s Children presents Environmental Barriers to a Healthy Lifestyle
This one-day conference will explore community-level barriers to good nutrition and physical activity, and local efforts to confront the obesity epidemic. Speakers include Katherine Kraft and Rich McClintock. information and free registration

– First Congress of the Next Generation of the New Urbanism
For one day, a group of students, young professionals, academics and practitioners will gather to discuss the future of the New Urbanism. registration

– Next Generation after-party
Join the Next Generation for an evening event following the first NGNU Congress. Cash bar. 9pm, Handlebar, 2311 W. North Ave.

THURSDAY, 6/24
– New Urbanism 101
This in-depth program is open to anyone getting a first taste of New
Urbanism. Sessions on the movement’s history and principles will be
supplemented by segments on the link between public health and urban design,
green urbanism, and a panel discussion on new urbanist retailing.
Registration includes admission to the Thursday evening opening session. information / registration

– New Urbanism 202
Professionals are invited to these advanced seminars with expert new urbanist practitioners. Choose from six sessions:
1. Financing New Urbanism
2. Real Streets: Designing, Getting and Keeping Them
3. Transit-Oriented Development: Making it Work in the Marketplace
4.Top Techniques for Successful Charrettes
5. Mixed-Use Town Centers: Tenant Selection, Programming, Planning and
Design
6. Developing the New Urbanism
information / registration

– Tours
Twelve tours, guided by knowledgeable local tour guides, offer urbanists a behind the scenes look at Chicago — from Lake Forest to Lawndale, from a mile-long walk through Wicker Park to a 40-mile circuit around Chicago. (I will be giving tours C and K.) information / registration

SATURDAY, 6/26
– Charter Awards luncheon
Join our mid-day celebration for the winners of CNU’s 2004 Charter Awards. The awards recognize exemplary projects that advance New Urbanism though diverse land uses, innovative designs, and expert planning, at all three scales of the Charter of the New Urbanism: building, neighbohood, and region. [more info /
registration]

– Saturday Night Party
Sustainable human environments include laughter, dinner, dancing, and fireworks! Join us on Navy Pier for a gala evening set against unforgettable lake and skyline views, including a special show from Second City. [more info / registration]

The Cubs have once again filed plans to fill in one of the most egregious holes in the urban fabric, the block-long car wash/parking lot wasteland immediately to the west of Wrigley Field. Yes, ownership of the Seminary railroad ROW is still under litigation between the city and the Cubs, but the proposal would largely re-open it as a pedestrian walkway.

I’d be curious to know exactly how the land just west of Wrigley ever got to be such a wasteland, especially when Clark Street to the north and south are largely intact and when there’s obviously such strong market demand for pedestrian oriented retail, entertainment, and housing (oh, and parking) in the area. It may have to do with the old Lakewood-Seminary railroad (see map — the diagonal approaching from the SSW), but that’s been filled in with largely contextual residential to the south. Right at Addison and Clark, fast food restaurants have occupied the old ROW and adjacent parcels since anyone can remember.

Parking, even when structured into flatiron buildings that provide urban form and ground-level retail (as the Cubs and Philip Bess have proposed), may not be a suitable use for the neighborhood already wracked by road rage inducing traffic congestion on a daily basis. A thousand more cars may pay very profitable rents indeed, but Lakeview’s roads just couldn’t handle the additional load. The Cubs would be better off with the team-support and office uses above ground, with parking still provided off site (or not at all).

The July issue of Metropolis carries a glowing article about Mayor Daley’s green initiatives. Several mayoral staffers argue that part of Daley’s brilliance is that he’s somehow progressing along some grand plan to make Chicago environmentally friendly. Oddly enough, the only such plan that has ever been publicly hinted at — his consultations with Bill McDonough — aren’t mentioned at all in the article.

Meanwhile, Dan Johnson-Weinberger went to the exact same interview with Mayor Daley that Lisa Chamberlain wrote her fawning Metropolis piece from. Their different takes on the same issues were brilliantly contrasted in a WBEZ interview (RA file) of the two. DJW correctly identifies a few glaringly huge holes in the “Daley’s grand plan”: the pair of ancient coal fired power plants spilling deadly soot and sulfur over the densely populated (and 90% Latino) southwest side, for instance. Oddly, Chamberlain leads by pointing to Meigs Field, a quintessential knee-jerk power grab, as proof that the city (and particularly Daley) is thinking through environmental initiatives in a holistic way.

Any systematic look at the city’s environmental impact, though, would have addressed many other key issues that are lost amidst the many laudable micro-programs out there. (When I worked in housing, we called the city’s myriad budget options “boutiquey programs,” rather like a lifestyle center filled with tiny shops but without, oh, a supermarket.) Sure, disconnecting downspouts, permeable alleys, and the Calumet environmental center (which smells more like Bill Ford’s doing than Richie Daley’s) are all great steps forward.

But the city’s curious insistence that green roofs are the end-all and be-all of green site planning — even when said green roof is surrounded by a moat of parking, on a street which had its bus service axed in the 1997 service cuts — surely points to the absence of any thorough thinking on green issues. Despite the fact that transportation arguably has as great an impact on the environment as buildings do, the city pursues the easy greenwashing of LEED while chronically under-investing in transit. Chicago pays a paltry $3 million operating subsidy to CTA (garnered solely from its gas tax receipts, which it has state authorization to raise), and wastes its CMAQ grants on throwaway tourist trolleys that duplicate perfectly good CTA services. Meanwhile, as cities elsewhere (notably Seattle) lead the way with transportation demand management services that provide real answers to the question “but what will I do without my car?”, Chicago has yet to investigate any meaningful options besides providing a few token parking spaces in city-owned lots for car sharing. Word has it that TDM ideas were cut out of the forthcoming bicycle plan, since they weren’t “bike enough.”

Incidentally, does anyone know why David Reynolds is abruptly leaving his job at the Department of the Environment? He was due to speak at CNU XII about the city’s green initiatives, but has suddenly disappeared. Too bad; along with Abolt, he was one of the more pleasant, competent people to shape Department of Environment policy.

The Plan Commission has received a proposal (end of agenda) to loft-convert (440 units!!) a cold storage building at Damen and Pershing — the north end of the Union Stock Yards, across from McKinley Park.

Also, a 110-unit conversion is slated for Bloomingdale and Spaulding. Time’s running out to TIF the Bloomingdale industrial district to generate funds for the trail conversion.

For reference purposes, two articles and a letter regarding the Bloomingdale Trail, all copyleft 2003.
Continue reading →

Note to self: when directing people to Michigan Avenue hotels from O’Hare, tell them to take the Blue Line to Division, not Chicago. There are always cabs at the Nelson Algren fountain (and man, do they ever spook me on my ride into work!), but much more rarely cabs at Chicago. Plus, the difference in distance is minimal.

The Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois has released its annual Ten Most Endangered list. A set of heroically scaled steel plant structures (industrial ruins, really — steelmaking here is largely dead) along the Calumet River, near 110th street, made the list. They sure look interesting — I wonder how easy access is around there.

Proposed changes to the RTA’s governance structure — a 15-member board headed by a chairman appointed by the governor — would do little to change the fact that the RTA’s governance favors the suburbs. Seven members from the collar counties would be balanced by seven from Cook (including six from the city), even though Cook County accounts for 80% of all transit rides and 65% of the population of the six-county region.