Where All My Nightmares Came True

Classmate's blog part deux

2008-04-09T12:43:00.002-05:00

This time I chose to read Joel's blog at http://www.joelaudiovideo.blogspot.com/.
Joel has an ongoing story about the mystery building that is being erected near his house. I don't know why, if he is so curious about its construction, he doesn't just ask one of the people on the site.
He has an interesting viewpoint on the suffocating nature of suburban sprawl (from an outsider's perspective as through his life he has lived either out in the country or in the city). I agree with that sentiment, because I think it will eventually prove unsustainable, with dire consequences for us all. He mentions being annoyed at "bad" bicyclists and I will admit that they are out there but I believe he has to put himself in the place of a bicyclist for just a little bit. Attempting to ride through major streets (i.e. the ones that don't have bike lanes and where traffic moves faster) inevitably leads to the bicyclist being harassed, bullied or honked at at least once (from personal experience. However, his opinion should be taken into as much consideration as everyone else's because, like I said before, unsafe cyclists are out there and they share responsibility as well.
My biggest gripe is that he put his house as a top Chicago spot. What a cop out!

UIC Development

2008-04-08T00:12:00.002-05:00

UIC has developed quite a bit since its modest beginnings at Navy Pier. Obviously this is because of the increased demand for higher education due to societal changes in the need for an advanced degree as well as increased population. The facilities are certainly much better now than they were when UIC was a crowded campus on Navy Pier but through the years UIC has remained largely a commuter school that many find drab and uninviting.
The development on the former Maxwell St. neighborhood (now University Village) attempted to right some of those wrongs. There are many newer student residences as well as street shopping. However, the reality is that many of the apartments in the new developments are being bought by people of a higher socio-economic status that students simply cannot attain. These residents are changing the character of the street shopping to be something that is out of the reach of students. I cannot say that I am familiar with the old neighborhood but at times the new development feels empty, like it was just dropped fully formed into the area. Maybe it will get better over time.
What UIC really needs is more student residences. UIC is starting to move in that direction with higher numbers of incoming freshmen living in the dorms. With a larger resident population the ambience of the school will change for the better. When the campus is empty it feels desolate and rather scary. Contrasted with schools that have a larger resident population it simply feels boring. I have faith (and I really have faith in so little) that given enough time UIC will become a fun, interesting campus. It's really too bad that I won't be around to experience it. I can come and visit but it will not be the same.

CTA ...still there

2008-04-07T17:07:00.009-05:00

Hey, it's actually been a while since I have talked about the CTA. The other day I finally checked out a site that I had seen referenced in various places. The CTA Tattler(http://www.ctatattler.com/). As the name implies the main purpose of this site is to talk about experiences in the CTA, though not necessarily bad ones. The webmaster also has had the opportunity (along with others) to have a casual discussion over coffee with CTA president Ron Huberman, which is an opportunity I certainly would not pass up.
Here are my recent thoughts on this behemoth:
Abandoned stations in the Eisenhower median and along the Englewood Green Line Branch - this past weekend I drove past both of these and wondered to myself why these structures are allowed to sit there, decaying, rusting and becoming an eyesore. Maybe the CTA plans on rehabbing the stations should demand ever warrant it. By then I will probably be in my 50s and the cost of rehabbing the stations (which will by then probably seem quaint, although I fail to see how) will be far greater than constructing a new one.
Bus bunching - the CTA has launched an expanded Bus Tracker service that provides riders with detailed information on when the next bus should arrive to their stop in 20 different routes. Supposedly, this would have the effect of reducing bus bunching yet there it was, on a route with bus tracker fully implemented. Friday morning I missed an 49 Western bus that had an X49 bus right behind it (which I could not board as I was not on an express stop) and, less than a minute later, came another 49 bus. After boarding the 49 bus I realized that there was another bus in front of the bus I had originally missed...probably another express bus. 4 buses operating never farther than a block from one another. I am sure that this caused some disruption to someone, somewhere.

Daydream

2008-04-05T12:46:00.003-05:00

There are abandoned tracks along Bloomingdale Ave. from Ashland to Lawndale which I always thought would be perfectly converted to a bike trail. They are visible from the blue line and look like quite an eyesore from that vantage point which only led me to the daydream of an open bikeway.
Of course, I wasn't the first to think about it.
Here is a link to a WBEZ story about such a possible conversion, apparently many individuals and organizations are on board with the idea: story. Since I thought of the idea independently of this organization, I would like to take credit for it (I won't though).

Children's Museum/Daley rant

2008-04-04T17:49:00.005-05:00

My internship is working with Head Start Children at El Valor in Little Village. Today we took a field trip to the Chicago Children's Museum. It is quite an entertaining (and obviously educational) little place that I had never gone to, what with not having been a child for some time now and all, it was all new to me. The kids were worn out by the trip and promptly fell asleep upon returning to the center which left my sleep-lacking body with little comfort. The Museum is currently located in Navy Pier but Mayor Daley among others have been attempting to move it to Grant Park, which has raised quite a bit of ire from many segments of the population (ok, no one wants it there except the Museum itself and Mayor Daley it seems). This goes back to the "open, clear and free" argument about the lakefront which stems from the decision to move the Field Museum from its planned location in the middle of Grant Park to where it stands today. The Art Institute is a notable exception for reasons I can't recall and will not look into (I admit to my laziness, but hey the internet is out there...I think it has something to do with air rights over the Illinois Central tracks but I might be wrong). Personally, I guess that if Da Mayor wants it Da Mayor gets it but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I have a love/hate opinion on Daley. He is improving the city in myriad ways...if you consider parts of the city that did not need much improvement. Hopefully he doesn't take the same approach to this issue as he did when he destroyed Meigs Field overnight and without warning. I wish I could find the video clip of him saying "You wouldn't want to find a rat in your sandwich, wouldya?". He was referring to some health inspector action or another but it sounded like a threat, which is great. Love his Chicago accent as well so maybe talk about accents is a future blog entry, Seacrest out.

Hard times and building in Chicago

2008-04-03T20:50:00.002-05:00

Being a geeky urbanist, it pleases me to see construction cranes downtown and old industrial buildings being rehabbed as condos (though for the time being they are FAR beyond my price range). However, with the economy in the state that it is currently in how long can this growth sustain itself? Are there enough buyers to fill the condo suites in the yet-unfinished Trump Tower? How about in the Chicago Spire, which has not gone past the foundation stage? The latter project has begun to recruit potential buyers from as far as Singapore. Is everything going to turn all right or will Chicagoans grow accustomed to half-built skyscrapers and great projects that never were? Time will tell.

News

2008-04-01T23:11:00.007-05:00

You Can't Eat There
This article focuses on a superstar chef that has just opened a restaurant at the Carter Harrison Water Intake Crib, two miles off Oak Street Beach on Lake Michigan. He will not give reservations to phone numbers with local area codes (not that you can find his number as it is unlisted) and dinner costs $1600. "I’m not opening a great Chicago restaurant,” he says. “I’m opening a world-class destination. And for better or worse, diners that make those distinctions live in New York, Los Angeles, London." Bottom line, this guy's a pompous jerk and he insulted Chicago. No way the food is worth the mortgage on a house.
Edit: After reading this week's letters section of The Chicago Reader it is clear that this article was an April Fool's hoax. I wasn't the only one to fall for it thankfully.

Nation's Gentrified Neighborhoods Threatened by Aristocratization
A comedic take on gentrification and cities; this time the people being pushed out are upper class professionals. Here they are being pushed out by aristocrats who convert their French bakeries, faux dive bars and condos into opera houses and castles. Something to laugh at.

Top 5 favorite Chicago spots

2008-03-31T18:51:00.006-05:00

I feel that when I make this list I am not making a list quite as good as it could be, that I am sort of limiting myself in the ways that I experience the city and other such thoughts. Regardless, here are my top 5 places in the great city of Chicago, with a bevy of runners-up left out. No particular order, of course.

The Museum of Contemporary Art (on Tuesdays)
220 E. Chicago Ave.
As a poor college student I enjoy all things that cost me no money. Every Tuesday the MCA opens its doors to everyone and often that everyone includes me. There is a constant rotation of exhibits which range the gamut as far as style and media of presentation go (painting, sculpture, photography, video, etc). I enjoy being visually stimulated as well as occasionally thinking "Gee, I could've done that...and better" so this is the place for me. Talk about a great, fun, non-threatening spot to hang out with that guy/gal you don't know all that well, too.

Montrose Beach
The Lakefront, between Montrose and Foster
Each of Chicago's beaches has its own character and would be lying if I said that (of the ones that I have been to) I don't enjoy them all. However, I have been to Montrose more than any of the other beaches and I find it the perfect spot to chill come summertime, whether it is in the beach itself or in the surrounding parkland. I guess I like it because there are places where you can get away from commotion and crowds without straying too far from the city.

Kuma's Corner
2900 W. Belmont Ave.
The burgers are on the expensive side ($10, choice of beef, chicken or veggie patty) but they are served on a bagel roll, large, filling and are named after various heavy metal bands. Oh they are also...DELICIOUS. Don't pass up the IRON MAIDEN (Avocado, Cherry Peppers, Pepper Jack, Chipotle Mayo), the SLAYER (Chili, Cherry Peppers, Andouille, Onions, Jack Cheese, "and Anger") or the MAYHEM (Sliced Jalapeños, Pancetta, Pepper Jack, Gardinera Mayo). The prices keep me from this becoming a routine thing, which is probably a good thing for my waistline. Good beer selection, as well (their website includes a mini-diatribe against Miller and Budweiser, good for them but a tad ironic since they serve Pabst Blue Ribbon which is of course the beer of choice for hipster, punks and other "alternative lifestylers" but is similarly mass produced, although way way cheap).

Reckless Records (Loop store)
26 E. Madison
Reckless Records has 3 locations (Wicker Park, Lakeview and The Loop) and all 3 are worth a look if you are in the market for some new tunes (mostly of the indie rock, metal and punk varieties although there are hip hop titles). I enjoy the Loop store the most because of its proximity to UIC, the near constant influx of used vinyl dropped off by who knows who (students living in the Loop looking for rent money and suddenly not caring about the Bowie albums they borrowed from their uncle in 2003? Office workers looking to clear up some storage space?) and the fact that my friend Jeff works there and repeatedly hooks me up with the employee discount (it's not that big but it adds up). I've never gotten the "snobby record store dude" vibe (think High Fidelity) from any of their employees in years of going to their store which is more than I can say for Metal Haven (though I haven't been to their new location) or whatever that store in Charlotte, NC was called. Either way, Reckless is great for yet another reason: the albums on the listening station are relevant and as varied as the yearly employee top 10 lists. Note: As of my last visit there were still 7 copies of the second issue of the zine I co-wrote with my friend Evan, Earth Sucks. I forget how many of the second issue I sold wholesale to Reckless (15? 20?) but it seems like the first few almost flew off the magazine section while those last 7 stubbornly linger.

Quimby's Bookstore
1854 North Ave.
Quimby's is a bookstore that carries less than mainstream titles, comic books, strange porno mags, independently published zines and everything in between. The books range from art books on the history of graffiti to books explaining every aspect of Satanism to tomes on every conceivable political viewpoint. Most of the times that I have been there I have browsed for quite a while and bought nothing (again, because I am a poor college student). They have a no cell-phone policy which is a blessing for anyone who has ever begun to read a book at a chain bookstore only to be rudely interrupted by someone yammering about their current medical condition or their love life. Hopefully they are not priced out of their Wicker Park location...

Honorable mentions, since I'm kind of wishy washy and want people to check out all sorts of things:
Myopic Books (http://myopicbookstore.com/)
Bourgeois Pig (http://www.bpigcafe.com/)
Alice N Friends (5812 N. Broadway, no website)
Lazo's (http://www.lazostacos.com/)
any of the Village Discount Outlet thrift stores (http://www.villagediscountoutlet.com/)
Museum of Holography (http://holographiccenter.com/)

The Rise of the Creative Class

2008-03-30T11:35:00.002-05:00

Richard Florida's "The Rise of the Creative Class" received much attention because the notions it suggests fly in the face of what has been considered to be good public planning policy. Instead of attracting a steady base of families, as has been the case for decades, Florida says that cities ought to learn from attract what he deems the "creative class" and that the attractiveness of a city to this class of people with high-tech skills and off-beat interests are precisely more off-beat people. These cities (such as Austin, TX and Madison, WI) ought to have a high tolerance for varying races/ethnicities and sexual preference. At the time that this theory was formulated, the country was enjoying the benefits of the dot-com boom and it was the people in the employ of these same companies that were part of Florida's "creative class". The dot-com era is over, their demise having caused the recession that only became worsened by the events of September 11, 2001, and cities seeking to improve themselves merely through attracting the hipster set have seen the overall health of the city decrease even as the parts favored by the "creative class" may have flourished. Certainly this is not a catch-all as some cities have weathered the past decade quite nicely, but for cities to pin all their hopes on the promise of trendseters making their cities viable is not wise. It should be but a piece of a larger, much more complicated puzzle that includes addressing public policy, property taxes, improving education and public transport among many other variables.

Of springtime, stray cats and ugly buildings.

2008-03-26T18:04:00.005-05:00

Is it spring time already? It feels like it might be but Chicago has that way of dumping a snowstorm in mid-April or having frost in June. Me? I don't put my winter coat away until July.

My internship is in Little Village near 26th and Pulaski and while there are several aspects that I could comment on (such as the marked difference between this neighborhood and North Lawndale on the other side of the Metra tracks) I'll mention this: I have never seen such a large number of cats wandering the streets in Chicago. Come to think of it, I don't recall ever seeing so many stray cats on the streets. They don't come near the levels of the insane Russian cat lady but they're definitely out there. Are these cats really strays or is this a cultural thing that I have somehow missed despite my Latin background and living in Mexico for most of my childhood?

On another note, I hate the Presidential Towers. One building that looks like this is fine. Two is acceptable because of symmetry and the appeal of all things "twin", three would be pushing it but FOUR identical buildings (albeit connected at the base) is insulting and ugly. I'm not really an architecture snob, but they could've done better.

Metro 2020

2008-03-23T22:14:00.001-05:00

Chicago Metropolis 2020 is an independent study set up by the business community aiming to come up with a plan to improve the area as a whole, in terms of city planning. This channels the famous Plan of Chicago of 1909 (better known as the Burnham Plan after Daniel Burnham). However, times have changed and thus the focus of the plan has also changed. Whereas the Burnham Plan was centered on creating a "great city" this plan is centered on creating a city that is a good place to live for all its inhabitants, including its most destitute. A focal point of the plan is to redevelop areas that have been left behind in the cycle of suburbanization, urban decay and gentrification. This is an area which Chicago could very much benefit from as a cursory look through the south and west sides would find many ailing neighborhoods. These neighborhoods are suffering from the hand of the past, as unfavorable zoning codes and de facto segregation have created belts of poverty (whose inhabitants' biggest disadvantage is the color of their skin) that have only recently begun to shrink...only to be redistributed across city limits into poorer suburbs, particularly south of the city.

But I digress, Metropolis 2020 calls for a more sensible approach to city planning. Such an approach would focus partly on transit-oriented development (which would necessitate more transit than is currently in place), call for a reevaluation of segregationist practices that still endure, a new emphasis on parkland and other open spaces, and low-income housing subsidized by employers among other ideas. They are very much infant ideas in this report but perhaps some of them will be implemented in CMAP's new Go To 2040 program which was recently announced.

Another 2016 Olympics Post

2008-03-18T11:38:00.002-05:00

Assuming that Chicago wins the Olympic bid for 2016, the effects on the city as a whole would be many. The obvious effect would be seen in infrastucture. The proposed Olympic Village near the lakefront south of McCormick Place as well as any new venues built for the games, particularly the proposed changes to Washington Park as the location for the yet-unbuilt Olympic Stadium, would endure for decades to come as testament of the games. Were the city to gain the nomination it would receive federal funds which most likely would be diverted to the expansion of transportation infrastructure. While I am not aware of any pressing highway projects awaiting funding there is plenty of maintenance work to be done (especially if there are any winters such as this past one between here and 2016 that leave behind a glut of potholes). The rest of the transportation funds would likely go towards funding the CTA's pet projects as of this moment: the Circle Line, the Red Line extension and the Mid-City Transitway (all of which I've referenced earlier) as well as perhaps a new line connecting the Olympic Stadium to the Olympic Village to the Loop...or some other worthy project.

When looking for an Olympic host city from the 1970s on, I wanted to look for a city whose very image had been transformed as a result. Barcelona sprung to mind first but perhaps it was because I was only 6 at the time of the games. The articles I found talking about urban regeneration in Barcelona following the games were written in regards to the upcoming London 2012 Olympics. To me it never seemed as if the city of London was in any need of a makeover as far as image went and although London certainly has its dodgy areas (as every major city does) from my limited knowledge it does not seem as if London is in any dire need of urban renewal. Nevertheless the articles centered on the definite changes that Barcelona has undergone around its Olympic developments. What was once a dingy, unused port became the Olympic Village and is now an attractive neighborhood. However, Barcelona underwent a change that some Chicagoans fear will repeat itself. The cost of living in the city almost tripled following the games and many of its poorer inhabitants were priced out. The poor sections of the city of Chicago are already being squeezed out of the perfect city that some in power relentlessly market. The Olympics could cause some of that movement to increase.

Governing compares IL and LA

2008-03-13T21:12:00.001-05:00

Katrina trumps Blagojevich. At least that is what the state report cards at Governing magazine would appear to indicate. How is it that a state with a bigger population, higher median income, larger political clout, etc scores lower on this scale than a state that recently underwent the biggest natural disaster in recent US history?
It seemingly all comes down to politics. While Hurricane Katrina certainly did shake up the state of Louisiana financially and infrastructurally the state was overall united by the tragedy and sound fiscal policies were put into effect to curb the damage wrought by the storm. On the other hand, Illinois did not suffer from a crisis that remotely approached the destruction of a large hurricane and state government is controlled in all 3 branches by the Democratic Party (following a scandal plagued series of Republican administrations) yet its leaders cannot come to agreements on fundamental areas. Louisina planned for its post-Katrina budgets assuming the worst and thus received budget surpluses as a result of federal money flowing into the state as well as unforeseen economic investment. Of course, this is not to say that the article finds the state to be exemplary but rather that it is doing a capable job under duress. A criticism that is specially voiced is the manner in which projects are approved, which involves many layers of bureaucracy and could further be streamlined or done away with. Illinois, on the other hand has had a tough time getting its budget into balance because of outstanding debts and a populace that is averse to raising taxes (but what populace isn't?). Unmentioned in the article is the split between the Chicagoland metropolitan area and the rest of the state. Downstaters are not interested in funding rapidly aging infrastructure for Chicago or helping expand their rapid transit in the same way that Chicago-area residents are not terribly excited that their tax money goes to fund roads they will never drive on.

The CNA Plaza Building

2008-03-09T16:31:00.003-05:00

I looked it at for a few moments earlier today and quickly realized how much I would hate it if it was a duller color. In fact, I learned from Wikipedia that it is almost identical to a building in Milwaukee that stands out in MKE but would be beyond unassuming and drab in Chicago.

I wonder what the daughter of the woman who was killed by a falling window from this building in 1999 is up to now. Her mother is dead and she witnessed it and of course that has affected her, most likely in a negative fashion, but on the other hand her family received am $18 million lawsuit. Sue everyone. USA USA.

Patio Man

2008-03-07T21:13:00.002-06:00

I am no patio man, but I grew up around them. Now, the suburb I grew up in did not completely fit the mold that the "sprawl people" David Brooks speaks of in "Patio Man and the Sprawl People" as Streamwood was roughly half developments from the 1950s and 1960s- which due to their smaller size in comparison to the newer mini McMansions had become a bastion for blue collar families, single mothers and immigrants- and half newer sprawl development. The mentality inherent to these patio men, that of reckless consumption married with unsustainable sprawl, that of children with last names as first names with schedules as jam packed as those of workaholic executives was apparent in some of the population of my suburb. It is only some of the population because as Brooks pointed out the truly classless society in "sprinkler cities" (that is cities consisting of nothing but patio men") are in the Sun Belt and suburban Chicago is far from the Sun Belt. Of course, I anecdotally know of families who did move to such cities from the town I reluctantly called home all those years so this phenomenon does not exist in a vacuum.

Classmate's blog

2008-02-19T20:38:00.003-06:00

I clicked on a couple of blog links before deciding to focus on Troy Ingram's blog (700south). I chose it based on one thing: he had taken the time to photoshop a Blue Line map into a logo for his blog. Right away, he gets kudos for creativity.

Troy's writing is of excellent quality. He is concise and articulate without being wordy. I especially like the way in which he brings his own experiences into a topic that may not seem to be directly connected to him. He covers varied topics: everything from the CTA repairs to the threat of the Children's Museum possible move to Grant Park (compromising the "open, free and clear" provision of the Burnham Plan) to his recent dining experiences. Like me, he lived in the Northwest suburbs and I think that there is a sort of universal feeling that the city gives those of us who hail from those parts- a feeling that I think is manifested in his blog entries. Also worthy of note is a very heartfelt discussion of the recent shootings at NIU (apparently, he knew one of the victims which makes it all the more heartfelt) and his photographs of the city.

Biking around Chicago

2008-02-18T21:42:00.002-06:00

I must say that I haven't ridden my bike in the city for a couple of months. Living in the suburbs, this means that I have to take my bicycle on the Metra train during the hours that it is allowed. My schedule this semester has prevented this for the most part and coupled with the frigid weather and above-average snowfall we've been having has prevented me from enjoying the city's many bicycle-friendly streets. Spring is closer than it seems (and it isn't it that way every year?) and by then I'll bring myself to ride again. For in Chicago, there is a system of bicycle lanes that are comparable only to Montreal in North America with over 100 miles of them and more to come if Mayor Daley's plans are followed through. His actions have been much criticized in the media, such as the photo-op of him riding a bicycle from Paris's bike rental program that he hopes to bring to Chicago...in the midst of the CTA budget crisis last fall, but this is one of very few things that I can agree on with the man. Riding bicycles in relatively dense areas such as Chicago is to be encouraged as it is both environmentally friendly and cost-efficient. It can also be faster than public transportation. There have been times that I have outrun my friends (who were in a car) to a destination while riding a bike. I once saw a man in a very flamboyant yellow jacket zipping past me near the Monroe Blue Line stop. I took the Blue Line to Western (Bucktown stop) and when I got off I saw the same flamboyant man riding his bike down Milwaukee Avenue. Bicycles will not replace cars in American culture, particularly given how spread out much of suburbia is, but they can be coupled with public transit to curb traffic jams, clean up the air a little and provide Americans with some much-needed exercise...at least when the thermometer rises over 35 degrees.

Immigration Factbook

2008-02-17T21:25:00.001-06:00

The Immigration Factbook was compiled by researchers at Roosevelt University in order to try to understand the effect of immigration upon the Chicago metropolitan area. One aspect that they mentioned is the changing areas that immigrants are using as "ports of entry". In 1990 about 12.5% of immigrants arriving to the Chicago area set up residences in the suburbs. By 2000 the percentage of immigrants whose port of entry was in the suburbs rose to 29.2 (almost a third). Such a change is probably majorly due one major factor: many low-skill jobs (in factories, for example) are now located in the suburbs. However, there are immigrant groups (particularly those coming from Asia) that are highly educated and they too contribute to the increased number of immigrants in the suburbs as companies and businesses who employ these immigrants are also located in the suburbs.

Chicago 2016?

2008-02-15T18:27:00.002-06:00

By now, most everyone has at least HEARD about the city's bid to host the 1016 Summer Olympics. Chicago is now the official United States bid city for those games, having beat out San Francisco. Are the odds stacked up against a city with a decaying transportation network from a country that has already hosted 8 games (if the Winter Games are counted)? The competition is formidable: Tokyo, Rio De Janeiro, Madrid, Doha, Baku and Prague. Mayor Daley has invested heavily in attempting to bring the games to the Windy City but in the end, only time will tell if Chicago will get to host the Olympic Games...although in 1904 Chicago was meant to host the games only to have them moved to St. Louis to coincide with the World's Fair in that city. Since then, Chicago has maintained its national and global importance while STL's has sunk considerably. Perhaps the city jinxed itself?

Property taxes and TIFs

2008-02-14T21:14:00.002-06:00

Tax Increment Financing districts are ubiquitous in Chicago today. These funds take property tax money that would go directly into local parks and schools and are redirected into a general fund controlled by the Mayor. The general concensus in City Hall is that TIFs do not increase property taxes but, as any homeowner or renter whose housing bills have skyrocketed can attest, these taxes actually have increased. As property taxes increase so does the cost of living which can ultimately lead to the gentrification of the entire city since lower-income residents could no longer afford to live in the city. The effects of this are being felt already as many of those people pushed out of public housing have been unable to find housing within city limits due to exorbitant rents. This of course, weakens the very essence of the city of Chicago, a city that has always been a cross-section of diverging classes, not just those of higher-income. Of course, lower-income residents still live in the city and will continue to do so for some time but the less than visible push to eradicate them is already palpable.

Gentrification

2008-02-13T20:22:00.001-06:00

Growing up in the suburbs I was not able to see gentrification slowly take hold but rather I have seen it more or less drastically change a particular location. Two parts of Chicago that I can specifically remember having gentrified since I have lived in the Chicagoland area (summer of 1997) are Wicker Park and Pilsen.

Wicker Park has obviously been gentrifying for quite a while now due to its location (near the Kennedy Expressway and served by the Damen Blue Line). I cannot speak for its state prior to 2003 but I have noticed that in the past few years independent businesses are giving way to either higher-scale businesses (high-end clothing boutiques) as well as to chain stores (Urban Outfitters, a bank where a coffee shop used to stand). The population has changed noticeably to include many more young urban professionals.

Pilsen is a location that is changing ever more rapidly, particularly the portions to the North (just south of the 16th St. viaduct). The first time I was ever in Pilsen in 1998 I remember it being dingy and dirty. These days, new condominium complexes are constantly going up and old two-flats are being remodeled and replaced. The ethnic character is changing as well, for every time I venture into Pilsen I see many more white people (apparently most are art students) than I ever would have a few years ago. However, Pilsen is still in the midst of change and remains a Mexican community for the most part, just as it was a Bohemian neighborhood prior to that.

Mexico City

2008-02-11T20:07:00.000-06:00

I stumbled upon this site of aerial photographs of Mexico City while looking for a picture of a particular area to show a friend. The area is called Las Lomas and is visible in the picture to the left. I lived in Mexico City from November of 1990 to July of 1995 and I have many fond memories of the place (I was 8 years old when I left). More than anything else it is living in the ever-congested albeit relatively safe Narvarte-Del Valle neighborhood that has given me an appreciation for large cities and would eventually lead me to take this course. Mexico City holds almost 9 million people within its city limits (roughly equal to all of metropolitan Chicago) with an additional 20 million people in the surrounding metropolitan area creating the most populous urban area in the Americas.

As befits a city of such size, there is a little bit of everything with vibrant cultural scenes, industry of all kinds, shopping (both high and low-end), crime, pollution (the city lies on a valley surrounded by high mountains that trap smog) and breathtaking monuments and parks. Though the size of the rapid transit system dwarfs that of Chicago's it does not serve the entire breadth of the city and, much like Chicago and other world cities, it is the poorer areas that get shafted in terms of service. I have not been back since, as my family did not until recently receive permanent legal status in the United States, but I plan on doing so as soon as it becomes financially feasible. I yearn to again see a city filled with so many contrasts: old colonial districts and ever-growing skyscrapers, architecturally adventurous buildings and simple shacks built by squatters on the hillsides, tree-lined boulevards and crowded vecindades.

CTA Gray Line

2008-02-10T23:46:00.000-06:00

This is a short post focusing on Mike Payne's proposal for the CTA using the Metra Electric line to serve as part of its system. Currently, the line is underutilized with in city limits because it is direct competition to CTA buses and does not run with the regularity required of CTA service. Getting the CTA and Metra to agree on such a project is rather daunting but, in my opinion a necessary step toward a world class transportation network, particularly with the upcoming Olympic bid on the line. This proposal would create direct access via CTA rapid transit from, say Grant Park to Hyde Park. Such an arrangement would be more easily conducted in cities such as Boston and New York, where city and commuter rail are managed under one agency. Additionally, as Payne is not an insider the odds are stacked against this plan ever occurring. More info available at the CTA Gray Line site.

Friday night lights

2008-02-09T16:37:00.000-06:00

Last night I went to a show, a concert if you will, with some friends. Hardcore punk shows such as this are based on the DIY (do it yourself) ethos. That is, whenever possible the traditional music club circuit is eschewed in favor of off-the wall locales such as bingo halls and art galleries. Over the past year The Galaxie has become one of the show spaces of choice. Located near the intersection of Belmont, California and Elston in a former industrial warehouse which has been converted into an multimodal space hosting dance classes, art workshops, music classes as well as the occasional all ages hardcore show. It was somewhat of a momentous event because Vitamin X (from the Netherlands) had not played Chicago in about 5 years. Nick Baran- a hardcore elder statesman at the age of 34- had planned this show with low expectations due to the decreasing popularity of the particular substyle of punk that Vitamin X plays and the fact that the past few shows he had organized had been less than stellarly attended.

However, those fears were put to rest when show time came and it was well attended (by underground standards) with close to 200 paying. Chicago's hardcore and punk scenes are not exactly united, with its distinct subsets rarely playing together. This is not only because of the musical differences (though to people not familiar with punk, hardcore and metal it all sounds similar) but also due to geographic differences. There is a South Side scene centered in the Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods made up largely of Spanish speaking bands, a separate scene grew around the (now defunct) Albion House in Rogers Park and there are of course bands from the suburbs and Northwest Indiana that are all loosely interconnected in the umbrella of DIY. Baran attributed the success of this show to having bands from distinct subsets play in order to maximize the turnout: Cold Shoulder (from Northwest Indiana aka the far Southwest suburbs) brought along carloads of their friends; Intifada's niche was being a band made up of younger kids from the city; Poison Planet brought out a group of friends that have at least a working knowledge of the straight edge lifestyle; and Sin Orden is a band most commonly associated with the aforementioned South Side scene (and quite aptly as all their lyrics are in Spanish). The show itself was one of the best in recent memory with the bands receiving much crowd participation and singing along, two things that are most important in this genre. It made for an enjoyable start to my weekend. Additional pictures can be found here (all photos by Ryan Lowry).

Photographs of Chicago.

2008-02-07T13:40:00.002-06:00

For this blog entry, I visited three image sites featuring Chicago as their subject.

First up is the site Revealing Chicago: An Aerial Portrait by Terry Evans. This is a collection of photographs taken from the air all around Chicagoland. The pictures are subdivided into themes: the lakefront, commerce and culture, infrastructure, city neighborhoods, chilling out, suburbs, farming, saved places in addition to maps showing the extent to which humans have changed the landscape in the past 200 years.
The concept behind taking aerial pictures is not unique to Evans but it is quite well executed. These photographs allowed me to see places from a vantage point that is not readily available. The varied themes create a breadth and scope that is hard to summarize but includes everything from run down, empty lots on the West Side to carefully manicured private yards in the northwest suburbs to a golf course built on a former landfill to a yard where containers are transferred from boats to trains and/or trucks. Captions are another strength of the website as I was not aware that "Chicago is the third largest intermodal port in the world, behind Singapore and Hong Kong." Most striking is the relative absence of people from the photographs, rendered insignificant by the distance between an aircraft and the ground. However, the effect of man upon the landscape is readily apparent- even in the section devoted to protected lands.

Next up is Picturing Chicago, an ongoing project by Carla G. Surratt. It is quite an ambitious overview of the city shot in stark black and white and more often than not focusing solely on the landscape (whether artificial or natural but mostly man-made). I did not have the patience to look at all of the photographs but they are very good at capturing the architectural and spatial integrity of the city and will undoubtedly serve as a great resource on the city of Chicago at the turn of the 21st Century.

For seeing pictures of the past is far more interesting than seeing pictures of places that you see regularly and are downright pedestrian as a result. The Chicago Imagebase, though fraught with broken links and pages in construction, is a collection of images within Chicagoland from the 19th Century to the present. These pictures come from varying sources but seem much more interesting to me, for the reasons I already mentioned.

As far as the pictures I enjoy taking within the city, I would have to say that I once approached it from the purely landscape based mindset that Picturing Chicago seems to take but grew increasingly bored with the compositions that resulted from it. What did I turn to? I modified it to include people, though not in the tourist "look-I-went-to-Millenium-Park" sense but rather of people milling around in their everyday business. This is much more easily achievable in Chicago between April and November as you can imagine...