A reader writes: "There is now fencing up at Sunnyside and the Truman College mall. You can enter from Wilson but can't get out the other side. My understanding from the spring community meeting was that access along the east side of the building would no longer be available, but that access along the mall area at Racine would still be maintained, both after and during construction.
But it now looks like residents along Racine (like Ron Huberman!) and Clifton south of Sunnyside will suddenly have a little longer walk in the morning to the el station for the next year and a half (or longer). Were you at the meeting? Am I misremembering the answers they gave on this?"
Truman College should be more considerate to its neighbors whose property tax dollars are being siphoned off to help pay for its new building.
ReplyDeleteThe TIF is an insurgent militia. Good luck trying to control it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what they are planning to do with the mall. Are they re-opening the street for traffic? Regardless, I won't miss the drunks always loitering on the benches. I never felt comfortable walking through there and would always take the path on the east side of the campus. I guess with both closed off, I'll have to walk up Broadway. How pleasant. However, having the mall closed off at one end only has created a potentially dangerous situation. They've essentially created a trap. Someone could find themselves unknowingly in serious trouble with no way out. I walked by there this morning on the way to the L, and didn't notice any signs indicating there was no egress for pedestrian traffic. Otherwise, they should just close off both ends altogether.
ReplyDeleteThe "mall" will be reopened as the driveway into the parking lot. It will not run through and connect with Racine.
ReplyDeleteThis parking plan is not really well thought-out (no surprise in the 46th Ward) in my opinion as the ONLY way out of that huge parking structure is going up the driveway (former "mall") north and onto Wilson. So ALL the traffic from the garage dumps onto Wilson. There was also talk of making N. Racine (from Wilson headed north) one-way heading north.
I think 2 exit/entrances would have been a better idea. One on Wilson and one on Broadway.
I was at the Truman presentation on this, I'm 90% sure they showed that "plaza" was going to become the main access road to the new garage. It seemed like it was a nicely landscaped 2 lane drive on the plans. I know they specifically talked about how emergency vehicles would be able to reach Truman from Racine south of the new garage but regular garage traffic would be funneled north onto Wilson.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the fence go up I kind of assumed they were getting ready to rip it all up and use it as a construction entrance once the real groundbreaking happened. Construction traffic would be no worse than the boozy picnics that seemed to go on there all summer.