Ald. Shiller sent out an email blast today announcing a $4.3 million renovation of Broadway between Montrose and Wilson. It includes this line that caught our attention:
"These enhancements are part of a comprehensive streetscaping project designed by the City of Chicago Department of Transportation in close cooperation with community representatives and Alderman Shiller." We're wondering just what community representatives she's referring to... block clubs? UCC? Community planners? Enquiring minds want to know...
Who in their right mind would lock their bike out there?
ReplyDeleteWhat about the constant train of zombies and creeps that go from Azuza liquors then through the alleyway behind the spot to drink up and whizz?
Well, I guess they will now have nice benches to nap on. Hello Target!
Weren't the benches in front of the currency exchange just removed because of excessive loitering and now they are being added back? Curious.
ReplyDeleteAt the budget hearings they mentioned that all those red bumpers and cement wheelchair ramps that are being installed on the sidewalks at every intersection are costing the city $8,000,000 this year. The cost comes out of the general fund.
ReplyDeleteThe ADA feature became a mandate after a court case held that they were required to provide accessibility for the disabled.
Since when is a 'stamped crosswalk' a wondrous benefit? Such a sad 'email blast'
ReplyDeleteI think any positive upgrade of the Montrose-to-Wilson stretch will com from Target, and not from our 46th Ward Office.
I think we should call out our alderwoman when appropriate, but also give credit when credit is due. I'm not saying we should praise her for this, especially since yes, where was the community input, but it'll certainly be an improvement for the area. I'd like to see this be a catalyst for improvements north up to Lawrence. The trees in from of Harris are nice, but up by the currency exchange the sidewalk is uneven, thus water pools instead of draining, and there's no trees, just concrete. I say why should Andersoneville be the only ones to get this treatment in our neck of the woods?
ReplyDelete-Brian
Somehow, the phrase "lipstick on a pig" comes to mind. Target was supposed to make a wealth of section 8 voucher housing easier to swallow. Is street-scaping supposed to make concentration of crime, poverty, and yet more low income housing crammed in the area more palatable???
ReplyDeleteSounds LOVELY...
ReplyDeleteSo Broadway on 1/2 of Wilson will have nice streetlights and the other 1/2 will look like 1965?
Why not extend the project to in front of the newly rehabbed CTA station? Oh wait...
Half baked ideas are just that...Half baked.
I'm thinking Target was the community involvement. I'm glad to hear about the plantings, but adding in benches concerns me. The CTA benches just around the corner at Sheridan and Montrose are constantly occupied.
ReplyDeleteYour right Mike. I watch little old ladies stand with their arms full of bags/groceries while the local drunks sit and smoke on those benches.
ReplyDeleteAlso, can one claim the newest members of the neighborhood are yuppy gentrifiers in one breath, and put in a Target in the next?
Pot meet kettle.
WTH? I've been trying to get on Helen's top-secret e-mail list for years. Even when I try to log in under fake names, etc., her crafty aides never add me to her important e-mail list. It's like they have extra-sensory powers, or are merely reflecting their leader's paranoia.
ReplyDeleteEyeinthesky, what do you mean by your comments about the yuppies? Isn't it a good sign that people are interested in living in the neighborhood and infusing money into it? What is wrong with a target?
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