Wednesday, October 3, 2012

New Wilson Station Renderings Available Online; Meeting Set For Next Week





The community Open House to go over the plans for the completely revamped Wilson Red Line Station is set for 6pm to 8pm on Thursday, October 11th, at Truman College, located at 1145 W Wilson.

You can see a sneak peek of the renderings on Ald. Cappleman's website, as well as find out more information about the project.

We are delighted to see that the money has increased from $135million to $203million and look forward to seeing a station that will transform this so-often-neglected part of our community.

Take a look at the website and click on larger versions of the three renderings to get a better idea of what the CTA has in store for us.

Update:  The Sun-Times has a story about the new station, here.

14 comments:

  1. Looks nice. two small things:

    1) I recommend the BigBelly, solar-powered trash cans. In fact, I'd recommend putting those in along Wilson now.

    2) The artists' rendering should include bike lanes. There will be bike lanes, right?

    Good luck!

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  2. Dave, you're funny. Everybody knows that the street rats in this neighborhood don't use trash cans. They just throw their trash on the street wherever they happen to be, even if they happen to be standing next to, say, a trash can. We've all seen the chicken bones, sunflower seed bags, and pork rinds bags littered around within 10 feet of a trash can. There's no way they're going to use trash cans that require you to manually open them. The station will look like a dump within a month after opening, maybe less. It's the way they like it.

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  3. Graceland-Wilson Neighbors Association submitted the results of its Wilson Station Reconstruction Survey--with nearly 550 responses altogether--to CTA and the alderman's office. Even though GWNA weighed in on behalf of its residents, every opinion voiced at the October 11th meeting at Truman will matter--so make the time to go and tell CTA what you want from the new station. What we get is what we will have for the rest of our lives, and it will define Uptown into the next century.

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  4. This is a clean, sleek and modern vision. Well done.

    I assume art selection will be established further in the process... Hope to see something similar to the beautiful tile mural work of the Belmont and Fullerton Stations. Perhaps something that pays homage to Uptown's roaring 20's history and entertainment destination philosophy.

    How about also incorporating sustainable design practices? Maybe CTA’s first LEED certified station?

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  5. @nugatory -

    I'm not familiar with the term "street rats," but clearly the public is using the trash cans. Every time I walk by, they are overflowing. Which is why, I suspect, there is litter on the ground.

    There are over 400 BigBelly cans already, mostly in downtown. They save 80 percent in costs, and should be in every neighborhood.

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  6. nugatory, Lots of truth in what you say. I hope the end result is less rats. Without Clean Slate I shudder to think about what this area would look like today. Is there planned space for a Clean Slate or Police headquarters in the new Gerber/broadway mall? I am a big proponent of any and all rat control methods.

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  7. This all certainly would be spectacular! I of course can't wait to see 1) a major station cleanup and public transportation people look forward to going to in the mornings, and 2) a restoration of as much as possible of the original station.

    I hate to agree with Dave, but I can't help but think, every time I pass Belmont and notice their nice information TV's/displays...those would look so wonderful on a new Wilson platform...but would last only a month or so before being defaced (In case you didn't notice, the newer security cameras which were placed on the platform overhang were spray-painted black within 2 months of being put up. Scribbling on an advertisement is one thing, making efforts to black out an expensive piece of equipment is different altogether, though similarly not acceptable).

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  8. Dave, you should take a stroll past some of these locations, at which there are trash cans in close proximity to piles of litter:

    Argyle and Winthrop
    Argyle and Sheridan
    Sheridan and Ainslie
    Sheridan and Lawrence
    Any of the benches in the park, near to which is generally a giant green trash can.

    These cans above are not usually the victims of fly-dumping, either. Lawrence and Kenmore, on the other hand, also has a crap-ton of litter laying about the can, but that may very well be because the trash can is full from the neighbors who choose to throw their household garbage in the city can instead of their alley dumpster. Or it could just be that it's a popular hangout for street rats. But as for the other locations above, given their usually empty state, I know it's just abject laziness and disrespect on the part of the street rats. I've walked behind some and watched them toss their litter wherever they happen to be. You know the type; don't pretend like you don't.

    BTW, even though I agree that Big Belly compactors make a lot of sense in an urban environment like ours, the ick factor is pretty big. I personally hate touching the handles because they have got to be worse than a bathroom door handle. I wish they had a foot-pedal operation to open them. If I have a choice, and in this neighborhood I often do, I often carry my bag o' dog poo a little further until I find a traditional trash can. And of course, I'll wade through the litter to get there.

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  9. This looks amazing! My wife works downtown and has to transfer at Belmont to the Brown. With the new purple transfer at our station, she won't have to do this saving her around 30 minutes a day round trip.

    Just looking at the renderings, my favorite one is the "Looking North on Broadway from Wilson." Notice how there are no more supports in the middle of the road!

    It will be interesting to see what they do with the Sunnyside mall and their parking lot area.

    I wish I had a time machine to fast forward becasue I can hardly wait.

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  10. @nugatory -

    Sorry, I thought we were talking about the el stop. Or at least Wilson or even Broadway.

    You're right, I'm not familiar with those intersections, but if the trash cans are hardly ever used but trash is always piling up around them, I recommend you and your neighbors talk to the alderman about having them removed.

    You raise a good point about the Big Belly handles. As a new dad, I always have hand sanitizer on me. The manufacturer should think about some sort of motion detector opener though.

    As for street rats...honestly I've seen more raccoons than rats in our neighborhood, but that's probably because we have a lot of feral cats and rats are pretty good at hiding. They say that no matter where you go, we are never more than six feet away from a mouse.

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  11. I give it 15 months before it's subjected to blight.

    I kid. To the beautiful future and wonderful prospects of Uptown!

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  12. Sweet, a great looking trainstation. Now, there's still the problem with low lifes peeing on it, littering, drinking, and dealing drugs around it. Lipstick on a pig until the trash is gone

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  13. These concepts look great - I too shudder to think how quickly it can become a dump once again. Timing is going to be EVERYTHING with this project. Unless new businesses and retail are on board before or quickly after completion of this project, we're F'd.

    At the end of the day, these pretty pictures of a diverse crowd walking in and out of the station on their way to work, don't include the same ol' crowd standing around loitering in front of the SRO's and other service agencies.

    Lets get real people, until these SRO's are cleaned out and shut down and gang activity run out, NOTHING is going to happen to help this neighborhood change. A bank would be nuts to give anyone money for a business around this area. Until then, let the currency exchanges and free clinics flourish.

    Timing is everything.

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  14. Is it just me, or do those platforms look abnormally wide? I remember when Fullerton reconstruction was being planned, and the alderman (or alderwoman there I believe) mentioned how if the platforms went from 20 feet wide to 17 or 18' wide, the old DePaul building could be saved. That ended up not saving that building, but these platform renderings make it look like 40' wide platforms. I hope these renderings are not proportional. I hope the station will be busier as a transfer point now, especially on Cubs game days, but these look abnormally large. Maybe save a couple bucks and use less materials? I get they have $200M to work with, but hey, if you don't use it all, is that a bad thing?

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