I just wanted to share the list of streets closed for this weekend’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon in the city. If you live downtown or up north in Chicago, beware of parking bans and getting your car towed tonight also in addition to these streets that will be inaccessible. Most streets re-open on Sunday afternoon when the race is over, but some streets take longer to clear and won’t be open again until Monday morning. If you are viewing/cheering the Chicago Marathon, take public transportation downtown. If you live in the area, I recommend staying in for the weekend, or using public transit. Driving will be difficult. But then again its just once a year.

The following information was provided by the Chicago Police Department.

Please note that although the Bank of America Marathon is on Sunday, some street closures will be in effect as early as Thursday evening.

Bank of America Chicago Marathon Date: Sunday, 11 Oct 09

Start Time: 7:30 am

Start Location: Monroe and Columbus

Finish Location: Columbus north of Roosevelt Street

Closures for site set up, event and teardown:

• Columbus from Roosevelt to Congress Pkwy- Closed: Friday, 09 Oct 09 at 10am Opened: Monday, 12 Oct 09 at 6am
• Columbus from Congress Pkwy to Jackson- Closed: Sunday, 11 Oct 09 at 3am Opened: Sunday, 11 Oct 09 at 4pm
• Columbus from Jackson to Monroe- Closed: Sunday, 11 Oct 09 at 3am Opened: Sunday, 11 Oct 09 at 11am
• Columbus from Monroe to Randolph- Closed: Sunday, 11 Oct 09 at 3 am Opened: Sunday, 11 Oct 09 at 9:30am
• Balbo from Columbus to LSD- Closed: Thursday, 09 Oct 09 at 7pm Opened: Monday, 12 Oct 09 at 6am
• Balbo from Michigan to Columbus- Closed: Friday, 10 Oct 09 at 10am Opened: Monday, 12 Oct 09 at 6am
• Congress Pkwy from Michigan to Columbus- Closed: Sunday, 11 Oct 09 at 3am Opened: Sunday, 11 Oct 09 at 4pm
• North & South Congress Circle Michigan to Congress Pkwy- Closed: Sunday, 11 Oct 09 at 3am Opened: Sunday, 11 Oct 09 at 3pm
• Jackson from Michigan to Columbus- Closed: Sunday, 11 Oct 09 at 3am Opened: Sunday, 11 Oct 09 at 11am
• Jackson from Columbus to LSD- Closed: Saturday, 10 Oct 09 at 6am Opened: Monday, 12 Oct 09 at 6am
• Monroe from Michigan to LSD- Closed: Sunday, 11 Oct 09 at 3am Opened: Sunday, 11 Oct 09 at 9:30am

For further marathon route and information go to chicagomarathon.com There will be rolling street closures and streets will be opened as soon as it is safe to do so. Also check the Chicago CTA website for updates on how they have modified the bus routes for the weekend and added extra trains to handle crowds.

I always like to recommend the best events around Chicago to attend and plan your weekends and vacations with but sometimes I have to call out the details about Chicago that are less than ideal. Today’s complaint is about the Chicago CTA bus service.

I have a love hate relationship with public transportation to begin with so lately when the 121 bus is nowhere to be found I become even more frustrated with the system that is supposed to move 3 million people around the city every day.

I have taken the Metra in from the suburbs to work every day since I moved out there a few months ago. The Metra Trains only run 3 times per hour so you don’t have any choice about when they run or when you arrive in downtown Chicago. This combined with the bus issues pushes my commute to Naperville to 2 hours each way regularly.

There is only one bus going to Michigan Avenue from Union Station, the 121 bus and it only runs 3 times an hour as far as I can find on any schedule. I don’t have a smart-phone so I can’t use the CTA bus tracker, I just expect that the CTA knows that there is a BNSF train with about 1,000 people on it that gets in every 20 minutes at Union Station and they would want to coordinate the busesthat stop there around those times. The BNSF line has more riders than any other Metra line in Chicagoland and runs the most people in and out of the city each day, it is well worth coordinating with.

Yet, they don’t.

No matter if I take the 7:00, 7:20, 7:40, 8:00, or 8:25 BNSF Metra Train, there is never a 121 bus available when I walk out of the station. Granted, the walk from the basement core of the station up 2 levels and out to the street level takes about 6-7 minutes as a bunch of trains unload and converge with Amtrak passengers with luggage and a bunch of luggage moving vehicles.

Why the last batch of AM trains come in at 9 am and the buses pick up and leave at 9:03 AM exactly I have no idea. You can’t possibly get out there fast enough.

There is nothing more frustrating than to be on the first car of the train, standing by the doors to get off first and then by the time I get to street level, the last 121 bus has left or the latest one is leaving and it will be 15-25 min before another one arrives and 15 minutes on that bus if it does eventually arrive. (and after 9 am sometimes they just don’t even though there is a 9:15 bus on the schedule). 

Likewise for getting back to the station. I spend a small fortune in cab fare to get to Union Station in less than 20 minutes. It is obsurd that they don’t know and coordinate busses picking people up and dropping off at the station with when the most crowded trains leave.It seems like you have to leave work and hour before your train in order to get the bus to Union Station. If I leave at 5:15 or 6:15 there are never busses to be found to get to the 5:45 or 6:50 trains, yet it only takes 10 minutes to get there.

I am not the only one with this problem. I see dozens of people arrive at the bus stop under Michigan Ave notice that nobody is there and leave to catch a cab. This is at totally different times every day too. There is no consistency to the schedule either. People also arrive at the stop, wait for 15-20 minutes and then abandon the bus to pay $8-9 for a cab to make the last express train home so they can actually see their kids before they fall asleep. 

In the AM people stand around at the 121 bus stop hoping there is another bus as promised and the 9:15 never shows and they never make it to work by 9:30 am as expected. Some give up and take cabs, others walk, but it isn’t fair either way.

There should be some digital communication between Metra, BNSF and CTA for these kinds of trip planner transfers to note when packed trains are coming in and leaving with thousandsof people and how to get them routed to the appropriate next leg of their journey. During peak hours this is 3 trains an hour per line and during off-prak times this is only 1 train per hour! (How much simpler does it get?)

I am not sure they have any interest in this since they still get my flat fee monthly fare payment even though I end up walking for a 1/2 hr most mornings now and get to work before the next bus would get me there. An equal opportunity rant for Metra would be appropriate since bringing in the trains at 8:50 rather than 9am would help a lot of people catch that 9:03 am 121 bus.

These are the updates I just got about Memorial Day Parade and Street Closures in Chicago. If you are planning on attending the Chicago Memorial Day Parade, The JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge Race, The Memorial March, or the Bike the Drive event, check this list first to find out where the streets are closed and where/when the events happen. I hope eveyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend and have a burger from the grill for me!

J. P. MORGAN CHASE CORPORATE CHALLENGE (3.5 miles) on Thursday, 21 May 09, 6pm – 10pm:

This event site will be in Grant Park, Lower Hutchinson Field.

The run will take place on Columbus Drive from Roosevelt Rd to Wacker Drive.

Start time for the run is at 7:10 pm.

Columbus will close at 6:30 pm – 10:30 pm from Roosevelt Rd to Balbo.

Columbus from Balbo to Wacker Drive, as well as the east west streets in this area will remain open for as long as possible to allow for the end of rush hour traffic.

The on site CPD Commander will give the order to close the streets shortly before the race begins.

At the end of the race, as soon as it is safe to do so, Columbus from Balbo to Wacker Drive and the east west streets in the area will be opened.

MEMORIAL DAY PARADE on Saturday, 23 May 09:

The parade route is from Wacker Drive to Van Buren on State Street, step off 12 noon.

State Street and the east west streets along the route will close at 11:30 am.

Wacker Drive will be closed for staging from Wabash to Lake Street at 8:00 am.

Van Buren will be closed for vehicles and disbanding from Michigan to Franklin at 8:00 am.

The parade will last approximately 2 hours and streets will be opened to traffic as soon as it is safe.

BIKE THE DRIVE on Sunday, 24 May 09:

The event site will be in Grant Park, Butler Field the bike route is on Lake Shore Drive.

Lake Shore Drive will be closed to vehicle traffic from 5:00 am to 10:30 am from Hollywood to 63rd Street.

AMERICANS FOR LIFE, LIFE MEMORIAL MARCH on Friday, 22 May 09:

This group will meet at the Thompson Center Plaza; the march will step off at 11:30 am.

A group of 2000 to 3000 people will march south on Clark St to Adams, east on Adams into Federal Plaza.

The group will hold a rally at Federal plaza until approximately 2:30 pm.

During the march traffic will be affected from Wacker Drive to Jackson and State to LaSalle.

As soon as it is safe, streets will be opened to traffic.

Many of us know Tesla Motors because of the news involving either:

1. High Gas Prices and alternative fuel vehicles talked about by magazines like WIRED.

2. The CEO of the Tesla Motors Company being removed by the board because of lots of personal differences and internal conflict which have led to the Tesla Roadster being behind on it’s delivery schedule and having engineering problems in getting the product to market.

3. The BBC UK show Top Gear reviewed the Tesla roadster this past season and it quit on them several times. They generally liked it when the batteries were running though.

The Chicago Tesla Dealership and Showroom will be located at 1053 West Grand Ave in Chicago, IL this spring near the Kennedy Expressway in the River West neighborhood. (kind of a desolate location from the looks of Google Street View) The dealership will be Tesla’s first electric car sales showroom and service center outside of California. I am also excited about this new Tesla Dealership in Chicago because this is the first fully electric car to be commercially available in Chicago that I know of.

I was a fan of the GM EV1 back in the day and they never even offered them here in Chicago since the test never expanded that far. Now Tesla will be the first company the test out battery powered electric cars (green cars) in this climate. Many people think that the cold winters will reduce the performance of the batteries that power the cars since batteries generally don’t do well here with out below zero temperatures.

Tesla is offering one couple model of their electric car for $109,000.00 ($55K down payment) at this time and have plans to offer another one at a lower price ($60K) in the future and maybe adding seats for more passengers. Right now Chicago is thrilled that we had enough people and interest to support an electric car dealership and we welcome Tesla to the Chicagoland area.

No word on how these little 2 seater Tesla roadsters will fare in the snow and cold, but we plan on enjoying them in traffic, emissions free, in the other season: construction.

The Odyssey Dinner Boat Cruises on Lake Michigan in Chicago are well known for providing an elegant evening on the lake with a spectacular view of the city of Chicago. When we got a chance to take one this weekend and have a night out we jumped at the chance. My fiance and I couldn’t remember the last time we had been out on a date night since we got engaged. The Chicago Odyssey Dinner Cruise was just what we needed among the crazy wedding planning we are managing right now. Here is a review of our experiences on the Odyssey Dinner Cruise this past Saturday night in Chicago.

Boarding Time: 6:30 pm

Cruise Starts: 7:30 pm

Dinner: 8PM

Jazz Music/Dancing: throughout

View of Chicago: the entire night until 10:30 pm when we got back to Navy Pier in Chicago.

Cost:  Saturday Night Dinner Cruises start at $92. This may seem like a lot of money, but there are many restaurants in the city that cost a lot more than that and don’t provide this kind of unique experience.

The weather started out rainy so we were not sure we would have much of a view on the Chicago Odyssey Cruise ship that evening, but we drove to Navy Pier anyway in hopes of a romantic evening away from everything stressful happening right now. We read that the dress code was somewhat formal and Steve actually pulled out a suit jacket to wear. The location was easy to find, we parked in the Navy Pier garage and the Chicago Odyssey Boat was docked right on the other side of the pier from where we parked by the #5 doors.  The cruise ship looked just like the pictures, big white modern looking boat with black windows. 

The rain was disappointing but when you are on a large boat for 800 people you don’t even know it’s raining outside. The interior was surprising, no communal tables or big buffets. The level we were set up on was a very elegant restaurant setting with individual tables and we sat right by the window to see the view perfectly. The meal was a 4 course meal which was very good. The appetizers, salad, main course and desert were all very good. The chicken I had as the main course was a bit heavy but Steve really enjoyed his steak and the cobbler for desert was amazing. I don’t think that people view the Odyssey or any of the Chicago Skyline Cruises as a big floating four star full service restaurant, but they really are.

The cruise started out with a champagne cocktail hour while people were boarding. Then we switched to diet pepsi so we would stay awake since we live sleep deprived lives at this point. The coffee later in the evening was also a welcome perk of caffeine. There was a full bar available though with all the amenities you would expect from a restaurant of this caliber.

The dining room on the Odyssey is really as nice as a fine dining restaurant.

The Chicago Odyssey Boat Tour Cruise also had a very nice 3 piece jazz band playing sets on the boat during the entire time we were there. They covered everything from smooth jazz to classic Sinatra standards and finished out the evening with an energetic rendition of Sweet Home Chicago. I think they are wise to have good quality music on a cruise of Chicago’s skyline. People in Chicago know their music and jazz and the couple next to us was commenting how the music was genuine jazz played well.

Our server was very attentive and the service all around was very good the entire time we were on the ship. We were still invited to go upstairs and view the skyline from the top deck of the ship even in the poor weather and the server even offered an umbrella if we needed it. I think having separate levels and rooms on this ship is a key to it’s success. There was a college honor society party on the 2nd level and a high school party on the 3rd and we never really came in contact with any of the immaturity you would expect from those younger crowds during the trip. I am sure that all the couples that were in that dining room were happy to be in a separate room also. 

We were surprised at the variety of events that people were celebrating on the Odyssey Cruise Ship that night. They make a special effort to find out what event you are celebrating and make it special. They announced people’s anniversaries and birthdays as well as had special birthday desert cakes with candles. They try and go out of the way to make your 3 hours on the lake a special and memorable experience.

We found that the Odyssey Ships don’t go far from the shore on to Lake Michigan (which is nice for the view), they initially turned south to view the city and then looped back north a few times cycling back and forth from the museum campus to Navy Pier. We did go up on the top deck and saw a beautiful view of Chicago (under a light fog) and of Navy Pier. Some HS kids were smoking up there but were just hanging out.

I can imagine how cool it must be for a high school or college student to take a date, or have a dance on Lake Michigan on a boat like this, especially if you’re from the suburbs.  It is like their first night out as adults and most of the kids looked like they took it pretty seriously. The rest of the crowd seemed like they were a mix of young couples celebrating birthdays and mid-aged people on anniversaries. One group was a girls night out all the way from Tennessee. I could see this as a great way for people traveling from other cities to really get to see Chicago and have an elegant dinner at the same time. I can also see the appeal for couples with kids to get away for the evening and go on a cruise like this just to relax and enjoy each-other’s company.

My overall experience surpassed my expectations on the Chicago Odyssey Dinner Cruise on Lake Michigan andI can confidently recommend the experience for anyone looking for an elegant night out in Chicago or someone looking for tourist suggestions for enjoying a vacation in Chicago. The spring-summer-fall seasons are probably better weather than the first week in March but it is possible to go on these scenic dinner cruises almost any time of year and we’re glad we got to get away this weekend regardless of the weather.

Have you had an experience on an Odyssey Dinner Cruise that you would like to share? Comment below…

Chicago got more snow today and has a forecast of snow every day this week along with below zero temperatures. All this is after getting a foot of snow on this past Saturday and snow on Thursday before that. (January 2009) The snowfall was above average last year in 2007-2008 also (with 60.3 inches of snow at O’Hare Airport!). 

Chicago got snow once or twice most weeks between November 2007 and April 2008. I can’t tell you how many times I had to shovel/dig a path out of the alley in order to drive to the store last winter. This above average snowfall has made travel difficult although being Chicagoans, we still try and drive through just about any weather conditions.

Since this has been such a constant trend for the last 2 winters I decided to  look up some statistics and find out how rare it is that we get this kind of snowfall in Chicago, because so many people have been talking about 1979 lately and tuning in to Tom Skilling on WGN Channel 9 for their nightly snow/blizzard/weather update.

I am also curious as to why the snowfall amount has increased so dramatically in Chicago the last two years. Is it climate change modifying how the weather patterns travel? Is it just a weird weather anomaly? I haven’t been able to find a comprehensive answer to that question yet, if I find one, I will update this page and let you know.

Some fun weather statistics:

The National Weather Service says that the most snow that has ever fallen on Chicago in a winter season is 89.7 inches in 1978-1979. They also mention that the average amount of snow that Chicago recieved between 1971 and the year 2000 was 38 inches. (the least was 9.8 inches in 1920-1921) This is interesting because as of tonight Chicago has received 38 inches of snowfall for the 2008-2009 season already and it is only January 13.

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This might be a bit geeky but, the graph above (from the site Graphical Climatology of Chicago) shows the average snowfall in a season with the line and the amount we have received to date in 2008-2009 in the filled in bar graph area.

This is interesting because it shows that we have passed the usual yearly average as of today. I wonder if we will beat the all time high for snowfall in Chicago by the end of the season in June?

At this rate I think the winter of 2008-2009 could have about 60 inches of snow like last year, but since there is no reliable way for anyone to estimate this, we will just have to wait and see and update this page as the year and winter continue. I wish you the best of luck with the snow! (plan ahead with cars, travel and groceries this winter to hopefully make this snow less of an issue)

The current Chicago temperature is  from Wunderground.com.

Current Chicago Radar GIF Image from Intellicast.com. Chicago can be difficult to see with all the counties outlined in black, but if you look for the tip of Lake Michigan you can see Chicago weather just to the left. The storm patterns are updated hourly so add a bookmark or link to us to check back here for updates.

If you work downtown like I do, you may have noticed that theMichigan Avenue Bridge over the Chicago river has the sidewalk on the west side of the street closed and barricaded off today. I knew they were continuing improvements on the Michigan Avenue Bridge and saw the signs and TV trucks recording it but in my non-coffee blur this morning I was surprised anyway.

The Michigan Avenue Bridge has been going though a face lift/renovations since late summer that began with the dismantling of the entire masonry staircase at the corner of the Wrigley Building almost brick by brick. The redevelopment includes the towers that are at each corner of the bridge also. The Michigan Avenue Bridge work seems to be timed in conjunction with the Chicago River walkway expansion project that started this fall. (although this project hasn’t been on fire yet)

It is being reported by the Chicago Tribune that this work will cost $3.5 million dollars and hopefully be complete by June 2009. The west side of the bridge will be closed for pedestrians until March and then the East side will be under construction until June.

I think it is agreed that even within the current economic recession and city budget shortfall, the Michigan Avenue Bridge was in need of repair. (especially being so visible) The sidewalk/walkways on both sides of the bridge are quite a scary experience for most suburbanites/tourists/business people who come downtown for the day. You walk only inches from full speed traffic flying by with only a small rusty metal rail a few inches high between the sidewalk and the street while vehicle/bus exhaust chokes off your air.

As if this wasn’t scary enough on its own, there is a river in view down on the other side and also sometimes below your feet if you look down in between the bridge sidewalk panels you are walking over. Then to top it all off, you are usually walking with 100 other people, while the bridge bounces with the weight of vehicles, and some people insist on trying to cut in front of people by shoving, others asking/begging for change and more people almost stopped, blocking the flow of commuters completley.

You also may notice that the Michigan Avenue Bridge sidewalk isn’t concrete like most sidewalks are. It is a plastic-rubberized material that is a cross between tar paper and rubber galoshes. The bridge surface is slippery in the winter (I almost fall once a week while wearing snow boots) and bubbles up to trip people in the sweltering hot sunny summers.

I am hoping that the new surface is less slippery/bubbly and maybe more weatherproof. (a non-slip fiberglass?) I also hope that they can do the work properly in this cold and wet weather. If nothing else it will hopefully be worth a few years of looking and performing better, but we never know how much longer things will last beyond that.

This is a friendly reminder that the CTA train and bus fares will increase on January 1, 2009. Even though the state of Illinois approved the budget increases last year that prevented a fare increase then, the state revenues from sales and income taxes is down in 2008 and 2009 due to the current economic recession.

So, the CTA isn’t able to get the full amount of the funding and most estimates show that CTA public transit use it still up year over year even though the price of a gallon of gas has gone back down to about $1.70 in most areas of the suburbs and just under $2.00 in Chicago.

This means that the CTA fares have to increase to cover the gap between what the expenses are and what funding is provided from the state. Plus somebody has to pay for all those station improvements they started and the shiny new website design. Most people should be highly annoyed by the increase in CTA fares but it probably won’t keep people from going to work.

My daily commute is going from $3.50 to $4.50 per day. (still far less than driving and paying $25-$35 per day to park plus gas) My CTA Chicago Card Plus monthly unlimited pass will also go from $75.00 to $86.00. Most people pay for them pre-tax through companies like Wageworks though so you do save something on not paying taxes. (in an odd twist of fate keeping the CTA from getting more state funding) All of this will seem cheap someday when I have to take both Metra AND the CTA to work.

The people hardest hit are usually low income hourly workers that make around minimum wage. ($7.75) After the taxes and health insurance fees are deducted from a paycheck (if health insurance is even available) and they buy CTA fares and possibly buy lunch at work they are left with a very small amount of money each day.  I would guess about $800 per month is left for everything else from rent to utilities after “work costs” are considered. (plus uniforms are usually required to purchase) It is a meager life.

CTA Fare Types Current Fare Structure and Increases in January 2009

Full Fare Transit Card (TC) Bus Now: $1.75 January 2009: $2.00
Full Fare TC Rail Now: $2.00 January 2009: $2.25
Full Fare Chicago Card (CC) Bus Now: $1.75 January 2009: $2.00
Full Fare CC Rail Now: $1.75 January 2009: $2.25
Full Fare Cash (bus only) Now: $2.00 January 2009: $2.25
TC or CC Transfer Note #1 Now: $0.25 January 2009: $0.25
Chicago Card Bonus Note #2 10% Eliminated

1-Day Pass5 Now: $5.00 January 2009: $5.75
2-Day Visitor Pass Note #5 $9.00 Eliminated
3-Day Visitor Pass Note #5 Now: $12.00 January 2009: $14.00
5-Day Visitor Pass Note #5 $18.00 Eliminated
7-Day CTA Pass5 Now: $20.00 January 2009: $23.00
7-Day CTA/Pace Pass5 Now:  Did not exist, January 2009: $28.00

Full Fare 30-Day Pass Now: $75.00 January 2009: $86.00

U-Pass Note #3 15% Increase
Reduced Fare Note #4 TC or CC Now: $0.85 January 2009: Unchanged
Reduced Fare Cash (bus only) Now: $1.00 January 2009: Unchanged
Reduced Fare TC or CC Transfer Now:$0.15 January 2009: Unchanged
Reduced Fare 30-Day Pass Now:  $35.00 January 2009: Unchanged

Notes:
1 Transfer fare allows two additional rides within two hours of the first boarding
2 For every $20 purchase of pay-per-use fares, $22 of value is added to the card
3 Available through participating universities only; price change effective 2009 Fall Term
4 Reduced fares offered to eligible customers only
5 Only the 30-Day and the new CTA/Pace 7-Day passes will be valid on Pace beginning January 1, 2009. 

Happy New Year…

The CTA Holiday train is a festive decorated train that has a Santa Claus in fill regalia on a flat bed car in the middle of the train amidst lots of lights and decorations. The CTA Holiday Train runs from November 23rd through December 23rd ondifferent tracks and lines of the el train system in Chicago.

The first time I saw the CTA Holiday train I just about fell off the platform at State and Lake. It is so lit up and full of decor that you can’t help but stare at it. It is a welcome cheerful sight in a city full of concrete grey and rusting steel beams. But it does surprise you since they have the Santa Claus out in the open on a flat bed train car and you know how fast some of these train cars travel. You wonder how he hangs on. It also looks a bit like a rolling party on wheels. As if a department store rented out the CTA Trains and started serving treats and singing songs in the train cars or something.

And for those people thinking we shouldn’t be spending money on holiday decorations when we are in an economic crisis, it doesn’t cost a cent to the taxpayers or the CTA. All the decorations are already owned and just brought out of storage and put on the trains. The same CTA fares apply when it runs and everybody still gets to ride as normal. It’s just more festive.

The CTA Holiday Train Schedule for which track it is running on is here. Look for it on these days in your neighborhood. The train runs from approximately 1 pm to 9 pm on weekends, and 3 pm and 7 pm.

November 22dn on the Red and Purple Lines
November 23rd on the Red and Purple Lines
November 26th on the Blue Line
November 29th on the Blue Line
December 2nd on the Pink Line and Loop Elevated
December 4th on the Green Line and Purple Line Express
December 5th on the Green Line and Purple Line Express
December 6th on the Green Line
December 10th on the Brown and Orange Lines
December 11th on the Brown and Orange Lines
December 12th on the Brown and Orange Lines
December 13th on the Brown and Orange Lines
December 18th on the Purple Line Express
December 19th on the Red Line
December 20th on the Orange Line
December 22th on the Purple Line Express
December 23th on the Yellow Line

I just read that the City of Chicago received a winning bid to hand over the management of the 35,000 parking meters to a private company from the department of revenue in Chicago. The new (privatization of) parking meter prices will likely have to be higher because they think this will close the $150 Million dollar budget gap (in a total of a $469 Million dollar budget shortfall) we have for 2008 and 2009 from several years of leasing. Yikes! The Chicago parking meter revenue was estimated at 19.5 million dollars in 2007. So, I am guessing this might be 10 years? More is due to be released in a press conference on Tuesday.

As if we needed another cost increase in the price of living in Chicago amidst a global recession.

UPDATE: The cost of the parking meters will quadruple from $0.50 per hour now to $1.00 per hour in 2009 and $2.00 per hour in 2013. The most competitive parking spot meters in the loop will go from $3.00 per hour now to $6.50 an hour in 2013. Holy cats, we will all have to sell our cars. The parking lease is also for 75 Years!  (and no free parking on Sundays) So Chicago has lost all future revenue from this area of the budget for the next 75 years. That will contribute to future budget shortfalls.

I think this privatization change may turn out like London or other crowded commuter cities where the parking rates are dramatically higher for peak usage times and the prices in general are raised anytime without any citizen or voter approval. Basically it just got a lot more difficult, expensive and exclusive to own a car in Chicago or to drive one downtown. (what’s next a congestion tax?) The higher meter rates will most likely influence paid parking garage rates to go up also and higher parking ticket rates if you fail to pay the meters. What I hope it improves is the way you have to pay for your parking meter. We really would like to see a pay by cell phone or pay by credit card swipe on the meters if they can get a high level of security with your private credit card data.

What they haven’t said is how long this private parking meter contract agreement is for with this un-named company Chicago Parking Meter LLC (which is made up of two Morgan Stanley infrastructure funds.) and the City of Chicago and how long we will have to endure even higher fees. (forever!) I am thinking the jump in Chicago private parking meter fees will most likely just push more people and commuters on to the already overburdened public transit bus and el train system. The rates for one time use CTA tickets and monthly CTA passes have also gone up in 2009, but it is far less that what people will see at the privatized parking meters.  Yuck!

Since winter started this weekend with a blanket of snow I thought I would offer some top driving tips for how to drive in the snow and ice, in blizzards and generally Chicago style in the winter so you get where you need to go whatever the weather is like. This is also important for safety since driving in blizzards and snow conditions can be very dangerous. That said, I am not a professional driver in any way. I’m just someone who lives in Chicago and hears about people in other areas who are curious about how it is that we can drive through all this snowy weather. (we had about 60 inches of snow in the winter of 2007-2008 in Chicago, that is 5 feet! Crazy!)

Chicago is known for having dreaded bitter cold winters where snow can be frequent and unforgiving for driving the city’s streets even if they try to plow. The entire Chicagoland metropolitan area is made up of a pretty scrappy bunch of people and we don’t let any blizzard, snow storm or ice stop us from where we have to go even if we have to drive behind a plow to get there. Sometimes it is also good to know how to drive in the snow for when there are no snow plows since many municipal budgets have been cut in the recession. Many people are already complaining to Mayor Daley in Chicago that the snow is not getting cleared in the city fast enough. (realistically it takes 12-24 hours after the snow stops to make all the roads travelable after a large storm)

In Chicago, school doesn’t even get canceled unless there is 2 ft or more of snow on the ground. Seriously, I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and I only remember having a snow day twice from kindergarten through high school. We take transportation very seriously and are very good at figuring out how to drive in bad weather in the winter and all kinds of snow conditions. The only people who are better at this are northern Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Denver Colorado drivers and possibly some people who live up in Maine. They have it worse than us and we commend them for daring driving attempts in all kinds of smart 4 wheel drive vehicles.

CWF Top Tips for how to go Driving in the Snow this Winter:

1. Front wheel drive cars are better for snow than rear wheel drive cars. I know some people love their rear wheel drive cars for performance but it just isn’t as controllable in the snow. 4 wheel drive is the best but not available on many 4 door cars. If you are a truck or SUV owner you have already probably considered the snow in your purchase decision. It’s mostly the sports cars and tiny cars that loose the snow battle. (I wonder how the smart car fortwo will fare this winter? how many of the mentos-commercial-guys do you need to lift it out?)

2. Automatic transmissions are better in the snow than stick shift. I know this may not be something people want to believe but not having a “crawl” speed where you are not giving the car any gas and just let your foot off the brake is one of the ways to get yourself out of many sticky snow situations. Some people think crawling in a manual transmission is easy, I don’t drive stick so I don’t know. I have just watched my fiance slide about because he couldn’t give his car gas slow enough and just spin in place and not go anywhere in his integra on ice and snow. I have had to push his car out of street parking spots twice now.  Most of us just simplify things and go with an automatic transmission car.

3. Heavy cars are better than light ones in the snow because if you don’t have enough weight over the wheels giving the power you just spin in place.

4. If you have a heavy front wheel drive car with an automatic transmission you have won half of the battle. (usually some kind of front wheel drive sedan) Congratulations on your astute snow car buying skills. Now put a small shovel, flashlight, ice scraper and bag of driveway/road salt in the trunk. This is going to help you out a lot this winter. (some jumper cables and a portable battery jump starter are also wise additions since batteries only last from 2-5 years in the cold Chicago gets and you never know when they will die)  All these things do make a good car kit gift for Christmas too, if you know someone that needs them.

5. Allow extra travel time for driving in the snow. Pretty much anywhere you have to go will take double the travel time in the snow. Just allow for it and you will be less likely to try something like passing cars or fast turns that lead to a crash.

6. In general when you are driving in the snow you have to slow way down. Try and be 5 mph below the speed limit and be careful not to expect your car to perform the same way it does on dry pavement. (sometimes only driving 10 mph if its is snowing at that moment and there is no salt on the roads) This is usually most apparent in how long it takes you to stop at a stoplight or accelerate away from one. Double your stopping distance so you start braking twice as far away from the light than you usually need in good weather. Also let the car crawl away from the stoplight on its own a bit before giving it any gas or your wheels will spin.

7. When driving in the snow you also should take corners very slowly. Brake way before you get to the corner, (while still going straight, and not during the corner) and make sure you are pretty much at crawl speed (5mph) through the turn and then slowly accelerate after the corner again. Too much speed into the corner or acceleration during the corner will either cause your car to fishtail or loose traction and slide because of the snow. So many mailboxes get hit because of this. Some people believe that if you add power in a slide you can control it but I do not. I have found that if you turn into the direction of the slide with your steering wheel and let off the gas you will regain control of the car almost immediatley. It’s like a return to default settings way to get out of an uncontrolled slide.

8. If you have to pull out of a parking spot that has been covered with a foot or two of snow first uncover your car. Next use the shovel to clear snow from around the wheels and a few feet in whatever direction you are going to pull out in. (the idea is to get enough traction to get up to 5 mph momentum which will continue to pull you through the rest of the deep snow) You can try and pull out then using the crawl method or letting it crawl and then giving it a little gas in the rocking back and forth method, but if that doesn’t work spread the salt chunks on the snow in the pathyou are pulling out in for more traction. This should work. Sand can help sometimes too but the large chunks of salt generally work better for grip. (this is more necessary if there is a sheet of ice under the snow) Once you get moving your momentum will help you through the rest. If the snow is actually covering your bumper or higher than the bottom of your car this may not be much help. Best to leave the car and cross country ski or snowshoe to the store then. (most snows in Chicago are 1 inch or less though, so this process of getting out of deep snow should not be necessary all that often unless we have another winter like last year.)

9. If you are driving in heavy wet snow or an ice storm stop every 1/2 hour or so (or whenever you need to) and uncover the windows and mirrors with the ice scraper to see better and clear the headlights, tail lights and the snow/ice which gets encrusted in the wheel wells. (also known as car boogers)

10. If you are driving on the highway in a lot of snow, or on any multi-lane road, follow the tracks of other drivers the best that you can. (without tailgating because it takes twice as long to stop!) These tracks have less snow in them and sometimes the compacted snow has more grip than the slippery stuff. Also slush is always better than snow for grip, so aim for that rather than making a new path. Changing lanes is also tricky if you have a snow drift in between lanes. Always change lanes slowly and try and keep the wheel as straight as possible even if it tries to drift when going over the new snow between lanes. If you feel spin, let go of the gas immediately, the automatic coast momentum will handle it until you find the new lane grooves. 

Most of the time you will find that they plow the slow lane first (because it is the most in use) and work their way to the middle lane next as far as clearing snow goes. If you are following a snow plow truck be careful of the road salt they may be dumping behind them. The spray goes across all 3 lanes on the highway sometimes, and can dent your car if it is large chunks and you are close enough.  So, following a snow plow is good in getting a cleared road but bad in that the salt may hit and dent your car.

11. Also it is widely known that the salt from all the roads will rust your car out from underneath so after the snow has melted or been plowed and it is safe to take a non-essential trip, go to the car wash and get it washed off and removed before it starts to corrode the fenders of the car like Swiss cheese in a few years. This may mean more expensive car washes in the winter but it helps extend the life of the car and protect your trade in value. If you have a garage kept car it is even more important to get the salt washed off regularly since your car sits inside a damp wet environment when all the snow melts off the car and sits in a pool on the floor of the garage. Rust always starts in the garage in the winter! (professional rust proofing spray underneath your car fenders can help but it only lasts so long and should be applied by the dealer or a professional) 

12. I also thought I should mention snow tires. I have never bought “snow tires” so I can’t say how much of a difference they would make since I have never gotten completely stuck either. (I think it is a pain to own 2 sets of tires and switch them out every fall and spring) Most people in the midwest buy an all season tire that has a good toothy tread on the outside and a water channel through the center and is rated for all seasons. (dry, rain and snow) It is also important to note that using chains or metal spiked tires are illegal in Illinois since they rip up the pavement, so don’t buy or use those. Really the only tires you don’t want to own are slick or soft rubber performance racing type tires or the super cheapo tires that are made of hard slick plastic and have weak treads and grip. Again it is the sports cars and small cars that loose out here. If you buy a mid-priced all season tire and have a front wheel drive car you should be in good shape. If your tires are bald or near bald, getting new ones on at least the wheels that power the car before winter can be a great help.

Hopefully some of this information will be helpful to you and maybe help you get where you are going despite the bad weather and snowstorms we sometimes get. Best of luck in the snow!

The Bank of America Chicago Marathonis scheduled for Sunday October 11 this year. (formerly the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon) Every year over 45,000 runners take to the streets of the neighborhoods in Chicago to test their luck and their bodies against 26.2 miles of grueling marathon. (and hope that the finish line is less slippery than last year) If you live in Chicago this means moving your car off the street from the Chicago marathon route on Saturday the day before the parking ban and staying out of the way and finding alternate routes that morning of the race if you have to go to brunch. The Bank of America Chicago Marathon has been a tradition for 31 years and is one of the big 5 majors that professional runners strive to participate in yearly. The Bank of America Chicago Marathon course offers a scenic tour of Chicago as it weaves through numerous diverse neighborhoods and dozens of local and historic landmarks. You are guaranteed to see what is great about Chicago. (1028 N Rush St, Chicago, IL 60611)

The Bank of America Chicago Marathon starts and ends in Grant Parkin downtown near Buckingham Fountain. Since the majority of the  runners are not professionals that do this for a living, they are great about giving awards and accolades to people in all age groups and from different levels of experience. The Bank of America Chicago Marathon covers the North, West and South Sides of the city, traveling through 29 historic and diverse neighborhoods and does not include any significant hills to make running more difficult. The race will officially last 6 hours and 30 minutes after the official start at 8am. The finish area facilities close at 3 pm and streets should be open soon after it is cleared again. Not everyone finishes the marathon but everyone who enters is still a winner. Hey, I’m here writing about it again instead of running, so if you are in the Chicago marathon, you win!

Here are some resources for both the runners, the fans and the residents who live along the race route:

Click here to download the Bank of America Chicago Marathon Runners Map 

Click here to download the official street closures map of where you will have to move your car

Click here to download the on-race entertainment stations across the course so you can join in with cheering on the runners.

Good luck and have a great race!

Boutique Hotels are gaining popularity in Chicago and across the country. You would think that all the Hotels in Downtown Chicago are huge skyscraper complexes that have thousands of rooms and no individuality. The truth is that in addition to the large chain hotels many small luxury boutique hotels have popped up in Chicago and provide a unique experience for less money than the large chains.

One of the best Boutique Hotels in Chicago is Hotel Monaco. They are owned by the Kimpton Hotels group and I have stayed at their hotels in other cities. Most recently in San Francisco. The staff of the Hotel Monaco in Chicago is very friendly and goes out of their way to serve the needs of guests traveling. I walk past the hotel every day on my way to work and see the doormen greeting new visitors and giving directions and tips to tourists about the city of Chicago.

Chicago Boutique Hotels are also known for their luxury. In SanFrancisco the Kimpton Hotel I was at left no need unmet. I had a large jacuzzi tub (almost too large to be useful) a full shower, wireless free high speed internet, a full entertainment center and a desk work area in addition to a very comfortable well appointed bed. The staff there was also very helpful in giving me directions around town and the room service was happy to prepare dinner for me really late when I got in from the events I was attending. Truly four star service.

Many Boutique Hotels are built around a theme and the Chicago Hotel Monaco tries to be tropical and creative in a city of cement, wind and snow. The doormen even keep with the Monaco theme and wear purple velour suits in the winter and lavender Hawaiian shirts in the summer with fedora hats. No detail has been left out.

I am also always excited to see that Chicago Boutique Hotels offer more originality in their designs and decor. There are only so many beige walls you can look at in your life. Many of the Chicago Boutique Hotels have colorful themes like the Hotel Monaco in Chicago which features a stylish and vivid pallet of greens, plum and burgundy throughout the hotel. The Hotel Monaco Chicago is also one where you get a great view of the Chicago River and are within a short walk to many top Chicago steakhouses, the House of Blues, The Art Institute, Michigan Avenue and the great Broadway shows in Chicago too. Sometimes the locations of the small boutique hotels is far better than the big chains also.

So, the next time you are visiting Chicago, check out the Hotel Monaco from Kimpton Hotels or another Chicago Boutique Hotel and see if that is someplace that might make your stay even better. Room Rates range from $200 to $600 per night depending on the season and how booked they are. Some discounts are available. Book rooms or make reservations at Hotel Monaco at their website monaco-chicago.com or by calling 1-866-610-0081. Hotel Monaco Chicago is located at 225 North Wabash in Chicago, IL  60601. There are also Boutique Hotels by Kimpton under the Hotel Monaco name in Washington DC, Seattle and Denver.

The word Staycation has gotten popular latley since gas, food and utilities have gotten so expensive and no one is really interested in traveling far away and generating a lot of costs in the process. So, Chicago Weekend Fun suggests a mini Chicago Vacation or staycation this weekend to make up for the lost vacation. (you may or may not need a hotel downtown for this) There is a lot happening this weekend and in the coming weeks in Chicago. The events and activities range from free admission to the Museum of Science and Industry to planning for Wired NextFest to attending the Chicago Redbull Flutag Event you have probably seen advertised on TV and the Internet latley. (who could miss it?) But beware, the CTA will have 1/2 the loop closed off for renovations so the EL will only be running north and south along the west and south sides of the loop track square. The CTA Loop EL tracks get shut down at 10 pm on Friday night. 

So first off, be careful of the loop shut down of the el trackson the east and north sides of the loop square downtown. If you need to connect with west or southbound trains you can always take the bus direct from just about anywhere in the city to one of the first stops on that arm of the CTA El line. Most just charge a connection fee of $.25 rather than another full fare. The full CTA bus and train schedule is available at transitchicago.com.

Next, the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry has a lot of construction going on and as a result they have made admission free for visitors for the month of September. This is great because you can take the kids and go see all the parts of the museum that have been renovated already at no cost and you just pay for gas and parking. Unless you go to the old fashioned ice cream parlor, then you get the cost of ice cream too. I recommend the u-boat instead of the antiquated car display. And if your kids are under the age of 5 check out the farm exhibit. Mom and Dad may like the living green exhibit which is new and just opened. That is always a big hit with skyrocketing energy prices. Check out their site msichicago.com before you go for the hours and address.  

Also the RedBull Flutag Event happens on Saturday at 11 am at North Avenue Beach in Chicago. The flying machines start plunging at 1pm and the awards will be given out at 3pm. One can only hope that there is an award for best team name since there are some dooseys listed on the site. (Mustache ride anyone?) Admission is free but my guess is that parking will be near impossible and set you back about $30.00. Aside from that it should be fun to watch improvised flying machines crash ala 1910 in an experiment of physics, ridiculousness and caffeine.

The Wired Next Fest is a great free event to take the kids to also later in September. (just planning ahead because they emailed me about it) This show features all different kinds of new technology and innovation that companies are experimenting with and will be bringing to market soon. Last time I went in Chicago in 2005 there was some emphasis on green technology and other new developments in robotics and space sattelites featured. But you never know what they will come up with because there are so many companies in all different industries looking to innovate right now to get the edge in the market. This is always an inspiring show. The Wired Next Fest will run from September 27 through October 12, 2008 in the south promenade in Millennium Park, Chicago. My assumption is that they will have some kind of temporary building built for this since having it outdoors is not smart in Chicago. Mark it on your calendars now!

Remember; It’s your weekend, have fun with it!

Governor Blagojevich’s plan to place speed cameras on all Chicago and Illinois Interstates will fail. It will fail because no one speeds anymore now that gas prices have gotten so high. (and fewer people are driving all together) That said, every citizen that owns a car in Illinois should still be going to the Illinois State Assembly site, locating their Representatives and senator’s email addresses and filling their inbox with email about how this program should never be approved in the first place. Yu can find contact info for your Illinois, government officials, senators, representatives at the site ilga.gov. Speed cameras on all the Illinois (interstate) highways (I-90, I-94, I-55, I-355, I-290, I-294, I-88, I-80) would be a useless waste of money and an incredibly bad move for politicians who are already pretty unpopular. Plus is is unconstitutional under the face your accuser part of the law. It is why when you get a ticket for airplane enforced speed traps you have the right to refuse the ticket unless the pilot comes down and writes it for you.

Usually, reducing crime and making streets safer would make a politician more popular. Instead in Chicago, Illinois these initiatives are usually known to be thinly veiled plans for revenue generation for pet projects and paid to government no-bid contractors for problems that may not even actually exist. (We have a history of Governors landing in Jail in Illinois, maybe that is the continuing trend?) The truth is, we don’t know where the money would come from in order to buy and post these cameras or maintain them and we don’t know where the money is going from the speeding ticket camera program.  

Governor Blagojevich said that the speeding ticket camera program will fund a new police task force that no one really wants or needs. Crime rates are falling in Chicago, Illinois without any new police forces, so I don’t believe that is where the money will go. So, where would the money really be going? If all the senators and Representatives place pork spending on the back end of every popular bill in an effort to hide and find personal pet projects, why would this situation be any different?

I think that the number of cameras (private and government) already tracking people’s every move all day is more than needed and redundant in Chicago and the suburbs. I think that adding more cameras for automatic speeding tickets without human judgement involved is a bad idea and would erode the public’s view of the political system even further. These type of cameras have been used for years in the UK and are routinely sabotaged, broken or torn down by residents and motorists because of the unfairness of the oppression on daily life and revoking of their freedom. Most people don’t speed in the UK or in the US but looking for a way to nickel and dime the tax paying law abiding citizens to death (who are already over taxed and have high gas, food and inflation costs to deal with in a bad economy) is completely unfair.

You may be thinking, why would I care if the State of Illinois wants to ticket speeders? I don’t speed. Well you don’t know what “they” consider speeding or how the traps will be set up. Many people who were abiding by the law got $100.00 tickets for making perfectly legal right turns after stopping at a red light at Boughton Rd in Bolingbrook, IL last year. What if they drop speed limits 10 mph and you don’t see the sign because it is small and not clearly posted? It leaves all kinds of situations open for the government to require you to pay money to stay out of jail or trouble when you are a good law abiding citizen. Basically to take advantage of you because they can.

I never thought this was a problem either until I heard personal accounts of this happening. One example is that a neighbor of mine was assaulted outside our building in Oak Park by a gang of kids threatening to hurt or kill him based on his being on their turf. He called the local cops and complained and even went as far as to identify the kids in person when the cops arrived (the teens chose to walk right by the cop cars again in defiance when they arrived) and go to court to make sure they got reprimanded. You know what the kids got for threatening someone’s life? A $25.00 fine and 10 hours of community service.  You know how much you get ticketed for when you park on the street in Oak Park overnight as a guest without a permit? (they are always sold out too so no luck in obtaining one either…) You get a $30.00 ticket. It costs less to commit crimes than to try and be a law abiding citizen in Illinois, and that alone will continue to keep people in that lifestyle making those choices.  

If we really want to reduce crime in Chicago and the state of Illinois make the fines for drugs, guns, gang activity, stealing and every other “actual crime” so high the penalty fine itself is a deterrent rather than overcharging the law abiding citizens for the money they want just because we can’t stop it.

Ok, now back to our regularly scheduled talk about Chicago events, concerts, sight seeing, hotels, restaurants and general weekend fun…

There are a lot of very affordable (cheap) entertainment and (family) fun options this weekend in Chicago. Whether you live in the suburbs or are planning on getting a hotel room and vacationing in Chicago for the weekend, there is lots to do. If you haven’t gotten tickets to see the award winning show Wicked (the musical) or Jersey Boys, get them quick, the last block of tickets is on sale now. Also, in perfect timing with the Olympics on TV, Circqe Shanghai: Gold is in town performing at Navy Pier. The Museum of Science and Industry also has a new exhibit on Glass Making called The Glass Experience that is a lot of fun for the family. The Chicago Shedd Aquarium also has a new exhibit also called Lizards & the Komodo King. Here are my recommendations and best picks this weekend in Chicago:

1. Everyone knows that the Opening Ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Olympics will begin on NBC Channel 5 at 6:30 pm Friday evening. You can also see Cirque Shanghai: Gold at Navy Pier’s Pepsi Skyline Stage this weekendin between watching Olympic TV events from China. They will be performing there through September 1st so get tickets for later in the month if you are already booked. Tickets are very affordable from $15.00 to $30.00 and it is a fun family event. If you re coming in from the suburbs, take the metra and then a cab or bus from the train station to avoid traffic and the high cost of parking the car.

2. The Museum of Science and Industry has a new exhibit on Glassmaking and Glassblowing that is a lot of fun for the family while also being a learning experience. The Museum of Science & Industry is located at the address: 57th Street & Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL 60637. Call 773-684-1414 for more information. The Glass Experience, runs through September 1 and this interactive exhibition reveals the science, craftsmanship and beauty from the world of glassmaking. There are live glass blowing demonstrations, Dale Chihuly glass bowls artwork, Tiffany glass shaded lamps and Frank Lloyd wright stained glass windows. Admission is 8.50 for kids and $13.00 for Adults. the Museum of Science and Industry and the Glass Experience is open from 9:30 am to 4pm daily.

3. The Chicago Shedd Aquarium has a new exhibit also called Lizards & the Komodo King through September 1. The John G. Shedd Aquarium is located at the address 1200 S. Lake Shore Drive (Museum Campus) Chicago, IL 60605. Call 312.939.2438 if you have questions for the Shedd Aquarium. This exhibit is neat because the world’s largest lizard is making his first-time appearance in Chicago and they have brought out all the lizard creatures he is related to for show also. Lots of great fish and amphibious creatures are always viewable at the Shedd Aquarium (penguins!) also. Admission is $27.00 for an adult day pass which includes this exhibit.

4. The award winning show Wicked is ending it’s Musical Theater run in Chicago at the Ford Center for the Performing arts (formerly the Oriental Theater) in January. The last blocks of tickets to the shows through December have gone on sale now. They won’t last long, plan tour trip to Chicago and book your hotel rooms now before it sells out. Get your tickets to see Wicked from Broadway in Chicago before it leaves Chicago whether you have seen it many times or have never seen the show before. I saw it 3 times and loved it. Ticket prices range from around $30.00 to $100.00 per seat.

Have a happy and safe Olympic weekend in Chicago!

I think Chicago is a bad choice for the 2016 Olympic Games. I know that I am in the minority with that opinion, so I wanted to make my opinion points (and those of others like me) visible online. Just to be clear, it isn’t that I am not a fan of the Olympics. I actually am a fan and usually watch some part of the Olympics on TV when it happens. In fact I was such a fan of the Olympics that spent most of my childhood idolizing the Olympic athletes and spent a decade of my family’s own time and money pursuing a figure skating career inspired by the 1984 Olympics.

Now that I am an adult who works hard to pay a mortgage, taxes and transportation costs in Cook County my views of the Olympics have matured.  I now work in Marketing for a living so I realize that the Olympics much like the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL are glorified marketing advertising circuses and money machines maximized for entertainment value, seat ticket sales, advertising revenue and profit. Not much is done for the love of the game and in fact much is done in spite of it with drugs, enhancements and fixing. (the NBA Finals this year were largely believed to be completely rigged, and many olympic medals have been given back in recent years due to illegal doping and cheating) Therefore, I don’t see an overall benefit of the 2016 Olympic Games being held here in Chicago in an inspirational, financial or infrastructural way since none of those things are the actual goal of the games. (the only real goal is to make a lot of money)

The issue I have with the 2016 Olympics in Chicago would be that they are a huge industrial, infrastructural, financial and logistical process that will end up costing the citizens of Cook County and DuPage county millions of dollars in taxes. This raises the same question we ask about the Iraq war. Why should we be spending all that taxpayer money on something petty, frivolous and non-essential when there are so many basic needs not being met for the people in Chicago? Lets list a few basic community needs we have that aren’t being met that might be a better use of the city, county and local corporate investor’s dollars:

1. Basic Transportation- The Chicago CTA budget goes broke every year or two. The EL trains are falling apart and falling off the tracks every few months. The Buses spew black smoke into people’s faces when they pass by on the street clogging daily traffic and they keep cutting back on routes people need to get to work. Cars don’t have it much better. All the major highways have backed up traffic jams into and out of the city at all 24 hours a day now and construction rips things up every summer while cutting traffic down to 1 lane and yet the roads never get less congested or better in quality.  I think these funds would be much better spent overhauling the EL trains, tracks and stations, converting Buses to electric rechargeable power and research and installation of better quality road materials that don’t require replacement yearly. This also factors in to how the 2016 Olympic Games thinks they can route hundreds of athletes and thousands of viewers through a network of highways and train routes that can’t handle the 9 million people who live here now. The bandwidth just isn’t there.

2. Poverty – There are more people homeless, begging and asking for money on my 5 block walk to work downtown than I ever saw in the first 25 years of my life. Homelessness, poverty and drugs are a huge problem in Chicago. Some of this is created by Gangs, but now that the “projects” are taken down, there is no one place you can go to find the problem and try and work on helping. I shouldn’t see so many people desperate for a variety of reasons and it shouldn’t be Chicago’s priority to make a few developers even more rich with Olympic development contracts when so many people just want a stable income to live on so they can have a place to live and food to eat. Most of us believe that this situation is related to the continuing cycle of a lack of education, ease of finding drugs and lack of available jobs. This 2016 Olympic investment money would be much better spent on education programs in the low income neighborhoods, schools and work training programs. A lot of people say that the Olympics will bring jobs and money to Chicago, but a job for a year will leave these people out on the street again soon and doesn’t solve anything. Chicago doesn’t have a very good track record in helping the greater community, over choosing to help the rich get richer. Big corporations in Chicago choose to send money to Malawi and Africa (a certain jobsite and Oprah Winfrey) for the trendy PR value rather than fund needy local schools and children’s charities that make a difference in the community that they actually live in. Cook County has a board and a city hall constantly plagued with political patronage scandals, ghost employees and contracts awarded without competitive cost bidding because of under the table kickback deals. This town is still all about organized crime and patronage decades after Al Capone died. Some things never change. Maybe the Olympic Committee is really the same kind of organization, and they don’t care either? The Olympics being associated with Chicago’s patronage and organized crime problems is not going to be good for their PR.

3. Education - It is great for a kid to aspire to be a famous athlete, but isn’t it more practical and realistic that they aspire to finish school, make a good living and contribute to a better neighborhood? These are basic ideals in the suburbs but not seen as much in the city. I know the Olympic committee will lump Chicago and the surrounding suburbs into one category when they are here (and so do we sometimes) but we are really a completely divided culture. (a large number of suburbanites won’t ever go into the city because of the crime, cost and constant gridlock) The suburbs really want nothing to do with the Olympics because it doesn’t contribute to those goals that they have mastered. It doesn’t help their schools get better, their kids get smarter nor them to make any more money. It actually costs everyone more money for an experience no one wants with a lot of traffic and security nightmares.  In addition to all that, this money would be much better spent improving the Chicago Public Schools and making sure that these kids get better instruction, more resources and achieve more goals just like the suburban kids do. Even the suburbanites would agree with that.

Basically, I think it is important for the Olympic committee to get off the approved cleaned up shiny show path when they visit and see the real problems that Chicago has in addition to all that is being offered and see that they will negativley impact the 2016 Olympics if held here. We are a city with an identity crisis. We have lost most of the titles we had for years with business, manufacturing and standard of living (even tallest building) and we haven’t really figured out a clear path to success again. (seriously, right now we are mostly known for bringing childhood and adult obesity to the world through the success of McDonald’s which was started here and is still based in OakBrook) No offense to the Olympics, but a bunch of stadiums we don’t need and a 2 week sports party aren’t going to help us figure out how to reinvent the business and industry here any faster.

We should instead invest our time and money in our community, our citizens and our infrastructure for the right reasons, not because we can sell a lot of advertising and make some big money fast. A lot of people will be far more hurt in the long run by a lack of basic resources and higher taxes and living costs than will be helped by a transient sporting event bonanza. I would really like more people to voice their opinion about this in the comments, especially those who have been silent before now. It’s the silent people who don’t get represented and then have to pay the high price for decisions that affect our lives like hosting the 2016 Olympics in Chicago.

This is some very disturbing news. The state of Illinois will be deploying radar and speed cameras all across the state in July to record photos and track speeds of cars going over the speed limit in construction zones and work zones on the highways and tollways. The first ticket will be for $300.00 fine and a second one will result in a $1,000.00 fine. On the surface that looks like something good, to ensure safety, but it isn’t and we have seen this before.

What the press release doesn’t say is that speeding isn’t what you think it is. Most of us consider 5 mph over the speed limit to be ok, because a hill could create that without you even knowing it and most cops won’t write you a ticket for going 2 mph over the limit. These cameras and radar machines will be able to automatically print cash for the state’s budget deficit by sending tickets for anyone over the limit at any level. Even 1 mph. And they will, because it has nothing to do with safety. It is all about money.

This was a huge problem in Bolingbrook last year when a Mayor’s thinly veiled attempt to “reduce accidents” revealed a plan to print cash also. It failed when residents were getting $200.00 tickets in the mail several days a week for making legal right turns on a red light after stopping behind the white line. People were enraged. They lit up the internet protesting this unfair way to basically steal their hard earned money during an economic downturn when paying the mortgage and bills is harder than ever already. After months of vocal complaints, phone calls and an outright boycott of the stores in Bolingbrook, the mayor reconsidered this policy, took his money to the bank and suspended the program in November 2007. This has also been a huge problem as cameras were installed in London and all over England as a revenue generating machine, and the people were so enraged they openly disable and destroy them and just voted out the current mayor of London that approved it.

I hope the same protests happen online, by phone and in person all over the state of Illinois about these unfair tickets from these  automated speed and radar cameras. Technology has led to many new conveniences and advances in our lives, but it has also reduced our privacy and anonymity to an almost non-existent level. And now exploiting technicalities for the sake of revenue is more popular than ever.

It is obvious also that there is a huge budget deficit to be filled in Illinois right now, and technically catching small infractions and charging an insane amount of money in penalty for them is a fast way to make a lot of bucks. What the citizens of Illinois really hate is the patronizing tone of this false justification for the charges being to save lives. We know it isn’t true, and that isn’t even a growing problem. If saftey was a problem, the numbers would be higher. They find it legal and justified to charge everyone $300 or $1,000 because 2 people were killed in 2004 and 5 in 2003. No data is presented to prove that in the past 5 years anyone has been killed, injured or otherwise mildly annoyed while working on the roads. Why use 5 year old data to justify this program except that this is the last time this happened? And they don’t mention if the cars were speeding or not. I would bet they weren’t speeding and it was probably drunk driving, of which kills hundreds of people every year and the state is not very good at stopping at all.  How about we accept that accidents happen sometimes on highways rather than invent false reasons to charge people money they can’t afford because there is no public vote on this type of revenue generation scheme and no way the citizens could block it from happening?  

Another solution to this workers shutting down the roads every summer would be to actually fix them in a proper manner so they don’t require more fixing every summer. I have had a strong feeling for years now that the road construction companies are a huge racket making money in unjust ways from the state while they patch and repair roads in low quality ways that won’t last, on purpose, to create more work for themselves next year and for every year in the future. No roads should have to be redone every year. Yet, there they are on 290, I-55, 294, 90-94, I-88 and 355 every year jackhammering out road seams just to put in 2 seams where there was once 1. All the seams patched now buckle and bump my car so that the CD skips, but hey that made someone personally a lot richer. I believe that 90% of the highway road construction is completely unnecessary. I would be happy with the quality of the roads with no further work at all for about 5 years.

Hey, there is the answer!  The answer to the budget deficit problem is to stop all road work for the next 5 years. That way we don’t get busywork shutting down our roads and the state of Illinois can actually pay for things it needs all the while no one gets killed or mildly annoyed working there.

So, now we know that instead of stopping the racket of road construction companies basically extorting money from the state, the government has decided to steal the money from the citizens to pay them. Make your opinion known to the governor and state government that this is not right to do to citizens and it must stop.

Personally, I am not going to travel on the highways or tollways after July 1. I can’t take the risk of loosing that much money for something I didn’t do right now. I am perfectly ok with back roads for where I need to go. If you do have to travel on these highways, use cruise control and set it for 5 mph below the limit just in case of a hill.

If you want to read the full press release you can at: www.dot.state.il.us/press/r033005.html 

Last week I wrote about the yellow Chicago River Taxi that I see every day on the Chicago River because one of my coworkers uses it to commute to work every day and raves about the convenience of traveling by river and not by bus or auto taxi. Then I got an email from a second River Taxi Boat company (Shoreline Sightseeing) in Chicago that I previously did not know about.

This is cool because I enjoy when companies and readers reach out to me to let me know about new services and things going on in Chicago. I wanted to give this new startup Shoreline Commuter Chicago River Taxi service mention on the Chicago Weekend Fun blog too, because they are offering a week of free rides between Sears Tower/Union Station and the Michigan Avenue Bridge through April 25th, 2008. The free rides this week are from 7:00 to 9:30 am and 4:00 to 6:30 pm. Regularly the visitor Taxi will run from 10:00 am–6:00 pm daily and they also run between the Museum Campus, Navy Pier and 200 S Wacker Dr in addition to the stop at Michigan Avenue across from the the Wrigley Building.

You can recognize their boats by their red, blue and white colors. This is a great way to try out the commuter water taxi service that Shoreline offers at no cost. What beats a free ride on the Chicago River to get to and from the work and the train? Nothing! 

If you want to find out more about Shoreline Sightseeing’s Water Taxi Service or other Chicago River Tours visit their web site at shorelinesightseeing.com. There you can find maps of the tours, the dock locations,  schedules and prices. The regular price of the Shoreline Chicago Commuter River Taxi will be $3 (or $2 each way if bought as a round trip ticket) from Union Station to Michigan Avenue after the free rides end on April 25th. Still a great deal and less than a car Taxi in rush hour!

The bright yellow Chicago Water Taxi suprised everyone last year by showing up on the Chicago River in the spring to ferry people back and forth from the Wrigley Building (by the Windella boat tour dock) to the Metra Station at Union Station. The problem with Union Station which serves the major north and west suburbs is that it is nowhere near downtown or the north part of the loop and Michigan Ave. (1.5 miles from where I work) So, the Water Taxi replaces a long crowded bus ride for the same price $2.00 and its faster too. The Chicago Water Taxi only runs in the spring, summer and fall because of the ice and cold in the Chicago River in the winter. The boat is covered but partially open and looks like it may have been a repainted repurposed tour boat. Anyway, check out the Chicago Water Taxi for the reasons one of my co-workers mentioned:

1. The Chicago Water Taxi is faster than taking a bus to and from Union Station.

2. It’s cheap. You can’t beat $2.00 per ride. (way cheaper than a Taxi, and no traffic!)

3. No smelly people sit next to you, because it is almost empty and open to the air outside.

4. It has a better view than a city bus and is quite relaxing clipping along on the Chicago River.

I am a fan of car shows and will be attending the Spring 2008 Chevy Vette Fest at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL (Chicago) next weekend. The Chevy Vette Fest is scheduled for April 5th and 6th. (The show is open from 9 am to 6 pm Saturday and Sunday) Tickets are $14.00 at the door and parking in the garage is $11.00. (kids under 12 are free)

Why would you go to a Chevy Vette Fest in a time like this when so many people buy foreign cars? Well this is a car show for people who either like to build and customize cars or people who still idolize that old fashioned American way of building cars that are powerful and classic. (and mostly gas guzzlers) But, you don’t have to own one to go enjoy and apreciate the craftsmanship or the designs. Sometimes cars are more like art than we think.

Chevy Vette Fest features all kinds Chevrolet cars. They call it Chevy Vette Fest because Corvettes have a special attraction for people and I think it needs to be in the name for promotional purposes. Corvettes are a very non-Chevy Chevy. They are designed by different people and built in different factories than all the other Chevrolets. Corvettes are also the only American car that TopGear presenters and other Europeans really like. The performance, power and quality is near super-car standards and like nothing else from any American car company. That fact alone about the Corvette demands respect.

So, if you like vintage cars, fast cars or just pretty cars, come see the Chevy Vette Fest in Rosemont next weekend April 5th and 6th. There will be many show cars on display that were custom built, classic cars restored to perfection and new cars like Corvettes on display that are the best you can buy for the money. They are always entertaining as sports cars and as rolling works of art.

Chicago got about 3 inches of snow Tuesday Evening 12/4 and Wednesday Morning as well as another sprinkling of snow this afternoon. Now the weather forecast is saying that tomorrow Thursday 12/6 will include some flurries and there will be more substantial snow on Friday and Saturday. I don’t know about you, but I have a date and a christmas party to go to this weekend and the snow is going to complicate getting to all of it.

Some tips for driving in snow:

1. Drive 10 MPH slower that you would normally (seriously).

2. Brake while going straight and before you have to turn or go around a curve or corner.  Turning and barking can’t be done at the same time on snow ice or any slick surface, you will loose it and skid off the road.

3. Lift off the brake and let your car crawl slowly out of snow on its own rather than giving it gas to accelerate and burying the tires in a drift. Automatic transmission front wheel drive cars are best for this. If you have a rear wheel or manual transmission car this is harder.

4. Always carry a small shovel, some salt and an ice scraper/brush in your car to dig it out if you need to. Extra dry boots and gloves are also helpful if you’re digging out a car and get all cold and wet from the snow.

5. Get new tires if they are bald or low on tread before winter starts. This makes a huge difference in the grip your car gets on the ice, snow and wet road.

6. Always counter slides with a turn of the wheel in the opposite direction and let off the gas. Braking hard may make you slide more even with ABS and Traction Control. Just let off the gas and counter the slide and the car should come back to neutral straight if it isn’t too fast or slick.

Chicago driving is always a challenge. Best of luck to you in driving in the snow, ice, sleet and rain this winter. Please be careful and take your time getting to where you are going this season.

(map courtesy of weather net)

There is a guy that rides the train every morning that has a segway and literally parks it at the station chained up and leaves it there. It hasn’t been stolen yet either. I don’t know what he does for a living but he loves his gadgets. I ended up sitting next to him this morning because the train was so crowded and all the seats had 2 people. I couldn’t help but notice that he had his iphone with him and today’s Chicago Tribune.

He sat down and immediately began playing with the iPhone. He was jamming along to Madonna and a variety of other songs (yes it was that loud) as he checked what looked like news and rss feeds and email. I was trying not to stare but that little iPhone is neat and I was curious about what it could do. Anyway, I went back to my TIME magazine and tried not to think how cool it would be to be reading an iPhone rather than my print copy of TIME.

I did notice though that although he had a home subscription to the Chicago Tribune and intended to read it, but he never did. Once he pulled it up like he was going to start and then the song ended and he grabbed his phone out of his pocket again. In the 30 minute ride he didn’t get any newspaper reading in. And I feel like newspapers have a new competitor now. They don’t just have to worry about web sites replacing their paper as a news source at home, they have to worry about mobile smart phones replacing it as a source to get news in a place you can’t be on a computer. I am not sure they know about it yet but the Trib’s job just got a lot harder.

Anyway my 3 years with my treo will be up in April and I should start looking at new phones since around that time frame they always tend to break. I would like the iPhone but it is SO expensive!! $600 bucks is a lot of money. They may have brought it down to $400 now, but still I have never paid more than $200 for a phone and I thought that was a lot. I have an ipod and I can’t believe that it hasn’t been broken or stolen yet too. I got some of the ipod accessories so I could always have it in it’s case with me and have a battery pack in case the battery runs out but it is nothing compared to how cool the iPhone is because it doesn’t have internet. Somehow Apple keeps making such elegant and swish gadgets that you want to buy new ones even though the old ones are still working. I guess that is their secret to the success.

This weekend the weather will not be the greatest for Thanksgiving, but hopefully it will not keep flights from getting out of O’Hare or cause traffic on the highways for those of you driving to your family and friends’ houses.

It looks like are having rain today (Wednesday) as everyone tries to drive and fly out of town and then the temperatures drop on Thursday turning that rain into snow. Somehow since we have Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving so it’s only appropriate that we get snow on Thanksgiving. Leave extra time for traffic when it snows, people have forgotten how to drive when it is snowing since last year and this may be this winter’s first slippery road snow day. This shouldn’t really accumulate a lot since it’s just flurries, expect less than an inch.

On Black Friday for the After Thanksgiving Day sales, it will be cold and sunny but below freezing around 30 degrees fahrenheit. So take the light jacket that is easier to carry while running through stores, but wear a hat and some gloves because you don’t want to get too cold.

Weather images and data provided by Google.  Google maps also provides real time traffic information on the routes you print directions on. So check them out before you leave home and gauge the travel time more accurately.

This weekend there will be a historic new tollway opened in Illinois. The Veteran’s Memorial Tollway (I-355 South Extension to I-80) has been in the works since the 1950’s and various states of completion since the 1990’s but soon I-355 will connect to I-80 and give millions of people access to cheap housing and truck based shipping through Will County.

The public is invited to come see the new extension in person and either bike the entire length of the tollway (20 miles) or run a 5 mile segment. The thing is that it is sold out so you might be better off to just drive on it next week when it is open if you are curious and want to see it in person. We are all excited about this since a lot of our tax dollars and toll fees have been put towards this project for the last 20 years.

I remember when 355 opened and it was gleaming and new and seemed to open up the northern suburbs for those of us living in the south west burbs like me. Downers Grove, Darien, Woodridge and Naperville all enjoyed quick access to jobs, friends, hobbies and family located up north via this highway. It was $0.40 each way and .35 at some entrance ramps and exits. As I understand it now, it is $0.80 to drive without an I-Pass and 355 is clogged with traffic most the time. Not that this extension will help with that. I spent many days driving fast and furious in my younger days on this tollway when it didn’t have cops or speed cameras. Now I am older and wiser and the traffic has caught up with my slow driving speeds.

The 355 South Extension  Grand Opening Celebration will also feature family-oriented community festival including a Touch-a-Truck exhibit with a variety of construction equipment used in the building of the tollway, Illinois State Police demonstrations (we’re not sure what they will be demonstrating, maybe how to arrest people? how to quilt? How to make a origami bird?) , and environmental agency displays which will let us know how much earth the new highway will destroy. This celebration will draw thousands from surrounding suburbs to come see a once in a lifetime highway opening.

Some interesting facts about the new 355 south extension named the Veteran’s Memorial Tollway in Illinois.  It is 12.5 miles in length, has 3 lanes in each direction and connects 355 to I-80. (which is a major shipping and distribution channel for trucking businesses and all the stuff we buy which is made in china and shipped all over the country by truck) It also gives more people a cance to go buy cheap housing (like plainfield, joliet and aurora have done in recent years) and clog up 55, 355 and 294 driving an hour or more to work in more established areas or Chicago. 

The 355 South Extension tollway will run through 13 Municipalitiesa and Townships in three counties. These  include Bolingbrook, Downers Grove Township, DuPage Township, Homer Glen, Homer Township, Lemont, Lemont Township , Lockport , Lockport Township , New Lenox, New Lenox Township , Romeoville and Woodridge . There are six interchanges (entrances and exits) that have been constructed at I-55, 127 th Street , 143 rd Street – IL 171 ( Archer Avenue ), 159 th Street , US 6, and I-80. (the last one is the big kauna tuna)

The new construction in Will county will most likley get a burst from this new tollway. The construction began in the 1990s with the building of many pylon sypports along I-55 and then left them there with no further info to the public. Then in 2004 the project cme to life again and construction continued until November 2007. For more useful information see their fact sheet.

The grand opening event schedule is as follows:

9:00 am
Roll the Tollway 20-Mile Bike Ride
Hosted by the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation
5000 registrations have been received.
The event is sold out.
It was too early anyway

10:00 am
Community Festivities Veterans events
Construction Education
Local community activities along the roadway

11:30 am
Veterans Memorial Tollway 5K Run/Walk/Roll
Hosted by SALUTE, Inc.
Register at: www.saluteinc.org
Children under 5 are free

12:00 pm
Veterans Musical Tribute
A patriotic musical dedication

1:00 pm
Dedication Ceremony
Celebrate our first new tollroad in 20 years!

Since we are suburbanites and all have a bunch of cars we will drive to the event here is the official parking map for the event:

I was recently asked about how to survive a Chicago winter by someone moving here from a warm southern state who had never dealt with extreme cold, wind, snow and Ice. I have lived in Chicago all my life, so I figured I could help with some tips for survival and hopefully help him avoid being cold and stuck somewhere during a blizzard. Here are some clothing tips for how to dress for the coldand how to deal with getting un-stuck from the snow and navigating through icy streets with a wind chill that makes it seem 20 degrees colder than it already is.

If you are moving here from someplace warm and sunny, you will need to invest in the following clothing, outerwear, coats and gear:

1. Buy waterproof Boots with as much insulation as possible for warmth. Some kind of rubberized tread on the bottom is good for grip walking on the icy sidewalks and driveway too. Some people who walk to work in all the elements keep dressy shoes in a desk drawer so they can wear their boots to work and just change shoes there. Heavy thick socks that pull up over your calf are are also helpful.

2.Buy waterproof goves with thinsulate. This is especially important if you will be shoveling your driveway or trying to uncover your car from the snow and scrape off  ice. They are also good for use in building snowmen and snow forts with the kids.

3. Buy a hat and scarfpreferably a hat that covers your ears and is not knit. (the knit ones let the wind right through) If your hat does not cover your ears you will need ear muffs or those men’s ear covers that have the strap behind the head. Otherwise your ears will get frostbite. Avoid the frostbite on everything you can by covering as much as possible. The scarf is helpful because most coats either don’t seal off the cold air completely or don’t cover your neck well. The scarf is also helpful to wrap around your face if it’s below zero and you have to walk in the wind. We also joke that ski goggles would be helpful since the wind does hurt your eyes on extreme days too.

4. Buy a long knee length or longer down filled coat. (Synthetic stuffing might be ok if you’re allergic or ethically opposed to sing real feathers but I have never tried it) I have always found that leather coats are useless in the cold and rain ruins their finish. Wool coats are better but most lack a lining that will actually block the frigid cold wind here. So, you have to upgrade to an Alaskan polar level of parka to survive outside in the coldest days. North Face is good but really expensive and Eddie Bauer has more reasonable prices on their winter coats.  You should also get a coat with a hood attached. A hat is sometimes not enough to block the cold, wind and snow.

5. Buy Long Underwear or some kind of extra layer under pants and clothing. The more layers you have that are close to your skin the better chance you have of retaining some heat. The pants that are popular now aren’t going to block -20 degree winds when you have to walk to the train. Flannel lined pants are great and some kind of leggings, long underwear or 2 layers of tights can help.

6. Buy sweaters and preferably turtlenecksthey are the best bet. Somehow you loose a lot of heat through your head and I think your neck is included in that. It is much easier to stay warm with a turtle neck. The GAP, Old Navy, Sears and just about every other store carries them here. They are a winter staple. Watch out for wool turtlenecks if you are allergic to wool. Synthetics are just as warm and don’t stretch and fade like cotton.

And remember even if we get 3 feet of snow, school, work and the stores do not close down. We live with most of our snow in January and February and it happens every year so we know how to power through it. We dig out the cars and buses, take public transit, shovel the sidewalks and driveways and bundle up and go out slowly and cautiously. Nothing is stopped by bad weather in Chicago.

Have any other tips or suggestions for cold weather wear? Let me know by posting them as a comment with your helpful hints and cold weather clothing strategy below:

Today I got an email from the Hillside Garbage Landfill Closure Project. They wanted to let all of us know who drive by the dump along side 290 at the Hillside strangler, that they have successfully closed off one portion of the dump. We are grateful for that and hope that the stench ends soon. It is still very difficult to sit stuck in traffic at that point on the highway. Even with your car windows closed and the climate control turned off, it still is very powerful. I know consumers have to stop creating so much garbage, but we also want that landfill closed off as soon as possible too. Below is the text of the email update about the Hillside Landfill closure project.

The Western Phase is CompleteWe are pleased to announce a significant milestone in the Hillside Landfill closure project. On September 30, we successfully closed the western one-third of the landfill for good. This accomplishment not only signals significant progress, it is noteworthy because this part of the landfill has been a primary source of odors in the past.
 
Over the past five months, we filled the western one-third of the landfill to capacity, installed a new permanent gas collection system and constructed a cap that will keep rainwater out of the landfill. Together, these steps will control, contain and collect landfill liquid and gas that is created from decomposing landfill waste.  
 
Although odors will not completely disappear until after the entire landfill is capped in 2008, we do expect to see an overall improvement now that the western section is closed. In the coming months, we will repeat the entire process detailed above in the remaining sections of the landfill.
 
As always, we appreciate your patience throughout this process.
 
We will continue to keep you updated as the project continues. Also, please continue to visit www.LandfillClosing.com for new information about the project.
 
Thank you.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the CTA has received 27 Million dollars in funding from the state of Illinois in a last minute bailout cash “infusion”. I’m not exactly sure what “infusion” means in this scenario but we take it that extra funds were approved from somewhere in the Illinois state budget and the price hikes and route cuts will not go into effect on Sunday. 

I repeat: The cost of CTA ride fares will not increase and bus routes will not be cut on Sunday November 4th. Now I just have to figure out what got cut or which tax got raised to provide these previously unavailable funds to the CTA. The news says that the money is just going to cover costs until December 31st 2007. After that in January we may all be paying $84 dollars a month for a monthly CTA pass and paying $3 dollars a ride at rush hour peak times.

I was riding home on the train tonight noticing that the CTA funding message posters that have been up for the past 2 weeks in the ad slots on the top of the trains had mostly been removed. What I don’t know, is if this meant that they had given up the fight for more funding, or that they knew that the money was on it’s way? Either way, it means a lot of people who already have a hard time getting by financially, get to pay the same rate for CTA transportation for a little while longer.

It would be nice if this was the last time we heard about this money issue, but since this is another temporary fix, the debate over CTA funding will be at least a yearly issue in the city and state budgets and sooner or later we will still have to pay more to get to work. (But we really do appreciate the postponment of that doomsday for a little while longer.)

I got my Oak Park FYI newsletter in the mail today and it has a mention that a new condo tower will be built at South Avenue and Harlem Avenue in Oak Park. Don’t we have enough condos in Oak Park? At any given moment in the current housing crash and real estate meltdown there are over 500 condos for sale in Oak Park already. So, they are wiping out 140 public parking spaces in order to get a parking garage under almost 100 new condos that no one will buy. There are about 10 rehab and new condo developments  in Oak Park for sale already, that are not able to sell any units as it is. And any owner that wants to sell will never gain any equity or value or ever sell with this many on the market.

There is a glut in this area’s market because it is overdeveloped! So for the love of God, STOP BUILDING and Converting CONDOS!!! I know the big developers don’t care and the Realtors are happy to lie to people and say you will gain value year over year on your condo, but you won’t. (the old data they usually show you is from 1997-2003) Oak Park has a multitude of problems and the developers and Realtors are making it even worse. They are taking advantage of good people that haven’t lived here before and don’t know all the details on why it sucks to buy here like I did. Don’t get sucked into this trap. It can be a financial disaster and a huge mistake to buy a property in Oak Park.

The exact blurb from the newsletter is as follows:

“An agreement has been reached with Morningside Equities Group, Inc. on the terms for a new $30-million mixed-use project at South Boulevard and Harlem Avenue. The eight-story development will contain 96 condominium units, 12,500 square feet of new retail space and a parking garage in the heart of the downtown shopping area. The current site’s 143 parking lot spaces will be replaced with 245 public parking spaces in the new public garage. The public spaces are in addition to dedicated on-site parking for the condominium owners. The building will be designed and constructed to achieve certification through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system. A formal redevelopment agreement between the Village and Morningside is expected to be signed before the end of the year. The project then will enter the planned development process, which includes opportunities for public comment. For more information on the project or process, call 358.5644 or e-mail devsvcs@oak-park.us. “

They don’t tell you that it costs $100-$150 per quarter to park in a public lot.

Here are the reasons NOT to buy any property in Oak Park ever:

1. Whatever you pay for the new, rehabbed or redeveloped condo you buy will be worth less a year from now and still worth less 5 years from now. The housing slump isn’t creating this problem, overdevelopment is. This was happening in Oak Park two years before the rest of the country had a slump.  In the 1990’s Oak Park had a mini-boom and many people saw their real estate value jump up each year, but since about 2003 only stand alone houses have increased in value. There has been a glut of condos for sale since 2001 and that has caused condominium values to drop and stagnate at these lower levels. (simple economics, there is not enough demand and an over supply; not that many people want to live there because of the crime and extremely high costs)  They get away with this scam by putting fancy granite counter tops and new appliances in very old buildings with lead paint, lead pipes, bad windows, sagging floors and leaky roofs. Many young first time home buyers buy into it thinking it will be new and redone and face thousands of dollars in additional work that has to be done afterwards. A friend of mine has had a leaky roof problem that will cost him $30,000.00 to fix. The builder is being sued but even if they win he won’t see that money for at least 5 years. So he is paying out of pocket with a second loan and a second morgage payment to get the water to stop coming in his condo. It’s a nightmare. You should be aware of these risks. You could be buying a place with serious faults that causes you to spend thousands of dollars to fix it and then your property value drops on top if it. It’s a double bad situation.

2. Oak Park taxes are higher than anywhere else I have lived and higher than most places in Chicago. Why? Because the city has nowhere to gain revenues from except it’s residents. There is no business or industry or commerical property to make money from. The largest employers in the town of Oak Park are the Rush Oak Park hospital and #2 is the town of Oak Park. That isn’t much and the small stores and small businesses there don’t generate enough sales tax revenue or other taxes to pay for much. So they devised this parking ticket scheme to make money and taxes are very high. They say to count on 2.5% of your home’s purchase price. An average home in Oak Park is vintage (needs a lot of work every year) and costs $500,000.00. That makes your property tax bill $12,500.00 per year and $1,042 per month. There is a homeowner exemption, but that is just $400.00. Not much help. By comparison in Downers Grove a 500K home will get a 1.5% tax bill of $7,500.00. And that is in a town of lower crime and better schools. So, that is pretty convincing to me.

3. The Parking in Oak Park is rigged on purpose. It is in place to make money for the town by taking advantage of the fact that there is very little parking available. It’s the scam of the century. Oak Park doesn’t make enough tax money from businesses because it’s almost all residential and something has to pay for all the police, new schools and the salaries of the town of Oak Park’s employees since it is the largest employer in the town. They don’t require builders and developers to provide parking spaces or garages with the property it develops or converts on purpose. They purposely want to restrict the availability and access of parking so they can make a large chunk of their revenue from parking tickets each year.  (the article above is only including enough parking to replace what was there and the parking for the high priced units, not enough for people who don’t have parking now, and it doesn’t help people who don’t live in that area of the town who don’t have parking) The parking ticket agents hunt cars down and know when the lot time or meter expires and are ready to write a $30, $50 or $100 dollar ticket. And they will write you more than one in a day if they can. ( I couldn’t be surprised if they have quotas to fill or get bonuses for writing more tickets) The town also puts a boot on your car wheels and suspends your driver’s license if you have more than 3 unpaid tickets. In Oak Park, that can take about a day and a half to accumulate, and then you have to pay $150.00 and get them to remove the boot plus the original tickets. People say the parking is bad here, but no one has been able to get the city government to do anything about it because the government is profiting of the problem they purposely created to take advantage of residents. They also know low income people aren’t active in politics or in donating to their campaigns so they aren’t pissing off anyone they care about or depend on, and they take advantage of those who live in low income housing and low priced condo units. Don’t give Oak Park any more money and certainly don’t park there.

4. There is a lot more crime, theft, drugs and gangs in Oak Park than a Realtor would like you to think. Oak Park is in many ways an extension of the City of Chicago and an extension of the City’s problems. No one talks about the crime, it is always very hush hush and hard to find out about. The crimes range from bikes stolen to cars broken into and stolen to break-ins and some homicide deaths. (those usually make the news) There have been more homicides in Oak Park every year since I have been here, yet no one talks about the rate going up. It is also curious that every time there is a helicopter circling overhead, another escaped criminal is in Oak Park. They get out of the Cook County Jail and make a beeline for Oak Park because it is next to Maywood and Bellwood or the West Side of Chicago. Do you think that maybe people are also having a hard time existing in this town with all these costs and regulations and are turning to drugs, theft and crime to try and get by? Not everyone makes over 100K a year and can afford all the costs of Oak Park, and for a lot of low income people who have been born and raised here, Oak Park is very frustrating.

5. Oak Park is very very polluted and dirty. I-290, the Metra trains and the cargo freight trains all make Oak Park a very polluted place. Black soot falls from the sky daily landing on windowsills and cars which is from the diesel freight train engines that stay parked and running all night next to 290 or along the Metra lines by Lake Street and South Blvd. The car pollution is bad and the noise pollution is even worse. They even route the air traffic from O’Hare and Midway overhead to make sure we get all the possible toxins we can. It is much more polluted than the rest of the Chicagoland area but people don’t talk about it, because no one is supposed to know.

6. When you try to sell your condo you will need 12 months or more to find a buyer because there are 500 other condos for sale and almost no buyers. You will be forced to pay a village property sales tax of $8 per each $1000 of your sale price called a property transfer stamp. (no other town has this!) With all the fees including the property transfer tax stamp and the realtors, lawyers, cook county and the state of IL, your fees will run about 10% of your sale price. I know I just finally sold. That was what the total was. So you have to make more than that 10% you loose to fees, just because the property is located in Oak Park.

7. They are public works project happy. The government in Oak Park is the largest employer of workers in the town and they see public works projects as their birthright and choose anything and everything to build in order to spend tax payers money. There have been propsals floated for every hairbrained idea from capping 290 and making it a concrete tunnel with a park on top to more and more condos. Basically everyone pays for these (like the ginormous library nobody uses?) and nobody really benefits.

Do yourself a favor, and buy a home anywhere outside Oak Park and Chicago, out in the real suburbs where it’s your right to park anywhere you want any time you want, and your home’s value will increase at a rate faster than inflation. Plus the schools are a lot better out there and it is much safer to live there too. Don’t fall into the trap of living in Oak Park it will cost you more money and you get far less than in other suburbs.

No one needs to tell us that Chicago has awful and unbearable traffic jams and congestion. We are familiar with sitting in traffic on any highway or street at any hour of the day or night. (I have sat in traffic jams at 2am) What we didn’t know is that Chicago ranked 2nd in a national study on the worst traffic in the country. (and by Chicago, we mean mostly the Suburbs) Los Angeles is the worst, they loose 72 hours a year in traffic. The 2007 Urban Mobility Report studied the number of cars on the roads and the travel times required to get around in the largest cities in America. (nothing is sexier than the study of traffic flow) 

The charts I was able to find actually ranked Chicago 3rd on the list behind NYC and LA, rather than just LA like all the media outlets have been reporting.  Chicago commuters loose on average 46 hours each per year sitting in traffic. Chicago drivers also waste 32 extra gallons of gas each sitting in that traffic on their highway of choice. In my car that’s 2 full gas tanks worth, and at current prices it adds up to an extra $100.00 per year. That shouldn’t break the budget, but who likes wasting money or gas at a time like this? Collectively we are spewing those extra 32 gallons of gas into the air as carbon emissions and getting nothing back. Not even the mobility we were promised when we bought our cars.

Chicago is a car loving town. I know of about 10 suburbs that have “crusin” nights for cars and many more have summer “car shows”. We all see the monster houses with 2, 3 or 4 car garages. Yes some are for storage but more are really holding cars. I think the 1950’s suburban boom was fueled by cheap oil and gas. (see the documentary Escape from Suburbia, it explains more)  It started to change where people chose to live because more middle class Americans could afford a car for the first time. (around $1000.00 if you bought it used, $2,000.00 if it was new, insurance was not required then, and you could park anywhere for free, gas was arund $0.30 per gallon)

This led to Sunday drives and trips to places by car that were farther away than you would normally go in a day.  At that time families lived closer to relatives and within walking distance to those necessities you needed in town. When cheap oil and affordable cars started changing things people discovered the potential of the suburbs.

You could buy a newly built home further out from the city for a lot less than you could in Chicago. People started migrating from Chicago to near suburbs first. (Berwyn, Cicero, Stickney, LaGrange, Westchester, Park Ridge and Lyons) Then when those were filled up the next generation of new home buyers just went out further. (Downers Grove, Darien, Hinsdale, Willowbrook, Oak Brook and Glen Ellyn) The next generation went further yet. (Naperville, Wheaton, Plainfield) and now we have colonized Aurora and Joliet as Chicago Suburbs. The new young couples today buy a home for under 200K with a yard, garage and a lot of bedrooms is go out to farthest reaches of the end of civilization like Minooka and Sandwich. Those  towns do offer cheap housing at a good deal, but the price you pay every day is that you will spend 2 hours getting to work and back in traffic.

In past generations things worked out ok. The house you bought as a young newlywed became a highly valued asset over your lifetime multiplying it’s value by 10 times and civilization came to you, eventually… I am not so sure this will be possible for the next generation of Chicago home owners. It’s not because we don’t have enough land, we have endless supply there, but we don’t have the resources to support sprawl like that anymore. And we don’t have enough space on the roads for all these people going to and from their cheap suburban housing out in Minooka.

I reversed my family’s migration pattern and moved back into the city. (they were appaled by the way, nothing pisses of suburbanites like their kid moving into the same city their ancestors worked so hard to get out of) I live within walking distance of the EL and Metra and Bus service. I do own a car, but it sits in storage and I maybe drive it once a week. I know most Americans and almost all Chicagoans don’t like this kind of living. It’s still socially associated with the working class immigrants that were our ancestors working in factories and living a hard life. It isn’t very showy either, and suburbanites like showy. So it may be a bit of an embarrassment to my family but I think it is a smarter way to live.

How can more people in Chicago live smarter with transportation? Here are some ideas:

1. Live near your work: If you are a young person renting from year to year, find apartments really close to work. Like walkable if possible or just a 10 minute drive. Others of us in the Chicago area who are more established trade up houses every 5-10 years anyway, so why not make it a priority to live by your job? People move half way across the country for jobs, why would you not move to another suburb? It saves you a ton of money too, if that’s more of a motivator.

2. Travel at off-peak times: I know of more and more companies in Chicago offering a flexible schedule. And I see on the news that the roads are empty at 6:30 am, so take advantage of it. Adjust your travel to get out before the rush and save a ton of time.

3. Stop buying imported goods. What? Yes, the trucking business has exploded as we buy everything from China and have to truck it all over the country. Logistics try and make their runs more efficient, but face it, if we didn’t buy that stuff, and we bought locally produced stuff there would be far fewer 18 wheelers clogging our highways.

4. Drive with friends and neighbors. I am hesitant to use the word Car Pool, but you probably your neighbors and coworkers more than I like the people I sit next to on the CTA train or Bus. A lot more. Consider it a cake walk considered to public transportation, and you should try and just be nice, smile and ask about their kids.

If we don’t change our ways, we will soon be spending 2 hours each way to work and back rather than 1. Every year things just get worse. Do something about it and avoid the traffic and plan a more efficient life.

Everyone in Chicago that uses the CTA has been aware that they have proposed a fare hike for riders starting on September 16, 2007. They are proposing a lot of fixing and modernization of the train lines and buses. (much like the Brown Line Renovations going on now) I can say from first hand experience that the elevated trains and subways need some fixing. The cars have a lot of issues with door sensors going off and not recognizing that they are closed, and the train can’t move until the door sensors say all the doors are closed. I have sat for a half hour some days watching them open and close the doors on the train at a random stop because the sensors say one is open. They have to walk through the whole train checking them all personally beore they can continue driving the train. This holds up all the passengers for 15-30 minutes plus all the trains behind it on the Green Line. And so much for keeping a schedule. 

Governor Rod Blagojevich and the State of Illinois could pass a bill to give the CTA the money for this modernization and overhaul but it has not been approved as of today September 4th. If it is granted, the extra revenue for these CTA projects may come from a sales tax increase. Cook County already pays a very high rate of 9% sales tax. I am not sure which is worse, a afre hike or another .5% on everything I buy? In that case, maybe the fare hike is the better way to go because its about $15 dollars more a month for a 30 day pass v.s. more than that on the other things that I buy and need for every day life. Everyone is facing the same hike, so people who are low income, would be looking at the same financial choices. 

Most of the stations are aging somewhat but a larger concern is that on the Blue Line there are a lot of stops that don’t have any handicapped wheelchair access. They have stairs only, no ramps or elevators are built for these stations, so people in wheelchairs just can’t use them.  With the Olympics possibly being voted and approved for Chicago in 2016, we will need these renovations anyway, so we will either pay for it now or later.

Buses on the other hand seem to work better, although they pollute a lot more. (ever breathed behind a bus? it’s like eating a cigarette) They also seem to keep to a schedule at least part of the time. The el doesn’t seem to adhere to any schedule I have seen. The other issue I have seen with the trains is the way they take corners. They almost tip the train over when they take corners on the track so fast on the Brown Line. A few years ago an Orange Line train actually fell off the tracks on a corner, but apparently everyone has forgotten about this since then because they start and stop these trains with such a jolt that if you are standing at all you will be knocked over. Why not just slow down a bit and take it easy? The CTA would be safer for everyone.

This is the letter I got from them by email today:

Dear Valued Chicago Card Plus Customer:

Due to insufficient state funding, the Chicago Transit Authority Board recently approved a contingency plan which includes changes to CTA service and fares. Without additional funding, this contingency plan will take effect on September 16, 2007. Customers who pay with cash or Transit Cards and use the CTA weekdays will pay higher fares at rail stations and on buses (depending on the time of day they ride). Fares will also increase for customers who use Chicago Card® and Chicago Card Plus®. Visit TransitChicago.com to learn more about CTA’s 2007 fare changes.

Under this plan, beginning September 16, the fare for Chicago Card and Chicago Card Plus customers will increase from $1.75 to $2.00 per ride, and 25¢ for a transfer (which allows two additional rides within two hours of issuance), regardless of the time of day. However, the bonus structure currently in place will remain, providing a $2 bonus for every $20 of Pay-Per-Use value added to an account. The cost of a 30-day unlimited Chicago Card Plus card will also increase from $75.00 to $84.00.

If the fare change goes into effect on September 16, the new $2.00 fare will be deducted from your Pay-Per-Use Chicago Card Plus account. Those who use the Chicago Card Plus 30-day unlimited ride pass, and whose reload occurs on or after September 16, will be charged the new rate of $84.00 on their accounts.

So unless the Governor approves the new funding we will all be facing more costs for basic public transportation in the city. As if high gas prices weren’t taxing enough!  I end up paying for parking, gas, insurand AND the CTA. And everything keeps going up every year. I guess the only solution is to live and work at locations close to each other so you don’t have to take any form of transportation very far.

Update: The Governor has not approved the funds needed to stave off the CTA fare increase and they will go up on Sunday September 16, 2007 as planned. Rush hour fares will be more expensive. If you have flex time, now might be the time to take advantage of it and adjust your work schedule to an earlier or later arrival and departure to avoid the highest fares.

Update 2: Last night 9/10/2007 the Green Line I was on couldn’t even get the doors to close or open. The one door was open about 3 inches the whole time, and the train goes up to 75 mph at times. I think this shows real time that these trains need maintenance more than ever. See picture of the doors on the left.  

Update 3: The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the CTA has accepted a 24 Million dollar funding advance from 2008 funding from Governor Blagojevich on 9/12/2007. This keeps rates at the same level now and all the service routes running that would have been cut, but only temporarily. This covers things until November 4th, 2007. A more permanent decision will have to be made about funding from the state of Illinois or prices and fares will go up and 39 routes will be cut as originally planned.

Update 4: I got this email below from the CTA about trying to get the funds from the State of Illinois by the new November Deadline.

Dear Chicago Card and Chicago Card Plus Users:I am writing to inform you that the fare and service changes scheduled for September 16th have been postponed. This means that the cost of your passes and fares will not increase on Sunday, and any routes scheduled for elimination will continue to operate.However, the temporary loan of $24 million provided by the State postpones these changes for less than two months. On November 4th, if the Illinois General Assembly has not acted, we will be forced to increase fares and reduce service.