by admin | Jul 12, 2015 | Chicago, Climate, Education, Environment, Public policy, Public safety, Resilience, Science, Urban Planning, Water
I grew up in suburban Cleveland. After a seven-year hiatus in Iowa and briefly in Nebraska, my wife’s home state, we ended up in Chicago. I am unquestionably a Midwesterner with most of my life lived near the Great Lakes. It will therefore not be surprising that for...
by admin | Jul 8, 2015 | Books, Chicago, Economic development, Education, Government, Political philosophy
A very curious op-ed article appeared Monday (July 6) in the Chicago Tribune. Tom Geoghegan, best known as a liberal lawyer who represents labor unions, made a plea for more taxes. Not just any taxes for any reason, but “Tax me, please, so Illinois can compete.” Let...
by admin | Jun 21, 2015 | Civil rights, Government, History, Public safety, Racism, Religion
Less than three weeks ago, on June 2, a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus mysteriously crashed a red light on Lake St. during the evening rush hour, jumped the curb on the eastern side of Michigan Ave., and killed one pedestrian while injuring several others. The...
by admin | Jun 14, 2015 | Activism, Civil rights, Disaster, Environment, History, Housing, Travel, Urban Planning
There is something mildly disconcerting about visiting an intriguing city several times without having the spare time to go tourist. I first visited Charleston, South Carolina, in 2003, for a business meeting with the National Fire Protection Association, for which I...
by admin | Jun 8, 2015 | Chicago, Public health, Recreation, Urban Planning
More than a century ago, the City of Chicago settled a neighborhood dispute by forcing the elevation of a railroad bed for a 2.7-mile spur line that served a variety of small factories on its North Side that provided jobs for a string of neighborhoods in or near...
