Jon Hilkevitch Reflects on the UFO sighting at O'Hare

Hilkevitch discusses the story behind his story about the UFO sighting at O'Hare in the Perspective section of today's Tribune. (See previous post here.)

He said it was the single most read story in the history of the Trib's Internet presence. They're estimating it garnered more than 1 million page views.

He wrote,

"They were all dead serious about what they saw, and the accounts -- whether made from the tarmac or from 25 feet up in the cockpit of a Boeing 777 -- were consistent.

The unidentified aerial phenomenon was dark gray and shaped like a disc, it hovered in a fixed position above Concourse C of the United Airlines terminal, and it vanished with a burst of energy that cut a hole in the overcast skies. "

He concludes,

"How is it that someone smuggled a camera cell phone into a Baghdad execution chamber to chronicle the hanging of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein last month, but no one among the thousands of airport workers and travelers at O'Hare snapped a picture for the cosmic family photo album?

"The answer, along with an explanation about how the universe works, remains a mystery. We earthlings possess inquisitive minds, but we are, after all, only human."

Full text of today's story here.
Eric Zorn weighs in (claiming it's not a UFO) here.

The Best Shumai in Chicago

Can be found here.

(What's shumai? Go here. )

Chicago (Finally) Opens Permanent Household Hazardous Waste Facility on Goose Island

I drive over Goose Island nearly every day and have been wondering when this new facility would open. Apparently, it did sometime recently to seemingly little fanfare. It's at 1150 N. North Branch Avenue.

Good thing, too. I've got gobs of old paint, some fertilizer, and a mercury thermometer I've been wanting to get rid of properly. But, the only opportunities before this were random, 2-times-a-year events or driving to the far south side.

Here's the scoop:

Overview
Hours
What They Take & What They Don't
FAQs
More

UPDATE: The links I originally posted went dead. Here is a new link with information about the Goose Island drop-off site.

Daley Re-Election Bid Touts his Big Brother Surveillance Cameras

My first piece of literature from the Daley re-election campaign arrived the other day. Smack dab on it, front and center, is a photo of the gargantuan surveillance cameras he has installed all over the city.

I'm pretty amazed the cameras have received such a high level of acceptance. These are the ones that Daley has put in the highest crime areas.

(Interestingly, just about a month ago, my sister-in-law drove me by a house she and her husband were seriously considering buying. But, when I saw one of those giant blue light cameras at the intersection closest to the house, I said, "You can't buy here. They only put those in the most crime-ridden neighborhoods. " Now, how is that area supposed to turn itself around economically if the cameras frighten away home buyers and suppress property values and opportunities?)

These are not the smaller, less obvious cameras poised all over the city that snap photos of cars blowing red lights and generate traffic tickets. Those, no doubt, have generated even fewer friends and due to their smaller size, they're even less comfortable. Or, maybe not.


"We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men (and women)."
-- George Orwell

Here's a nice summary at Smart Cameras about the march of camera installations in our city.

Your Next Real Estate Transaction May be Dramatized (I mean more than usual.)

Composer buys House from Lawyer on Greenview

What would happen if someone took the real estate transactions listings, Googled the buyers and sellers, and then posted what personal information he could find about them on the web?

It would look like this. Eew.

Follow-up on Farwell Building and Commission on Chicago Landmarks

Here is the run-down of follow-up coverage on yesterday's stunner by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks:

Lynn Becker's follow-up here and here.
Blair Kamin's commentary in the Trib here.
Johnathon Briggs overview in the Trib here.
Kevin Nance in the Sun-Time here.
My play-by-play of the meeting here.

Plus, two more notes from the meeting that I think are relevant to throw into this mix:

• The Streeterville Organization of Active Residents, who are known as SOAR and are highly active in the Michigan Avenue area, supported the proposal, albeit reluctantly. They also actively supported the building's landmark designation two years ago. Their prepared statement, read by a member of the organization, suggested that they felt they had little choice based on the building's poor repair. They also expressed remorse at not having considered the building's poor condition as part of the designation process.

• Toward the end of the hearing, after the opportunity for public comments was over, one of the representatives of the development team (maybe Jon Rodgers but I'm not sure) attempted to speak to the council. The Chair denied him the opportunity, but he did manage to blurt out, with a bit of exasperation, "It's not going to be a parking garage." Perhaps this means they'll be back again with reconfigured sound bites?

Play-by-Play of Commission on Chicago Landmarks' Meeting Today regarding Fate of the Landmarked Farwell Building

Well, that was a squeaker.

The city's Commission on Chicago Landmarks, who today sounded to me a lot more like the city's Commission on the Promotion of New Development, failed to pass a proposal that would basically gut the meaning and effectiveness of the landmark designation in the city, and likely the country, as we know it.

Thanks go to Commissioners Edward I. Torrez, Ben Weese, Phyllis Ellin, and Lisa Willis, who all voted against the proposal, and a gimme goes to Ernest C. Wong who abstained and failed, for whatever reasons, to give the supporters the "yes" vote they needed to pass the resolution.

But, the play by play, true to Chicago politics, was the best thing about the afternoon. I just wish I had brought a bowl of popcorn.

Everyone agreed that the building was in disrepair. Everyone agreed that the city did a fine job of inspecting the status of the building and commissioned excellent engineering reports.

One of the people speaking on behalf of the proposal before the commission, an engineer, I believe, whose name was Ken, said stuff like this about the plans for turning the landmarked building into an add-on to a luxury condo-highrise:

"We want to get some of the age in there and have it look like an age structure."

And,

"(The building is made out of) the same materials flower pots are made of, and I don't think we want a building made of flower pots."

I'm not kidding. He actually said that.

Then, Burton Natarus, the colorful alderman of the ward where the building resides, stood up.

"This is a very tough issue. If I were a member of a preservation group, I would oppose it, too. If you're a preservationist, your position is to do nothing. It's one of the biggest problems we have today. Not only choosing which buildings to landmark, but how to keep them up and maintain them."

"They should not call themselves preservationists, they should call themselves 'landmark people' because they give no recommendations on how you should preserve the buildings."

Then, to my personal delight, he said that if the proposal passed, he wanted to make sure that something was done for the "very nice man" who has owned the "very fine shoe store" in the building for 30 years.

Rick Wendy followed on behalf of the development team and said he would answer questions at "the committee's pleasure." So, the committee threw him a few balls as soft as cotton.

But, one surprising detail leaked out. They were spending only $5 million dollars on deconstructing and reapplying the facade -- an amount so low in construction circles that it began to seem like it wouldn't be that hard to find a better choice for protecting the landmark -- despite all the blowharding about how few economic options face the 80-year old building. (That, to me, was especially not credible given the building's prime location.)

Lucien Lagrange, who truly must have been delivered in a box from Central Casting marked "French man," came to the podium and talked a bit about parking garages and square feet. He did little to help his cause, and I was quite struck by his seeming indifference to the fate of a fellow architect's landmarked work.

Finally, those sympathetic with the building's fate, the integrity of landmark designations, and the preservation of the contextual history of Michigan Avenue had a chance to stand up and fight back.

What, my friends, did Mr. Jonathan Fine, the President of Preservation Chicago, do with his opening salvo against this nationally significant and ominous abuse of our landmark designation?

He conceded.

Yup. Threw in the towel.

He gave up 20 minutes before the vote.

He made a few excellent points, then he expressed his frustration at, oh gosh, all the preservation losses our city has had lately, and then, before sitting down, he offered, "I know you're going to pass this. You always do."

Not exactly the kind of speech that rallies a city to defend its treasure or even a few hyper-preservationists. What in the world was he thinking?

Fortunately, a few speakers later, Lynn Becker arrived. Now, this is rich, so stick with me. When they first mentioned earlier in the session that he was coming to the microphone soon, they mis-pronounced his name as "Lion."

So, he gets up, and I've never met the man nor seen him before other than his photo on his blog (and for the record, he did not have a bird on his shoulder today), and he admitted he was quite nervous. As you know, he's already my kind of writer, but today he was more so because he clearly feels more comfortable behind a keyboard than in front of people, but he cared so deeply about this issue that he got up and, in his reticence, had an even greater impact.

He conveyed gravitas and delivered his words as eloquently as he writes them. I was so engaged by his talk that I have only his first point written down in my notes -- "What is a landmark if we take the facade and dismantle it and put it on another building -- is that the Farwell Building?"

He did just a great, great job in sounding the alarm and speaking on behalf of protecting our collective history and the visual fabric of our city against a really dumb choice, but there was one other hero I must point out before I have to log off. That was Bob Ritter.

He introduced himself as a "private citizen and businessman" and made a lovely, thoughtful, diplomatic statement on just how wrong-headed the project was. He lauded Lucien Lagrange and the developers for investing in this city and making it better, and he noted that the condos they propose to build will draw some of the highest real estate prices in history.

He then noted that "it took his breath away" that the second "parking podium" on our famed Michigan Avenue would be put in a landmarked building. His and Becker's were the kind of firm diplomacy that I hope other citizens and activists will emulate.

In the end, the vote was made and the Chairman announced the motion had failed, and a murmur went through the room. The Chair deferred to his Corporation Counsel (city lawyer) who confirmed a simple majority was needed, and 4 votes with 8 commissioners wasn't going to cut it. I think everyone was surprised and didn't know what to think.

I bolted for the door right behind Fine (and who I'm guessing might have been a reporter from the Trib). Fine was saying, "Um, I'm really surprised. Shocked really."

Me too. It's a clear win for the integrity of the landmark designation, but it won't be the last time a landmark comes under pressure from misguided development plans.

No doubt more valuable commentary will be cropping up at Lynn Becker's blog here. I hope he'll post a copy of his comments before the committee today, too.


Update: I had my commissioners wrong according to Lynn Becker's account. Strike through shows correct vote.

Commission on Chicago Landmarks Fails to Pass Proposal to Gut Farwell Building for a Parking Garage

In a vote that even stunned preservationists, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks about an hour ago failed to pass a proposal that would have allowed for the "dismantlement, demolition, repair and reconstruction of a Chicago Landmark."

The Commission failed to get a simple majority when 4 members voted for the proposal, 3 against it, and one abstained.

More color details in a moment or two from your faithful flygirl who attended today's session at the Cook County Building.

Lynn Becker Sounds the Alarm - Landmark Protection for Chicago's Historic Architecture about to be Gutted

Read more of Lynn's ominous account of the intent to strip Chicago's historic architecture of its last vestiges of protection here. The meeting is tomorrow, January 4 at 12:45 p.m. in the Cook County Board Room at 118 N. Clark.

One more note: It's a damn fine piece of writing, too. As passionate as it is tailored. Here's a good sample:

Why is this wrong? (demolishing landmarked buildings under the guise of saving their facades in pieces) The fact I even have to pose the question gives me the shakes. Reassembled fragments are not buildings; they're what you find lining the stairs of the Art Institute, pinned to the walls like butterflys to a board. Buildings are lived in. They are not a "perfected" Empire State Building, reassembled as a come-on to a Vegas casino.

Man, I'm with him. Do you think it will be okay if I just say that at tomorrow's meeting?

Robots to be featured at Notebaert Nature Museum

Here's the press release that squirms through a justification of why a robot exhibit belongs at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. Sigh.

The Art Institute Flaps a Bit about its Wings

A missive from the Art Institute of Chicago arrived the other day with a playbook update on the latest about their mass renovation. Mark your scorecards accordingly:

Allerton Building - Main Building

• Built in 1893
• Designed by Boston architects Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge
• Renamed Allerton Building in 1968 after long-time Trustee
• Collection now needs to be "resintalled"
• Architect for reinstallation is Vinci/Hamp

Morton Building

• Built in 1962
• Just south of the Allerton Building
• Architect not noted on AIC website
• Collection now needs to be reinstalled there, too.
• Architect for the reinstallation is Workshop Hakomori Yantrasast (wHY)

Modern Wing

• Due to open in 2009
• Designed by architect Renzo Piano
• Will add 65,000 square feet of exhibition space, a 30% increase

Please, please, never ever any "MoWi" OK?

Photo Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago. The image is of a "flying carpet" sunscreen planned for Piano's addition.

Welcome 2007! and to the UFO at O'Hare's Gate C17

Well, New Year's Greetings my friends. I am back from the brink of bloghaustion and ready to gobble up some 2007. So, let's get going:

First, my thanks to my good friends over at Apartment Therapy-Chicago, who were generous enough to mention my absence from cyberspace during a holiday drink on Christmas Eve, and who had the insight to note, with irony, that my disappearance came on the heels of a post entitled "Why I Blog."

Thanks also to the very fine folks over at Ecology of Absence for also kindly wondering of my whereabouts in the midst of their amazing this old house renovation.

Now, on to the biggest of the big news, which, of course, is the UFO sighting over O'Hare last November. The Trib's John Hilkevitch broke the story on the front page of yesterday's paper (story here).

The details are gripping, in part, because of the number of witnesses (about a dozen), the specifity of the time and location of their sighting, and their general agreement about what they saw.

"The Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (the term that extraterrestrial-watchers nowadays prefer over Unidentified Flying Object) was first seen by a United ramp worker who was directing back a United plane at Gate C17, according to an account the worker provided to the National UFO Reporting Center.

The sighting occurred during daylight, about 4:30 p.m., just before sunset.

All the witnesses said the object was dark gray and well defined in the overcast skies. They said the craft, estimated by different accounts to be 6 feet to 24 feet in diameter, did not display any lights.

Some said it looked like a rotating Frisbee, while others said it did not appear to be spinning. All agreed the object made no noise and it was at a fixed position in the sky, just below the 1,900-foot cloud deck, until shooting off into the clouds."

Well, damn, I love a mystery and that's as good as they come. There's more:

"I tend to be scientific by nature, and I don't understand why aliens would hover over a busy airport," said a United mechanic who was in the cockpit of a Boeing 777 that he was taxiing to a maintenance hangar when he observed the metallic-looking object above Gate C17.

"But I know that what I saw and what a lot of other people saw stood out very clearly, and it definitely was not an [Earth] aircraft," the mechanic said.

The best part is that the FAA denied knowing anything about the saucer, but once Hilkevitch filed a Freedom of Information Act request, their story changed. They acknowledged that a United Airlines sueprvisor had contacted the control tower about what s/he saw.

There's likely more to come. Hilkevitch's story seemed to imply that he did not receive all the documentation he was anticipating from the FAA under his FOIA request. So, stay tuned.

Note to self: Aliens much more fun to think about than terrorists.

Photo courtesy of niftyfiftyscifi.com

This Would Be a Manifesto . . .Why I BLoG

[Note: This entry responds to an invitation to participate in Reconstruction: A Journal of Contemporary Culture's issue on blogging. Read more here. ]

WHY I BLoG

“(Blogging) is related to character. If your values are sound, your (blogging) will be sound. It all begins with intention. Figure out what you want to do and how you want to do it, and work your way with humanity and integrity to the completed (post). Then you’ll have something to (RSS).”

--adapted from Richard Zinsser, from his book On Writing Well


I blog because I write. I write because it’s the most authentic and satisfying way I’ve found to explore and discover my world. That’s not to say the writing is authentic and satisfying, but the process is.

Blogging moved my writing out of my journals and into a realm that, frankly, is almost as obscure. Yet, knowing that someone might stumble across a post, that there might be an audience or there will be an audience, changes my relationship to my writing. It makes me sit up straight. Center myself. Try to be presentable.

I’m wise enough to understand that the world does not want to hear me whine, and I’m relieved enough by this realization to have left my journals behind shortly after registering on Blogger.

The discoveries and connections I’ve made with my readers and for myself are their own reward. None of us need require anything more.

This would be a "manifesto" if I were that kind of girl.

But I'm not.

The Place Where We Blog

Poynter Online discusses a forthcoming website of "place blogs" called Placeblogger.com. Find article here.

Wrecking Ball as Cover Girl

This week's Time Out Chicago covers demolition and preservation issues around the city. Find articles posted here.

Ecology of Absence on Cooperative Temperance Cafe

Michael Allen tracks the history and loss of the Cooperative Temperance Cafe at 3206 N. Wilton here.

Photo courtesy of Ecology of Absence.

Have you Zillowed Your Home Yet?

If not, you will soon. Zillow is the most compelling website I've seen yet for valuing and comparing real estate. They have more than 67 million homes in their database, and you don't have to register to use it. You can find out what your home (or any home) is valued at on the market, you can see an aerial view of its location, and track its value over time. If you own a home or if you're considering buying one, you must check them out on Zillow.

(Sounds like I own stock, doesn't it? Wish I did. Maybe I should. . . )

Breaking News: Sears Tower to Relocate to Howe Street

Experts predicted today that the trend toward enormous houses on Howe, Orchard, and Burling streets will soon force a buyer to purchase the financially downgraded Sears Tower and relocate it to Lincoln Park.

Real estate analysts with Coldwell Banker Real Estate Group point to significant economic pressures on the cost of building new homes and the seemingly insatiable appetite of high-end buyers for "bigger digs."

Coldwell Banker revealed the results of their study of 215 single family homes currently on the market in Lincoln Park.

According to the study, the most expensive home is $12 million and the least expensive is $479K. The $12 million dollar home (to be built on Howe Street) will be have 7800 square feet, which is $1538 per square foot. While the $479K home on Diversey has about 1250 square feet, which is $383 per square foot.

By contrast, industry experts note, the Sears Tower was purchased after 9/11 for $835 million dollars. Its 3.8 million square feet sold for $219 each, a bargain over current residential home prices.

Several high-placed real estate executives speculated that it's only a matter of time until a savvy, high-end home buyer does the math and buys the tower.

The tower's bonds, backed by the building's mortgage loan, were downgraded earlier today, heightening speculation that the deal could go through any time now.

Industry experts familiar with the Chicago market admit privately that the the buyer would probably need to figure an additional 20%, or $167 mil, on top of the purchase price to cover the tower's conversion to a single family home with 2,856 bedrooms, 1,438 and a half baths, a three-car garage, and a swing set out back.

Jill St. Jermaine, a spokesperson for The Bowen Group, the leading real estate company behind the initiative to bring the Sears Tower to Lincoln Park, downplayed the need for re-modeling. She emphasized that the tower is very close to "move-in condition" right now.

"In fact, Lazy-Boy recliners and a flatscreen t.v. are being added to the Skydeck as I speak."

The TPWWL Award for Excellence in Logo Design Goes To . . .

Behold!






Before it's too late. This store recently closed and is sporting a "for rent" sign in its window. You can find it on North Avenue, just east of Elston, across from the Home Depot.

Cupolas Complete (Finally)

Long-time listeners at this blog know I've been following the creation and erection (so to speak) of the cupolas at Holy Trinity church near Noble and Division. The scaffolding finally came down, and they were looking their absolute best two weeks ago for a visit from the Vice President of Poland.

When I asked a friend of mine, who immigrated from Poland more than twenty years ago, whether she went to see the Vice President, she made that "pffft" sound and shook her head. "The Vice President and the President -- twins!"

That's right, they're twin brothers. The President, she said, chose his twin brother as his Vice President. And, she added, "The President has done nothing for anybody in Poland."

"Nut-ting," she emphasized.

Well, at least the cupolas seemed happily ready to see him.

[The cupolas were crafted in the parking lot next to the church, and then were hoisted to the top by cranes just before Christmas last year. Follow their progression via previous posts below:

October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
April 2006]

Well, it worked for Meigs Field. . .

So, I came home tonight about a half an hour ago - at 11:30 p.m. That's p.m. as in, well come to think of it, I don't know what p.m. stands for. But, you know what I mean -- afternoon and nighttime. (Sidetrack to Google: it stands for post meridian.)

Anyway, I come home and two guys in reflective vests are writing parking tickets all up and down my street. And, it's a residential street -- no meters. The car directly outside my house (not mine fortunately) had two tickets on its windshield, and my street does not require permits, so they must have been digging deep for things like missing city stickers and outdated plates.

What.is.up.with.that?

(More about Meigs reference here.)

"We Answer Historical Questions for People and Institutions"

The Newberry Library's Fall 2006 public program brochure arrived in the mail recently. And, like all the public program brochures that arrive from around the city, I've dog-earred the pages of seminars I might take if I had the time.

One recurring, dog-earred class is "A Short Course in House History," by Grace Dumelle. She is president of a historical research firm called Heartland Historical Research Service. (Find it here.)

Her site posts some of the questions her firm has answered:

My grandfather was murdered in 1917, can you get more information?
What national magazine featured the plans for my home?
Did a wealthy person build my home?
Was my garage used as a residence?
Who are these other people buried in my family’s plot?

Any body else smell a PBS reality show here?

The Place of Spinach

Well, as you know, don't eat your spinach this week. (More here.)

My husband went to Whole Foods this past weekend and came back with a 16-page booklet titled "Locally Grown" about the local farmers who grow Whole Foods' food. Maybe it was displayed a little more prominently to remind us of the faces behind our spinach and vegetables.

The brochure is quite beautiful. It's printed on recycled paper and features the rich colors of farmland and lovely photos of the earthy people who grow our food. Each team of farmers is highlighted and situated in the place where they live. (You can click through to their profiles and photos here.)

Richard de Wilde on Harmony Valley Farm in Viroqua, WI

James Welch and Joel Kelhma on Avalanche Organics in Viola, WI

Steve Pincus and Beth Kazmer on Tipi Produce farm in Evansville, WI

Jack Hedin and Rhys Williams on Featherstone Farm in Rushmore, MN

Martin and Atina Diffley on Gardens of Eagan in Eagan, MN

The Organic Valley Co-op in Viola, WI featuring the Shepard Family

Herb and Elizabeth Teichman on Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm in Eau Claire, MI

Chris Eckert in Eckert Orchards in Belleville, IL

Don and Anthony Cinzori on Cinzori Farms in Ceresco, MI

Lee and Laurie Arboreal on Eater's Guild in Bangor, MI

Bill Donahue on Donahue's Sunshine Farm in Collinsville, IL

These two events -- the spinach scare and happening upon the brochure -- coincided with my discovering the writer, Wendell Barry, who said:

Wherever they live, if they eat, people have agricultural responsibilities just as they have cultural repsonsibilities. Eating without knowledge is the same as eating without gratitude. What's the use in thanking God for food that has come at an unbearable expense to the world and other people? Every eater has a responsibility to find out where food comes from and what its real costs are, and then to do something to reduce the costs. All of us are now dependent on lots of products, the origin of which we don't know and can't learn.

Food for thought, indeed.

2006 International Coastal Clean-up Tally at North Avenue Beach

Well, the great clean-up has ended and here are the low down, dirty numbers to prove it.

Shoreline & Recreational Activity Items
262 bags
112 balloons
139 plastic beverage bottles
434 glass beverage bottles
59 beverage cans
1021 caps, lids
23 clothing, shoes
110 cups, plates, forks, knives, spoons
748 food wrappers
23 pull tabs1 six-pack holders
20 shotgun shells
405 straws, stirrers
37 toys

Lake/Waterway Activities
2 fish trapping items
3 fishing lines3 fishing lures/light sticks
3 fishing nets
1 lightbulb/tube
71 plastic sheeting/tarps17 rope268 strapping bands

Smoking-Related Activities
5654 cigarette/cigarette filters
5 lighters
92 cigar tips
24 tobacco wrappers

Medical/Personal Hygiene
3 condoms1 diaper
3 syringes
4 tampons, applicators

Dumping Activities
7 batteries
99 building materials
2 Cars/Car parts
1 Tire
Also: 1 sign post, 1 volleyball net, 117 bits of glass, 162 bits of plastic, 12 pieces of “Portafloor,” 8 rubberbands, 2 toothbrushes, 11 Hair Accessories, 8 Bandages, 1 comb, 4 sports tags, 10 pieces of wire

These totals will be culled and added to everyone else's tallies from around the world and aggregated for a grand total through the managing organization, The Ocean Conservancy. (For example, in 2004, volunteers picked up 1,292,154 cigarette butts worldwide and 7,102,030 pieces of garbage total worldwide.)

Please watch www.oceanconservancy.org for more information about the worldwide totals. Also, please visit www.greatlakes.org to help your great lake even more.

Photos coming soon. Thanks one and all - and a big thanks to the weather gods. They especially rocked on Saturday.

Chicago Moving Companies, Photo #1

Last week, I saw this truck parked in the lot at the Salvation Army on Clybourn, and I knew the time had come to launch a photo thread on Chicago moving companies.



[Have a photo of your favorite moving company? I will send four Illinois quarters to the first three people who e-mail me jpegs on the topic at ThePlaceWhereWeLive@yahoo.com. Please include where and when you snapped the photo(s).]

National Building Museum Pushes National Curriculum for Design

The National Building Museum is launching a curriculum today that will help relate good design to math, science, and engineering. More here.

Speaking of Clean Water: News from Debra Shore

An update from Debra Shore's campaign arrived in my in-box recently. She writes:

A colleague suggested this thought experiment: what if we replaced “stormwater management” in every civil engineering text with “drinking water management?”

Brilliant. A perfect Lakoff study in framing if I ever heard one. And, I'd welcome more than just civil engineering texts referring to it that way. I hope all environmentalists will begin incorporating this inspired (and, frankly, more accurate) term into their vocabulary. Me included.

Shore also invites everyone concerned about clean water to make a comment now to the Water Reclamation District. Perhaps even suggest the notion of "drinking water management?"

Comments are due by September 29 and should be sent to
Mr. Joseph Sobanski,
Chief Engineer
100 E. Erie Street, Chicago, IL 60611

Mary Schmich on The Trashy Beach Experience

About a month ago, I invited Mary Schmich, the columnist from the Chicago Tribune, to come to the beach clean-up on Saturday (see previous post about the clean-up here). And, to my enormous surprise, she in turn invited me to do a mini-beach clean up with her yesterday at North Avenue.

Our morning together turned into her column this morning. You can find it on the Trib's site here. And, damn, if she wasn't right that the lake looked like an Impressionist painting yesterday. It was beautiful in a kind of "pewter" way, to borrow her adjective.

Needless to say, I'm very pleased with the piece and am grateful that she gave coverage to this topic. She's got a long reach, and I'm hopeful the article will raise greater awareness for the two deserving organizations behind the event, the Alliance for the Great Lakes and the Ocean Conservancy.

See you on Saturday.

Park Yourself (but not Myself) Underway

Jenny Roberts' great parking spot extravaganza is underway. (See previous posts on Jenny's work here and here.) Check out all the wonderful ways we could be using parking spaces better. Among my personal favorites is Burleigh Kronquist's piece - People Cheerleader.

"Burleigh will have a megaphone and a pompom. He will use
the space as a cheering section, encouraging and praising passersby for their
excellent pedestrianship and all-round human effort. "

Look for him on North Avenue near Wells Street on Saturday, September 16 from 4 to 6 p.m.

See the full agenda here. (And, please note, careful readers, I regretfully canceled my participation. Too much too soon right after returning from vacation and getting my school shoes properly shined. My apologies to all, but most of all, to Jenny for any mucking up I've cauused.)

Vacation is Good. Coming Home is Good.

Well, it' s good to be back. Got my fill of wildlife (viewing not eating) and lots of quality time w/ my family.

(Damn, can my kid play Monopoly. Only in this case it was Canadian Monopoly where our choice of objects to move around the board included a pontoon plane, a moose, a hiking boot, a grizzly bear, and a hockey player. Apparantly the sixth object was lost long before we showed up. Maybe it was a little itty bitty beer.)

Also enjoyed lots of quality time with our good friends the MacArthurs, who are just the loveliest people you could ever imagine and they also happen to build damn fine go-carts.

Now, just as soon as I figure out how to get the images from the new camera to the blog, you will see said go-carts, Monopoly game, and wildlife. And, if you're really lucky, maybe even the MacArthurs.

So, back to work and blogging. Plus, a special thanks to Alderman Vi Daley's office for sending out information about the North Avenue Beach Clean-up next Saturday from 9 to noon. See previous post here for more information. I understand that Vi and members of her staff will be there, which I find really exciting because our beach is an amazing, beautiful resource, and it will be good to share our clean-up information with her.

(Also, to be fair, I want to mention that Vi's opponent in this fall's re-election campaign, Tim Egan (see his website here), e-mailed in early August wanting to announce the clean up and bring a team, too.)

Just love love that all these folks are coming together to help protect this wonderful natural resource. And, if you have yet to sign up for the clean up, please e-mail me at ThePlaceWhereWeLive@yahoo.com or visit Alliance for the Great Lakes.