South Loop real estate reputation

10/27/2010

I hate it whenever anyone insults the South Loop. We've been lucky, sailing on good PR that was earned and deserved for years. We’ve maintained a good reputation because we have lots of new housing, restaurants and shopping--and we are close to everything where everyone wants to be.
Read more...

Cutting the chamber does not help the city

10/27/2010

Budgets are tight across the board. From municipalities and cities to corporations and non-profits, economic recovery is slow. Businesses from Halsted Street to State Street are in need of support.
Read more...

The best vs. the worst, you decide

Altogether we taxpayers pay a hidden "corruption tax" of up to $500 million a year.

10/20/2010

Chicago faces the best and worst of times. The state of Illinois is $13 billion in debt and can no longer pay its bills. Mayor Daley has papered over a $650 million city government deficit with one time revenues. He has left a $1.5 billion annual structural deficit for the next mayor to solve.
Read more...

Get school debate in the open

10/20/2010

As Chicago Public Schools chief Ron Huberman satisfies the Pilsen neighborhood’s school inequity issue, he faces continued pressure from families and leaders in University Village.
Read more...

Putting the Greek in Greektown

10/13/2010

Just about once a week I encounter someone looking for Greektown; many have a map out when they stop me to inquire about that neighborhood’s whereabouts. I have the unenviable task of informing them that they have already arrived.
Read more...

Fioretti misses the mark with Homebuyers Bill of Rights

10/13/2010

As an aldermanic candidate who won office in 2007 in part on an anti-developer campaign, 2nd Ward leader Robert Fioretti last week missed the mark with his Homebuyers Bill of Rights as a balanced answer to hundreds of his now-displaced constituents, who have lost access to affordable housing as gentrification ran through his ward.
Read more...

South Loop vice, historically

09/29/2010

I’ve been perusing a new book by Chicago tavern expert Sean Parnell, "a drinker with a writing problem," according to the cover of the book. Parnell has compiled a little tome called "Historic Bars of Chicago." But out of the "Historic 100" saloons, only five are in the South Loop. Read more...

The devil is in the details

09/29/2010

Being alderman is a tough job; Second Ward Alderman Bob Fioretti has shared that thought with me on occasion. He did so most recently when I found him studying a new LAZ parking pay box near Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant on West Jackson Boulevard. Read more...

'Under America' gets to the heart of housing

One View

09/22/2010

It's an odd experience when you go to see a play that so closely mirrors your own life that it’s like seeing yourself, dressed in costume, spouting lines on a stage in front of you. That's how I felt when I attended the premiere of Mortar Theatre's Under America, a play running this month at the Athenaeum.
Read more...

Post-Daley era

Beyond the campaign sound bites, Chicagoans will be looking for new leaders with a positive vision.

09/15/2010

Mayor Daley’s surprise announcement that he will not run for reelection has let loose a flood of would-be mayoral candidates. Even more candidates have come out of the woodwork to run for alderman now that the city council may no longer be a rubber stamp.
Read more...