Troubling foreclosures

Suits on two up-and-coming streets

04/07/2010

Perched as we are on an edge between recession and recovery, where economic indicators offer both the terrible (high unemployment) and the hopeful (growth domestic product up 5.7 percent in the last quarter of 2009), the rush of foreclosures filed against Krzysztof Karbowski’s properties, detailed in this week’s Chicago Journal, are altogether depressing.
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New projects on Taylor

A signal of better times - we hope

03/31/2010

We focused this week's front-page story about Taylor Street on two real estate development companies that have invested millions to dramatically improve two buildings on that Near West Side business corridor.
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Street sweep

03/31/2010

So far, we've observed the debate about how Chicago's street sweeping is conducted from afar, following the debate through other local media.
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Local school councils - still underrated

These aren’t just advisory roles

03/24/2010

Anyone remember the old Chicago Journal over- and underrated list? It was a "compendium of swipes and valentines that never fails to elicit frothy letters and angry phone calls," according to a January 2007 article.
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A few thoughts ...

03/17/2010

Briefly, on a few items in this week’s Chicago Journal: We have little doubt that funds will be raised — eventually — to pay for the restoration of artist Edgar Miller’s incredible Depression Era sculptures, installed into a Near West side public housing project in 1938 and removed three years ago.
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Said it before

Say it again: income taxes should rise

03/10/2010

Remember this paragraph from a Chicago Journal editorial from last summer? "New taxes paid to this sorry state are a bitter pill. Get a stiff drink. It’s time to swallow that pill." It was June 25, to be exact, when we published those words.
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Clarify the process

03/03/2010

Alderman Fioretti's Citizens Advisory Committee, a group that makes recommendations to him about new development projects and zoning changes, is a fine-enough idea in theory.
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Three feathers

Credit where credit is due

02/24/2010

Three groups or individuals in this week’s Chicago Journal deserve a feather in their respective caps: Husband and wife Baljinder Bathla and Sagina Hanjrah are doctors who make a home in the South Loop and take their responsibilities as global citizens seriously.
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Opportunity missed at Ickes

Dismantling Ickes wasn’t necessary

02/17/2010

Our Views
We don’t know what’s coming next at Harold Ickes Homes, but we’re guessing the Chicago Housing Authority will — some day, when there’s more money — push for some sort of mixed-income approach at the soon-to-be vacant land at Cermak and State. Usually such plans are discussed before residents start moving out, but never mind that for a moment.
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Weigh in

Community needs to consider the vertiport

02/10/2010

It’s always a bit difficult to editorialize about projects that are under discussion. Projects that are only being considered. Projects that are more talk than contracts, debate than shovels in the dirt.
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