Free reign
09/02/2009
Well, we're glad the Department of Buildings is dropping its $20,000 fines against West Loop artist Kathy Kozan. Read more...
Grocery process isn't over
Bring on the next phase
08/26/2009
So after years of tense community meetings, court battles and petitions, it’s Pete’s Fresh Market at Madison and Western. The firm, selected by the city to build at the vacant Near West Side parcel (with much input from the neighborhood), plans an $18 million, 50,000-square-foot store, about 150 new, full-time jobs and additional new retail options. Read more...
Saving Walter
Next phase of Reese should include Gropius buildings
08/19/2009
One of the fascinating aspects of the Michael Reese Hospital campus is its mixture of architectural styles. The Prairie-style old main hospital structure and the imposing brick nurses’ residence brush up against Walter Gropius-designed medical pavilions built in the post-WWII era. Read more...
Let's be clear
08/19/2009
The trough. Yes, we used that metaphor — certainly a harsh one — last week on our editorial page, referring to reports that Michael Scott, president of the board of education and a Chicago 2016 outreach committee member, was planning a private development in Lawndale. Read more...
The usual suspects
What the Scott situation means
08/12/2009
Anyone want to make a bet that Michael Scott, president of the board of education, isn’t the most popular man around city hall these days? Mayor Daley certainly didn’t look that pleased to be taking questions about Scott's activities last week - "chuckified," as John Kass described it. Read more...
Planning Ickes
Avoid the Lathrop experience
08/05/2009
We’re glad that Pat Dowell, alderman of the 3rd Ward, is a former urban planner. Those skills should serve her constituents well, as Ickes residents and other Near South Side community stakeholders start talking about the redevelopment of the Ickes parcel, which stretches southwest from State and Cermak. Read more...
Nice name
08/05/2009
Kudos to representatives of the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance, the American Indian Center, the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Alderman Fioretti’s office and others for working together find a name for the park at 18th and Calumet. Read more...
Body blow
Prairie Avenue Books is closing
07/29/2009
The news that Prairie Avenue Books is likely to close this September is a monumental gut punch to anyone who cares about independent retailing, architecture and design and, frankly, fascinating places. Read more...
Town home tax
07/29/2009
The City of Chicago departmental spokesmen who failed to answer Chicago Journal’s questions about why town home owners are paying disproportionately more for a new fee on garbage containers can be forgiven. The Daley administration doesn’t have much ground to stand on here, as our front-page story this week reveals. Read more...
Olympic cost
Chicagoans cynical about the budget
07/22/2009
The reaction to Chicago 2016’s presentation Tuesday ranged from fulsome, chest-pounding praise for the Olympic bid, to interest in how small business owners could get in on the 2016 pie, to skepticism that Games here would cost as promised. Read more...