CHICAGO CARLESS

Chicago Tribune | The cold hell begins

Barbara Brotman, shut up. If there’s anything I hate more than a Chicagoan who whines all the time about winter (and you know you do), it’s a Chicago columnist who leads the cry of “Fie on winter!”, as Brotman does in today’s Trib column.

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At least until 2007, farewell to a great poor-weather friend: the portion of Chicago’s sizeable underground pedestrian walkway between State and Dearborn Streets. Today was the groundbreaking ceremony for the “I’ll still only believe it when I see it” development on the long-vacant Block 37. While I’m looking forward to this shamefully gaping hole in the heart of the downtown fabric being mended by the planned new hotel/retail/office complex, they do have to build a foundation, don’t ya know. And what’s directly below Block 37? Rats, yes. And the pedway.

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Chicago Tribune | Downtown Chicago tops all in city living

A report released today (and authored by my old graduate Urban Planning honors seminar prof, Eugenie Birch) shows hard evidence for what I’ve long been claiming: besides being one of the easiest downtowns to live in without a car, Downtown Chicago is the fastest growing and (by dint of a veritable slew of amenable factors) most livable residential downtown in the United States.

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Chicago’s long-awaited Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial was dedicated this morning just across the river from my house, on Lower Wacker Drive between Wabash and State. I shot a bunch of pictures of the ceremony as I was walking to work.

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“VPFalk.net: The Website of Riverace”

You’ve seen him, dressing in shiny, neon-colored suits and spinning around and waving at tour boats all summer long from Chicago River bridges. He’s Vincent P. Falk, but boat crews call him “Riverace” (rhymes with Liberace), and he’s a summer fixture in downtown Chicago.

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One of the best stores in the city for finding travel guidebooks and travel essays is downtown’s Savvy Traveler. God help you if you actually want to make a purchase.

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“Navigating city life without owning a car”

This heartening recent Sun-Times article proves that Yours Truly is not the only brave soul to call Chicago home without the added burden of owning a car. Props go especially to one interviewee who says about her former $60,000 Lexus,

“But how could I possibly justify that to drive a mile and park in my garage for almost $300? It just doesn’t make sense.”

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