(Updated: February 17, 2008)
Christened a "born-again Chicagoan" who "preaches the gospel of downtown Chicago living" by Centerstage Chicago, Mike always says the only New Yorkers who don't love Chicago are the ones who haven't been here. A native Gothamite, Mike fell madly for Chicago in January 2003, returned six times in three months, and finally decided to stick around and save on airfare. He lives in downtown Chicago with 100,000 other lucky people and loves his neighborhood to no end.
Mike is a political and public affairs strategist working exclusively with individuals and organizations who seek to further social-justice causes in Chicago and beyond. During Election 2006, Mike won accolades from the AFL-CIO and ACORN for his Internet outreach and video interviewing work on the groundbreaking 7 Days @ Minimum Wage video blog. The project--with Mike's "Jessica" interview as its centerpiece--helped win minimum wage increases in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and Ohio. Based on his experience with the 7 Days project, Mike was tapped to write "Seven Success Strategies for Pitching to Bloggers", a grassroots guide to Internet outreach published online by Chicago's Community Media Workshop.
Mike's Chicago Carless blog has been highlighted numerous times by local media, including Gapers Block, Chicagoist, Yo Chicago, and the Chicago Tribune, and his opinions have appeared on the letters pages of the Chicago Sun-Times, Red Eye, and Time Out Chicago.
In summer 2006, Mike made the front page of the Chicago Tribune business section for his blogging of signage snafus at the new Macy's on State Street. Mike's scoop triggered a flurry of citywide coverage, winning him praise as one of "This Week's Newsmakers" in the paper's Sunday edition, and "one observant blogger" in the business section of the Detroit News.
In autumn 2006, Mike was interviewed in Chicago Magazine's October 2006 issue for his coverage of the Gary Kimmel scandal, and profiled in Centerstage Chicago's You Are What You Blog column.
In 2007, Mike explored possibilities to move back to his native NYC and give his hometown another go, after four fabulous years living in the Capital of the American Midwest. But even after getting the job offer of a lifetime, his heart couldn't be swayed from a life in the city that he truly loves: the Windy City!
Before coming to Hogtown, Mike spent four years on the central staff of the New York City Transit Riders Council, two of them as associate director. He is an Urban Planning graduate of Hunter College of the City University of New York, and trained in grassroots media relations at Chicago's Community Media Workshop.
Mike is also a member of the Chicago Writers Association.
He lives in Bertrand Goldberg's wonderfully un-Miesian Marina City with Camoes, the Portuguese danger cat. He loves living his life within a 20-minute walk of his downtown home--a feat he knows would be much tougher to pull off back home in Gotham.
And yes, Mike really, truly has no idea how to drive a car...or any desire to ever learn, for that matter.
(Email me at "mike (at) chicagocarless.com".)
Christened a "born-again Chicagoan" who "preaches the gospel of downtown Chicago living" by Centerstage Chicago, Mike always says the only New Yorkers who don't love Chicago are the ones who haven't been here. A native Gothamite, Mike fell madly for Chicago in January 2003, returned six times in three months, and finally decided to stick around and save on airfare. He lives in downtown Chicago with 100,000 other lucky people and loves his neighborhood to no end.
Mike is a political and public affairs strategist working exclusively with individuals and organizations who seek to further social-justice causes in Chicago and beyond. During Election 2006, Mike won accolades from the AFL-CIO and ACORN for his Internet outreach and video interviewing work on the groundbreaking 7 Days @ Minimum Wage video blog. The project--with Mike's "Jessica" interview as its centerpiece--helped win minimum wage increases in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and Ohio. Based on his experience with the 7 Days project, Mike was tapped to write "Seven Success Strategies for Pitching to Bloggers", a grassroots guide to Internet outreach published online by Chicago's Community Media Workshop.
Mike's Chicago Carless blog has been highlighted numerous times by local media, including Gapers Block, Chicagoist, Yo Chicago, and the Chicago Tribune, and his opinions have appeared on the letters pages of the Chicago Sun-Times, Red Eye, and Time Out Chicago.
In summer 2006, Mike made the front page of the Chicago Tribune business section for his blogging of signage snafus at the new Macy's on State Street. Mike's scoop triggered a flurry of citywide coverage, winning him praise as one of "This Week's Newsmakers" in the paper's Sunday edition, and "one observant blogger" in the business section of the Detroit News.
In autumn 2006, Mike was interviewed in Chicago Magazine's October 2006 issue for his coverage of the Gary Kimmel scandal, and profiled in Centerstage Chicago's You Are What You Blog column.
In 2007, Mike explored possibilities to move back to his native NYC and give his hometown another go, after four fabulous years living in the Capital of the American Midwest. But even after getting the job offer of a lifetime, his heart couldn't be swayed from a life in the city that he truly loves: the Windy City!
Before coming to Hogtown, Mike spent four years on the central staff of the New York City Transit Riders Council, two of them as associate director. He is an Urban Planning graduate of Hunter College of the City University of New York, and trained in grassroots media relations at Chicago's Community Media Workshop.
Mike is also a member of the Chicago Writers Association.
He lives in Bertrand Goldberg's wonderfully un-Miesian Marina City with Camoes, the Portuguese danger cat. He loves living his life within a 20-minute walk of his downtown home--a feat he knows would be much tougher to pull off back home in Gotham.
And yes, Mike really, truly has no idea how to drive a car...or any desire to ever learn, for that matter.
(Email me at "mike (at) chicagocarless.com".)