I’m an #OpenlyAutistic gay, Hispanic, urbanist, Disney World fan, New York native, politically independent, Jewish blogger in Chicago. I believe in social justice, big cities, and public transit. I write words and raise money for nonprofits. I’ve written this blog since 2005. And counting...
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Chicago Carless is no stranger to the fight to protect downtown residents’ right to quiet. Last winter, Yours Truly took a stand against allowing the debatably talented ‘bucket boys’ to drum on plastic containers deep into the night beneath the windows of downtown high-rise bedrooms. Now 42nd Ward Alderman Burt Natarus is taking the problem seriously, too.
This weekend, Devyn and I took a 35-mile trip through the Chicago suburbs with Zipcar. Using the for-profit car sharing service was a much more pleasant, customer-friendly experience than using the nonprofit I-Go service that my job uses. Here’s why.
A big shout-out to Centerstage Chicago today. Two weeks ago, Centerstage scribe Jessica Herman asked me if I’d be interested in being interviewed for their regular You Are What You Blog column. That interview debuts today and dubs me ‘a born-again Chicagoan.’ Truer words were never spoken.
Walking out my front door and into the remains of a bank robbery this evening brought to mind the absurdity of life. Never knowing where it’ll take you, it’s always best to be prepared for any eventuality. Like hearing the tornado sirens go off. Or wondering what happened to your parachute. Or finally finding out you’re a talented writer, for that matter.
Let’s be clear: it is not ‘the community of Printers Row’ that’s behind the newly created website SavePrintersRow.com, no matter what the website’s front page claims. It’s just those NIMBY-loving malcontent condo owners from Folio Square trying to block the construction of Burnham Pointe again.
Words, words, words. And three individuals with a great facility to use them. At the turn of three phrases, three angry people, two easy targets, and one bystander lost of his innocence. Words were thrown like daggers among three people online and offline Chicago Carless this weekend.
Suleiman Ahmed is the proud owner of the Chicago Loop’s popular Oasis Cafe, the middle-eastern falafel shop that until June had been tucked oddly into the back of Wabash Avenue’s Jewelers Mall for 17 years. Depsite what the little yellow sign may say outside, it’s not coming back, at least not to that location. As Ahmed tells it, he spent his summer dodging bombs in his native Nazareth only to return to Chicago to do battle with the mall’s new owners over the terms of his lease.
It doesn’t take a grad school education to figure out where you want to go before you get there. And to pick up a map, or a phone, or a laptop and figure out, where you’re going. Yes, young St. Louis couple who asked me how to get to Union Station so you could take a train to Wrigley Field, this means you.
Kimmelgate has officially hit the fan, and score one for the blogosphere. The October 2006 issue of Chicago Magazine, hitting newsstands now, features a lengthy, scathing profile of Marina City’s alleged ‘pimp dentist’, Gary Kimmel–with several quotes from Yours Truly.
Perhaps only with the opening of new big-box stores in Chicago’s most challenged neighborhoods will suporters of the defunct living-wage law finally be able to see the stores as a uniquely good thing. Not appropriate for every city or even every Chicago neighborhood. But the best–and only–game in town for Chicago ‘hoods in greatest need of a commercial revival. And then maybe Joe Moore will finally get his nose out of the south side and attend to the needs of his own constituents.