Since Cabrini-Green came down a couple of years ago, developers have salivated over the possibilities for the Near North area. This morning's Crain's has the latest:
Construction crews recently were busy drilling holes for the foundation of an 18-story, 240-unit apartment building at Division and Howe streets, one of several private developments sprouting just steps from the former Cabrini-Green towers.
“The skyline's going to change really quickly over there,” says Matt Edlen, director of Midwest and East Coast acquisitions at Portland, Oregon-based Gerding Edlen Development Inc., which is building the apartment tower. “There's so many possibilities for that neighborhood and how it comes together.”
It's coming together already. A Target store opened north of Gerding's site last fall, and a developer is negotiating to buy a parcel just northeast of the store and may build apartments there, says Chicago-based Baum Realty Group LLC Vice President Greg Dietz, who's selling the property. He declines to identify the developer. Chicago-based Structured Development LLC and John Bucksbaum are building 199 apartments and 360,000 square feet of retail space on the former site of the New City YMCA at Clybourn Avenue and Halsted Street. And a 190,000-square-foot retail-and-office development and new store for boating retailer West Marine are in the works at Division and Halsted streets.
Crain's, concerned exclusively with business, doesn't ask: what happened to all the previous residents? I guess, once you've gotten rid of all the poor people, they're someone else's problem.
Once the Tribune published a story about strange, unexplained spikes in red-light traffic camera tickets, even Ted Baxter could foresee
the lawsuit. But even before that scandal, there was this one, which has also spawned a lawsuit:
Matthew Falkner, who received a red-light ticket for $100 in January 2013, alleges in the suit that Redflex was only able to generate more than $100 million in revenue over the last 11 years because it had bribed a city official to get the contract.
The lawsuit alleges a former employee of Redflex blew the whistle on an improper relationship between the company and a Chicago Department of Transportation official in charge of the red-light camera program and that bribes given to that city official helped secure the city's contract for Redflex.
Ah, Mayor Daley, why again did you decide to retire at the end of your last term?
Stuff to read this weekend, perhaps on my flight Sunday night:
Now back to the mines. Which, given the client I'm working on, isn't far from the truth.
The Tribune reported about half an hour ago that the Cubs have agreed to the Mayor's proposal and will scale back their signage plans:
The Cubs agreed to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s requested conditions in order to present its latest renovation proposal Thursday to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, including reducing the size of signs along exterior outfield walls and to continue negotiating with rooftop owners who have said the signs will hurt their businesses, according to a City Hall source.
The changes requested by the city include reducing the size of the signs along the exterior outfield walls and increase spacing between them, as well as eliminating plans for sliding concession windows for the exterior brick wall at Waveland and Sheffield avenues. The team also agreed to drop enlarged openings in the outfield brick wall for new bullpens, a change the team previously announced.
But Crain's Joe Cahill has a snarkier view of the Ricketts' plans:
After looking over the Chicago Cubs' latest proposal for new advertising signs at Wrigley Field, I'm more convinced than ever that they're really committed to winning.
Why? Because their plan to install seven big signs at a ballpark that has been free of the visual clutter found in most big league stadiums means they won't be able to count on Wrigley Field to draw crowds win or lose. The retro charms of Wrigley Field are the reason why the Cubs have done well financially while doing poorly on the field for so many years, a rare feat for a sports franchise.
But it seems to me they're messing with a unique asset. Wrigley Field has been an annuity of sorts, generating reliable income for decades. Altering it is a risky business move.
It seems that way to us fans, too. As much as I'd like to see the Cubs in the Series, do I really have to give up historical Wrigley Field to get there? Cahill might not be joking, but only just.
Here's the semi-annual
Chicago sunrise chart
.
(You can get one for your own location at
http://www.wx-now.com/Sunrise/SunriseChart.aspx
.)
In the early part of July, we hardly notice sunrises and sunsets. Days are long, it's still light out at 9pm (in Chicago),
and we commute to work in broad sunlight. About a month from now we'll get a twinge when the sun sets at 8pm, and
then, faster and faster, we'll notice the days getting shorter and our morning commutes getting darker.
Meh. That's in a month. Let's just enjoy the daylight we have now.
Date
|
Significance
|
Sunrise
|
Sunset
|
Daylight
|
2014
|
2 Jul
|
8:30pm sunset
|
05:20
|
20:30
|
15:10
|
16 Jul
|
5:30am sunrise
|
05:30
|
20:24
|
14:54
|
9 Aug
|
8pm sunset
|
05:53
|
19:59
|
14:06
|
16 Aug
|
6am sunrise
|
06:00
|
19:50
|
13:50
|
29 Aug
|
7:30pm sunset
|
06:13
|
19:30
|
13:16
|
14 Sep
|
6:30am sunrise
|
06:30
|
19:02
|
12:32
|
15 Sep
|
7pm sunset
|
06:31
|
19:00
|
12:22
|
22 Sep
|
Equinox
,
21:29 CDT
|
06:38
|
18:48
|
12:10
|
25 Sep
|
12-hour day
|
06:42
|
18:43
|
12:01
|
3 Oct
|
6:30pm sunset
|
06:50
|
18:29
|
11:39
|
12 Oct
|
7am sunrise
|
07:00
|
18:14
|
11:14
|
21 Oct
|
6pm sunset
|
07:10
|
18:00
|
10:50
|
1 Nov
|
Latest sunrise until 1 Nov 2016
Latest sunset until Mar 5th
|
07:24
|
17:45
|
10:21
|
2 Nov
|
Standard time returns
Earliest sunrise until Mar 2nd
|
06:25
|
16:44
|
10:19
|
6 Nov
|
6:30 sunrise
|
06:30
|
16:39
|
10:09
|
15 Nov
|
4:30pm sunset
|
06:41
|
16:30
|
9:49
|
2 Dec
|
7am sunrise
|
07:00
|
16:21
|
9:20
|
8 Dec
|
Earliest sunset of the year
|
07:06
|
16:20
|
9:13
|
21 Dec
|
Solstice
,
17:03 CST
|
07:15
|
16:23
|
9:07
|
2015
|
4 Jan
|
Latest sunrise until Oct 29th
|
07:19
|
16:33
|
9:14
|
28 Jan
|
5pm sunset
|
07:08
|
17:00
|
9:53
|
5 Feb
|
7am sunrise
|
07:00
|
17:11
|
10:11
|
20 Feb
|
5:30pm sunset
|
06:40
|
17:30
|
10:50
|
27 Feb
|
6:30am sunrise
|
06:29
|
17:39
|
11:09
|
7 Mar
|
Earliest sunrise until Apr 12th
Earliest sunset until Oct 30th
|
06:17
|
17:48
|
11:31
|
8 Mar
|
Daylight savings time begins
Latest sunrise until Oct 25th
Earliest sunset until Sep 22nd
|
07:15
|
18:49
|
11:34
|
17 Mar
|
7am sunrise, 7pm sunset
12-hour day
|
06:59
|
19:00
|
12:00
|
20 Mar
|
Equinox
17:45 CDT
|
06:54
|
19:03
|
12:08
|
4 Apr
|
6:30am sunrise (again)
|
06:29
|
19:20
|
12:50
|
13 Apr
|
7:30pm sunset
|
06:14
|
19:30
|
13:15
|
22 Apr
|
6am sunrise
|
06:00
|
19:40
|
13:39
|
11 May
|
8pm sunset
|
05:35
|
20:00
|
14:25
|
16 May
|
5:30am sunrise
|
05:30
|
20:05
|
14:35
|
14 Jun
|
Earliest sunrise of the year
|
05:15
|
20:28
|
15:12
|
20 Jun
|
Solstice
11:38 CDT
8:30pm sunset
|
05:16
|
20:30
|
15:14
|
27 Jun
|
Latest sunset of the year
|
05:18
|
20:31
|
15:12
|
You can
get sunrise information
for your location
at wx-now.com.
Wow, last night's rain was officially epic:
The rate at which rain fell across the Midwest Monday was extraordinary in a number of locations.
Highland, Park’s 98 mm fell between 6 and 11:59 p.m. In just a fraction of that period, Midway Airport logged 20 mm. It fell in just 7 minutes! Lake In the Hills , IL received 66 mm in just 2 hours.
But rainfall rates west in Iowa were even more dramatic. Williamstown received 133 mm in the day’s 3 waves of rainfall while 114 mm of Muscatine, Iowa’s 207 mm of rain fell between 7 and 8 p.m.
Yes, 207 mm fell on a town in Iowa. That's 207 liters of water per square meter of ground, which works out to 8,280 tons—almost 8.3 million liters—of water per Chicago city block. (A Chicago city block is 200 meters to a side.)
Ah. My air boat has arrived. Off to work now...
I've written about weather for a while. And despite my raising the alarm about anthropogenic climate change, I'm not given to hyperbole. But, wow. This is going on in Chicago right now, and it's epic:
Seriously, I think one of my neighbors just ushered a pair of squirrels into the boat he built today...
Play us out, EFO:
As mentioned earlier, today is the first day of my new job. That means orientation, setting up a computer, navigating paperwork, etc. Then tonight the Cubs play Cincinnati at Wrigley (weather permitting), so I'll probably go straight from work to the field.
So I'll probably be a little slow posting things this week.
The Chicago Art Institute has released a video showing how conservator Faye Wrubel restored Caillebotte's masterpiece:
The striking results of the restoration reveals greater saturation of color, sharper edges, and more contrast with an overall effect of more visual depth. Overpainting was removed from the once yellow sky, exposing a bluer surface with gradation indicating light and movement.
“What we have been seeing all these years may have been beautiful, we may have all loved it, but it wasn’t right,” Wrubel said of the findings’ impact.
In addition to visible details that were brought to light, conservators uncovered new information about the masterpiece by comparing the ultraviolet and x-ray images to a preparatory sketch for the painting as well as study residing at Paris’ Musée Marmottan.
Here's the video:
A whole list of interesting articles crossed my inbox overnight, but with only two days left in my job, I really haven't had time to read them all:
I can't wait to see what happens in the Virginia 7th this fall...