Comments on: In Chicago, Parks Funded By Parking Garages

By: Ron in Chicago

Ron in Chicago — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 21:50:30 +0000

Our mayor is certainly not perfect. But I think that we have become spoiled by all the good things that he has achieved. Perhaps ‘Comment by chicago — July 16, 2007 @ 2:37 pm” might be a little more appreciative if he tried to ride a bike in London, drive crosstown in Manhattan or look for parking in your city. Chicago has become a terrifically improved city for the urbanite over the past 20 years. Ambience, parks, bike lanes and green roofs all testify to what he has achieved.

We used to have a scary airport close to the city, on the lakefront. Now we have a brand new prairie-park and a beach and a new small stadium. And the list goes on and on.

By: Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:03:19 +0000

Thanks for the perspective, Chicago.

By: chicago

chicago — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 18:37:06 +0000

I hate to burst your bubble, but as a resident of Chicago I have to tell you that Mayor Daley is asleep at the wheel when it comes to creating livable streets. He is all talk and little action at this point. Our transit system is about to implement major service cuts because he hasn’t won the support of the state legislature for sustainable funding, parking requirements keep getting raised, traffic enforcement agents regularly prioritize drivers over pedestrians, crosswalks are being taken out to “improve the flow of traffic,” and those pedestrian countdown signals are being installed to ensure that pedstrians know that they only have a few seconds on the street before it’s returned to their rightful owners: the drivers.

That parking garage money should be going to widening sidewalks, restoring crosswalks, upgrading our delapidated train stations, adding real bike lanes, etc.

The walking environment here is a joke because there’s no one smart or thoughtful enough in the city administration to even realize that there’s a problem. Meanwhile the aldermen wield complete control over the neighborhood streets, and are slowly but surely nibbling away at the sidewalks by adding curb cuts and parking lots.

Publicizing this non-article is the same as streetsblog hyping an NYC DOT announcement that it’s put up Yield to Pedestrian signs on streets in which pedestrians are regularly being killed.