I Wonder, Will This Happen?

I met Rahm Emanuel once at the grocery store. He was near the door, campaigning, and I recognized him.

“Rahm Emanuel!” I said. He smiled, talked with me for a few minutes about my issues, shook hands with my daughters and engaged them in a little small talk. I saw him again a few years later at a schools event called “Rahm’s Readers.” He was there with his family and young children. I didn’t feel the need to bother him then, but I was pleased to see him in the community setting—and working for our children.

So, I always read his mailings. In the most recent brochure, I learned about federal money ($2.8 million) he’s secured for a new urban park on the North Side. With additional state and city money, the 20-acre West Ridge Nature Preserve will be created out of unused land purchased from the Rosehill Cemetery.

Haven’t heard about this anywhere else.

Put This Woman in Charge

My mover-and-shaker friends from NYC will be in Chicago next week for business. During a telephone conversation about when and where we could hook up, we talked about the TED conferences and some of the amazing people invited to speak. Here's Majora Carter making her case in the 18 minutes TED allots each presenter. Stay ‘til the end of the video. . . she won't disappoint.

FYI on TIF

I’ve been interested in TIFs for a while, so I’m linking to the TIF wikipedia entry. It’s a good place to start for anyone wanting to know more. . . .

The City of TIFs

I was searching the city of Chicago’s website for something specific (local farmer's markets), and I came across this map, which struck me as very funny. The link to this map states, “Tax Increment Financing is a special funding tool used by the City of Chicago to promote private investment in blighted sections of the city. Please click on the link above to display a map showing the TIF Districts in the City of Chicago.”

I don’t think it’s possible to be more officially vague. If I had a superficial question about TIFs, this map certainly wouldn’t answer it. In fact, it just forces me to ask other, serious questions (i.e., Is one-third to one-half of Chicago really "blighted?")

Another Highway?

In Chicago last week, there was talk again of building the Crosstown Expressway. This is a plan to divert trucking traffic away from the downtown area, thus relieving congestion on the Kennedy and Dan Ryan. Building this expressway would affect me directly because the plans incorporate parts of the city very close to my neighborhood.

Then, this morning on the radio I heard a story about the Heartland Expressway, a four-lane highway to be built between Rapid City, South Dakota and Denver, Colorado. This highway was conceived to spur economic development and improve homeland security in the Great Plains.

Critics of both these highway construction projects say they will destroy something of value to people. But both projects make me think of New York City and the Lower Manhattan Expressway that was never built. Jane Jacobs (1916-2006), who fought that project before I was born, wrote a book called The Death and Life of Great American Cities. I have yet to read it, but I put a hold on it at the library this weekend. Jacobs believed that cities thrive on the energy of the people and neighborhoods, and that people's lifestyles matter.

Jacobs might be out of style now, nostalgic or old-fashioned.

But she might be right.