A large storm blew through Chicago on Wednesday, June 23. A photographer caught lightning hitting the Trump Tower and the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) in the same image.
Category Archives: Places
From foreclosed homes to islands for sale
From this Guardian UK article discussing Greece’s efforts to lease or sell island property to help fill its national coffers, I clicked through to this website: Private Islands Online. Even with a weak economy, why not pick up a 12.5 acre island in the Florida Keys for $17 million? Or how about a 3 acre island in the St. Joseph River in Michigan, just an hour or so from Chicago?
And for those who are a little worried about their budgets, don’t worry: there are some beautiful islands for rent.
Early to bed, early to rise…should cut one’s carbon emissions
A new recommendation from the Japanese government to its citizens: go to bed earlier and get up earlier. The benefits: a 85kg reduction a year in a family’s carbon footprint.
Tax credit over, new home sales drop 33%
The sales of certain large-ticket items, such as new homes or new cars, are often reported on in the media as indicators of the strength of a consumer-based economy. So this probably is not a good sign:
New-home sales in May fell from April to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 300,000, the government said Wednesday. That was the slowest sales pace on records dating back to 1963. And it’s the largest monthly drop on record. Sales have now sunk 78 percent from their peak in July 2005.
The tax credits, $8,000 for a first-time homeowner or $6,500 for a current homeowner, expired April 30.
On the whole, we have come a long way from the housing-sale crazed days of the first half of the 2000s.
Retrofitting suburban malls
Amid tough financial times and many retail vacancies, the story of a project aiming to turn Randhurst Mall in Mount Prospect, IL into “Main Street.”
A quick blurb from Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin:
“Today, in an act of radical design surgery, Randhurst is being remade into an open-air, mixed-use development that will have many features of a traditional downtown, including shops, movie theaters, offices and a hotel. The dome and core of the mall have been demolished, and next year a developer plans to open an old-fashioned Main Street lined with Prairie Style-influenced buildings in their place (above). There will even be angled parking spaces that promise to let you drive right up to a shop, though chances are you’ll really be parking in a vast field of asphalt much farther away.
The revamped mall already has been given a quaint variation of its original name: Randhurst Village.
The catchphrase for this promising — and provocative — type of remake is “retrofitting suburbia.” From Cape Cod to California, its advocates aim not simply to remake dead malls, strip centers and big boxes, but to alter suburbia itself, making it more dense, more walkable, and sustainable — in short, more urban.”
These sorts of plans are not uncommon in recent decades. A number of architects and planners, often following New Urbanist principles, have tried to create traditional atmospheres among suburban amenities. This story mentions original plans to include roughly 200 residential units but this component was scratched. From a more cynical perspective, this sort of planning is just dressing up suburban big box stores – think of the name change from “Randhurst Mall” to “Randhurst Village.” From a more positive side, changing the design might make malls more palatable to more shoppers and most importantly, more profitable.
(Some interesting pictures in this story highlight the history of this particular mall and the proposed changes.)
Chicago vs. Wal-Mart: outcome still in doubt
A news story today from the Chicago Tribune detailing Wal-Mart’s latest offer to build a store in Chicago (it currently has 0 within city limits). Some of the players in the long saga:
1. Wal-Mart. Its latest offer is starting all workers at $8.75 an hour, $0.50 above current minimum wage standards in Chicago. Has been exploring several sites on the South Side for years.
2. Unions. Don’t want Wal-Mart as the company does not allow its workers to unionize. Worried about lower wages.
3. The City. Has primarily been against Wal-Mart because of the wage issue.
4. Those who want cheaper and/or accessible groceries. Several of the neighborhoods Wal-Mart has looked at might be considered “food deserts” (neighborhoods where relatively cheap, nutritious food is not available). Many other companies are not willing to move in while Wal-Mart has expressed interest.
There might be a path to resolution soon – several aldermen now seem willing to support the stories in their wards. This may be particularly timely as Wal-Mart says it would add 12,000 jobs to the city for the next five years if they could build where they want.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE 6/23/10 at 11:10 PM
From the Chicago Tribune: Mayor Daley of Chicago makes “an emotional pitch” for Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart releases a list of benefits for the community, and demonstrators who support Wal-Mart add the vuvuzela to their arsenal.
Quick Review: The Wire
I finished watching the last season of The Wire over the weekend. Quick observations before I provide some links to academics and sociologists commenting on the show, one that several critics have deemed “the best TV show ever.”
1. The City of Baltimore is truly part of the story. Unlike many shows that use a “bland big city” for the background, this show digs deeper into the place.
2. Multi-faceted view of the situation and complicated stories. Each season attempts a slightly different angle including children and the media (seasons 4 and 5). There are consistent characters through all the seasons but each season keeps adding a little more as a new perspective is developed. Not a fast-moving show.
3. Some fascinating characters. Jimmy McNulty – a detective that perhaps only loves his cases. Stringer Bell – a gang leader who is also taking business classes at night to improve his skills. Officer Daniels (who moves up the ranks during the show) unwilling to “juke the stats” to please his bosses. Many more to name.
4. The police are just as deep into the drugs and violence as the gangs. From consistent violence to “Hamsterdam” to cover-ups to “juking the stats” to impressive detective work, the police are not simply geniuses or people who can shoot better. In fact, the police rarely shoot – a problem with many cop shows since most real-life police rarely or never fire a gun in the line of duty.
4a. The politicians are similarly involved. The goal: get as much positive credit for change while minimizing negatives that happen when you are in charge.
5. Somewhat hopeless ending – new people on both sides, the gangs and police, come in, take the place of those before, and similar battles are fought. Some of the kids get out and many do not. A good number of the police are ruined. The politicians try to use whatever they can to get ahead. Money and power are what people want and just their means of pursuing them are different.
6. Sociologically, a lot of the show seemed similar to Sudhir Venkatesh’s books on life on the South side of Chicago: American Project, Off the Books, Gang Leader for a Day.
Some commentary from other sociologists:
1. Sudhir Venkatesh talking about the show with “real thugs”.
2. A short collection of reviews from Racism Review.
3. The Guardian UK summarizes an academic conference on The Wire.
4. Slate.com writing about academic courses on the TV show, including noted sociologist William Julius Wilson teaching such a course at Harvard.
5. Two sociologists comment in Dissent in 2008 (and participate in a broader discussion) and then expand on their thoughts in City and Community.
I’m sure there is more out there. It is rare to find any media creation that receives praise from so many in providing a realistic portrayal of city life.
Affordable housing in suburbia
This recent article from the Chicago Tribune discusses Naperville’s efforts to provide affordable housing. The opening paragraph sets up the issue:
“Naperville officials are grappling with how best to achieve two goals that sometimes are in direct conflict: adding more affordable housing for low- and moderate-income senior citizens and residents with disabilities while not costing the cash-strapped city budget anything extra.”
This is not a unique issue to many suburbs, particularly those with little or no remaining land for greenfield development. However, the position of Naperville is instructive of the issue in suburbia: Naperville leaders are most interested in providing affordable housing for a different group than many may think when they hear the term “affordable housing.” Rather than looking to build housing for low to middle income workers who can’t buy into Naperville’s relatively expensive market, the city wants housing for the elderly and the disabled.
In both cases, these two groups primarily already live in Naperville – and affordable housing would help them stay there. This is an issue particularly for the elderly: once retired, high property taxes often make it difficult to remain in a suburban home. Downsizing within one’s long-time community would often be desirable rather than having to move away after retirement. A suburban community that consistently loses its older residents may lose touch with its past and become known as a more transient place.
The rest of the article also describes critiques of Naperville’s planning from a local housing group, DuPage United.
#1 manufacturing nation: soon to be China
Maybe this is a foregone conclusion to many, but this Financial Times article suggests 2011 is the year when China will exceed the manufacturing of the United States.
This would end a 110 year period when the US led world manufacturing. This “American Century” (plus 10 years) contained an impressive display of produced items: steel, early cars, to household appliances, to military weapons, airplanes, personal computers, and more.
Even with a global shift to an “information economy,” many countries would give a lot to have more manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing is not just about raw goods: it involves local communities who then contain factories and working classes. Places like Detroit are infamous for going from economic powerhouses to empty cities within four decades. Other cities, like New York and Chicago, have made the shift from manufacturing to other sectors, primarily finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE), within the same four decades.
From the article:
“Last year, the US created 19.9 per cent of world manufacturing output, compared with 18.6 per cent for China, with the US staying ahead despite a steep fall in factory production due to the global recession.
That the US is still top comes as a surprise, since in 2008 – before the slump of the past two years took hold – IHS predicted it would lose pole position in 2009.”
Interestingly, the return for China to the top adds to China’s long manufacturing edge before the modern era. Perhaps the “American Century” was just a blip on the screen of history:
“If China does become the world’s biggest manufacturer, it will be a return to the top slot for a nation which – according to economic historians – was the world’s leading country for goods production for more than 1,500 years up until the 1850s, when Britain took over for a brief spell, mainly due to the impetus of the industrial revolution.”
Best home improvement payoff: a little less junk
A look at the returns sellers can expect from certain home improvements. The best: decluttering. The worst: a family room addition. And deeper in the article: “All this is anathema to retailers like Home Depot, Lowe’s, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Williams-Sonoma and Lumber Liquidators. They all benefit from the myth that pumping money into your house pays off later on the auction block.”
Legally Sociable 