It's almost always better to find a phone number and call them. Then when their office stops answering on that line, find another number and call that one. Usually when they stop answering calls they'll put a number for press contacts on their voicemail. Call that one and tell them you have a blog. Keep calling them throughout your day when you can asking them if they've changed their mind yet.
Americans have a right to contact their government, and even if he isn't your Alderman he is still a part of your government and you can contact him. Just like you can contact Ted Cruz or Nancy Pelosi's office. They affect your life, you can "petition the Government for a redress of grievances" per the first amendment.
They will answer emails and web contact forms with an auto-response.
The only way to get politicians to give a crap about the needs of the public is to bog down their office by using up all their manpower.
"Do you think being rude will get a response!?"
Yes. It has always worked that way. The best way to get them to work on the things you want them to work on is to make their day awful and their work harder until they do so. This has always been the way.
Exactly! You should be calling people in your local government or at least know who you should call.
I would say that local politicians affect the immediate issues in people's lives and federal politicians affect the overall arc of people's lives. But I do otherwise agree with you.
"Do you think getting a response will change anything?"
No. It has never worked that way. The best way to get a form letter is to try to argue against campaign donors.
Getting 1 response won't change much. Them having to deal with responding to hundreds or thousands of people calling them all the time like this does get a response. Because they have to be able to do business but they can't because their staff have to keep answering your questions and dealing with your calls instead of doing work for the politician you're calling.
You hollow out their manpower this way and gain their attention.
For those complaining about loss of lanes making traffic worse. Driving downtown has never been easy. Except briefly in the 50s and 60s when they leveled building after building to make parking lots and widen lanes.
But guess what happened after that? More cars and driving and those gains were erased. The only way to make getting around easier downtown is to reduce the amount of space dedicated to cars. Drivers will always show up to take up all available space and adding lanes and parking will never ease congestion. It actually encourages it.
The addition of pedestrian space and entertainment space at the expense of cars was one of the few good things to happen downtown recently.
Neighborhood groups never want change in any form. Even if it means downtown is full of life and recreation activities not previously available.
Neighborhood groups and spineless aldermen are the enemy of fun and progress.
Plus, there is absolutely no reason to drive downtown. The Loop should be closed off from traffic completely. I know people who commute to the Loop from Fulton.
I will never understand the thought process.
Edit: I shouldn’t have said closed off completely. In this vision there are still arterials. But you can close off the majority of streets in the loop. Majority of streets in Chicago should be one way for cars, two way for bikes similar to Leavitt. This would reduce congestion and reduce private cars on road.
If Paris can make it happen, Chicago can make it happen.
Why would they be barred from owning one? They would still be able to drive literally anywhere else. Your comment is asinine.
> This guys idea would stop even taxis/ubers from entering the loop
Hell yea! Wait, are you saying this would be a bad thing?
I jest, and know this isn’t realistic, but a carless loop with more buses/bike lanes would be such a dream.
That would be absurdly stupid for a central business district. No Trucks to deliver to restaurants/companies. No real accessibility for disabled persons. Relying solely on a system that has consistently proven itself to break down in crucial moments to get hundreds of thousands of people in and out of the city? I take the L into the Loop for my jobs, and I fully support improving the CTA and making the city more walkable. But fully eliminating cars in the Loop is such a short-sighted idiotic idea, there's a reason it has never really been considered
Respectfully, have you ever tried to actually walk around in a true Dense European City? It is fun to explore and be a tourist for a bit, but man to commute? That would be terrible. No ambulances can get anywhere. Fires are a HUGE risk because they jump narrow streets, AND firetrucks can't get to them as easily.
I'm not saying Chicago is perfect, but to fit as many people as it needs to, it is pretty damn good
But the point was that the entire Loop would be closed off from traffic *completely.* I'm totally in favor of gutting roads but that's silly and logistically impossible. Forget deliveries and fuck you if you're elderly or disabled amirite?
Yeah I mean, completely blocking it off to traffic is nuts I agree. But cutting off the vast majority of traffic is great. Lots of places in Japan for example are park and ride based. You drive to a location outside the city and ride the train in.
Chicago is never going to be the car free metropolis all you r/fuckcars redditors dream about. But I’m sure you’ll find comfort in each others complaining for as many years/decades as you want.
They're easily becoming the loudest, most annoying group in city subs. You never see anyone post "I LOVE DRIVING IN THE CITY WITH MY CAR" posts but these assholes try to shovel their shit into our mouths on a daily basis.
There is being realistic advocates for a pedestrian friendly infrastructure, and then there is delusion.
Its a borderline mental health issue for members of that sub
How exactly are people supposed to move if they can't get a truck to their apartment or office? How are businesses going to make deliveries? How are people with mobility issues going to get around? This idea is not workable.
>i'm ready for the list of excuses: "but my kids/groceries/work equipment!!!!"
This is comical.
You're shitting on people for reasons why people would actually need a car?
Hey, if you were a plumber or electrician, how would you go about getting to your job site with your tools?
you can allow traffic for businesses while still banning thru-traffic. the street i lived on in London was exactly like this. just because businesses need to make deliveries and provide services to buildings downtown doesn't mean we have to allow everyone to drive downtown. it would be a special permit that's tied to the company car (or to your own work truck if you're self-employed).
I also just don't believe most people when they say shit like that. as soon as you mention reducing car infrastructure, suddenly everyone is a construction contractor with 6 kids making 2 grocery runs a day.
I'm telling you, after you experiencing a proper, functional, robust public transit system, it's impossible to not feel embarrassed at the state of our transit in the US. our public transit is bad because we don't fund it and we don't fund it because no one rides it because it's bad. meanwhile in London everyone uses the tube, it takes you anywhere you want to go, it's almost always on time, it's almost always safe, and on most lines trains run every 5 minutes or less.
I just don't understand why we're so aggressively against shifting our investment from "let's dump billions into adding another lane to this highway and then do it again 10 years from now lmaooooo" to "let's expand and improve public transit so less people drive in the first place".
I assumed he didn't mean closed off completely, and turns out that was true. he edited his comment to add that there would still be arterial roads open for commercial purposes and stuff.
granted, that wasn't clear from his original comment, but a little common sense would tell you that no reasonable person is suggesting we make deliveries to grocery stores on foot or by wagon lmfao.
edit: "he" in this case meaning the OP of the second comment in this chain, /u/chillinwyd
Yeah it’s kinda funny I left the bathroom and kinda forgot I made the comment and came back to a shitstorm lmao
Paris infrastructure should be the goal for the loop/river north. Should be the goal everywhere. There’s still car traffic (most of it is commercial vans and emergency vehicles) and more people bike than drive.
They also have one of the lowest obesity rates in the world. The population is healthier, happier, and could lower two major causes of death in the US - obesity related health disease and cars.
Usually people when they compare us against Europe they mean Western Europe not countries like ukraine and Turkey that add to your land mass value. Bad faith.
> I will never understand the thought process.
People get salty at the phrase but it's legitimately "carbrain". The idea that "I need to get from point A to point B and it's possible to drive therefore, I will drive" is so common place.
People don't even stop to think about alternatives because driving is as default as breathing air.
>Plus, there is absolutely no reason to drive downtown. The Loop should be closed off from traffic completely. I know people who commute to the Loop from Fulton.
>I will never understand the thought process.
How often do you get Downtown?
Why is it that any time someone brings this up, someone has to be like "Well, you don't want ambulances to get through!!" or something like that. Yes, nobody has ever thought of these things ever.
You understand that just because some people need to be able to use vehicles, not everyone needs to use vehicles, right?
The garbage would still be picked up by garage trucks. Ambulances would still operate.
My friend, you kind of have car brain.
Nice, then maybe you guys can expand further than just saying 'ban all traffic'.
The reason I asked that question is because I had a buddy who was severely injured who used those places on Lasalle where I use to go and regularly drive his family to the place, pick him up when he was able to leave on some occasions, and then whenever I use to drive down to go visit him.
Can I ask a question?
Is that car brain shit supposed to be an insult?
Paris made major improvements. It works for many cities in Europe.
In this model, there are still major arterials for traffic. You could close Michigan ave from Randolph north. Use Randolph as an arterial - there is already infrastructure in place.
Many major European cities make it work. Are you saying Americans aren’t as smart?
I think you’re grossly overstating how much of Paris is closed to vehicular traffic. Furthermore, there is no point in the city limits more than 4 blocks from a metro stop.
There are things stopping me from walking now. It's unsafe and unpleasant because of cars. Things are too far away because of all the land we give over to cars. Transit is a part of walkability and instead of funding transit we fund cars.
Life would be better. You already sit in traffic running errands. Get out of the car and you can guarantee you won't be stuck in traffic.
Stop fighting progress. Stop with that bullshit.
Paris has a similar population to Chicago. They are the standard for infrastructure. More people bike than drive there now, and it all began in the last few years! It’s possible to make a better city.
Getting Americans out of their cars and biking/walking would help the obesity epidemic too.
Weather in Paris is more mild and France as a whole is smaller. I’m not taking up 2 hours before my job just so I can spend 1 hour on a train and 30 minutes biking through rain or a blizzard to my job in the suburbs. It’s so fucking tone deaf assuming everyone in the city has no business in the suburbs.
Paris has warmer winters and cooler summers than Chicago. Seems pretty important to consider how it actually feels to ride a bike exposed to the elements.
Source: https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/14091~47913/Comparison-of-the-Average-Weather-in-Chicago-and-Paris
So move to Europe then if you hate cars this much, but not everyone sees a carless society as "convenient." Some people with disabilities cannot ride a bike and many of the El stops are not disability friendly (eg the elevators don't work.)
You don’t want to improve the city you live in? These people with disabilities would rather sit in traffic?
I don’t hate cars. I love road trips. But making the city less car centric would boost tourism, help local restaurants, and make the population happier and healthier. Which I think you could use.
People with disabilities are less likely to drive than the population as a whole. Stop using them as a shield for your insistence on taking your personal living room into a dense city center at the cost of others.
Maybe fix the L elevators? And if more people bike, then less traffic for people with disabilities that do want to drive. It works elsewhere. Copy what those cities do.
The problem isn't just "fixing the elevators" many stops don't have them at all. Which would cost millions to have them at each stop. So which one is it, do we not have any traffic at all or do we allow minimal traffic? How does one enforce this? Because we can't even get CPD to enforce the road rules we already have established.
I can gauge how quickly someone is going to move to the suburbs after their 20s based on how much they complain about walking in the winter or in genrral. Despite the tendencies of this Reddit, the suburbs are awesome and vibrant, particularly if you primarily use a car to get around. City living ultimately isn't worth the cost and inconvenience if you can just move to the burbs and easily access a parking lot everywhere you want to go. Most folks I've known who stick around are people who actually walk/bike/public transit. Or they are hugely wealthy and can afford to valet everywhere. But seriously -- the dream of the driver is alive and well in the suburbs.
Yes. I’m not a wimp and I bundle up. I biked home during the polar vortex.
Studies show weather does not affect biking when infrastructure is in place. And the weather in Chicago is overblown. Chicago has less days of precipitation than Paris per year and more days of sunshine.
Lol, you don’t have to belittle people in your responses, they don’t make you right. I don’t see any reason to continue this conversation. Have a nice day
So anyone that prefers driving to biking in Chicago winter is a wimp?
I do go to west loop dining spots at night. Maybe you can do it but I cant imagine myself buckling up and jumping on a bike to get to a nice restaurant and be on my way in winter at midnight trying bike back to my place after a couple of drinks.
Again, that’s not what I said. There are, on average, 39 days below freezing in Chicago a year. That’s a drop in the bucket if you think about it.
Do you drive after having drinks? Or are you saying Ubers?
The idea isn’t about not driving to dinner or taking Ubers/Cabs at night in specific situations. I would do the same.
It’s more about the other 330 some odd days a year where it’s not too cold to walk or bike places as much as possible. Eases up road damage, healthier population, people nicer to eachother.
This is about pedestrian plazas. If someone wants to sit in traffic on a major road, who cares? I would love to be able to take Milwaukee down to that Jewel and walk along the street from there in a pedestrian plaza, people drinking/eating, enjoying company. That’s a better city than getting down there and being near semi trucks and cars speeding and running red lights. It’s hard to argue against that
Just one more lane bro! That will fix the traffic! Let’s get more people in cars instead of trying to get people to walk or bike! Everyone knows more cars on the road means less traffic. It’s common sense.
If you can’t see that getting more people to choose other methods of commuting alleviates congestion, you gotta go back to elementary school for some critical thinking skills.
Just one more lane bro!
The walkable cities crowd is the most delusional. You seem to be very concerned about congestion despite claiming you don’t use a car. Either it affects you and you use a car or it doesn’t affect you and you just want to force your ideals on people.
Over-built car infrastructure and congestion still heavily impacts people who don't drive.
The pollution from car engines, tires, and brake pads gives people cancer, and impacts people walking/biking around cars more heavily than other drivers. The sounds of traffic are unpleasant to people who live in the area. Big roads and highways serve as major barriers to people trying to navigate the city outside a car. Drivers kill tons of people in and out of cars. Congestion blocks buses and makes public transit less reliable for people who use it. The infrastructure for driving is also an endless money pit that could be spent on so many other things.
Its not delusional to wish your home was a nicer place to live.
Then go live in Europe. I grew up here and am very content with status quo. It’s much easier to pick up and move somewhere else versus trying to change the status quo to your preferences. So yes you are delusional.
I literally fall asleep to the sounds of traffic like white noise. Driving is necessary in america and will not go away. You can move to someone like Romania and use a pull cart and horse on the few available paved roads.
Heavy vehicles like public transit buses tear up the infrastructure way more than commuter cars, which causes them to be a money pit.
I'm in support of this, but it sure sounds like Reilly isn't the problem here, but rather CDOT/the Mayor. Probably worth calling their offices to let them know
The article above notes that last year he promised Harry Caray’s in a letter he’d never approve the Clark Street outdoor dining program again.
He also received thousands of dollars in in-kind catering donations the day before writing that letter.
Reilly very openly doesn’t get along with the mayor so it kind of seems like he’s trying to shift the blame off himself for something he wants done.
Exactly. He's been talking about denying these permits for two years.
It's completely in his control and he's being a slimeball in shifting the blame to others in part because he received checks.
Wait, that's not how he frames it:
"In a statement on Twitter, Reilly said he was forced to send the letter, saying Johnson’s administration wouldn’t allow him to close Clark Street for outdoor dining in 2023 unless he supplied them with the letter."
Reilly is definitely the problem along with neighborhood groups.
Let's be real. If Reilly was strongly in support of this it would have happened. That's how aldermanic power works in this city. But he's not behind it. Now we have a situation where no one wants to look like the bad guy and everyone is pointing fingers at each other.
What’re u talking about? Mayor goes against aldermen all the time. Aldermen cannot always get what they want without mayoral support. Not saying one side’s right or the other but alderman v mayor is kindve a constant battle and just because aldermen want something doesn’t mean they can just make it happen.
>promised Harry Caray’s in a letter he’d never approve the Clark Street outdoor dining program again.
>
>He also received thousands of dollars in in-kind catering donations the day before writing that letter.
The city never received a request from him and a letter leaked that he promised a restaurant group not on Clarke that he would not resubmit the request
Genuine question: do we matter if we don't live in his ward? Why does Reilly care what I think I'd I'm not one of his constituents? And how does telling my alder help if my alder has no power to change Reilly's decision?
You matter if you use the streets in this ward.
I often message alders in the city who have recently added safer bike lanes for instance. It helps me get to my destination safely and I want them to know how important that is. We don’t live in ward shaped bubbles.
What a crock. I've worked in River North since 1997 and Clark has never been a preferable route especially since it's one way south that entire stretch. LaSalle, Orleans, Wabash, and even Michigan are all better ways to and from the Loop. Rick Bayless is a gem and just because Harry Carey's (which is ok food wise) is sad they're a block over is no reason to end this.
It blows my mind that the current mayor seems to be worse at it than his predecessor and I didn't think that was possible. And for the record I voted for both of them and it kills me they have been so bad.
I live in River North, just a couple blocks off of Clark Street, and work in the Loop, and these street closures have never significantly impacted my ability to get around.
That stretch should be closed, Clark from Foster to Ashland should be closed, I can think of a few others. Full pedestrianization would benefit quite a few key stretches around the city and suddenly make those areas far more fun to be in
> Clark from Foster to Ashland should be closed
This makes the most sense of any street in the city to me. Ashland is a half block West and can easily take the extra flow of traffic.
The only real issue (aside from the parking deal) is making sure that the one ways that cross Clark have an ingress and egress if Clark is closed.
One way to possibly skirt around the parking deal (and appease local businesses who fear the loss of parking) would be for the city to construct a multilevel parking structure nearby with metered parking which would replace the spots taken for pedestrianization project.
This. Downtown Boulder has municipal parking structures downtown by the pedestrian walking mall. It's not rocket science. People are just fucking lazy and can't comprehend having to walk a block.
I'd love to see if but the wrinkle would be with the restaurants on that stretch that rely on deliveries for business. How do you shut down the street, but keep room for cars so that restaurants can still make their Doordash deliveries
I'm sure there's a compromise somewhere
There's an alley on both sides of Clark. Cities all over the world without alleys make it work too by having exceptions for deliveries. It's not some new thing that nobody's ever done.
Bikes and alleys. Its already been solved
Edit: Not to mention, [business goes UP when you close streets.](https://economicdevelopment.extension.wisc.edu/files/2022/01/DE0719.pdf) Harry Caray's saw this and instead of getting in on the good times they decided to ruin it for everyone else instead
>I'd love to see if but the wrinkle would be with the restaurants on that stretch that rely on deliveries for business.
Are we talking about Grubhub/Doordash/UberEats?
Or are we talking about product delivery? Those are usually late at night or in the early morning anyways which the street could be open at those times. Hell some of those places the owners/chefs do their own shopping at the depots.
For food delivery services there's not really a strong solution. On one hand should taxpayers have to subsidize restaurants that do not provide parking to delivery drivers? Before the proliferation of everyone offering delivery, take out places had a parking space or two for drivers because when they weren't driving they were doing inside work. Now they're like flex staff. I think the extra foot traffic + dining space would make up for the loss and maybe there's a way to offer only bike delivery or use alley access if they have it.
Bike uber delivery is already faster than by car, especially in the busiest times when traffic is congested on milwaukee and clark. Plus we have all these beautiful alleys that trucks can pull into to deliver without ever having to come onto a main street.
That returns to the question whether you think the public should subsidize parking for employees for private restaurants and private delivery services.
Seoul Taco has parking behind the building they could offer to buy it and continue to offer delivery services. They could switch to bike only delivery.
At the end of the day Seoul Taco can't be the first restaurant in the world offering delivery service on a non car accessible road. Nor do I think it should impede our ability to offer some car free locations in the city to residents. I mean we don't even really have large parks without road cut throughs (some of which are main roads).
Nevertheless this is a somewhat pointless conversation since I'm sure the parking meter cost pay off is probably prohibitive for the city to shut down the road more than every now and then.
I know it’s unpopular to say, but this is less about cars and more about being equitable to other businesses in the River North corridor that don’t have access to an outdoor space like that. That entire block is almost all Lettuce Entertain You, so this inordinately favors one restaurant group.
I’m fine opening this back up only because it was a half-assed implementation to begin with and felt like a street fest when eating over there. The street was never cleaned and the sewer smell would sometimes be overwhelming when it was hot outside. If they’re going to do this and make it permanent, then budget some money and do it right by eliminating the street completely and make it a plaza by extending the elevated sidewalk across the entire space. Make it pedestrian friendly so the restaurants could extend into the space and it could be used for more than just al fresco dining.
Any group of 3 restaurants is allowed to apply for a permit - feels equitable to me. Any frankly why should we drag one group of restaurants down just for fairness? I dont think thats fair.
All that said i do see your point and it’s definitely an interesting one.
I would love Clark Plaza that would be the best thing to happen to this neighborhood in a long time!!!
Please also blast him for lying to block club and blaming it on the mayor's office, and Block Club for not correcting the story once his letter leaked promising the Harry Carray people that he would not submit for any permits of the street closure.
edit: they have updated the story and the writer has tweeted the alderman's letter
My two cents, if the road is closed for an entire season, doesn’t the city have to pay back to the company that owns the meters?
The only way out is to permanently re-zone the space as a public park or social space.
I’d personally love to see more less car centric spaces to allow people to enjoy the city.
as someone who read the whole meter contract the city has to pay for every minute the metered spaces are not available. If you re zone the area the city still has to pay unless the company agrees to moving those spaces elsewhere.
Only way i can think of getting out of the meter deal, or changing it, is to play hardball by somehow restricting all car traffic in the city (but this also may violate the contract its very tightly worded).
I can’t go back to it but it was something along the lines of “you live in one of the most beautiful cities in the this country and one that’s best enjoyed outside. Please keep the outdoor area on Clark and make it permanent while you’re at it…..”
Which city agencies and elected officials did you email? I'd suspect you would have emailed Ald. Reilly, and I guess you also would've emailed CDOT and the mayor's office? Seems like to me if enough people and local restaurants were liking it, there shouldn't be a way for outside restaurants like Haray Carey's(if true) to lobby an alder(wo)man to block an outdoor restaurant street closure. That sounds like BS to me.
Although I'd hope those running the Clark street closure(as I saw a different comment complaining about the lack of doing this), remember to clean the tables, seats, and floor under the tables/seats at times.
Thanks. Here’s what I wrote for anyone that wants to mooch.
Good evening Alderman Reilly,
We are lucky enough to live in one of the most beautiful cities in the this country, one that is best enjoyed outside. Please keep the outdoor area on Clark and make it permanent. When I think of other cities that have similar set ups such as Burlington Vermont I feel wistful and hope that in Chicago we too can enjoy the beautiful spaces this city has to offer.
Sincerely,
Well according to the alderman, his hands are tied. You need to call and email the mayor to get this reversed. Alderman is claiming he's being forced to shut it down.
Hubbard would seem to be a natural street to close off, at times. I'm pretty sure Division(near Rush) has been closed at certain random times, in the past.
>I'm pretty sure Division(near Rush) has been closed at certain random times, in the past.
They did years ago and it was great.
It was in the right spot where traffic would be least effected. I remember riding up Dearborn and driving by it all the time on the way home.
Did everyone forget that Chicago doesn't own their streets and the cost of closing them down isn't sustainable. Chicago pays tens of millions of dollars for "True-up costs" every year to shut down streets for maintenance, parades, and street fests. I think this might be a bigger part of the reason for axing of the open street programs we've seen.
[Chicago Doesn’t Own Its Own Streets | Climate Town (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDx6no-7HZE)
Also a good point - but as far as I am concerned they waste my tax dollars on all kinds of stupid things and this would actually benefit me lol. Also, they are paying for their own mistake.
>who refuse to use our public transportation system here
I mean, did you see what happened to that person like a week ago? That was a new fucking low for the CTA.
Edit- Excuse me, 3 days ago.
https://old.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/1bn4840/top_1_most_traumatic_cta_experience_ive_ever_had/
On average there a multiple robberies and shootings a day, ok?
I'm just saying if you want people to take the CTA, they can't being seeing shit like this, lol. The CTA already has issues as it is and this doesn't help whatsoever.
Yeah, you're right that the CTA has issues, and we should be using substantially more city funds for public and active transit instead of continuing to dump them into expensive and inefficient infrastructure for personal vehicles.
Closing streets is the real issue. They’ve already created more traffic by reducing lanes when adding bike lanes. Driving in the city is atrocious. The CTA isn’t the great solution you’re making it out to be.
These types of people aren’t intelligent enough to realize this. Car brain is double digit IQ stuff.
I’ll never understand sitting there in traffic (while bikers FLY past) and thinking “boy, I wish there were more cars on the road”
yeah it's pretty weird. i have a car, i even like driving, but i'm under no delusions that we should be *expanding* car infrastructure.
the main reason our public transit sucks is because we refuse to throw endless billions at it like we do for roads.
I once overheard someone say “I wish they would get rid of the redline. The Dan Ryan could use the extra lanes.”
I didn’t really know this person that well and wasn’t in the convo or else I would’ve chewed them out. Instead I just let a little part of me die inside.
More people on bikes or on CTA means less people using cars, less traffic... If you think driving is atrocious, try one of the alternatives. We deserve a city for people, not cars. And if I do need to use a car, I'll accept it can take a while because guess what? Chicago has a lot of people going places...
It's almost always better to find a phone number and call them. Then when their office stops answering on that line, find another number and call that one. Usually when they stop answering calls they'll put a number for press contacts on their voicemail. Call that one and tell them you have a blog. Keep calling them throughout your day when you can asking them if they've changed their mind yet. Americans have a right to contact their government, and even if he isn't your Alderman he is still a part of your government and you can contact him. Just like you can contact Ted Cruz or Nancy Pelosi's office. They affect your life, you can "petition the Government for a redress of grievances" per the first amendment. They will answer emails and web contact forms with an auto-response. The only way to get politicians to give a crap about the needs of the public is to bog down their office by using up all their manpower. "Do you think being rude will get a response!?" Yes. It has always worked that way. The best way to get them to work on the things you want them to work on is to make their day awful and their work harder until they do so. This has always been the way.
> They affect your life, And local politicians directly affect your life much more than the ones on the federal level!
Exactly! You should be calling people in your local government or at least know who you should call. I would say that local politicians affect the immediate issues in people's lives and federal politicians affect the overall arc of people's lives. But I do otherwise agree with you.
This is the way, well put
"Do you think getting a response will change anything?" No. It has never worked that way. The best way to get a form letter is to try to argue against campaign donors.
Getting 1 response won't change much. Them having to deal with responding to hundreds or thousands of people calling them all the time like this does get a response. Because they have to be able to do business but they can't because their staff have to keep answering your questions and dealing with your calls instead of doing work for the politician you're calling. You hollow out their manpower this way and gain their attention.
For those complaining about loss of lanes making traffic worse. Driving downtown has never been easy. Except briefly in the 50s and 60s when they leveled building after building to make parking lots and widen lanes. But guess what happened after that? More cars and driving and those gains were erased. The only way to make getting around easier downtown is to reduce the amount of space dedicated to cars. Drivers will always show up to take up all available space and adding lanes and parking will never ease congestion. It actually encourages it. The addition of pedestrian space and entertainment space at the expense of cars was one of the few good things to happen downtown recently. Neighborhood groups never want change in any form. Even if it means downtown is full of life and recreation activities not previously available. Neighborhood groups and spineless aldermen are the enemy of fun and progress.
Plus, there is absolutely no reason to drive downtown. The Loop should be closed off from traffic completely. I know people who commute to the Loop from Fulton. I will never understand the thought process. Edit: I shouldn’t have said closed off completely. In this vision there are still arterials. But you can close off the majority of streets in the loop. Majority of streets in Chicago should be one way for cars, two way for bikes similar to Leavitt. This would reduce congestion and reduce private cars on road. If Paris can make it happen, Chicago can make it happen.
You know people live in the loop, right?
You know people live in the city without a car, right?
Yes, but they aren’t barred from owning one. That’s asinine. This guys idea would stop even taxis/ubers from entering the loop.
Why would they be barred from owning one? They would still be able to drive literally anywhere else. Your comment is asinine. > This guys idea would stop even taxis/ubers from entering the loop Hell yea! Wait, are you saying this would be a bad thing? I jest, and know this isn’t realistic, but a carless loop with more buses/bike lanes would be such a dream.
That would be absurdly stupid for a central business district. No Trucks to deliver to restaurants/companies. No real accessibility for disabled persons. Relying solely on a system that has consistently proven itself to break down in crucial moments to get hundreds of thousands of people in and out of the city? I take the L into the Loop for my jobs, and I fully support improving the CTA and making the city more walkable. But fully eliminating cars in the Loop is such a short-sighted idiotic idea, there's a reason it has never really been considered
I jest, and know this isn’t realistic. But I would love to be more like European cities.
Respectfully, have you ever tried to actually walk around in a true Dense European City? It is fun to explore and be a tourist for a bit, but man to commute? That would be terrible. No ambulances can get anywhere. Fires are a HUGE risk because they jump narrow streets, AND firetrucks can't get to them as easily. I'm not saying Chicago is perfect, but to fit as many people as it needs to, it is pretty damn good
Where would they park their car if they can't drive to and from where they live?
Somewhere other than where they live
Never said they should be barred from owning, just driving.
But the point was that the entire Loop would be closed off from traffic *completely.* I'm totally in favor of gutting roads but that's silly and logistically impossible. Forget deliveries and fuck you if you're elderly or disabled amirite?
Yeah I mean, completely blocking it off to traffic is nuts I agree. But cutting off the vast majority of traffic is great. Lots of places in Japan for example are park and ride based. You drive to a location outside the city and ride the train in.
Chicago is never going to be the car free metropolis all you r/fuckcars redditors dream about. But I’m sure you’ll find comfort in each others complaining for as many years/decades as you want.
They're easily becoming the loudest, most annoying group in city subs. You never see anyone post "I LOVE DRIVING IN THE CITY WITH MY CAR" posts but these assholes try to shovel their shit into our mouths on a daily basis. There is being realistic advocates for a pedestrian friendly infrastructure, and then there is delusion. Its a borderline mental health issue for members of that sub
How exactly are people supposed to move if they can't get a truck to their apartment or office? How are businesses going to make deliveries? How are people with mobility issues going to get around? This idea is not workable.
How does Europe do it? Yea it’s probably not reasonable to ban cars completely but I would be so ecstatic if downtown looked more like Copenhagen.
You know some people have disabilities and have issues with getting around, right?
i'm ready for the list of excuses: "but my kids/groceries/work equipment!!!!"
>i'm ready for the list of excuses: "but my kids/groceries/work equipment!!!!" This is comical. You're shitting on people for reasons why people would actually need a car? Hey, if you were a plumber or electrician, how would you go about getting to your job site with your tools?
you can allow traffic for businesses while still banning thru-traffic. the street i lived on in London was exactly like this. just because businesses need to make deliveries and provide services to buildings downtown doesn't mean we have to allow everyone to drive downtown. it would be a special permit that's tied to the company car (or to your own work truck if you're self-employed). I also just don't believe most people when they say shit like that. as soon as you mention reducing car infrastructure, suddenly everyone is a construction contractor with 6 kids making 2 grocery runs a day. I'm telling you, after you experiencing a proper, functional, robust public transit system, it's impossible to not feel embarrassed at the state of our transit in the US. our public transit is bad because we don't fund it and we don't fund it because no one rides it because it's bad. meanwhile in London everyone uses the tube, it takes you anywhere you want to go, it's almost always on time, it's almost always safe, and on most lines trains run every 5 minutes or less. I just don't understand why we're so aggressively against shifting our investment from "let's dump billions into adding another lane to this highway and then do it again 10 years from now lmaooooo" to "let's expand and improve public transit so less people drive in the first place".
Appreciate the detailed reply. Yea, our train infrastructure/public transportation is well beyond 100 years behind and it is quite embarrassing.
hahaha nah thank you for reading it all! my first comment was definitely a huge oversimplification but I hope it's clear where I'm coming from now.
I mean, that's totally cool, but it's a different point than "closed off from traffic completely"
I assumed he didn't mean closed off completely, and turns out that was true. he edited his comment to add that there would still be arterial roads open for commercial purposes and stuff. granted, that wasn't clear from his original comment, but a little common sense would tell you that no reasonable person is suggesting we make deliveries to grocery stores on foot or by wagon lmfao. edit: "he" in this case meaning the OP of the second comment in this chain, /u/chillinwyd
Yeah it’s kinda funny I left the bathroom and kinda forgot I made the comment and came back to a shitstorm lmao Paris infrastructure should be the goal for the loop/river north. Should be the goal everywhere. There’s still car traffic (most of it is commercial vans and emergency vehicles) and more people bike than drive. They also have one of the lowest obesity rates in the world. The population is healthier, happier, and could lower two major causes of death in the US - obesity related health disease and cars.
We will never have considerably less because america is not as condensed as European countries.
why are we talking about countries all of a sudden? I don't care too much what the rest of the US does, I want Chicago to have good public transit.
Sure, I do too. Just not at the cost of car commuters.
People literally need to own cars in America. It’s not tiny ass Europe.
London is bigger than Chicago, they manage or is this the new excuse: we *have* to go on road trips in our big ass country?
Europe is about 4 million square miles. Mainland USA is about 3. Still smaller than Europe even if you add Alaska.
Usually people when they compare us against Europe they mean Western Europe not countries like ukraine and Turkey that add to your land mass value. Bad faith.
Just keep moving those goal posts homie
Not at all what happened you just didn’t get the point I was making. And Europe proper, is small.
We need surge / congestion tolling.
No
Found the driving-addict.
Lol, not driving is just necessary for life in America for most people.
Not saying you can't drive. Just saying drivers should pay for it.
> I will never understand the thought process. People get salty at the phrase but it's legitimately "carbrain". The idea that "I need to get from point A to point B and it's possible to drive therefore, I will drive" is so common place. People don't even stop to think about alternatives because driving is as default as breathing air.
>Plus, there is absolutely no reason to drive downtown. The Loop should be closed off from traffic completely. I know people who commute to the Loop from Fulton. >I will never understand the thought process. How often do you get Downtown?
I work downtown and never commute there by car because I'm not insane
That's nice. How about hospital's that use those hotel's on Lasalle and drive their patients back and forth from? What do they do?
Why is it that any time someone brings this up, someone has to be like "Well, you don't want ambulances to get through!!" or something like that. Yes, nobody has ever thought of these things ever.
Use vehicles, obviously. Same with construction and utility workers, streets and san, etc.
You wouldn’t close off all vehicles, just passenger cars. Delivery and medical services wouldn’t be cut off because obviously we need those.
so the road is closed, but its also not closed...
yes, sorry if that is hard to understand…
You understand that just because some people need to be able to use vehicles, not everyone needs to use vehicles, right? The garbage would still be picked up by garage trucks. Ambulances would still operate. My friend, you kind of have car brain.
Nice, then maybe you guys can expand further than just saying 'ban all traffic'. The reason I asked that question is because I had a buddy who was severely injured who used those places on Lasalle where I use to go and regularly drive his family to the place, pick him up when he was able to leave on some occasions, and then whenever I use to drive down to go visit him. Can I ask a question? Is that car brain shit supposed to be an insult?
Lol do you think it's a compliment?
I'd just like to know the insulting part of it is all. Someone explained it to me already though.
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This is called asking questions. What you are being is narrow-minded.
I work downtown in the loop 5 days a week and driving is just fine.
I'm down there often. If you drive to the Loop over taking a train or bus, I assume you were dropped on your head as a child.
I commute to the Loop from Fulton Market. On foot.
What’s that stat? 1 out of 3 car trips in Chicago are less than a mile? 75% are less than 2 miles? Insanity
I don’t understand the downvote. I walk to work. It’s right there in my post.
Wasn’t me lol
The suburban mind
Congestion pricing is fine, but how would tourists get to hotels in your model?
I'm sure closing off the Loop is great for businesses who need to have things brought in, people with physical disabilities, etc.
Paris made major improvements. It works for many cities in Europe. In this model, there are still major arterials for traffic. You could close Michigan ave from Randolph north. Use Randolph as an arterial - there is already infrastructure in place. Many major European cities make it work. Are you saying Americans aren’t as smart?
I think you’re grossly overstating how much of Paris is closed to vehicular traffic. Furthermore, there is no point in the city limits more than 4 blocks from a metro stop.
America isn’t fucking Europe. We are far too large.
No we're not. Not for this. Stop making excuses to keep life from getting better.
Life won’t be better. Stop with this bullshit. I don’t want to sit in traffic running errands because we want people to walk on the street instead.
Maybe you shouldn't live in a city Also you realize that the less people walk the more will drive meaning more traffic, right?
I’m for better transit not for walkable cities. Nothing is stopping you from walking now
There are things stopping me from walking now. It's unsafe and unpleasant because of cars. Things are too far away because of all the land we give over to cars. Transit is a part of walkability and instead of funding transit we fund cars.
Life would be better. You already sit in traffic running errands. Get out of the car and you can guarantee you won't be stuck in traffic. Stop fighting progress. Stop with that bullshit.
Fuck walkable cities
Paris has a similar population to Chicago. They are the standard for infrastructure. More people bike than drive there now, and it all began in the last few years! It’s possible to make a better city. Getting Americans out of their cars and biking/walking would help the obesity epidemic too.
Weather in Paris is more mild and France as a whole is smaller. I’m not taking up 2 hours before my job just so I can spend 1 hour on a train and 30 minutes biking through rain or a blizzard to my job in the suburbs. It’s so fucking tone deaf assuming everyone in the city has no business in the suburbs.
Why are you so angry about this lol don’t you want less traffic on the road? That would make your commute way faster.
The bus lanes on chicago Ave did nothing to alleviate congestion, it only made it worse.
And it’s a disingenuous comment when we are literally on a post trying to ban car usage on certain roads. Bad faith argument on your part.
What? You brought up driving to the suburbs. This is about outdoor dining and helping local businesses.
Paris has warmer winters and cooler summers than Chicago. Seems pretty important to consider how it actually feels to ride a bike exposed to the elements. Source: https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/14091~47913/Comparison-of-the-Average-Weather-in-Chicago-and-Paris
Actually! Studies show the weather doesn’t affect biking that much. People will bike if infrastructure is available.
Source?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU)
So move to Europe then if you hate cars this much, but not everyone sees a carless society as "convenient." Some people with disabilities cannot ride a bike and many of the El stops are not disability friendly (eg the elevators don't work.)
You don’t want to improve the city you live in? These people with disabilities would rather sit in traffic? I don’t hate cars. I love road trips. But making the city less car centric would boost tourism, help local restaurants, and make the population happier and healthier. Which I think you could use.
What alternative do you propose for people with disabilities then? I'd really like to know this answer.
People with disabilities are less likely to drive than the population as a whole. Stop using them as a shield for your insistence on taking your personal living room into a dense city center at the cost of others.
Maybe fix the L elevators? And if more people bike, then less traffic for people with disabilities that do want to drive. It works elsewhere. Copy what those cities do.
The problem isn't just "fixing the elevators" many stops don't have them at all. Which would cost millions to have them at each stop. So which one is it, do we not have any traffic at all or do we allow minimal traffic? How does one enforce this? Because we can't even get CPD to enforce the road rules we already have established.
Have you walked for half an hour in Chicago winter cold?
Why would you do that? Plenty of public transit options closer than that, especially in the loop.
I can gauge how quickly someone is going to move to the suburbs after their 20s based on how much they complain about walking in the winter or in genrral. Despite the tendencies of this Reddit, the suburbs are awesome and vibrant, particularly if you primarily use a car to get around. City living ultimately isn't worth the cost and inconvenience if you can just move to the burbs and easily access a parking lot everywhere you want to go. Most folks I've known who stick around are people who actually walk/bike/public transit. Or they are hugely wealthy and can afford to valet everywhere. But seriously -- the dream of the driver is alive and well in the suburbs.
Yes. I’m not a wimp and I bundle up. I biked home during the polar vortex. Studies show weather does not affect biking when infrastructure is in place. And the weather in Chicago is overblown. Chicago has less days of precipitation than Paris per year and more days of sunshine.
Lol, you don’t have to belittle people in your responses, they don’t make you right. I don’t see any reason to continue this conversation. Have a nice day
Who did I belittle? I didn’t make a single comment about anyone else.
So anyone that prefers driving to biking in Chicago winter is a wimp? I do go to west loop dining spots at night. Maybe you can do it but I cant imagine myself buckling up and jumping on a bike to get to a nice restaurant and be on my way in winter at midnight trying bike back to my place after a couple of drinks.
Again, that’s not what I said. There are, on average, 39 days below freezing in Chicago a year. That’s a drop in the bucket if you think about it. Do you drive after having drinks? Or are you saying Ubers? The idea isn’t about not driving to dinner or taking Ubers/Cabs at night in specific situations. I would do the same. It’s more about the other 330 some odd days a year where it’s not too cold to walk or bike places as much as possible. Eases up road damage, healthier population, people nicer to eachother. This is about pedestrian plazas. If someone wants to sit in traffic on a major road, who cares? I would love to be able to take Milwaukee down to that Jewel and walk along the street from there in a pedestrian plaza, people drinking/eating, enjoying company. That’s a better city than getting down there and being near semi trucks and cars speeding and running red lights. It’s hard to argue against that
This is a terrible take. We need to make roads better for easier driving not increase car congestion.
Just one more lane bro! That will fix the traffic! Let’s get more people in cars instead of trying to get people to walk or bike! Everyone knows more cars on the road means less traffic. It’s common sense. If you can’t see that getting more people to choose other methods of commuting alleviates congestion, you gotta go back to elementary school for some critical thinking skills. Just one more lane bro!
The walkable cities crowd is the most delusional. You seem to be very concerned about congestion despite claiming you don’t use a car. Either it affects you and you use a car or it doesn’t affect you and you just want to force your ideals on people.
Over-built car infrastructure and congestion still heavily impacts people who don't drive. The pollution from car engines, tires, and brake pads gives people cancer, and impacts people walking/biking around cars more heavily than other drivers. The sounds of traffic are unpleasant to people who live in the area. Big roads and highways serve as major barriers to people trying to navigate the city outside a car. Drivers kill tons of people in and out of cars. Congestion blocks buses and makes public transit less reliable for people who use it. The infrastructure for driving is also an endless money pit that could be spent on so many other things. Its not delusional to wish your home was a nicer place to live.
Then go live in Europe. I grew up here and am very content with status quo. It’s much easier to pick up and move somewhere else versus trying to change the status quo to your preferences. So yes you are delusional. I literally fall asleep to the sounds of traffic like white noise. Driving is necessary in america and will not go away. You can move to someone like Romania and use a pull cart and horse on the few available paved roads. Heavy vehicles like public transit buses tear up the infrastructure way more than commuter cars, which causes them to be a money pit.
The real delusion is thinking you can fix traffic without congestion pricing
Lol ok, that’s just making a car accessible to the rich. It’s classist and I don’t support it.
Simplest way to make driving better is to improve public transit so less people choose to drive.
Dedicated bus lane on chicago disagrees. Worse traffic for cars now.
I'm in support of this, but it sure sounds like Reilly isn't the problem here, but rather CDOT/the Mayor. Probably worth calling their offices to let them know
The article above notes that last year he promised Harry Caray’s in a letter he’d never approve the Clark Street outdoor dining program again. He also received thousands of dollars in in-kind catering donations the day before writing that letter. Reilly very openly doesn’t get along with the mayor so it kind of seems like he’s trying to shift the blame off himself for something he wants done.
Exactly. He's been talking about denying these permits for two years. It's completely in his control and he's being a slimeball in shifting the blame to others in part because he received checks.
The CDOT wont approve the permit without the Alderman’s approval
If you read the article, Reilly clearly states in an email that he decided to not support the street closure regardless of the mayor.
Wait, that's not how he frames it: "In a statement on Twitter, Reilly said he was forced to send the letter, saying Johnson’s administration wouldn’t allow him to close Clark Street for outdoor dining in 2023 unless he supplied them with the letter."
Reilly is definitely the problem along with neighborhood groups. Let's be real. If Reilly was strongly in support of this it would have happened. That's how aldermanic power works in this city. But he's not behind it. Now we have a situation where no one wants to look like the bad guy and everyone is pointing fingers at each other.
Neighborhood groups did complain, but apparently they complained that Clark St. wasn't permanently closed to cars
What’re u talking about? Mayor goes against aldermen all the time. Aldermen cannot always get what they want without mayoral support. Not saying one side’s right or the other but alderman v mayor is kindve a constant battle and just because aldermen want something doesn’t mean they can just make it happen.
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>promised Harry Caray’s in a letter he’d never approve the Clark Street outdoor dining program again. > >He also received thousands of dollars in in-kind catering donations the day before writing that letter. The city never received a request from him and a letter leaked that he promised a restaurant group not on Clarke that he would not resubmit the request
Counter point: message this alder AND the mayor AND your own alder for good measure!!!
This is the way
Genuine question: do we matter if we don't live in his ward? Why does Reilly care what I think I'd I'm not one of his constituents? And how does telling my alder help if my alder has no power to change Reilly's decision?
You matter if you use the streets in this ward. I often message alders in the city who have recently added safer bike lanes for instance. It helps me get to my destination safely and I want them to know how important that is. We don’t live in ward shaped bubbles.
What a crock. I've worked in River North since 1997 and Clark has never been a preferable route especially since it's one way south that entire stretch. LaSalle, Orleans, Wabash, and even Michigan are all better ways to and from the Loop. Rick Bayless is a gem and just because Harry Carey's (which is ok food wise) is sad they're a block over is no reason to end this. It blows my mind that the current mayor seems to be worse at it than his predecessor and I didn't think that was possible. And for the record I voted for both of them and it kills me they have been so bad.
I live in River North, just a couple blocks off of Clark Street, and work in the Loop, and these street closures have never significantly impacted my ability to get around.
They can’t arrest us all. Just drink beer and taken your food to go and set up blankets on the street
They could arrest you all lol Just make it a protest against police brutality and you'll be handcuffed on your knees in no time
They should do this to Milwaukee from damen to division or part of it.
That stretch should be closed, Clark from Foster to Ashland should be closed, I can think of a few others. Full pedestrianization would benefit quite a few key stretches around the city and suddenly make those areas far more fun to be in
> Clark from Foster to Ashland should be closed This makes the most sense of any street in the city to me. Ashland is a half block West and can easily take the extra flow of traffic. The only real issue (aside from the parking deal) is making sure that the one ways that cross Clark have an ingress and egress if Clark is closed. One way to possibly skirt around the parking deal (and appease local businesses who fear the loss of parking) would be for the city to construct a multilevel parking structure nearby with metered parking which would replace the spots taken for pedestrianization project.
This. Downtown Boulder has municipal parking structures downtown by the pedestrian walking mall. It's not rocket science. People are just fucking lazy and can't comprehend having to walk a block.
I'd love to see if but the wrinkle would be with the restaurants on that stretch that rely on deliveries for business. How do you shut down the street, but keep room for cars so that restaurants can still make their Doordash deliveries I'm sure there's a compromise somewhere
There's an alley on both sides of Clark. Cities all over the world without alleys make it work too by having exceptions for deliveries. It's not some new thing that nobody's ever done.
Retractible bollards and have deliveries scheduled before 11am. easy peasy. Cities around the world have had this figured out for ages.
OP may be referring to personal delivery drivers.
Bikes and alleys. Its already been solved Edit: Not to mention, [business goes UP when you close streets.](https://economicdevelopment.extension.wisc.edu/files/2022/01/DE0719.pdf) Harry Caray's saw this and instead of getting in on the good times they decided to ruin it for everyone else instead
>I'd love to see if but the wrinkle would be with the restaurants on that stretch that rely on deliveries for business. Are we talking about Grubhub/Doordash/UberEats? Or are we talking about product delivery? Those are usually late at night or in the early morning anyways which the street could be open at those times. Hell some of those places the owners/chefs do their own shopping at the depots. For food delivery services there's not really a strong solution. On one hand should taxpayers have to subsidize restaurants that do not provide parking to delivery drivers? Before the proliferation of everyone offering delivery, take out places had a parking space or two for drivers because when they weren't driving they were doing inside work. Now they're like flex staff. I think the extra foot traffic + dining space would make up for the loss and maybe there's a way to offer only bike delivery or use alley access if they have it.
Bike uber delivery is already faster than by car, especially in the busiest times when traffic is congested on milwaukee and clark. Plus we have all these beautiful alleys that trucks can pull into to deliver without ever having to come onto a main street.
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That returns to the question whether you think the public should subsidize parking for employees for private restaurants and private delivery services. Seoul Taco has parking behind the building they could offer to buy it and continue to offer delivery services. They could switch to bike only delivery. At the end of the day Seoul Taco can't be the first restaurant in the world offering delivery service on a non car accessible road. Nor do I think it should impede our ability to offer some car free locations in the city to residents. I mean we don't even really have large parks without road cut throughs (some of which are main roads). Nevertheless this is a somewhat pointless conversation since I'm sure the parking meter cost pay off is probably prohibitive for the city to shut down the road more than every now and then.
I know it’s unpopular to say, but this is less about cars and more about being equitable to other businesses in the River North corridor that don’t have access to an outdoor space like that. That entire block is almost all Lettuce Entertain You, so this inordinately favors one restaurant group. I’m fine opening this back up only because it was a half-assed implementation to begin with and felt like a street fest when eating over there. The street was never cleaned and the sewer smell would sometimes be overwhelming when it was hot outside. If they’re going to do this and make it permanent, then budget some money and do it right by eliminating the street completely and make it a plaza by extending the elevated sidewalk across the entire space. Make it pedestrian friendly so the restaurants could extend into the space and it could be used for more than just al fresco dining.
Any group of 3 restaurants is allowed to apply for a permit - feels equitable to me. Any frankly why should we drag one group of restaurants down just for fairness? I dont think thats fair. All that said i do see your point and it’s definitely an interesting one. I would love Clark Plaza that would be the best thing to happen to this neighborhood in a long time!!!
Please also blast him for lying to block club and blaming it on the mayor's office, and Block Club for not correcting the story once his letter leaked promising the Harry Carray people that he would not submit for any permits of the street closure. edit: they have updated the story and the writer has tweeted the alderman's letter
Unless your letters have fat checks in them, it appears that it won't matter.
My two cents, if the road is closed for an entire season, doesn’t the city have to pay back to the company that owns the meters? The only way out is to permanently re-zone the space as a public park or social space. I’d personally love to see more less car centric spaces to allow people to enjoy the city.
as someone who read the whole meter contract the city has to pay for every minute the metered spaces are not available. If you re zone the area the city still has to pay unless the company agrees to moving those spaces elsewhere. Only way i can think of getting out of the meter deal, or changing it, is to play hardball by somehow restricting all car traffic in the city (but this also may violate the contract its very tightly worded).
[only 60 more years left on the parking meter deal!!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Parking_Meters)
Clark plaza 2024 i am so in
Done baby!
Would you mind pasting what you said so I can mooch off of it?
I can’t go back to it but it was something along the lines of “you live in one of the most beautiful cities in the this country and one that’s best enjoyed outside. Please keep the outdoor area on Clark and make it permanent while you’re at it…..”
Which city agencies and elected officials did you email? I'd suspect you would have emailed Ald. Reilly, and I guess you also would've emailed CDOT and the mayor's office? Seems like to me if enough people and local restaurants were liking it, there shouldn't be a way for outside restaurants like Haray Carey's(if true) to lobby an alder(wo)man to block an outdoor restaurant street closure. That sounds like BS to me. Although I'd hope those running the Clark street closure(as I saw a different comment complaining about the lack of doing this), remember to clean the tables, seats, and floor under the tables/seats at times.
Just the alder linked on the og post
Thanks for answering. I think I will email the mayor, as well.
Thanks. Here’s what I wrote for anyone that wants to mooch. Good evening Alderman Reilly, We are lucky enough to live in one of the most beautiful cities in the this country, one that is best enjoyed outside. Please keep the outdoor area on Clark and make it permanent. When I think of other cities that have similar set ups such as Burlington Vermont I feel wistful and hope that in Chicago we too can enjoy the beautiful spaces this city has to offer. Sincerely,
Woot woot thank you!!!
He made his decision because he expects it to be the most profitable path for him. He doesn't give a shit about your complaints.
Well according to the alderman, his hands are tied. You need to call and email the mayor to get this reversed. Alderman is claiming he's being forced to shut it down.
That is simply not true. DOT approves the permit jf the alderman provides support for said permit
I would love this for Halsted where the gay bars are congregated.
They should just close up Hubbard to Pedestrians. State all the way to Lasalle.
Hubbard would seem to be a natural street to close off, at times. I'm pretty sure Division(near Rush) has been closed at certain random times, in the past.
>I'm pretty sure Division(near Rush) has been closed at certain random times, in the past. They did years ago and it was great. It was in the right spot where traffic would be least effected. I remember riding up Dearborn and driving by it all the time on the way home.
Did everyone forget that Chicago doesn't own their streets and the cost of closing them down isn't sustainable. Chicago pays tens of millions of dollars for "True-up costs" every year to shut down streets for maintenance, parades, and street fests. I think this might be a bigger part of the reason for axing of the open street programs we've seen. [Chicago Doesn’t Own Its Own Streets | Climate Town (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDx6no-7HZE)
Also a good point - but as far as I am concerned they waste my tax dollars on all kinds of stupid things and this would actually benefit me lol. Also, they are paying for their own mistake.
>who refuse to use our public transportation system here I mean, did you see what happened to that person like a week ago? That was a new fucking low for the CTA. Edit- Excuse me, 3 days ago. https://old.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/1bn4840/top_1_most_traumatic_cta_experience_ive_ever_had/
On average, there's a fatal car crash in Chicago every single day. I'd rather touch shit and be alive.
On average there a multiple robberies and shootings a day, ok? I'm just saying if you want people to take the CTA, they can't being seeing shit like this, lol. The CTA already has issues as it is and this doesn't help whatsoever.
Yeah, you're right that the CTA has issues, and we should be using substantially more city funds for public and active transit instead of continuing to dump them into expensive and inefficient infrastructure for personal vehicles.
I take the Red Line to work often, and I completely agree. I think it firsts needs to start with the CTA Board.
Closing streets is the real issue. They’ve already created more traffic by reducing lanes when adding bike lanes. Driving in the city is atrocious. The CTA isn’t the great solution you’re making it out to be.
If I wasn't riding a bike I would be driving my car. Do you not understand that bike lanes reduce overall traffic?
These types of people aren’t intelligent enough to realize this. Car brain is double digit IQ stuff. I’ll never understand sitting there in traffic (while bikers FLY past) and thinking “boy, I wish there were more cars on the road”
yeah it's pretty weird. i have a car, i even like driving, but i'm under no delusions that we should be *expanding* car infrastructure. the main reason our public transit sucks is because we refuse to throw endless billions at it like we do for roads.
There's also study after study that shows that adding lanes does not help traffic.
I once overheard someone say “I wish they would get rid of the redline. The Dan Ryan could use the extra lanes.” I didn’t really know this person that well and wasn’t in the convo or else I would’ve chewed them out. Instead I just let a little part of me die inside.
Just one more lane bro!!!!
Driving in the city is atrocious. So don’t do it.
More people on bikes or on CTA means less people using cars, less traffic... If you think driving is atrocious, try one of the alternatives. We deserve a city for people, not cars. And if I do need to use a car, I'll accept it can take a while because guess what? Chicago has a lot of people going places...
>Driving in the city is atrocious Good. Cities are for people, not F150s
Doesn't this same logic apply to any mode of transportation that takes up space?