Traffic Guy

The Traffic Guy Hears...

... that Bike to Work Day was May 18. Here's what the Civic Center bike rack looked like that day. And this is supposed to be a green town.

Meanwhile, here's what the gas prices looked like over the weekend:

Gas prices always spike over the Memorial Day weekend, but they never recede to the pre-holiday levels.

... that there were some mega power surges last Thursday and Friday. The first one seemed to creep through town, starting in the northwest and southeast sections just before noon, getting to downtown and to the RT offices in south-west-central Evanston at about 3. Then Friday's outage caused evacuation of the Rotary Building. High winds on Thursday were said to cause outages that day, and they also shook down a lot of branches and dying trees. But the reason for Friday's? Who knows but the electric company?

... that a car heading north on Orrington a few days ago apparently jumped the curb and landed in the Kiss My K-9 pet shop.

... that all the arbor vitae trees - about 29 of them - planted along the new and award-winning McCormick Boulevard by the Illinois Department of Transportation are dead or dying. Seems IDOT forgot that winter salt would be thrown onto them, causing damage - or neglected to consider and take precautions about it. The City is going to replace those trees, according to the Forestry Department,  (is there another "I" missing from that acronym?)

... that Evanston was ready for the cicadas: Some folks wrapped their young trees and shrubs in protective netting; others considered buying earplugs. But the designing bakers at Tags Pastry Shop on Central Street did this:

... that a few more sidewalk cafés may be cropping up around town: Blue Stone Restaurant, Davis Street Fish Market, Le Peep, Foodstuffs, Whole Foods, Lou Malnati's, Cosi, Globe Café and Bar (in the Hotel Orrington), Starbuck's on Dempster and Argo Tea all have applications in the City's review process. They have to apply each year.

... that there's even more stuff being considered for downtown Evanston, sucking up every bit of sky and green space we have. Sirrius Satellite Radio would like to have two roof-mounted antennae atop the 1603 Orrington building (the glass bank building that changes names a lot). And, nearby, the owners of 605 Davis St. would like construct a 34-story mixed use building. They propose a building of Spando glass, three retail tenants (1,500 square-feet per shop) and a design that is harmonious with
the area.

... that the peregrine falcons - which seems to like urban canyons such as we're creating downtown, have laid four
eggs this year at their library aerie. Let's hope they all survive.

... speaking of wildlife, TG hears twin fawns were born on Hawthorne Lane again this year - in the same secluded yard where twin fawns were born last year and a single fawn the year before. The pregnant doe must have scouted out the place, because she had a pretty high fence to leap over to get there. 

... that Southeast Evanston Citizens Planning Committee gathered volunteers last weekend to fill the planter boxes along Custer Avenue over the CTA tracks with colorful new plants. Speaking of planters, check out the ones at Davis and Oak and at Grove and Sherman. They're filled with beautiful parsley.

... that NU held its annual student-built robot competition, this year called "Capture the Flag," on May 19. The robots could be no bigger than a 12-inch cube and had to weigh less than 25 pounds and had to be able to climb and descend steep ramps to capture a flag in the middle of the course, transport it to the target area and place and release the flag.

The Traffic Guy Thinks...

... that scientists are trying to recreate the beginning of the universe in an underground particle detector - or, as the New York Times reported, "produce tiny fireballs of primordial energy, recreating conditions that last prevailed when the universe was less than a trillionth of a second old" (Science Times section, May 22.) The scientists, who are looking for the Higgs boson, called (per the  NYT) the "God particle," already are puzzled by "the fact that the Higgs boson is not millions of times heavier than it appears to be." They
blame it on "quantum weirdness," one principle of which is that "anything that is not forbidden will happen." Well, that explains a lot.

... that the stair-step artwork or whatever it is beneath the overpass on Church Street looks like stadium seating for pigeons.

... Two tickets on one car. Is this overkill - by whom, the owner or the police?