22 August 2007
Traffic Guy
The Traffic Guy Hears...
... that the storms over the weekend and the early part of the week left us all soaking or worse. Lightning shattered the top part of a tree on Oakton in southeast Evanston, and in the northerly part of the City, freshly paved Hawthorne Lane was a four-inch-deep pond.
... that the Church Street garage will soon be automated, just like the Maple Avenue and Sherman Avenue garages. Take your ticket with you and pay at the pay station or - coming soon - get yourself a transponder and just drive out of any of the City's three downtown garages. In addition, say the City folks, the Maple Avenue Self-Park customers will see a "significant improvement in equipment reliability, convenience and speed": the elimination of in-lane cashiers and booths; new paystation machines installed in elevator lobbies; and ticketless entry using credit cards. If you take a ticket at the entrance, you can pay only by credit card at the exit. No more cash.
... that the City has issued a letter of intent to the Illinois Department of Transportation indicating a willingness to accept the transfer of jurisdiction of Sheridan Road from South Boulevard up to Isabella from the State to us.
... that Maple from Emerson to Simpson will be getting a new 8-inch-diameter water main, replacing the 6-inch one there. In the meantime, crews will be doing some modifications at Foster and Maple, intermittently preventing through traffic in the intersections. One of those "modifications" apparently was the severing of a gas main at Simpson and Maple. Where's JULIE? Check out page 4 of this paper for a pic and some more of the story.
... that BP apparently still intends to super-pollute Lake Michigan.
Even though prices have gone down somewhat recently, here's what they
were charging in southern Wisconsin two weeks ago, and here's what
they were getting in Skokie earlier this week.
... that NU was testing its emergency sirens at 1 p.m. last week at the lakefill - on Aug. 10 and 13. Don't be scared if you hear them when the City tests: the first Tuesday of the month at 10 a.m.
... that developers would like to put in a 21-unit residential development at Lee and Chicago (1001 Chicago Ave.). The previous proposal is no longer operational, and now they'd like to have three-story townhomes, 20 feet wide by 40 feet deep, seven facing Chicago Ave., eight along the back and six in the middle. The units will be 2,200-3,700 square feet. These are not small.
... that, speaking of not small, there is already a movement afoot
opposing the proposed 49-story tower.
... that, regarding new development, Council is considering a ban on "windowless habitable spaces" in new construction.
... that the City is considering increasing the rate charged for water service lines used for fire protection. Is that another way to get some cash from NU?
... that the City is also going to make some improvements to the animal shelter, on Oakton Street just west of James Park. C.A.R.E., the Community Animal Rescue Effort, will continue to operate the shelter.
... that, in addition, the City is considering adding some land along Dempster and east of Dodge - as well as some of the Mayfair right-of-way up near Simpson - to the West Side TIF. Speaking of the West Side, TG hears that the City may wish to use part of the area of the ComEd station there for parking.
... that our police department finished third in this year's Illinois Traffic Safety Challenge, sponsored by the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Three hundred police departments across the State competed in the following areas: speed enforcement, occupant restraint and impaired driving. Sounds like a P.D. triathlon: giving tickets for speeding, not wearing seat belts and driving while impaired. Our P.D. won a hand-held radar unit, which they received at the ceremony on Aug. 8. They do say that seat-belt compliance is at an all-time high of 90.1 percent.
... that BEHIV will again field a team in the AIDS Foundation of Chicago's AIDS Walk and Run, to be held this year on Sept. 15 in Grant Park. For more information or to join the BEHIV team, contact Eric Nelson at 847-475-2115, extension 104 or ericnelson@behiv.org.
... that this is skunk season, when not just the fruit and vegetables but also the garbage will ripen in the heat. Watch out. TG heard of an episode in which a skunk fell through the ivy covering a window well. The kindhearted householder knew the only way to get the skunk out was to give it an exit ramp, but she also understood that getting anything into the window well was going to excite the skunk to the point of spraying. So she tipped in, first, a cooler lid and then a piece of wood. Sure enough, the skunk managed to escape, spraying the front of the house in gratitude.
... that there's a lot of other wildlife around. Andrew Plichta took
a picture of a fox on Lincoln east of Ridge.
And
a couple of early-morning walkers followed these deer (note the budding
velvet antlers)
along McDaniel from Simpson to Perkins Woods one morning.
... that Aug. 27 has been called "the day the Whole World is waiting for: the planet Mars will come within 34.65 Million miles of earth and will look to the naked eye as large as the full moon. At 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 27 earth could look like it has two moons; the next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.
The Traffic Guy thinks...
... that it's back to school for us all in less than two weeks. Watch
out for little ones crossing the street. Thank goodness our school
bus service isn't this hapless one.
... that if bikers want to be taken seriously, they have to take the rules of the road seriously. When someone on a bike cruises through a stop sign or swerves in front of a car without so much as a signal, it's dangerous for everyone, and it adds to the contempt that some drivers and some bikers seem to feel toward each other.
... this would-be Wallenda has a lot of patience as well as balance,
walking on a tightrope about a foot above the grass.
... that if the high school continues to keep that tacky lighted sign along Dodge Avenue, they should at least update the crawl. Here it is the middle of August and at late as last week the sign is hawking July meetings.
... Here are some really neat sunflowers. TG likes the dark and maroon sunflowers, but if they're not grown with the sunny ones, they can look pretty scary.
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RoundTable Staff
Evanston Weathers the Storm: City Wants Reports of Uninsured Losses
:: Crackling lightning, downed trees, sheeting rain
and a this-is-not-a-test emergency alert siren interrupted an otherwise
humdrum Thursday afternoon on Aug. 23.
The report of a funnel cloud heading toward Rogers Park triggered the decision to sound the siren and herd everyone at the Civic Center into the basement for safety reasons, said Max Rubin, director of emergency management for the City.
Businesses and residences throughout the City experienced power outages, traffic that was not halted by standing water was slowed as traffic lights blinked red only, transforming most major intersections into four-way stops.
Three nursing homes found themselves without power; two were able to operate on emergency generators, Mr. Rubin said. The third evacuated its residents to another nursing home in Chicago; the power was restored almost as soon as the evacuation was completed, he said.
Evanston was not hit as hard as Wilmette and Winnetka, its neighbors to the north, but there was enough debris to keep the Parks/Forestry crews busy through Saturday.
Neighbors ran extension cords to houses without power to keep sub-pumps pumping and made collective "ice-runs" to keep food, drink and medicines cool.
By Saturday afternoon, much of the power had been restored as well, though as of Monday evening there were 77 reports of people still without electricity, said Mr. Rubin.
He added that Cook County officials are requesting reports of "people's uninsured losses." Send reports of these losses to mrubin@cityofevanston.org.
Learn more about the City of Evanston E-Notice regarding the storm...
Evanston Hospital to Close Nursing Care Center
Evanston Hospital is planning to close its 32-bed Transitional Care Center (TCC) by February 2008. The closing marks the first step by Evanston Northwestern Healthcare (ENH) in its long-term plan to replace the current building housing the Kellogg Cancer Care Center with a new facility. Hospital administrators also cited a surplus of nursing care beds in the area and have contacted local nursing homes willing to take patients usually referred to the TCC.
"We have identified that there is a greater need for cancer care services in Evanston," said Raymond Grady, president of hospitals and clinics at Evanston Hospital. Mr. Grady said he expects the construction of the new center to begin in late 2008.
The space used by the TCC will serve as a temporary home for the cancer center.
"I have to [temporarily move] the current cancer care center to other parts of the hospital," said Mr. Grady. MORE...
Basque Readers of the RoundTable
Bulldozing Evanston: Waste Makes Space
Four major demolition and replacement projects are going on in Evanston: the former Kendall College property at 2408 Orrington Ave., the Mather Lifeways properties at 1615 Hinman Ave. and 422 Davis St., the City's Fire Station #5 at 2830 Central St. and the former Evanston movie theater site, together with a single-family house at 1716 Central St.
Before the wrecking ball touches the first brick, the City must receive assurances that the razing will be done properly.
"When a demolition permit is filed," said City Community Development Department Director James Wolinski, "the demolition company goes through a process with us. Safety is paramount, so the process is the same whether it is a City demolition or a private one."
Utilities are turned off, phone and Internet connections disconnected, a construction fence is placed around the entire site and a release must be obtained from the Cook County EPA after testing for such potential hazards as lead paint is completed. For a major site, a plan is worked out for the hours and routes of workers entering and leaving.
Inspectors frequently stop by to monitor the situation, and the City must respond to citizen complaints. Contractors must keep the street clean in the event of mud, construct a sidewalk canopy to protect pedestrians if the usual pedestrian route is impeded, and hose down the site to control dust. MORE...
