Traffic Guy

The Traffic Guy Hears ...

... that AT&T crews were doing some underground repairs recently.

... that NU has installed a new outdoor alert system. They tested it for the first time last week and from now on there will be regular monthly tests at 10 a.m. on the first Tuesday of the month. This is the time all municipal warning systems throughout the state are tested.

... speaking of alarms, TG has heard some alarming news: Four of the gray foxes in the Evanston/Skokie area that readers of this column were alerted to last month have been found dead, including two that were collared. Two apparently were hit by a car and one was found dead under a porch. There is great concern that these animals may have been poisoned - perhaps consumed poisoned bait that was set out for other animals. Anyone who sees any of these gray foxes alive or who has seen any dead foxes, raccoons or coyotes is asked to call 847-428-6331, ext. 1.

... that LSL Industries, a manufacturing company, plans to expand to Evanston. The company has purchased the building on Dempster that used to be the Minasian Rug warehouse. LSL packages and sells various disposable medical devices and hospital supplies, such as surgical trays, plastic basins and - yep - bed pans. One of the good things about this is that LSL hopes to hire about 40 people, many of them Evanstonians, and to establish a training program at the high school.

... that the City is going to purchase two solid-wastepacker vehicles for Streets and San. Fire engine #320 will be refurbished. Speaking of fire equipment, fire and life safety crews will be testing fire hydrants later this month. Crews open the hydrants to allow the water to gush for a few minutes, a procedure that provides, the City says, "valuable information on the status of the hydrant water system." The testing will continue 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. through May 31. Do not be alarmed if you notice discoloration in your tap water afterward - just let the water run a bit until the discoloration has subsided.

... that the City is going to make some structural repairs to the parking deck at the City's service center on Asbury.

... that NU is going to put a five-story addition on its Technological Institute to house engineering life sciences programs at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. It will be built on the parking lot on the north side of Tech between the B and C wings. Construction is expected to begin in June 2009 and be completed two years later. 

... that the City has declared the
emerald ash borer an official nuisance, joining Dutch elm disease. (One would have thought the elm bark beetle rather than the disease would be the nuisance.) Apparently the community has lost more than 600 ash trees to the bugs, and there is no known way to control them.

... that the old Asbury Market might again see a grocery store. Farmers Best Market, a family-owned "chain" of grocery stores plans to establish its third store there. Owner Nick Merikas says they sell "fresh produce, fresh meats and fresh deli." They are hoping to be able to have a small selection of beer and wine, but, as this goes to press, that was a sticking point with CVS, which still has several years on the lease there. TG hears folks in the area are chomping at the bit for a grocery store - and, with luck: Tada! Alderman Ann Rainey said she thought CVS was a great citizen of Evanston for having held out for a really fine tenant there. If things work out, the City might negotiate a sales-tax-sharing agreement with Farmers Best, similar to the one with the developer of Evanston Plaza.

Speaking of Evanston Plaza, TG hears that a Steve and Barry's clothing store may be coming to the former Frank's Nursery spot in the southwest corner of Evanston Plaza at Dempster and Dodge. This is principally an athletic clothing store. There used to be one in the old Sak's building at Old Orchard, and now there is one in Schaumburg and one in Highland Park. The developer wants to up the ante on the sales-tax-sharing deal because of the additional expenses involved in getting ready for Steve and Barry, but - hey - it's a tenant in a place that's been empty (except seasonally) for quite a few years.

... that early information from the Midwestern Regional Climate Center showed both precipitation and snowfall totals this winter were "significantly above average" for much of the state, says state climatologist Jim Angel of the Illinois State Water Survey (www.sws.uiuc.edu), a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. He says the unusual weather is due to several strong low-pressure systems moving along a southwest-to-northeast track in the Midwest, leaving heavy snows in a band from Kansas to the Wisconsin-Illinois border, where snowfall totals are 50-100 percent above average. And there were those "rapidly fluctuating temperatures." Mr. Angel said, "This is some of the most dramatic winter weather I have ever seen - from heavy and frequent snowfalls to spring-like temperatures and severe weather.... On Super Bowl Sunday, it was 32 degrees with 6 inches of snow on the ground in central Illinois, and we had a thunderstorm. I have never seen it before and never would have believed it could happen."

Locally, the Good Friday snowstorm gave us this 6-foot, pink-eared Easter bunny, created by Leo and Ben Weingarten on Hartrey Avenue near Grant Street in northwest Evanston.

... that some environmental groups, notably the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago (RHAMC) and the Clean Air Task Force, are rejoicing over the Environmental Protection Agency's final rule requiring new and many remanufactured diesel locomotives and coastal and inland marine engines to clean up their engines. According to a statement from those groups, the new standards will require these engines to reduce "soot" or particulate pollution by 90 percent and reduce smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 80 percent.

... that the president of the District 65 School Board recently complained about how much staff time is taken up when citizens file FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests. She stopped short of asking citizens to stop filing them. Ironically, her comments came during Sunshine Week, a "national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information" (per www.sunshineweek.org.).

... that a couple of readers responded to TG's query about the location of brick streets here in town. They all seem to be confined to locations near the Civic Center: Wesley and Asbury north of Noyes. Grant Street was brick until about 33 years ago, TG hears.

The Traffic Guy Thinks...

... that President Bush is wishing a spending surge upon us all. How much did it cost to mail out the notices that the checks are coming? How many teachers would that money alone have hired? How many children inoculated? How many potholes filled? How many bridges rebuilt?

... that the developers of the proposed tower propose to answer the question "Where is downtown Evanston?" with their tall building. TG thought the answer was always "Fountain Square."

... remember, street cleaning starts this week. Plan your parking accordingly.

It's not every Easter that you get the opportunity to make a 6-foot tall snow bunny. This snow bunny was built by Benjamin (age 9) and Leo (6) Weingarten.