What do we value?

Here again, we face the destruction of a historic Rogers Park building. This one to make parking. Lakefront property used for private parking. How sad. One need only take a trip over to Winthrop in Edgewater where once stood architectural marvels of single family homes but now is a 4+1 corridor to see what regret is.

I have written my letters to the Alderman's office, which is about all I can do right now. I'm just too busy at work to get more involved. If you give a damn, at least write a letter. It might help you sleep better at night.

Dear Alderman Moore,

I sent the below letter to your office back in July. I realize it's easy to say "no" to teardowns but then provide no alternative, HOWEVER, if preservation is so important to you AS YOU SAY IT IS and preservation of the lakefront is so important to you AS YOU SAY IT IS, then where have the community meetings been to solicit help from the community? Maybe you think is another Adelphi Theater situation? If so, I believe you are mistaken.

Taking a beautiful and priceless piece of lakefront land and making it private parking is really a screwed up use of land. It just doesn't make sense, except for a few selfish people.
I am requesting that you hold a few community meetings to solicit ideas for saving this building. I would also ask if Dev Corp has done anything to help with this?

I just don't see how you can justify this kind of land use on that piece of property. Regardless of the zoning etc... A stand must be taken by our leaders to ask for better land use.

Best regards

Spree Litter Bug on the Loose


This morning, Trash Detective found the telltale evidence of a crime in the exact same spot as the other two instances earlier this week.

TD immediately removed the bags and examined the contents (wearing gloves).


Finding the same style of precise tying of the bags together (see exhibit A photo at left), the large quantity of Swanson dinner packages and diapers, as well as the location of the crime scene, TD considers "Thia" a person of interest in this case.

Today, the suspect left his or her personal life out for public display. See exhibit B, the "love note" found amongst the debris.

The frequent occurrence of the dumping, has led TD to believe that "Thia" is on a spree and must be stopped.

A call has been placed to a certain building manager about a certain tenant. And a sign naming a certain suspect was placed on said suspects entry door. The suspect has been warned that they are under surveillance.

This is level one of a trash intervention. This is what people do who care, people like the Trash Detective.

Trash Detective called to duty

TD has been on a hiatus for a while but it's winter and with winter seems to come a certain laziness for some people. Lately, we've seen posts about errant dog owners and slacking shovelers, but winter can also bring people too slothful to walk 10 feet to a trash bin and instead use the public way as a convenient dump.

Note to lazy bums- Trash needs to be dumped in bins and secure to prevent the spread of vermin and disease. If everyone left their trash on the corner, we'd be living in India (and I know people that have been there and told me what the conditions are like-people literally crap at the side of the road etc...)

Note to SSA 24: This trash showed up Monday morning Dec. 16th and it's right on the SSA route. Why was it still there tonight Weds. Dec. 18th, when TD decided to remove it? It was filled with dirty diapers and food garbage and was a public health hazard.

Trash Detective has decided to forensically profile this offender. You can tell alot about a person from their trash. Sometimes more than you want to know. Note to any amateur Trash Detectives: Always Wear Gloves when examining trash.

Exhibit A: Food & Beverage

Suspect eats primarily processed and packaged foods with high sodium content. No fresh vegetables, very little fruit, many 40 ounce cans of Miller, an occasional Heineken, frozen waffles, Swanson dinners. Suspect appears to have a child in diapers, but it is not apparent what the child eats except frozen dinners.

Exhibit B: DNA Evidence

Suspect appears to have heavy build up of ear wax due to abnormal accumulation or lack of proper hygiene. Fingerprint evidence has not come back from the lab yet.

Exhibit C: Circumstantial Evidence

Mail found inside trash bags indicate a female perpetrator by the name of Thia, residing at 1303 W. Morse and runs a hair salon of some sort. This evidence leads TD to suspect that Thia is the guilty party.

Exhibit C: Psychological Profile

Suspect appears to have no fear of identity theft as personal financial documents were found unshredded in bags.

Bags were tied very precisely and tidily, showing premeditation, careful planning and possibly the knowledge that what they were doing was wrong as the bags were prepared for easy dumping and transporting.

Bags were found less than 10 feet from large dumpsters leading TD to suspect perpetrator is mild sociopath of some sort or just plain stupid.

Trash Detective Final Analysis: Offender is a serial dumper and unless stopped, will continue and probably move on to more extreme forms of littering.

Bring "Johnny" home for Christmas

Lost Dog - $5,000 Reward - last seen in River North area on Friday afternoon 12/7.

Male Newfoundland, black with white paws and chest - 125 pounds, neutered -

responds to “Johnny”, Very gentle.

Wearing a thin brown nylon collar no tags, has chip

Needs medical attention

(773) 251 -2521
(773) 841-4242

A need for reform

In case you missed it, the Tribune had a very good series last week called "Shielded from the Truth", the rush to clear police shootings.

As I have posted on this blog, I attend CAPs and I tend to be pretty sympathetic to the police. It's a difficult job and I respect them for doing it. When people start up with conspiracy theories about police planting guns, I tend to raise an eyebrow and be skeptical. That's just where my experience takes me. Pretty much every dealing I've had with police in my life has been positive.

Even the one time I was arrested as a Freshman in college for stealing a bar glass (it was a small town), and I acted like a drunken imbecile, the police were fair with me.

I recognize that other people cite different experiences and that these experiences might give them a different point of view. For example, a co-worker of mine has a black teen aged son. She said he was terrified of the police. She told me one time the police stopped him and asked "where he got his Ipod?" He was prepared and pulled out a receipt. It made me think, "What if he didn't have one?"

I could go on with different examples of situations that I know go on and which give many people a different feeling about the police than I have. But instead, I'll just suggest you take a look at the good coverage from the Tribune.

In the article and in many of the cases cited, things just don't seem right. Cases were closed before forensics were in. These are the cases that end up being lawsuits that the city paid through the nose for.

I know in life, stuff happens, but we have to deal with it. We can't just cover it up because the people involved are public servants and the poor and disenfranchised.

After reading the articles, my eyes were a bit more opened about what the situation is here in Chicago. As someone who questioned the need to release the list of names of police with numerous complaints against them, quite honestly, the article gave me pause.

Watch out for those "Jocelyns"

You never know what they might be capable of... But at least this one appreciates the finer things. There is something to be said for that.

Uptown ahead of the curve on Preservation

Yet another area in Uptown is being designated a historic landmark district. I am a big fan of preservation. If we tear down all the old, we lose our connection with the past. Why is that bad? Well, some of us look back in history and see some things we like to be reminded of. Not that we want to go back because we all know nostalgia is just that, nostalgia. But in some ways, it seems to me, that we aimed higher in the past. The example that often comes to mind is the period around the 1893 World's Fair, when we wanted to show the world what we could do.

When I look at an old building, more times that not, I see that we don't make them like that anymore. Where are the limestone lintels? The stonework? Decorative woodwork? Ironwork?
Not done anymore, unless you are very rich.

It pleases me to think that at some point, people valued something more than the dollar. It seems that they wanted to leave a legacy and build something that would last. Even many of the most common and middle class buildings from 100 years ago have nice architectural details. And look how they have lasted.

Chicago City Council panel advances plans for 18 possible landmarks
December 4, 2007

Proposals to confer landmark status on a dozen vintage railroad bridges, a North Side residential district and five buildings were advanced Monday at a City Council committee meeting.

Most of the bridges, representing a variety of designs, were built in the early 20th Century. They span the Chicago River, Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, and the Calumet River.

The buildings headed for landmark status, assuming the full City Council approves, are the Old Chicago Coast Guard Station at the mouth of the Chicago River; the Roanoke Building and Tower, 11 S. LaSalle St.; the Continental and Commercial National Bank Building, 208 S. LaSalle St.; the privately owned 1880s-era firehouse at 228 W. Illinois St.; and the multicolored, terra cotta-clad Vesemen Building, 444 N. LaSalle St.

The Dover Street residential district in Uptown's Sheridan Park neighborhood includes single-family houses and small apartment buildings on Dover and Beacon Streets and on Leland, Lawrence, Sunnyside and Wilson Avenues. The "threat of tear downs" has galvanized local support for landmark designation, one resident told the committee.


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