Longwood Drive construction update

Longwood has been reopened to traffic.

non sequitur Friday

Three on a theme: holiday. How are you spending your holiday weekend?

water main breaks in the neighborhood and Longwood detour

5/23 UPDATE:  As of 6:00 p.m., the 9600 block of Longwood was still closed to traffic.

This morning (5/22) when I turned on the tap, the water pressure seemed a bit off.  Later in the morning, I got an email from our alderman explaining why.

Last night's storm caused the Roseland pumping station to temporarily shut down.  When service was restored, the resulting water pressure caused several water mains in the Beverly / Morgan Park community to break.  As a result, several thousand area residents awoke to either no water service or low pressure.
Currently, crews from the Department of Water Management are addressing damage at the following five locations:

- 8800 block of S. Longwood Dr.
- 9500 block of S. Hoyne Ave.
- 1900 block of W. 95th St.
- 10500 block of S. Seeley Ave.
- 1700 block of W. 105th Pl.

The Department of Water Management will coordinate efforts with the other utilities and make the necessary repairs as quickly as possible.  

UPDATE:   Crews from the City's Department of Water Management have been working since late last night to repair several broken water mains in the Beverly community. Currently, three of the original five breaks have been repaired.  Work is near completion at 88th & Longwood Dr. & 105th & Seeley Ave.  The Department of Water Management estimates completing these repairs with water restored by 7:00 pm this evening.

During the course of the day, a sixth break was discovered in the 1700 block of W. 99th St.  Repair work at this location will begin tomorrow.
In addition to the locations listed above, I noticed this on my way home from the 95th St. Metra station.

Water Management is currently excavating on Longwood Dr. just south of 96th. Longwood is CLOSED to traffic between 96th and 97th. Due to equipment and materials currently stored on 96th around the corner, turning to or from 96th is difficult. You may want to avoid the intersection of 96th and Longwood until this project is completed.

non sequitur Friday

Three on a theme: funk.

Here's a little warm-up.

non sequitur Friday

Three on a theme: magic.

farmers market season is here!

Chicago's farmers market season starts this weekend.  Our Beverly market will start its season this Sunday May 12 at 95th and Longwood, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

For more information on other downtown and neighborhood markets, click here.

a transportation alternative to help beat the red line shutdown blues

Are you concerned about how the red line shutdown (starting 5/19) may affect your ability to get around?  I-Go might be a workable answer if you only need a car for occasional trips and you have the ability to plan your trips in advance.  They have a variety of plans for different driving needs.

I don't own a car and sometimes need to visit friends in Hyde Park, Avalon Park or other locations that I can't reach easily using transit, especially at night.  For some of those trips, I-Go gets me there safely without the need to make multiple transfers between buses and trains.   Without the red line, some destinations will be tougher to reach, so I'm grateful to have another option for trips I might not want to take by bike.

If you decide to give I-Go a try, please mention on the application that you heard about it here on Ridge99.  Thanks!

non sequitur Friday

Here's a long one, featuring the fine New Orleans sounds of Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue. Happy Friday!

 

Is your bike safe?

In the last few years, bike theft has increased in the neighborhood.  I often see bikes at and near our Metra stations that are only secured against the most amateur thieves and are left all day, vulnerable to the first thief with a bolt cutter.  The cable locks that were sufficient when many of us were kids are a joke to today's bike thieves.

This blog post contains a lot of good tips about how to lock your bike, and highlights some common mistakes.