Politics & coffee on Tues. 10/13

The next Politics & Coffee is happening on Tues. 10/13 from 6-8 pm.
RSVP at: bit.ly/october13coffee 

The next Politics & Coffee is happening TOMORROW -  Tues. 9/8 in #Beverly. #19thWard

RSVP: bit.ly/september8coffee

Save the date - politics & coffee on Tues. 9/8

 Save the date for Politics & Coffee - Tues. 9/8 in #Beverly.

#MorganPark #19thWard RSVP bit.ly/september8coffee

Politics & coffee on Tues. 5/12

 

95th St. farmers market

 The 95th St. farmers market starts this Sunday 5/4 - yeah!  It's open from 8 am to 1 pm at the park and ride lot at 95th and Longwood.

the dangers of 99th St.

On a recent morning, I saw yet another example of why speed cameras are needed on 99th St. and why the current location at Vanderpoel is ridiculously ineffective for the stated goal of safer crossings at 99th and Walden.

A line of cars had stopped for a young family in the crosswalk at Walden. Suddenly there was a screech of brakes from a car that raced downhill past Longwood, not anticipating that anyone might need to cross the street. The driver nearly rear ended the line of stopped cars, then she crossed center line and blasted past the young family and other people trying to cross from the other side of 99th. She zoomed across the tracks, nearly hitting another car head on before veering back across the center line. It happened so fast that I didn't get a chance to get a video.

Westbound view of camera from 99th & Vanderpoel

Westbound view from 99th & Prospect

Westbound view from 99th & Wood. Next crosswalk is Walden.

Eastbound view from 99th & Longwood

The camera location is almost 2 blocks east of Walden and is totally ineffective for slowing traffic at Walden. Now there are new crossing guards at Walden - often the only way to give anyone a fighting chance of getting across safely at morning and afternoon rush hour with this ridiculous camera placement.

Eastbound signage placement is equally idiotic, with the 20 mph school speed limit less than 20 feet before the 30 mph park speed limit sign, which makes the 20 mph  sign completely useless for school crossings.

It would make SO much more sense to have the camera a lot closer to Walden so that it actually helps to slow down drivers there. This is just one more example of how lack of enforcement (since 2020, especially) has encouraged drivers who don't care about anyone else to do whatever they want. The rest of us should NOT have to keep dealing with the consequences.Will it take someone being killed or seriously injured by a reckless drivers to get a GOOD solution here. Enough already!

weekend events in the neighborhood

There's lots of good stuff happening this weekend.

99th & Walden block party on Saturday - info here

Live music (Railway Gamblers) at Horse Thief Hollow - info here

95th St. farmers market on Sunday - info here

Summer Solstice Uprising Market and Art Festival on Sunday - info here

Have a great weekend!

get to know Tim Noonan

Tim Noonan is doing online Tuesday meet and greet sessions. Each week there will be a different topic. Tim says: "I know a lot of people cannot make meet and greets, but I want to give you the opportunity to meet me and see where I stand on different subjects. Sounds fun, right? "

Scroll down the on the home page to sign up.

safer crossings

UPDATE: Since this was first published in August of 2017, I've seen a marked difference on 97th and Longwood and at 99th and Walden. Drivers are stopping and yielding much more often, at a rate I never would have imagined 10 years ago. It's still not perfect, but it's a huge improvement.

Another thing that's changed in that time is the addition of Nicky's at 105th and Western. They've been busy, and limited parking often hurts them. This is another reason to consider adding a pedestrian refuge island on the north side of the intersection.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The challenge of safely crossing our major streets continues, with minimal assistance from our alderman. The addition of signs by the crosswalks at 97th and Longwood and the restriping of the crosswalks has helped a little. Now a few drivers are stopping and yielding to pedestrians crossing to/from Ridge Park instead of none at all. Many people need to cross here - folks with young children going to the playground, people walking their dogs, or anyone else using or passing through the park. For some, difficulty in being able to cross safely means that they drive to the park instead of walking. This makes the problem worse.

97th and Longwood, adjacent to Ridge Park
(2017 view)

Meanwhile, we still have trouble crossing at locations like 95th and Hoyne (Southtown Health Foods, Top Notch, the new Barraco's location, and other businesses), 95th and Longwood (Jimmy Jamm, farmers markets, etc.), 95th and Oakley (Chipotle, Chase Bank and others) 104th and Western (Horse Thief Hollow, Boot Camp Fitness, Dunkin Donuts, etc.) and others. These businesses have limited parking. Traffic and demand for parking often drive away potential customers. 

If more people feel comfortable crossing the street in these locations, we could see a lot of benefits: more customers served at businesses without parking being an issue, reduction in speeding, reduction in crashes, people getting more exercise, more interaction between people in the neighborhood, etc.

Under current conditions, when a class is in session at Boot Camp Fitness, Horse Thief Hollow often loses potential business because nearby parking is maxed out. This happens every single week. We could create a safer crossing at 105th and Western to make it easier for people to walk or bike from the east side of Western.

105th and Western - with visualization
of concrete median

Southtown Health Foods' parking is often maxed out, and overflow ends up conflicting with customers for Top Notch, with the result of people parking across the crosswalk and in other illegal spots. Improving crossing conditions isn't a complete solution here, but any reduction in parking demand can make a positive difference.

95th at Hoyne with visualization of yield sign

The strip mall on 95th between Oakley and Claremont (Chipotle, Chase Bank and other businesses) has always had a problem with parking and traffic. That's not a fun place to cross 95th. It's been steadily losing businesses in the last few years (Panera Bread, Athletico Physical Therapy and others). Parking is only one factor, but it makes a difference. Without a fair number of people walking or biking there, the amount of parking available isn't enough to support those businesses. I almost always walk or bike there, but I don't have much company in my choice of non-motorized transportation.

When I stopped to take the photo below, the parking lot was nearly full, and there was a line of several cars waiting for someone to back out of a space. The backup extended a few cars into the righthand westbound lane of 95th. There was enough traffic that a bus was trapped behind the line of waiting cars, and all the people on that bus ended up having to sit and wait for the parking lot jam to clear up. I had to wait several minutes for a break in traffic to be able to cross to the middle of the street to take the photo, and a few more minutes to get back to the curb. No one would even slow down.

95th St. fits the definition of a stroad - a wide street with higher travel speeds designed to funnel traffic. Stroads kill - not just pedestrians and cyclists, but people in cars, as mentioned in the linked article.

95th at Oakley with visualization of yield sign

95th at Longwood with visualization of yield sign

I've written previously about problems at 99th and Walden, adjacent to All Day Montessori, the 99th St. Metra station, Beverly Montessori and several nearby businesses. The lack of significant pedestrian improvements was a big missed opportunity when the streetscape project was finished last year. I've seen some improvement in driver behavior at that location since the project was completed, but I attribute that mostly to pedestrians insisting on their legal right of way and forcing drivers to stop.

99th at Walden (2017 view)

Of course, all the infrastructure tweaks in the world won't make a significant dent in the problem unless we get some enforcement on the speeding that is such a major problem on 95th, Western, 99th, 111th and other streets in the ward. We need ticket writing blitzes - in random places at random times - with no exceptions for off-duty first responders and special people. I appreciate those few drivers who do stop. The rest need an incentive.

a small Metra change

 You may notice a small change at neighborhood Metra stations soon. They are adding platform number signage and coordinating with boarding announcements. 

 

This should be helpful for new or occasional riders and when track construction or other issues cause trains to be shifted to a track that's not the norm.

survey for Metra Rock Island riders - and those who don't ride often due to frustrations

I've had so many conversations with various people in recent years about Metra's shortcomings and ways that they fail to serve our communities well.  When Metra does customer surveys, they often fail to ask the right questions. I'm offering an unofficial survey. I'm going to share the results with Active Transportation Alliance.

Here's a link to the survey.   It's fairly brief.  If you could spend a few minutes sharing your thoughts, I'd be grateful for the information. Yes, I did include comment fields.

Thanks for your help.  Please share this with friends who ride the Rock Island.

coming soon to 99th St.

An exciting new garden center is coming to 99th St. this spring. City Grange will be opening in the former Thamms Auto space just east of Longwood Dr.

Their offerings will be a welcome change from the usual. Their first store opened on the north side.  It grew out of the Peterson Garden Project. 

I'm looking forward to this new addition to the neighborhood.

thoughts on dreams and loss

It seems like openings and closings of local businesses often come in waves. Over the last several weeks, a few places I've appreciated have closed.

First was Peace of Pizza on 95th St. They weren't with us long. I appreciated their goal in opening here and miss being able to stop by and pick up a slice on my way home from the train.

Next was Ellie's on 107th St. For years, they've been one of my favorite places for a tasty breakfast. I've introduced lots of friends to their delicious food and fun space. I've had so many good times there, including dinners with the Spanish language group that migrated from Blue Moon after they closed.

A sign recently appeared on the front door of Jimmy Jamm on 95th, saying that they were closing. They opened soon after we moved to the neighborhood. So many times I've stopped there on my way home from work to pick up a special treat, bought a pie for a holiday party or special occasion, or gone there at the end of the bike ride with friends. They opened my eyes to how many amazing things can be made with sweet potatoes. It was an after-ride destination for many bike outings over the years.

Jimmy Jamm - sweet potato pies and lots more

Now B-Sides has just closed.  I've visited there so many mornings on my way to the train, met up with friends, relaxed on weekend mornings, and enjoyed the music and relaxing space.

For many of us, these places have been homes away from home, social gathering places and introductions to wonderful flavors.  It's frustrating that some of had such extreme difficulties with burglaries, street construction and other problems.

To the owners and all the people who have worked hard there, thank you for sharing your dreams and your hard work with us. You've helped to make our community and our lives better. The neighborhood won't be the same without what you've brought to it.

To those who are coming soon, we welcome you, plan to buy from you and hope that you'll stick around a while.

Sign in the window of the former Peace of Pizza location on 95th.

sad news in the neighborhood

I heard a bit of sad news today. Ellie's Cafe on 107th St. will be closing for good. We will lose their delicious food and charming ambiance after Monday.

Being hit by several periods of street construction/closures (mostly water/sewer), which put a real dent in their income over many months during the last few years. Burglaries didn't help either. Those are just the factors I know about. I suspect that there may be more.

We've enjoyed many delicious meals and pleasant conversations there. We will miss Ellie's.

tomorrow night - community conversation about Divvy on 10/30

next week - community conversation about Divvy on 10/30

Could you spend a minute or two taking a survey to give the Divvy folks a bit of info about where you like to ride and how you might use Divvy?  Here's the link.

Divvy survey

The team working on Divvy community outreach has created a survey to get information from people in the neighborhood - how they might use Divvy, what they know about the program so far, where they'd like stations, etc.

Click here to take the survey. It only takes a minute or two.

Thank you for offering information to help Divvy bring us the best experience for our neighborhood.

save the date - Divvy community conversation on Wed. 10/30

Major Taylor Trail community ride with Divvy tomorrow (Sat. 10/12)

Have you been curious about where the Major Taylor Trail goes?  Have you tried Divvy? This Saturday morning you can try both.

Friends of the Major Taylor Trail are partnering with Divvy to offer a few short, easy tour options on the trail.

Start location:  119th and Halsted, southeast corner
Hours:  9 am to noon
Routes:  to Whistler Woods, to 105th St. or to Dan Ryan Woods - and back
Pace:   leisurely

All rides with Divvy bikes with be guided. Adults will need to leave a driver's license or state ID as a deposit for a bike. No one under 18 rides a Divvy with out an adult sponsor.

We hope you can join us on Saturday.

Coming soon to a location near you

Morgan Park United Methodist Church will host a collection of household electronics and hazardous waste this Saturday 10/5, 8:30 to 11 a.m. at 11030 S. Longwood Dr.

This event is sponsored by the Green Sanctuary Group of the Unitarian Church. Donations are encouraged to help cover costs. 

The following items will NOT be accepted: freon, incandescent bulbs, appliances, alkaline batteries, bio-hazardous products, needles, latex/acrylic/water-based paints, caulk or cleaning products, or other water soluble products.

Accepted items include: computers, monitors, printers, laptops, small electronics, small TVs, cell phones and pagers, mercury fluorescent bulbs, rechargeable batteries, mercury thermometers, anti-freeze, used motor oil, oil based-paints, paint thinner, aerosol paints, batteries, lawn chemicals, hobby and photographic chemicals, pool chemicals and solvents.  Hazardous items must be properly sealed.

They will also accept clean styrofoam items (except packing peanuts). Textbooks and eyeglasses will be accepted for reuse or recycling. 

For more information, click here or call 773-708-5111.