Chicago River appreciation post

The new Bally’s casino continues to take shape

The most congested parts of Chicagoland roadways aren't actually in the Loop, so instead of a cordon we should be looking at tolling the radial expressways, all of which are paralleled by free surface streets and high-capacity frequent transit: two important equity considerations for new tolls.

I’m generally an optimist but after seeing the impacts from the heatwave to the west…I’m not excited for this summer. We are simply not prepared for the weather extremes that are *currently happening* let alone the weather we’ll see in the next few years.

“Old homes have so much more character than new buildings” Okay well I kept my century old apartment at 67° (64° overnight) and had gas bills over $200 every month this winter. Never homes have better insulation, and don’t have rats in the basement!

Even facing a global fertilizer shortage and potential food crisis, Midwest politicians have no vision for American agriculture beyond using precious resources and land to grow ethanol to burn. The senior Senator from Minnesota:

This is genuinely a troubling trend. I love the CTA, recognize that it’s safer than driving, and look forward to the NITE reforms. But advocates (including myself) can’t ignore this. We need to push for better security and stronger bans against repeat offenders.

Chicagohenge is peaking rn get out there

Foot traffic is insane rn on Southport. Not a single empty storefront on this 8 block stretch. Tons of friendly faces! Great neighborhood design isn’t complicated: -dense mix of stores + housing -build near public transit. Don’t worry about providing parking -trees

I've seen enough, let's get this rolled out citywide asap!

Just saw the Project Hail Mary premiere last night. Maybe it’s because the source material was so good, but that was the best film adaptation of a book that I’ve ever seen. Incredibly faithful to how I imagined the story while reading.

Jesus. Paying a French company a billion dollars *not* to build a wind farm.

Do you live on Chicago’s north side? Nick Uniejewski deserves your vote for state senate (if you live in the 6th district!) Here’s my video explaining why:

All signs continue to point to an exceptional, long-duration, and record-breaking to (in some cases) record-shattering March heatwave initially centered across U.S. Southwest but expanding to much broader region next week. This is effectively a full-on summer heatwave in March.

This is the windiest day I’ve experienced in years

2026 is the year that we’re demanding integrity from local government. I’m voting for Drake Warren to be my next Cook County Commissioner, and if you also live in the district, you should too. Here’s a video where explain:

“In a legislature where the average age is 56 years old, it’s notable that all four [authors of the bipartisan housing reform bill] are under 44.” This is why I try to vote for young candidates. Diversity of age groups matters, and we don’t have enough young elected officials.

Hail in River North, Chicago! Will’s Northwoods Inn gift card for scale. #ilwx

I was originally going to dunk on this suburban Chicago letter to the editor opposing Illinois' state-level zoning reforms, but this must surely be parody, right? www.dailyherald.com/20260309/let...

Bridget Gainer missed nearly 1 in 4 board meetings — the second-worst attendance record among incumbent commissioners. Cook County deserves elected officials like Drake Warren who will treat their position as their full-time job, not a side gig. chicago.suntimes.com/2026/03/06/c...

Wednesday on the purple line, a guy was sprawled out on the floor blocking the door. He was loudly rambling with offensive language. At one point he started unzipping a large pocket, and visibly concerned people around him moved back. He laughed: “you guys thought I had a gun. NOPE. IPHONE 16!”

CTA rail service looked much more stable in Feb. Brown line fully out of it's slump. Have any Purple line frequenters noticed a slight bump in service? The average has been hovering at or above fall levels for a solid 2 months now.

Whoa - the incumbent that Drake is running against has the second worst attendance record in the current term

Should be no surprise that the city literally named after “wild garlic” is America’s top city on this ranking of the top 10 global “food destinations” www.timeout.com/chicago/news...

Chicago River appreciation post

Ignore whining of lefty transit anarchists. Harden entries leading to collecting more farebox revenue for system fiscal solvency AND reducing system costs for maintenance & repair from vandalism. Bonus: Increase Clipper card applications. Grown-ass transit policies. www.sfgate.com/local/articl...

The “computa, program this guy” guy is the funniest person in the state of Illinois right now and you can’t convince me otherwise Love that the Tribune dedicated nearly two full pages to a profile on him

Happy birthday Chicago!!! No place I’d rather call home.

We need Ranked Choice Voting in Illinois. I've essentially "threw my vote away" in the Senate race because I early voted for who I wanted and didn't "strategically vote", essentially voting for the opposition But with RCV, I could've done both and not inadvertently help the worse candidate

Breaking news: housing reform is popular, micromanagement is unpopular

Throwback to Friday Morning Swim Club. That was a crazy couple of months. Look at how many people are in this picture. No wonder the city got scared there were no lifeguards lol

Lunar Eclipse, May 2022 Get ready for March 3, 2026! #round #eclipse #blueskyartshow #moon #astrophotography

A major shift, via Gallup. More from @joshuakeating.bsky.social www.vox.com/politics/480...

“there are cathedrals everywhere for those with the eyes to see”

Whoever put up these posters, thank you.

Our mayor and city council are failing the young people of Chicago. Why do they think they can balance the budget by borrowing money? Ratings agencies are very clear about what constitutes responsible management. Our leaders ignored them, and now my generation will be stuck with the bill.

Important bellwether: data centers are very, VERY unpopular across the political spectrum. We’re talking Netanyahu levels of unpopularity. The energy industry has been anticipating a spike in public concern about electricity costs for *years* but it’s still surprising to see this play out.

The Foundry Park development can’t come soon enough. This was the land as of last week:

Illinois needs to build more housing

Last night I ran past a huge COYOTE on the lakefront trail next to Ohio Street Beach. It was frightening! But this morning, an article on the front page of the Tribune explained how coyotes are very active right now (even downtown) and that they rarely attack humans. Local news is a blessing!

If you want poor people to have decent housing, you have to support building new condos for yuppies.

Bro is gonna be mayor for 9 terms

Great to see Pritzker end his speech today by professing his love for America. Democrats should do this more often! You don’t have to agree with all aspects of the USA. But only focusing on the bad is a disservice to all of the communities, contributions, and culture that deserve to be celebrated.

Cheap and abundant power, water, housing, quality schools, and streamlined regs on spinning up your biz or moving it here are the way forward for a Chicago MSA that is burdened with debt and has been losing pop.

FINALLY. Pritzker is proposing: -Boosting housing options by eliminating excessive local regulations on multifamily homes, ADUs, etc -Immediately start planning new nuclear construction by 2033 -BANNING PHONES IN SCHOOLS This is an agenda that prioritizes the next generation.

JB Pritzker is explaining parking reform in his state of the state address. Donald Shoup would be so happy right now

It’s time for city council to make more moves to increase housing supply otherwise the state might do it for them (kinda embarrassing but necessary) join 475 other people in @abundanthousingil.bsky.social to stop this price climb