State Sen. Ram Villivalam, sponsor of the Senate transit bill, discusses the Halloween Miracle that allowed robust reform and funding to pass - chi.streetsblog.org/2025/11/03/s... via @chi.streetsblog.org and @johngreenfield.bsky.social

Shades of Ira Glass: 24 hours at the Diner Grill. 🍽️ 👍 blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/31/i... @blockclubchi.bsky.social @wbez.org @npr.org

I recently had dinner at a home in a classic Midcentury high-rise on Sheridan Road in Edgewater. It was more evidence of why locals must "Say no to Broadway upzoning!" so nobody else can enjoy this kind of rooftop view. 😉 @chicagodpd.bsky.social @stevevance.net

Satirical response from Chicago’s Rat Patrol chopper bike gang in 3… 2… 1… @westtownbikes.bsky.social @chicritmass.bsky.social

Here's Streetsblog Chicago cofounder @stevevance.net and me around the site launch in 2013, and last Saturday at the Park(ing) Day celebration at Dovetail Brewing. He spends most of his time nowadays running the real estate data site @chicagocityscape.com, but still plays a key advisory role at SBC.

Relaxing at the Park(ing) Day party at Demo Brewing, Ravenswood/Berteau, and dovetail brewing, Ravenswood/Belle Plaine. It’s on until 8 PM today, Saturday.

I did a very fun multimodal trip around the southern 1/2 of Lake Michigan w/ old friends from @chicritmass.bsky.social: Amtrak to Grand Rapids, MI Bike to Luddington, MI Ferry to Manitowoc, WI Bike to Milwaukee Amtrak to Chicago +/- 225 miles of biking, mostly on trails. 👍 @wibikefed.bsky.social

Thanks to @johngreenfield.bsky.social for letting me write about why we're always accusing dead pedestrians of "darting" -- ie blaming them for their own deaths. There's actually more to it than I realized. HT @kenmcld.bsky.social chi.streetsblog.org/2025/08/13/w...

Last night's after-work bike ride on Grace, in both directions. Don't tell anybody, but I did some cautious "contraflow" riding on the short one-way stretches. CDOT is considering adding contraflow bike lanes to make that safer and lawful. Legalize it! chi.streetsblog.org/2025/08/06/g...

Here's a travelogue with some nice photos by Pat Dwyer: Cycling from Chicago's Lincolns Square community to the Indiana Dunes, mostly on bike trails. bsky.app/profile/derb... @atalliance.bsky.social @rideillinois.bsky.social @chicritmass.bsky.social @outsidemag.bsky.social

In case you didn’t get there today yourself, @johngreenfield.bsky.social has a photo tour of the new Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn, and Bryn Mawr stations.

David Struett did a nice job with this piece on Chicago's messenger scene – I learned a few things I didn't know. I discussed '90s courier life, and the piece include my pic of Alkaline Trio / ex-Blink 182 guitarist Matt Skiba from his delivery days. @chicago.suntimes.com @davidstruett.bsky.social

The CTA invested $2 billion in modernizing the Red and Purple lines. We should let more people live near these newly accessible stations. Send a letter to the zoning committee if you agree

Trump’s USDOT secretary wants you to drive to Midwest landmarks. Here are some car-free alternatives. - chi.streetsblog.org/2025/07/01/t... via @chi.streetsblog.org and @johngreenfield.bsky.social

This week, Streetsblog Chicago is your source for sustainable transportation and burrito news and advocacy. 🚶 🚲 🚌 🌯 chi.streetsblog.org/2025/06/21/c... chi.streetsblog.org/2025/06/25/m... @stevevance.net @chicritmass.bsky.social

Lots of people were riding bikes and e-scooters in Chicago Monday in 90+F weather but, hey, some like it hot. It's a lovely 76F right now, but it will be 95 again tomorrow. Here on tips on how to make biking in such weather tolerable, or even enjoyable. chi.streetsblog.org/2025/06/24/s...

Yesterday at the Diner Grill I met a bike rider who'd recently moved from Milwaukee to Chicago and was bummed that here you have to ride so far on suburban streets to get nature. So I told him about this route to the Indiana Dunes, which is about 80% on nice trails. www.google.com/maps/dir/Dal...

No one in other parts of the country seems to be aware of this, but I say it often: Chicago is a surprisingly great place to live if you love riding bikes, hanging out at the beach, and car-free camping trips. www.outsideonline.com/adventure-tr... @outsidemag.bsky.social @atalliance.bsky.social

I've nicknamed this Pope Leo XIV impersonator, Chicago Critical Mass cofounder Michael Burton, "The Friday Night Holy Father." @chicritmass.bsky.social

On Sunday, The Red Line Rustlers played a fun gig at PorchFest 2025 in Lakeview, literally downstairs from the Southport Brown Line platform. Our drummer took the 'L', and the 6-string guitarist and I brought the drum kit, PA system, amps, and guitars from Uptown via bike trailers. No U-Haul needed!

Looking for a good costume for Chicago Critical Mass? You can't beat the Bishop of Rome. The 1st photo of 4 Pontiff-lookalikes is by a bystander via CCM cofounder Michael Burton, aka The Saturday Night Holy Father. Great West Side route and sunset! @chicritmass.bsky.social

I often disagree w/ the Tribune on transportation issues but this new op-ed on transit funding/reform is good. Its focus on addressing safety, partly w/ transit ambassadors, and single fare system, critique of 11th-hour funding pitch, is 🎯. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/29/e... @chicagotribune.com

I'll bet you a monthly Ventra pass the one stop fans ask this Cheesehead to recite is "This is Chicago [Avenue]". www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/v...

This Crain's piece is a litany of complaints about RLE being too expensive. Anybody feel like proposing *now-practical solutions* to providing rapid transit to FSS, as opposed to 20/20 hindsight? @crainschicago.bsky.social @yonahfreemark.com @stevevance.net @chicagocta.bsky.social @ctaction.org

@realeric4real.bsky.social @thomcote.bsky.social @nikhunder.com I hear you! It's clearly best that I'm a reporter/editor not a graphic designer! I've fixed that image (based on one of my own pics.) Let's count that as a failed experiment, and I'll avoid using AI pix on SBC in the future. Thanks!

Fellow reporters, here's a mnemonic for spelling the last name of CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen (L), shown here at the retirement party for CA Janet Martin. Leerhsen's name has an "rh" in it, like "Rhode Island." Writeup of the party: chi.streetsblog.org/2025/02/28/a... @chicagocta.bsky.social

Equiticity and SBC discuss traffic crash death prevention, part 1: Can automated enforcement, 25 mph speed limit be done equitably? - chi.streetsblog.org/2025/05/07/e... via @chi.streetsblog.org and @johngreenfield.bsky.social

Could a new Illinois bill help create a cohesive train and bus system in the Land of Lincoln, and encourage other states to follow suit? - chi.streetsblog.org/2025/05/06/c... via @chi.streetsblog.org, @cameronbolton.bsky.social, @johngreenfield.bsky.social, and @hsrail.bsky.social

"The Columbus statue removed from Arrigo Park will be loaned to an Italian American group, and the park will get a monument to a Chicagoan with Italian roots." blockclubchicago.org/2025/05/01/c... Can we give them Mussolini's Balbo Pillar too? chicagoreader.com/columns-opin... @chicagoreader.com

Sure, building protected bike lanes on Bryn Mawr Avenue would be good for people on foot, bikes, and transit, as well as motorists. But what impact would it have on the Chicago Korean Festival's Bryn Mawr/Spaulding sand wrestling pit? chi.streetsblog.org/2025/04/30/d...

Holy mackerel! I'd nominate Midori, 3310 W. Bryn Mawr in North Center, as the best old-school Japanese restaurant in Chicago. Their sushi chef used to work downtown at Japanese-owned Hotel Niko (now Westin) in the '90s. www.yelp.com/biz/midori-j...

Chicago. Philly. Pittsburgh. America’s urban transit system teeters as governments give priority to cars, air pollution, anxiety, and decreased lifespan over walkable, dense, connected, and thriving communities.

This is much ADU about something! bsky.app/profile/stev...

I just got a reminder that I still have a webpage for my book about biking from Portland to Portland in the late 2000s, stopping and drinking at bars along the way. I wrote the whole thing via blog posts at public libraries each day. pintsizepress.info

Instead of taking DLSD, cyclists are invited to Bicycle Day Ride to Destigmatize, Saturday 4/19 noon at Palmer Square. My advice: Please don't pedal while intoxicated – any psychedelic trips should be take *after* the bike trip. @bikegridnow.org @chicritmass.bsky.social

I am a large man and I don’t mind riding the train at night

Terrific Chicago Critical Mass last Friday! (Can't complain about the weather or the turnout.) Here are a few photos I snapped. (1/X) @chicritmass.bsky.social

"Nothing good ever happens after midnight." SUV driver, 31, will be cited after crashing in Mary’s Hot Nails 2, 3955 N. Ashland Ave. in Lkeview, while making a turn, Saturday around 2:30 AM. blockclubchicago.org/2025/03/30/l...

Don't dream it, be it. (But proofread.) bsky.app/profile/john...

Someone should follow the lead of non-right-wing Tesla owners and make t-shirts that say, "I liked The Smiths before Morrisey went crazy." bsky.app/profile/john...

"I'm an ordinary guy Burning down the house" - Talking Heads Actually, at this CFD / CTA mashup training session, "No actual fires or emergencies will be taking place. Theatrical smoke will be used inside the homes."

By documenting bus wait times along CTA's #54 Cermak route in the pouring rain, I think I proved that when it comes to character-building fieldwork, I'm no baby. But I stopped for a Big Baby at the southern terminus. chi.streetsblog.org/2025/03/26/t... @chicagocta.bsky.social @monicaeng.bsky.social

As The Smiths song goes, "I'll meet you at the cemetery gates." 🎵 youtube.com/watch?v=dfXq... About 100 people met at St. Boniface for a bike ride to support protected lanes on Clark. That upgrade would help keep cyclists out of graveyards. chi.streetsblog.org/2025/03/24/s... #MorriseyIsAJerk

Indonesian food is great, but has never really caught on in Chicago. OTOH, there are a lot more Filipino Americans than Indonesian Americans here, but (also great) Filipino cuisine only recently went big here. So 🤞. blockclubchicago.org/2025/03/24/c... @monicaeng.bsky.social @chibbqking.bsky.social

Lisle, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, is the home of the Morton Arboretum, so understandably it's nicknamed "The Arboretum Village." But if I was mayor, the motto would be, "Lisle: Love it or leave it."

I often roast @chrisjonestrib.bsky.social and the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board for their frequent windshield-POV commentary. But even I have to acknowledge this is a classy goodbye to some of their Sun-Times competitors. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/03/21/e...

If you don't sign a witness slip in favor of a proposed IL law designating bike riders as "intended" rather than "permitted" road users, cyclists lose and Township of Wayne wins! bsky.app/profile/bike... Long story, but Township of Wayne is much less cool than the power-pop band Fountains of Wayne.

Overheard at Chicago's Ogilvie Transportation Center in the not-to-distant future? "Excuse me, how do I get to the platform for the Metra train to Kenosha, Wisconsin?" "Very easy – just follow the signs that say '1. Kenosha' with a block of cheese on them." 🚆 🧀 chi.streetsblog.org/2025/03/13/b...

I don't have a dog in this race but, "Siri, what's the difference between the average Twitter user (L) and the average Bluesky user? (R)"

Talking transpo with longtime reporter and advocate Fritz Plous yesterday at Irish American Heritage Center. Here's a guest post by him on the High Speed Rail Alliance website. hsrail.org/blog/how-bui... 2012 interview with Fritz in Time Out Chicago. timeout.com/chicago/thin... Photo: Eliza Plous