Weekend Diversion: Night Of The Ponies
Pedway, First Store Open At Block 37
Around Town
Around Town
Red-Light Cameras Not So Special?
Photo by D. James | Darren Ryan
- The state's attorney's office is calling in a special grand jury to investigate the case of the St. Charles North high school student who was hospitalized Friday after jumping from a moving car.
- The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency says that the Chicago Metropolitan Area has about seven years of landfill space available, compared to southern Illinois' 54 years.
- The Showman's League building at Franklin and Randolph - home to Harry's Hot Dogs and one of the few buildings left downtown that date from the 1870's - remains in danger of being razed in order to "create a new place for pedestrians to relax in the Loop." Executive director of Preservation Chicago Jonathan Fine calls bullshit.
- Actress Keri Russell is set to be the special guest at the Daley Plaza Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on December 2nd.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Four years ago, I watched as the facade of the historic 1870's-era Showmen's League building was mutilated, i.e., "improved."
They sprayed gray DryVit over the stone window borders and brick. By the way, it's at the northwest corner of Randolph and Franklin. Buffalo Bill was the first President of the Showmen's League
Now they want to demolish the Showmen's League building to make barren mini-plaza, resurrecting a bad downtown planning strategy from the 1970's.
I think they should blast off the DryVit, restore the facade and keep the building there.
One more thing. The outrageous part is that the developer should be getting a subsidy only if he SAVES the building.
Instead, the boneheads at City Hall are giving a 7 Million Dollar subsidy to DEMOLISH the building. The stupidity is remarkable.
Oh, and these are OUR tax dollars paying to have a nice historic building demolished.
Yeah, this makes sense - $500 million budget deficit, over 700 layoffs, we can't afford to hire new cops, but there is ALWAYS more tax money for private developers. The irony - we are privatizing city services and giving tax money to private developments.
I agree with you Ward, I constantly bemoan the lack of respect for history and tradition when I see what many cities do to their historical buildings.
(It's especially painful when driving past sections of strip malls that just uglify the scenery.)
But combine their complete contempt for tradition with the economy of today and the money involved, it's just absurd. Just completely absurd.
Bullshit is right. Well said, WardUp.
Ward: Right on all counts. What bullshit.
Must be really nice to be a private developer in this city: Kiss Daley's ass, perhaps hire a couple of cousins, and you get free access to OUR money. Fucking scum.
oh man, i love that building. i took these photos of it back in 2006, i guess after the "improvements."