Results tagged “roberttaylorhomes”

Like his old man, Mayor Richard M. Daley is determined to transform public housing as part of his legacy (here's hoping it turns out better than Sr.'s effort -- several detractors don't have high hopes). His plan is creeping forever forward -- it's currently many years behind -- and the city will eventually replace CHA high rise projects like Robert Taylor Homes and Cabrini-Green with mixed-income housing.

It's been a week since Venkatesh's most recent book, Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets was published, and the critical response is unanimous: OMG! What a total badass!

Back in the early ‘60s, a two-mile strip of low-income housing was completed on State between Pershing and 54th. That strip of 28 high-rises, dubbed the Robert Taylor Homes, would develop over the years into one of the most infamous housing projects of the city, if not the nation. Amid all the sensational stories of the violence, drug-dealing and poverty that surrounded the area, residents insisted the Taylor Homes were not the cesspool many believed...

Chicagoist has a huge sciencey streak in us. One of our favorite experiments in high school chemistry occurred when our teacher put flammable liquids with progressively higher numbers of carbons (propane, pentane, even nonane!) into an empty water cooler bottle, which he proceeded to light on fire. Man, was that cool, seeing those licks of flame kick around the bottle like a pyro's wet dream. We all knew it was a potentially dangerous situation, making it all the more savory. Studies in fire are precious indeed.

We first heard of Sudhir Venkatesh when we read “Freakonomics.” Venkatesh, Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, spent six years embedded with the Black Disciples gang in the Robert Taylor Homes. What he discovered, and what Leavitt and Dubner found so fascinating, was that working for gang members wasn’t so different than working for McDonald's. The rich make the big money, the underlings make almost nothing, and the bookkeeping is just as complicated. Venkatesh is...

The AP ran a story yesterday about the death of Chicago’s Robert Taylor Homes housing project. It follows a similar piece from the Medill News Service back in April.

Hall of Fame baseball player and Chicago native Kirby Puckett died at 45 on Monday, one day after suffering a massive stroke. His life, like his career, was cut short. He was forced to retire from baseball in 1996 because of glaucoma. In his twelve seasons with the Minnesota Twins, he hit .318 with 207 home runs and 1085 RBIs. He made 10 consecutive All-Star Game appearances and won 6 Gold Glove awards for his...

Some of you may know that way back in 1904, Chicago was supposed to host the Olympics... until St. Louis stole the games away! So Chicago has yet to host the Olympics.

For all the talk about how Version Two of The Ballpark Formerly Known As Comiskey completely changed the landscape of the Bridgeport neighborhood, the truth is that outside of the late, lamented McCuddy’s (the bar most long-suffering Sox fans bring up as Exhibit A of the old Bridgeport nightlife: “Babe Ruth drank beers between innings there when the Yankees came to town!”) Comiskey Park/The Cell has always been a victim of its surroundings. Where...