Hayward

You damn well better attend! Long time no see!

I may now bring two friends. So far confirmed myself and maybe two others which results in Chicagoans currently outnumbering Ohioans at this gathering.

I will be there.

June 28th or July 12 also.

You should buy a cheapo bike if you are doing downtown short trips. Unfortunately the people that will tell you otherwise probably don't use bicycles for utility purposes. A utility purpose is: - Commuting - Errands - Carrying freight In an urban setting these bicycles will endure: - More potholes than suburban or rural settings - Hard stops and starts - Abrasion when locked against signs - Potential theft. An expensive bike will sustain the same amount of damage as a bicycle from Walmart I purchased a $1400 Kona bike a few years ago. I did what I could to take care of it. It was even stored inside at my office and home. But the city destroyed this bike despite the very high quality components. The hard stop and starts, locking it to sign posts, and the bumpy roads wore stuff down. The costs of repairs would often exceeded the cost of cheap Trek bicycle. To pay for repairs, I had to file claims with the city and enroll in federal transportation benefits refunds. Otherwise, I would have had to pay hundreds out of pocket. Fancy components are expensive to maintain. I have hydraulic disc brakes and when the cables need to be bleed out and the pads are worn out 99% of bike shops are going to want to replace the entire assembly with it to guarantee optimum performance. This could set you back a good $200. It sounds great at the bike shop to go big on a bike purchase, but consider costs of maintenance.

Went to a few of the last Blackhawks games of the regular season

Some updated proposed images popped up of Fifield's new tower. Nothing official yet. But the additional height is appreciated. Plus I like the view of the capped Kennedy. Could incredibly impact the Chicago skyline http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2014/03/18/new-renderings-for-long-planned-west-loop-tower-surface.php

^ Yeah definitely a fan of mine. Here's some pictures I took of the new Bulls practice facility on my way to watch the Blackhawks - Wings game. It's one surface lot that will bite the dust outside of the pavement parking prairie surrounding the UC.

Been a Mac User so long, I've forgotten how much Microsoft sucks. Noticed my newish PC laptop that I use for traveling was slowing way down. Webpages took forever to load and fans cranked up during startup. I could barely run google maps or even open my mail. Webpages would frequently crash or be formatted wrong. A friend told me to disable or delete Window's Defender, a core part of the OS security. So I did and wow....all problems vanished. So basically, just a reminder of how Microsoft has provided me with a self destructive experience of their products. I don't know how important Windows Defender or any virus security is. I haven't gotten a virus since 2004 so I doubt it's important. Occasionally, I've run scans and checks every so many years but they've never turned up anything.

Here's a new rendering of the Trader Joe's in Wicker Park. It has a sleek glass and steel facade and is two stories with parking inside. There are neighborhood concerns that it will generate traffic Sourced from curbed: http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2014/02/28/behold-the-proposal-for-the-future-wicker-park-trader-joes.php And a big development I've forgotten about near North and Clybourn now well underway..... New City. Aerial View. Halsted running top middle to lower right corner (Looking SW) View of the grocery store component on Clybourn Streetwall looking South down Halsted Blackhawk St entrance Interior plaza Interior plaza looking towards Eastman St. garage Looking north into interior plaza Garage entrance on Eastman Tower component at Halsted and Eastman All images and more development info found here: http://bucksbaumrp.com/new-city.html In skyscraper news, 200 N. Michigan is officially a go. Demolition on the current site is proceeding. Really love the design of this tower. At has a "Magnificent Mile" look to it, which unfortunately portions of the stretch from Millennium to the river either look distressed or too corporate. The ground floor of this development certainly has a better retail vocabulary to it which will hopefully attract a big tenant. http://www.bklarchitecture.com/news/city-council-approves-bKL-designed-200-north-michigan

Yep...RA is a great after work place for sushi. Just always be sure to order by 7 for half off everything including drinks.

Great tour. I love seeing the markets and visual noise.

^ Thanks, that clears things up. I just didn't want my photos falling under wrong categories. Like one of my friend's tagged a photo "wtf" Didn't like that...

Does anyone know how to prevent contacts on Instagram from adding tags in comments on your photos? I rather be in control of that. I want my Instagram to be public but I don't like how people throw in tags which may attract the wrong kind of traffic. Sometimes I just block contacts and friends that tag too much but there's gotta be settings like FB that allow you to have more control over what is posted.

New Safeguard Storage Building in Uptown This midrise building will replace a 1 story laundromat More about this at Uptown Update http://www.uptownupdate.com/2014/02/first-look-safeguard-self-storage-at.html Reclad + new floors on 1201 North Clark. Sourced from Curbed Chicago http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2014/02/27/developer-wants-to-stack-apartments-on-top-of-gold-coast-building.php Sheridan and Dakin Sourced from Curbed Chicago http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2014/02/21/new-details-emerge-for-sheridan-red-line-development.php

It's been a terrible winter in Chicago. I didn't even think of picking up my dslr. These are all grainy instagram photos which I think fit the messy weather nicely. Enjoy! END

Love all the renovations in Palmer Park and the winter photos of Sherwood Forest look magical. The striking fact however is that the majority of those 700,000 residents you mentioned are clustered around the periphery...maybe with exception to Woodbridge. That's going to be a very big challenge Detroit will face since non-linear, non-centralized density patterns are difficult to integrate in the current development trajectory. What is planned and expected is a strong centralized core of businesses with radiating transit spokes. What remains stable (as you see in this thread) is really the result of healthy suburbs and job centers outside the city...but accessible by freeways and wide avenues that connect these neighborhoods to the outside, rather than transit spines that benefit the central city (which is why core neighborhoods are so hard hit).

Great article about how difficult it is to build medium to high density development in Chicago. For most of the city, pretty much the only allowed residential type is single family homes. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20140224/OPINION/140229967/chicagos-zoning-laws-are-just-insane# I was just at a meeting tonight and watched a downtown tower above the busy red line station get whittled from 52 stories to 37. But that appears to beat the odds. As downtown land runs out, will Chicago legally be able to build tall buildings ever again, or could a landmark zoning change open the door to constructing apartment buildings or walkup flats?

Not optimal. Don't know how they track who is occupying and when they are there but 25% is stunning to me. Probably by getting the rent checks mailed to them rather than dropped off at the office. Especially if the return address is from a suburb. And seeing low occupancy levels at the pool, fitness room, and other common areas. UGHHHHHH!!!!! That aint cool It's cool for the people who get to use an empty pool, fitness room, etc. whenever they want. Nothing wrong with living in a 100% leased under occupied building. I can't imagine what it would be like if my neighbors were actually occupying their units, but it would probably be annoying. I'd have to wait for elevators and possibly hear people on my floor. I like things quiet... or if I'm loud, no one is around to complain.

Non-stop weird weather here in Chiberia. We've seen -15 temps, thundersnow, most dense fog I've ever seen, now warm temps, and very gusty winds. All this snow melt creates a very dangerous situation. The Chicago and DesPlaines rivers are notorious for flooding and damaged hundreds of homes on the northside of the city last year.

Fictional hockey bet between the US and Canada. http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140220/near-west-side/loser-keeps-bieber-billboard-makes-fictional-bet-between-us-canada

^ He disregarded safety rules in the warehouse. The story... either way...was that he violated workplace safety by performing an unauthorized maneuver on company property. Vending machines don't sit on skids and can't be safely picked up by a forklift. He risked thousands of damage to property and possibly an injury. If anyone has ever worked in a factory or warehouse, you'd know how strict the rules can be. The whole vet. backstory is unnecessary. You still play by the rules in civilian society.

And look how one guy has got a PAPER Macy's bag. He must have spent a lot to get above the cheap plastic bags.

Great shots!

I like that Philly keeps getting taller and taller. You look at the Philly skyline in all the old Rocky movies and it looked gross. They got some nice balance and drama to the skyline from all sorts of different angles now.