Downtown Beautification: Chicago

[Metro Jacksonville]

Downtown Beautification: Chicago



Metro Jacksonville takes a brief visual tour of this city's street scene in an effort to find applicable lessons for Jacksonville's downtown revitalization efforts: Chicago

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2013-sep-downtown-beautification-chicago

[simms3]

very nice pics, one correction:  111 West Wacker will only be 630 ft, 59 floors, resi.  The 1,000 footer was UC for a while then died in the market.  The current design builds on the podium that was constructed for the 1,000 footer.

Rendering:

[Keith-N-Jax]

I think I saw something like this on skyscraper.com,  very nice pics as well.

[thelakelander]

Thanks for the correction Simms.

[simms3]

My uncle used to work in the building next door (when it was RR Donnelly's HQ) that is now United's HQ...he used to take me up to the top floor (Fl 50) to see the view (I think his office was up there).  I think it's roughly 648 ft up, with a top floor view height of probably 615-620 ft (so basically your view is about the height of the point of BOA's crown).

I really love Chicago, but it is a city that I feel like neglects its most troubled neighborhoods to spend more on the haves so it doesn't lose all of its "haves" like it risks if it doesn't appease them.  DT/South Loop, West Loop, River North, Lincoln Park, etc are all definitely at least now finally neighborhoods of "haves", but within just a couple miles of each are really really rough areas that clearly do not get their pro rata share of city coffers or attention.

[spuwho]

Moved to Jacksonville after living here for many years.

I disagree with Simms to some degree. The city does pay attention to most of its outlying neighborhoods.  South of the Loop around Roosevelt and beyond used to be a slum of old railroad warehouses and factories. It is a prime example of taking a blighted area and turning into a nest egg of urban living.  They are still trying to rip out the St Charles Air Line to get rid of that legacy railroad in their neighborhood.

River North has become a great neighborhood, with many local pubs, lofts and micro-breweries.

I can't say its perfect in every way.  I almost got shot at 63rd and Halsted and no one should hang around there after dark in any fashion. Walmart has been trying for years to be part of a renewal project in that area and the city keeps blocking them even though they had agreed to go more urban, less big box in their design.  People have seen opportunities in these blighted areas, but the city has held fast

We went all out to build a bank branch in Englewood, a very poor neighborhood.  People kept stealing the landscaping and we kept replacing it. Finally it got to where the roots had taken to the point they couldn't steal without a backhoe.

I applaud Mayor Daley for making the city center very livable and foremost "walkable". It is much more walkable than NYC by a longshot.

But like any city it does have flaws. It has political loggerheads with community groups. There is still a lot of corruption that I have seen first hand. The public school situation has been very difficult to navigate.

I was very happy working in the city center, its an exciting place to live and work. If Jacksonville had not come calling, I would still be there. It's a great city with a great history. Totally midwestern but urban. A unique American city.

[thelakelander]

Welcome to Chicago, Where Segregation Is Almost a Civic Art Form

After hearing about the Chicago shooting last week in which 13 were injured in Cornell Square Park, including a three-year-old, I and writer Mikki Kendall, both Chicago residents, had very different reactions.  It's "not just the park incident," Kendall told me by email. "20 people were shot this weekend. People are being shot almost daily. And I have a 14 year-old son who can't go to the McDonald's in Hyde Park at lunch because the school has noticed an uptick in crime at that location."

I was depressed and horrified, too — but depressed and horrified in the way that you are when you hear about gun violence anywhere. Unlike Kendall, I wasn't directly concerned about the safety of my family.

Based on our reactions, you'd think that Kendall lived much closer to the shooting than I do. But that's not the case. In fact, we're both in Hyde Park, about 4 miles away from where it occurred on the city's South Side. I can walk to the McDonald's she mentioned.

So why does Kendall feel personally targeted and I don't? Well, Kendall is black and grew up here; I'm white, and didn't.

full article: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/09/welcome-chicago-where-segregation-almost-civic-art-rorm/7030/