tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post5442484635587605565..comments2023-04-01T06:34:38.141-05:00Comments on Hyde Park Progress: Un-Fortressing Hyde Parkchicago pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17055796523227869734noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-4356962724574095352009-06-08T13:38:07.428-05:002009-06-08T13:38:07.428-05:00The Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference put the...The Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference put the 57th & Stony Island issue on its June 4 Board meeting agenda, and invited me to attend. Following the discussion, the Board voted to request both Alderman Hairston and the U of C to schedule public meetings on the subject of opening westbound 57th Street at Stony Island.<br /><br />I am hopeful that this will help to keep the ball rolling.Richard Gillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02773215580457414540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-39339743914382255762009-06-08T12:07:36.093-05:002009-06-08T12:07:36.093-05:00I know it's late to chime in on this post, but...I know it's late to chime in on this post, but I had a thought the other day, as I found myself dearly wanting to drive west on 57th from Stony Island....maybe we could stage a Saturday afternoon of civil disobedience, in which 100 people in minivans drive slowly westbound on 57th Street, respecting all stop signs, etc., all the way to Woodlawn? <br /><br />It is such a shame that this effort to open up 57th street has stalled.....Chicago_momhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03423426964061740668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-4430567241890651132009-06-05T13:52:24.381-05:002009-06-05T13:52:24.381-05:00You are all going to hate me for this. I limply su...You are all going to hate me for this. I limply support the 57th street barricade, and I vehemently support the Kenwood cul-de-sal.<br /><br />Even if Richard and CDOT are right that opening 57th street wouldn't cause massive congestion, it certainly would cause *some* congestion. 57th street often feels more congested to me than I'd like. <br /><br />As far as the Kenwood cul-de-sac, I absolutely adore the rectangle bounded by {kimbark,56th,dorchester,58th}. To me, Bixler Park is 80% of its awesomeness. It is one of the few parks in HP that non-homeless people really use. Couples let their kids play on the structure, students lie on the grass, etc. Getting rid of the cul-de-sac would bisect Bixler, and that would really suck.<br /><br />I like 57th street from Istria to Woodlawn, but I stop liking it around Woodlawn. I find traffic on Woodlawn unpleasant, especially at rush hours. What I like about Hyde Park is little kids running around, people with dogs, and calm, tree lined streets that I don't have to check much before crossing. I want more of that, not less. I don't think that is romantic NIMBYism.<br /><br />I love Hyde Park, but I do want it to be less car-oriented. Growing up in Zurich, Switzerland, I came to believe that the only robust way to make neighbourhoods genuinely pedestrian-friendly was to make them car-unfriendly. People didn't drive much in my neighbourhood in Zurich largely because driving though curvy 17th century one-way streets was a pain in the ass. Things were, by necessity, more amenable to pedestrians. Car-owners bitched, but few wanted to move to the more car-friendly, newer areas.<br /><br />--ACAndrew Conehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12892219695774682834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-6818303895743477092009-06-04T10:25:55.939-05:002009-06-04T10:25:55.939-05:00Famac -
I will go with the CDOT traffic engineers...Famac -<br /><br />I will go with the CDOT traffic engineers who were not in agreement with your "huge congestion/kill zone" prediction . As for 56th & Stony, the change at 57th should reduce traffic hazards there by diverting some cars to 57th & Stony where there is a traffic signal. In any case, 56th & Stony/LakePark may benefit by the installation of traffic signals, and I believe that has been on a CDOT to-study list.Richard Gillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02773215580457414540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-39656135687051397862009-06-03T20:41:54.057-05:002009-06-03T20:41:54.057-05:00I challenge anyone to stand at 57th and Lake Park ...I challenge anyone to stand at 57th and Lake Park and tell me anything positive could come of opening that intersection.<br /><br />That area will become a huge congestion zone for cummuters, and kill zone for pedestrians, much like 56th & Lake Park.<br /><br />It was a design fault to splinter off a major artery at 56th and Stoney/Lake Park. And we only have a partial solution.Famachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11117327917074489292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-61798262761510782172009-05-30T11:08:19.585-05:002009-05-30T11:08:19.585-05:00Unrelated,
but a nice piece in the Maroon on St. S...Unrelated,<br /><A HREF="http://www.chicagomaroon.com/2009/5/29/hyde-park-church-languishes-after-decade-of-disuse" REL="nofollow">but a nice piece in the Maroon on St. Stephen's</A>They call Peter Rossi a former writer for this blog. Did he give up or just take a break?GFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01931164060523039149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-37295946262314724742009-05-29T13:24:47.021-05:002009-05-29T13:24:47.021-05:00(P.S. Ray School did expand after that, but they b...(P.S. Ray School did expand after that, but they built an addition on the north side of their old building.)Elizabeth Famahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04931639156261179425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-26645244898014843422009-05-29T13:23:38.204-05:002009-05-29T13:23:38.204-05:00The Kenwood cul-de-sac was created during the same...The Kenwood cul-de-sac was created during the same wave of Urban Renewal that created the do-not-enter sign on 57th Street at Stony. In that case, perfectly nice houses and apartments on the west side of Kenwood were also taken through eminent domain, to allow for future expansion of Ray School, which never happened. (And you've all heard me grumble about how Ray doesn't shovel the snow on their part of Kenwood and 56th. So much for it being their property.) <br /><br />If you look around, all the roundabouts and dead-ends -- everything that takes away the logical grid system of our streets -- were created during Urban Renewal. We also lost a few jazz and blues clubs on 55th Street, and the grocery store competitor to the Co-Op (an A&P).Elizabeth Famahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04931639156261179425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-73564707676475546862009-05-29T12:33:01.398-05:002009-05-29T12:33:01.398-05:00Great question from NotLikeYou about Kenwood. The...Great question from NotLikeYou about Kenwood. There are a lot of roads that dead end and it would be interesting to hear the historic reasons. Did Kenwood ever go all the way through to 57th? Clearly, there is the school and the park there that might argue against opening it, but we have a lot of parks and schools that have streets around them right now. Why not open up traffic. We have too many dead end streets that make it harder to navigate the neighborhood.edjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01593866936717576973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-20819876285791870992009-05-29T10:03:19.101-05:002009-05-29T10:03:19.101-05:00One more reason to remove the barricade - it is in...One more reason to remove the barricade - it is in many cases dangerous. <br /><br />The other day I was riding my bike the correct way approaching the viaduct. Usually I use the left lane going east so as not to slow up traffic. As I was preparing to enter I noticed a car begin traveling west past the Do Not Enter sign. The woman looked bewildered when she exited the viaduct and nearly hit a car turning from Lake Park onto 57th and not yielding right of way (after all, there is no STOP sign for her vehicle as it traveled WEST on 57th under the viaduct).<br /><br />It isn't the first time I've ridden through the viaduct to meet a car coming the wrong way and giving me the business for going the wrong way. What is particularly perplexing, if they are going to make it one way permanently, why the impermanent sign that isn't effective to let people know you can't go West?kbsbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03693459295135980669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-84823200120040186362009-05-28T18:02:08.224-05:002009-05-28T18:02:08.224-05:00I am softening.... This may actually be a good thi...I am softening.... This may actually be a good thing to do. <br /><br />Please stop presenting other sides. My life is easier if I don't have to strain the brain.<br /><br />Next up, make Kenwood a through street to 57th.notLikeYouhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00478246810576307758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-58817406918466413302009-05-28T17:32:09.993-05:002009-05-28T17:32:09.993-05:00Thank you to George for wanting to bring more ligh...Thank you to George for wanting to bring more light to this through the HPKCC. Its an important issue. I think that its important to open up Hyde Park more, but I think that it is imperative to decrease the safety risks at Bret Harte. I am absolutely appalled that the demands of a very few seem to trump children's safety. <br /><br />notlikeyou - I moved here from the north side, but I didn't move here to get away from society.edjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01593866936717576973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-75848481306848757452009-05-28T16:47:38.850-05:002009-05-28T16:47:38.850-05:00The sad thing about the gated-community isolationi...The sad thing about the gated-community isolationism defended by notlikeyou is that it perpetuates and supports all the inequalities and conditions that make Chicago's Southside an extremely difficult environment in which to live for so many people.<br /><br />But beyond the conditions of life in some of the poor neighborhoods around HP, people from elsewhere won't want to come to Hyde Park if they feel that it and surrounding areas are dangerous or unlivable. <br /><br />As lilithcat points out, you don't need a sign to keep out northsiders. Or "cruisers". In what fantasy world will teenagers and gangbangers want to come to 57th Street to see and be seen in their souped-up, low-riding cars? This is pure paranoia.<br /><br />But relishing the effect that the "Do Not Enter" sign represents is itself a sign of tremendous, and unacknowledged privilege. <br /><br />If every neighborhood gated its entries and checked visitors at that gate, we wouldn't have a city left.chicago pophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17055796523227869734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-13341482853983824592009-05-28T16:09:15.679-05:002009-05-28T16:09:15.679-05:00notLikeYou:
You don't need a barricade to keep ou...notLikeYou:<br /><br />You don't need a barricade to keep out northsiders. I belong to a few city-wide groups that change meeting places and those northsiders won't come to the southside if their lives depended on it. It's as though they think the world ends at Roosevelt Road, and they'll fall off it.Lilithcathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00165155867167277588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-86398703381946659082009-05-27T20:50:13.331-05:002009-05-27T20:50:13.331-05:00Howdy. I know this isn't the place to issue an inv...Howdy. I know this isn't the place to issue an invitation, but I can't find an email to Richard (maybe someone can forward this to him). I'd love to invite him (or his rep) to any upcoming HPKCC board meeting (next one is next Thursday, 6/4) to talk about this proposal. I know he'd get some support (from me, for example), though I can't speak for the board. But it's an act that I think is well worth considering, and would like to have it fully explained to some interested people. I also say thanks for bring this up. I don't like barriers, and think HP needs to do a better job of reaching its neighbors. george (hpkcc)George Rumseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18330270831398372894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-24786876102657991062009-05-27T19:19:16.808-05:002009-05-27T19:19:16.808-05:00notLike You,
Isolationism has never helped anyone...notLike You,<br /><br />Isolationism has never helped anyone. At best, you end up an obsolete backwater, at worst the elements that isolationists want to keep out end up as the majority, when everyone else moves to other neighborhoods that have better retail and services.<br /><br />Making Hyde Park into a ghost town or gated community isn't any kind of solution to social problems (which we have regardless of barriers on 57th).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-55514589772708382092009-05-27T14:37:15.231-05:002009-05-27T14:37:15.231-05:00I like the idea of making it more difficult to ent...I like the idea of making it more difficult to enter hyde park. Gangbangers, cruisers, north siders.....<br /><br />Sorry. If I wanted hip and trendy, I would not be here.notLikeYouhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00478246810576307758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-16838602602909822612009-05-26T21:46:23.442-05:002009-05-26T21:46:23.442-05:00I don't see the logic in this barricade and can't ...I don't see the logic in this barricade and can't imagine what people were thinking when it went up. All you have to do is take 56th (past the busy elementary school full of kids, many of whom walk to school) to the South end of Lake Park, make a left and you're back to 57th where you wanted to be in the first place. I do this all the time. It's annoying, knowing that I could save 20 seconds if I could just turn onto 57th from Stony Island, but it doesn't stop me from taking 57th all the way way to Cottage Grove several times a week. Horrors! Won't someone please think of the children?<br /><br />Basically, the big stupid "DO NOT ENTER" doesn't even accomplish what it's intended to accomplish. All it does is needlessly divert traffic past a busy elementary school and playground. <br /><br />FAIL.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-54521562672815544942009-05-26T14:35:50.778-05:002009-05-26T14:35:50.778-05:00Heh--back when I still had a car, I used to drive ...Heh--back when I still had a car, I used to drive around that barrier all the time and never got caught. It's just a stupid nuisance, like a lot of things in the People's Republic of HP.Foxy Knitterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02472409331446579423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-22733626418944403502009-05-26T13:53:30.734-05:002009-05-26T13:53:30.734-05:00Note the peninsula of newer concrete that serves t...Note the peninsula of newer concrete that serves to reduce the north-side lanes under the bridge to one lane.Zig and Louhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07437539835562937888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-28564744574356070922009-05-26T13:21:54.970-05:002009-05-26T13:21:54.970-05:00Alderman Leslie A. Hairston
Office: 2325 E. 71st ...Alderman Leslie A. Hairston <br />Office: 2325 E. 71st Street <br />Chicago, IL 60649 <br /><B>LHairston@cityofchicago.org</B> <br />Phone: 773-324-5555 <br />Fax: 773-324-1585 <br />City Hall Office: 121 N. LaSalle Street <br />Room 300 <br />Chicago, IL 60602 <br />City Hall Phone: 312-744-6832zgwarnkihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08242511016003285633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-73606915332440263202009-05-26T12:00:08.666-05:002009-05-26T12:00:08.666-05:00Thank you so much for bringing this up again! It t...Thank you so much for bringing this up again! It totally needs to get changed back to how it originally was (pre-1960). It is long over due. This change would reintroduce a logical, welcoming, and common sense based traffic flow into our neighborhood. I just called Alderman Hairston to express my support for returning the street to how it was intended. I encourage everyone who shares this opinion to do the same and to attend any future hearings that there may be on the subject.Hyde Park Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08245812436514412179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-71461963286488177782009-05-26T11:30:29.288-05:002009-05-26T11:30:29.288-05:00Thanks for bringing this up again, Richard.Thanks for bringing this up again, Richard.Elizabeth Famahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04931639156261179425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4186587935097536129.post-4424808048275888622009-05-25T22:46:05.282-05:002009-05-25T22:46:05.282-05:00Hear hear!Hear hear!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com