The following is a rough mock-up of proposed streets projects placed on a City of Chicago projection of the 49th Ward. This would help give people a more complete picture of how projects are spread across the Ward and where there is overlap. Please post any feedback on the projects.
Streets’ Proposed Projects
January 19, 2010 by streetscommittee49
Posted in Streets | Tagged participatory budgeting, paving, Streets, Streets Committee | 43 Comments
43 Responses
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“artistic” bike racks – blowing the money away !
for some it is art, for some it is garbage. Both opinions are correct. For me it is additional obstruction of the traffic, danger for blind walkers, collection of street garbage difficult or impossible to clean especially during winter snow, require protection against metal scrap collectors, decreases the area for bikes and makes approach to bike rack confused.
Totally bad idea and lack of understanding of the real ART as ENHANCEMENT of our every day life.
Do not blow the money away on doubtful and expensive do no good project. Use it wisely by creating financial support /fund to artistically gifted children of our community. Use this as seed money to help young generation’s education in REAL ART. Let us start in 49 WARD CHILDREN ART OLYMPICS. Save this fund and it will grow through the private donations. DO NOT BLOW IT ON METAL SCRAP.
CREATE THE ART THROUGH ART EDUCATION AND COMPETITION OF THE BEST YOUNG TALENTS OF OUR COMMUNITY.
save the money on bad street surface.
review the condition of each street by independent inspection
not by local residents.
save the money to cut bad trees.
reinforce the penalty for owners of dogs messing up the street landscape, most of the time it is done by those who
don’t pay the property taxes!.
Please add the block of Jarvis between Greenview and Sheridan to the list for resurfacing. Really needed! Thanks.
Clark & rogers area traffic lights (push button to walk) has anyone else noticed that very few people actually push the button?
Paved boundrys, doesn’t alderman boundrys change, then what?
Have anyone use permit parking? Its a pain. Got ticket anyway had to dispute. On Pratt at times people get parking tix for blocking “x walk. Its a T street. Make sure the sewers, street lights etc are done before paving streets. Let’s stop: new street, repair st. 2yrs later. I like the old brick streets. Hate to see them go. Been to andersonville. The “new pretty “brick” X walks are dangerous in winter you slide when wet; walking in street is safer. I’m for speed bumps. I see people go around the “islands” s of pratt. (By school) the wrong way. Doesn’t slow them down. Calif. Used reflective bumps for lane division etc. I liked then. Some side streets need tree cutting & or more light. (Houses don’t always leave porch lights on. For now.
Whether or not everyone agrees on adding permit parking in areas, it should be properly researched when requested by the residents. I have been requesting this for 3 years now, and not a single precinct captain (or whoever would be in charge of this at the Ward Office) has helped. I DO NOT want to hear anyone else telling me, “You don’t want permit parking, it’s a pain, it’s worthless, it’s not necessary.” OBVIOUSLY there are some who want the permit parking. And it would take care of the issue of beach-goers, community house goers, softball/baseball field goers, metra and L parkers, and others who park on my block and force me to pay for meters. The Ward office should to it’s job. I want permit parking that states, “no parking at anytime without permit”.
I agree about the Ward office doing it’s job! I called the Ward office requesting permit parking last year & was told it was very difficult to get permit parking! Now they’re talking about a community garden center-meaning there’ll be even LESS parking available on our block & surrounding streets! I have also requested (in 2009) other city services i.e. sewers cleaned, park trees & bushes trimmed to try to decrease illegal activity. My response from Wayne Frazier at the Ward office was that he “passed on my request”. Needless to say, nothing was ever done.
I live on Pratt Blvd. and the parking on our specific block needs to be changed to No Parking ANYTIME without permit/passes. I have emailed Wayne Frasier who has given contrasting information and little help to residents about how we can bring about change. The summers are especially horrendous as far as parking due to the beach. families will sit in their cars or send children back to guard during the short period of no parking. With more and more ownership, a restuarant, and condos on the block, it has become virtually impossible to find parking. What is the point of paying for a parking permit, when you cannot even park outside your home? I’m sure there are many streets who end at the beach that feel similar. Why isn’t a clear, step by step protocal to change the parking hours shared with the residents?
I have another concern for traffic lights at the corner of Greenleaf and Ashland at the north end of the school zone. There is NO traffic light on the far side of the intersection to the right, they are all on the near side (and in line) of traffic direction which makes it impossible for pedestrians to know the intent of traffic for crossing the streets. This being a school zone creates a hazard for any pedestrian, I have asked the crossing guards about this issue and they said they struggle with the situation.
Pratt is a mess between Ashland and the lake. Has been for well over a year. When will that be addressed? (From the map, am I to assume that part of Pratt isn’t in the 49th ward?)
Thanks
Hello,
Pratt, from Ashland to Sheridan Rd., is going to be resurfaced this coming construction season with state and city funds. Pratt from Sheridan east to the lake has been suggested to be resurfaced this year with menu money funds. The final vote, open to all Ward residents, will determine which projects Ald. Moore’s menu money will fund.
Nicole Summers, Staff Assistant to Ald. Moore
What is the advantage of using fed$ or state$. Does it take away $ from any other projects?
Woo-Hoo! Thanks for giving North Shore some love.
I agree! But the section that I live off of is conveniently left out of this map. Why are parts towards the south of Rogers Park missing?
The ‘proposed street projects’ map shows adding new thruways ‘thru’ two of our North of Howard Parks; Triangle (Juneway Terrace) and Willye White (Ashland). I strongly feel adding vehicular roadways thru either park is not a good idea, by any measure or for any reason.
I agree roadways should not be put thru parks
YAY for paving Lunt! (Or at least that what I think I see on that map.)
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=114824835204007105691.00045675b996d14eb6c3a&z=2
This participatory budgeting process is misguided. While elected politicians can certainly make bad decisions on their own, this democracy on steroids is doomed to produce worse decisions (see State of California).
The result of this process will be a concentration of influence among three segments of the ward: companies that will benefit from the construction/hand-outs, those with the resources to organize support of their pet causes, and others with the time to spare in playing along for this process.
It’s great to get the viewpoints of constituents, but handing over direct budgetory power is a populist recipe for the corruption.
Chris:
While I respect your opinion, I certainly have to disagee with it. Having been a part of the process, I must admit that it is quite the contrary to your belief. That is why a process like this requires people like yo to get involved. You could help to counter similiar beliefs like yours. Instead of being an armchair critique get involved. Change the process for the better! You gave the politician a job to work for you. Make sure the job is done to your specifications. Please, no more belly-aching, do something!
There should be left turn arrows on all 4 signals @ Howard and Clark.
The map resolution is poor, and zooming it doesn’t help. It doesn’t show the proposed projects well at all.
What about paving Greenleaf and Lunt between Sheridan and Ashland? You repaved Estes and Touhy, but skipped those of us a couple of blocks south. Right now it feels like we’re off-roading when we drive down our street!
I couldn’t agree with you more, daniknik. I live on Greenleaf between Ashland and Paulina and it’s a mess. Heavy trucks (fully-loaded firetrucks) drove up and down Greenleaf for years and it has worn the pavement down badly. In addition, a lot of the delivery and semi trucks that supply the grocery markets on Clark seem to like to take Greenleaf, and that makes the pavement even worse.
In an effort to preserve the shocks and tires on our car, my wife and I no longer use Greenleaf Avenue even though we live on it (1600 block). The entire stretch from Paulina to Sheridan needs repaved more than any other street I’ve seen in the 49th. Watch traffic for only a few minutes on Greenleaf and you will understand just how busy this stretch is. Speed bumps would not be a bad idea either as traffic travels at unsafe speeds attempting to make the green light at Ashland. If Greenleaf is going to be used as a main artery, it should at least be well maintained.
There is a strong need for traffic control on Rogers at the intersection of Touhy. It is nearly a blind intersection as you head west on Touhy. The drivers on Rogers seem to believe they own the road, while Touhy has to dodge drivers from Rogers and those crossing Ridge. Even the police believe it to be a bad intersection. There is no reason there cannot be a traffic light places on Rogers that is controlled the same as the light at Ridge giving the Touhy traffic coming from the stop sign a chance to SAFELY enter the intersection.
This intersection has been brought to the attention of the committe and we are in the process of requesting a traffic study.
Chris Bishop
Traffic Safety Co-Chair
Will we be able to investigate adding a traffic light at the intersection of greenview, howard and Rogers. This 5-way stop / intersection has become quite dangerous with the increase of condo owners. Many regularly fail to stop and even fewer seem to know how to respond to the 5-way stop.
Thank you.
I’ve driven that spot for years, and yes, there are inconsiderate drivers. I don’t see that intersection as dangerous at all, and I see a light there would make the wait times ridiculous.
Not sure how an increase in condo owners equates with an intersection becoming “quite dangerous”. Don’t forget that South Boulevard and Sheridan Road (in Evanston) were resurfaced and many drivers avoided the mess by driving down Howard Street to Chicago Avenue. However, I do agree that it would be safer for pedestrians to have traffic lights there. That is if and when Howard Street pedestrians actually choose to follow traffic lights.
Agreed that it might be unfair to blame this particularly on “condo owners,” unless you are stopping each vehicle and asking for their address! But I will further agree that a stop light here might be helpful.
Would getting permit parking on certain streets be part of the “Streets Committee’s” work? I’ve been trying to get permit parking on the 1300 block of Greenleaf for a few years now. My requests to the ward office have been ignored. We have parking conjestion due to several factors: (1) People park on our block so that they do not have to feed the meters at the Park District spots. There are a lot of events throughout the year at the Park District, including softball, baseball, Field House activitie and meetings. Also, when the beach is open in the spring/summer, most people take spots on our block instead of paying the meters as well. (2) The Morse L station is 1 block from the 1300 block of Greenleaf. May commuters drive to our block and then walk to the L. They leave their cars there all day and through the evening. When the residents of our block come home from work to park, there are very few spaces. We have to park at the meters and pay until the L commuters return for their cars. Then we have to race to get the opened spots. (3) The Rogers Park Metra is 4 blocks away. I see commuters walking to our block from the train in the evening. This is the same problem as described in the previous reason #2. (4) We are only a mile from the Loyola Campus. I see students parking their cars and then walking down to campus every morning and early evening. It is not fair that the residents of our block have to pay for meter parking while all these non-residents get to park for free. Please help us get permit parking to solve this situation as soon as possible.
I would be all for permit parking. I live on the 7000 block of N. Sheridan and we suffer from the same congestion problems!
I’m all for permit parking along the 7500 block of Sheridan and Eastlake Terrace, too. During the Summer, folks from outside of the neighborbood park their conversion/mini-vans all day and evening, and when returning from the park to their cars strew their garbage and empty alcohol cans along the way.
I also support permit parking on Farwell Ave between Clark and Ashland. On this block, people that go to the Chicago Public School on Morse and Clark, The Public Library on Farwell and Clark, Metra Stop and Morse Stop , as well as Loyola students seem to park on Farwell. When Farwell residents return from work there is no parking spot available whatsoever, not a single one. I’ve lived here for 3 years and I always end up feeding a meter on Clark or parking 3 blocks away.
Hello,
I understand your concerns and frustrations about parking availability in your neighborhoods. However, zone parking is a change in the permitted use of a street, which much like a change in zoning does not require governmental funding. For this reason the issue does not fall under the purview of menu money or participatory budgeting. I will also pass on your comments to our chief of staff and she will respond to you directly by email.
Nicole Summers, Staff Assistant to Ald. Moore
I support permit parking on Greenleaf Ave from Clark to Sheridan. Over the last couple years, parking near the 1600 block of Greenleaf has become near impossible. Greenleaf has become a metra parking lot along Greenleaf. The removal of junk cars that do not ever move would also open up these spaces.
Also, the 49th ward needs to mandate on site parking plans for all new condo development. There is no room for the new condo owners in our neighborhood to park, and condos will not sell in the 49th if potential buyers have to drive around looking for a space for half an hour just to attend an Open House.
Does the map indicate that the city’s resurfacing Morse? Is so, when might that happen and how long would it take?
The City will be resurfacing Morse in conjunction with the Morse Ave. streetscape. They will begin the streetscape in the coming construction season, and it will likely be completed by the end of the construction season. Typically street resurfacing is done after the streetscape is finished, so right now it looks like Morse will be resurfaced in the 2011 construction season. Right now we don’t know exactly how long the resurfacing will take, but once the date gets closer we will have a better sense.
Nicole Summers, Staff Assistant to Ald. Moore
What is a streetscape? Sounds nice.
Thanks for posting this. Can you clarify the speed humps? They’ll actually be on Ashland?
Also, what are the proposed dates for this work?
Hello,
These speed humps were just suggested to be added at one of the neighborhood assemblies– they will not necessarily be added. In order for speed humps to be added, 60% of registered voters on the block where the speed humps will be placed must sign a petition. Anyone who would like to put speed humps on their block may pick up a petition at the 49th Ward Service Office, 7356 N. Greenview. Once we receive a petition with the required amount of signatures we will put in a request for the City to add the speed humps.