Thomas Zapler, director of Public Affairs for Union Pacific Railroad, told the Bulldog last week the railroad is reluctant to accept a key feature of the agreement: building the station platform over the viaduct at Leland. Zapler explained the bridge would cost significantly more to maintain over its life if there is a station over it.

The new Ravenswood station is part of a shovel-ready, $185 million project, being funded in part by the America Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

Schulter said the infrastructure project is the largest such project in the history of the 47^th Ward. Eleven bridges on the Union Pacific North Metra line will be replaced in the first four years of the project. All the bridges are in the Ravenswood neighborhood. Starting in 2014 eleven additional bridges would be rebuilt south of the Ravenswood neighborhood.

In addition, the Ravenswood station, currently a simple platform without protection from the elements, would be rebuilt. Metra indicated the new station would have an office for a ticket agent, room for vendors, and be larger and offer greater protection from the weather than the current station.

As reported last week in The Bulldog, neighbors worked with Schulter to gain his approval of a plan to build the replacement station at the current location. Metra has acquiesced to this plan; however, Metra Media Relations Manager Michael Gillis indicated to the Bulldog, that the decision ultimately lies with Union Pacific.

Union Pacific indicated it will make a decision on or around Labor Day, as plans need to move quickly on the project. Zapler though, was not encouraging regarding the move.

“It is more difficult to maintain a platform on a bridge because of the drainage,” he told the Bulldog.

Zapler noted that Metra believes the Ravenswood station is the second busiest station on the Union Pacific North line. The new station would accommodate eight car trains, longer than the current platform.

“The engineers say look at what happened to these bridges,” Zapler said. He indicated that the bridges built under stations have a significantly higher cost over their life.

The current bridges are of an indeterminate age. A Union Pacific spokesmen said they believe some tracks may have been built as early as 1880, with the latest coming on line as late as 1918. The bridges are made of high carbon steel, which sets a technological date for their age as such steel was widely discontinued for construction after World War I, according to engineers on the project.

Metra plans for the Ravenswood Station on the UP North line.

The Union Pacific and Metra say the current bridges are in good condition, although they are built without a base, being laid on the ground. The bridges were built to comply with a 19^th Century city ordinance, which required railroads to be raised above street level, according to Metra sources.

Although Zapler indicated the railroad wants to work with residents, and local non-government organizations to save the vegetation along the right-of-way, the current station plan, if implemented north of Lawrence, would see many of the trees along Ravenswood Avenue removed for the station construction.

In other areas, where the railroad retaining wall is rebuilt, gardeners and the railroad expect the vegetation to take a major hit. The issue of the plant destruction and the movement of the station north of Lawrence are two key issues forcing the challenge to the station by the new Ravenswood Neighbors Association.

As noted in The Bulldog, the Ravenswood Neighbors Association threatened to derail the plan, citing the residential nature of North Ravenswood Avenue from Foster north.

However, Eli Suzikovich, a gardener at the American Indian Center, looks forward to having a clean slate after the construction for a planned garden along the railroad right-of-way. The center wants to restore the right-of-way to the way it may have looked in 1868, he said.

“It’s an open canvas,” he said, and added that the American Indian Center is excited. “It makes our job easier.”

Schulter said the right-of-way reconstruction is an effort going back to the “Greening of Ravenswood” effort, about 25 years ago. He said Metra first introduced a plan to rebuild the Ravenswood bridges about 19 years ago; however, the plan was shelved due to a lack of funding.

Schulter praised the efforts of Greening of Ravenswood for restoring an eyesore along the tracks to an amenity in the neighborhood.

“I wish we had more time to work on the train station(with neighbors),” Schulter told the Bulldog last week. Schulter said neighbors first knew of the Metra plan about 19 months ago.

“I was never thrilled with moving (the Ravenswood Station),” Schulter said. “I always felt it should be (re)built where it is now.”

Schulter said plans for the station were revealed as quickly as they were known.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Metra drops ball on Lollapalooza commute (timeoutny.com)
• UPDATE 1-U.S. regulators shut Ravenswood Bank of Chicago (reuters.com)

Chris Drew in his studio. Photo credit: Patrick Boylan

Room 602 is a “raggedy-ass” courtroom, according to a woman who sat with friends on the wooden benches of the gallery.

High ceilings and stone-walled, the floor has cheap plastic tiles and the overhead lights give everything inside a yellow hue. The old wooden benches inside are hard and uncomfortable. Sound echoes inside as hard soled shoes walk down its center aisle.

Mark Weinberg, one of Drew’s defense attorney’s, moves quickly to the bench asking the clerk to call the case.

Drew, an artist with studios at the American Indian Center, 1630 W. Wilson Ave., Chicago, was arrested in December on State Street near the Macy’s Department store. His initial crime was attempting to sell art in a part of the city where street vendors are prohibited.

The arrest was orchestrated by Drew in an attempt to test the local municipal codes that restrict street vendors from selling their wares in certain parts of the Chicago.

At the time of his arrest Drew was carrying a recording device, it was on his person and he was recording the event, which is a violation of the law. In addition to Drew’s recording, there were also photographers and journalists recording the arrest on the sidewalk.

Drew was charged with a felony for recording the officers without their permission. If he is found guilty he could be sentenced to prison. The original charge against Drew, of peddling, has been dropped.

Weinberg, one of Drew’s attorney’s, has made a motion to continue the case. Weinberg explained that he is seeking the advice of people “smarter than me” on how to handle the case.

In his statement, he said no one really wants to see Drew sent to prison for the recording. He said the lines are blurred because of the increasing use of camera phones and surveillance cameras. He added that home-made videos of police in action are more common than ever. But in Chicago, the police are not willing to give up the protection provided by Illinois law against recording them without their consent.

Pedicab operator John Hawkins awaits passengers on Addison Street east of Ravenswood Avenue. Hawkins says he was once hired to haul six people, a weight in combination with the pedicab of more than 2,000 pounds. Photo by Patrick Boylan

“It’s a growing industry that needs regulation,” said Efrat Stein, spokeswoman for Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Commissioner Norma Reyes. Stein said the ordinance would protect consumers and pedicab operators and owners.

Rob Tipton, the owner of Chicago Rickshaw LLC, owns 30 pedicabs in New York City and 20 in Chicago. He said the industry in New York fought against regulation, successfully negotiating an ordinance it could survive under.

But it is a different story in Chicago, where the industry is fragmented, he said. Tipton explained that the law would require him to provide workers’ compensation insurance to each of his operators. The operators, he said, are leasing the pedicabs from Chicago Rickshaw and other companies. “They are independent operators,” he said.

“It isn’t like a cab,” he explained. Rickshaw drivers are at the whim of the weather, the seasons and generally do not operate late at night or early in the morning. However, insurance companies are rating the operators like taxi cab drivers.

That insurance rating is too expensive, he said.

“We don’t want to put anyone out of business,” Bennett Lawson, Deputy Alderman to 44^th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney said. Lawson said the Pedicabs are offering a unique service to the ward and the city. But he noted that the vehicles are operating with passengers on city streets. The barriers to entry currently are very low, an owner-operator only needing a pedicab. For example, there are no requirements for lighting or safety inspections of the pedicabs he noted.

“We’re working to find an ordinance that works,” Lawson said. “There are very few businesses that operate without any regulation.” Lawson said the requirement for insurance coverage was created by the state. “We’re trying to work with the state and the industry” to find an accommodation Lawson said.

Tipton explained the peculiarities of the industry. His company leases the bikes to individual operators for a flat rate. The operators then cruise areas popular with tourists and others offering rides.

The rides are usually point-to-point service, not for sightseeing. Think of the difference between taking a taxi and taking a horse and carriage ride, according to Tipton. For example, around Wrigley Field, a passenger might ask for a ride to their car after the game.

Tipton said the proposal would restrict the use of the pedicabs from popular tourist sites such as Michigan Avenue and from hotels serving the central business district. “I just received a request to provide 20 pedicabs for a group staying at the Fairmont,” he said. Under the proposal, he’d have to turn that business down he said.

Operators do not post rates, operating under a verbal agreement with passengers. Among the provisions of the ordinance, rates would be posted and each vehicle would receive a city license.

Two different styles of pedicab stand on Addison Street east of Ravenswood Avenue. The red model in the foreground is owned by Chicago Rickshaw LLC and is based on a three-wheel design. The other, owned by John Hawkins, is an attachment to the seat post of a typical bicycle. Photo by Patrick Boylan

Lawson indicated there may be a misunderstanding as the proposed ordinance would create prohibited areas, not prescribed routes. Lawson hoped to negotiate a pilot program that could serve to pinpoint issues. “We want to see where we have problems,” Lawson said, “before legislating prohibitions.”

“This is unique in that you have many independent operators and owners,” Lawson said. Lawson said Tunney wanted an ordinance that would continue to allow very low barriers to entry for both operators and owners. Noting that Tunney too is an independent business owner, Lawson said Tunney supports moves that encourage economic development and entrepreneurial activity.

Yoni Downs, 24, of Ukrainian Village and John Hawkins, 30, of Lakeview, have been operating pedicabs for several years. It is physical work, they said; with some pedicabs holding three to six passengers and the heavy structure of the pedicab frame, the combined weight could exceed 2,000 pounds.

They said they sometimes offer free rides, depending on the tips from the fun enjoyed by the passenger for their compensation.

“Call your alderman,” they said. “Stop this ordinance.”

Messages were left for Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd). Ald. Reilly was unable to reply within the deadline of the submission.