Rogers Park resident Steve Straus would rather walk several blocks than pay $1 an hour to park in the lakefront lot at Loyola Park, next door to his house. “I would park three blocks away before I would pay any money for this frickin’ lot,” said Straus, a neighbor for 18 years. “It’s a...
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Anti-abortion protesters could soon be subject to new rules that would require them to keep their distance from women outside Chicago abortion clinics. But with activists as well as a civil liberties group opposed to the measure, supporters of the proposal may run into a fight next week when the issue is expected to...
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A proposed ordinance that would restrict open burns in forest preserves and city parks was shelved before an expected vote at last week’s Chicago City Council meeting, sent back to a committee for more scrutiny after an environmental group raised concerns. The amendment to the city’s Air Pollution Control Ordinance calls for—among other things—...
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The Chicago City Council on Wednesday unanimously voted for a measure that saddles taxpayers with the bill if the 2016 Olympic Games lose money. The law authorizes Mayor Richard Daley to sign off on a contract that puts full financial liability for the Games on the city should Chicago next month be named the...
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A plan to charge $1 per hour to park along Chicago’s lakefront will move forward despite the protests of several aldermen who say the fees will restrict access to one of the city’s crown jewels. “This is about access to the lakefront, which is an asset that’s owned by all the citizens of Chicago,”...
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By Michael Robinson The Chicago Plan Commission has given a thumbs up to a new South Loop dormitory that could house 1,200 students.  If the plan receives approval from City Council, the 37-story dorm at the corner of East Van Buren Street and South Wasbash Avenue could be finished by 2012. Despite the Plan...
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UPDATE added on July 30, 2009: Via e-mail from Rebecca Blazer, Director, Forest Preserve Initiative, Friends of the Parks Tel 312-857-2757 x17. “In the City Council meeting yesterday, the Air Pollution Control Ordinance with Ald. Doherty’s amendments restricting burning WAS DEFERRED! I believe it takes two alderman for an ordinance to be...
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May 28, 2009 – Ald. Isaac (Ike) Carothers (29th) has been indicted on federal bribery and fraud charges.  Ald. Carothers and Calvin  Boender, a real estate developer, are accused of participating in a scheme to defraud the City of Chicago beginning in 2004 and continuing until Feb. 2007  involving a West Side 50-acre site...
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Story by: Eli Kaberon April 28, 2009  – No topic received a larger response at the April 1 Streeterville Organization of Active Residents (SOAR) town hall meeting than the dumpster tax recently passed by the Chicago City Council. The tax, which was included in the 2009 city budget, places a fee on every dumpster...
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April 20, 2009 – By the time Bruce Crane went to bed on April 14, the survival of Streetwise magazine was in question. But an overnight sudden injection of 40 online donations to the struggling non-profit organization had Crane believing otherwise. “ you asked me two weeks ago would we do it? I’d say,...
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