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Will Andersonville Get Chicago’s Next Great Pedestrian Plaza?
Berwyn Street east of Clark, a potential People Street. Photo: ADC. Last week when I talked to Brian Bonanno from the Andersonville Development Corporation about his interest in bringing bus rapid...
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Andersonville to Get New Parklet by the Coffee Studio, Plus Bike Corrals
The future People Spot location at Clark and Olive. Photo by John Greenfield. Andersonville’s vibrant, ped-friendly Clark Street business district just keeps getting better. Last year the strip got one...
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The Long, Hot Summer of Transportation Initiatives
Bike rush hour on Milwaukee, torn up for repaving before the installation of protected bike lanes. Photo by John Greenfield. [This piece also ran in Checkerboard City, John Greenfield’s transportation...
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Rack ‘Em Up: Chicago to Reach 25 On-Street Bike Corrals This Summer
Gabe Klein speaks at the ribbon cutting for the Cheetah Gym corral. Photo: John Greenfield It was a sign of the times when the Chicago Department of Transportation celebrated the city’s 13th on-street...
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What’s Up With Waguespack? The Alderman’s View of Parking Conversions
32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack is a key independent voice at City Hall. Most famously, when Richard M. Daley was ramming the disastrous 2008 parking meter...
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Cubs Divvy Station and Southport People Spot Enliven Wrigleyville
The Southport People Spot. Photo: John Greenfield It’s a pleasure to see Divvy docking stations, People Spot seating areas, on-street bike corrals, and other productive uses of the public way popping...
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Alderman Tunney: A People Spot Is More Valuable Than Parking Spots
Tom Tunney, right, at the ribbon cutting for the Southport People Spot. Photo: John Greenfield 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack, usually a progressive on transportation issues, recently made some...
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CDOT Sets Out to Bring More Street Life to Almost 50 Plazas
Rendering of "Game On!" installation at 62nd and Drexel in Woodlawn. As part of the Make Way for People program, which seeks to create places where residents can relax, socialize, and maybe enjoy some...
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Loop Alliance Gets More Ambitious With 2014 Slate of Placemaking Projects
Michael Edwards with the “Give” sculpture at the Gateway plaza. Photo: John Greenfield Last year the Chicago Loop Alliance, one of the downtown chambers of commerce, rolled out several successful...
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People Spots Return to Andersonville; A People Street May Be Coming
The Olive People Spot. Photo: Andersonville Development Corporation It’s a sure sign of spring when Chicago’s People Spot mini-parks start reappearing. Workers recently reinstalled the parklet at...
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MPC Study Provides Data on the Economic Benefits of People Spots
The Southport People Spot. Photo: John Greenfield From a quick glance at a People Spot mini park filled with people enjoying the weather on a gorgeous afternoon, it may seem obvious that the extra foot...
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New People Spots Are Part of Strategy to Energize Ho-Hum Stretch of Clark
“Color Guard” People Spot by Osteria De Pizza Metro. Photo: John Greenfield In July, two new “People Spot” mini parks debuted on an Lackluster segment of Clark near Wellington, as part of a larger...
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Kamin on Placemaking Efforts: The Food Is Terrible, and Such Small Portions!
The Lincoln Hub placemaking project. Photo: John Greenfield Et tu Blair? It wasn’t surprising when some disgruntled Lakeview residents launched a petition against the Lincoln Hub placemaking project,...
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The Case of the Missing Andersonville “People Spots”
Brian Bonanno, in ballcap, and crew members reinstalled the Farragut parklet in mid-July, a couple months late. Photo: John Greenfield [This article also runs in Checkerboard City, John’s...
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Should Heritage Keep Its People Spot or Should It Go Elsewhere in Lakeview?
The Lincoln Avenue People Spot. Photo: Heritage Bicycles and Coffee Tomorrow at a meeting of the SSA 27 Commission, which oversees how money from Lakeview’s special service area is spent, the...
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Both Lakeview People Spots Will Be Moving to New Locations
The Lincoln Avenue People Spot. Photo: Heritage Bikes Say goodbye to the Heritage Bicycles People Spot. Yesterday morning commissioners for Lakeview’s Special Service Area 27 decided that the curbside...
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Narrowly Written Ordinance Makes It Difficult to Install Curbside Cafes
The people spot in front of Osteria Pizza Metro was open to the public, but it was often mistaken for a private sidewalk cafe. Photo: Latent Design [The Chicago Reader recently launched a new weekly...
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Lakeview News: Right Turns Are Back at Grace/Halsted, Curbside Cafes Debut
El Nuevo Mexicano owner Maria Rodiguez cuts the ribbon on the restaurant’s Curbside Cafe. Photo: Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce. The controversial right-turn ban at Grace/Halsted/Broadway in...
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Eyes on the Street: Chicago’s Newest – And Nicest? – People Spot
Chicago’s “People Spot” mini-parks (known as “parklets” in other cities) help make retail strips more vibrant by repurposing asphalt for motor vehicles, such as parking spaces and loading zones, to...
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CDOT Creates a New “Off-the-Shelf” Parklet Design, Installs a Prototype in...
The South Side retail strip that’s arguably the city’s most essential destination for African-American cuisine just got a little more vibrant yesterday with the installation of a new “People Spot”...
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