I’m not so sure a smoke detector would have fully worked in this case. Especially a cheap ionization detector which can’t detect smoldering fires well.

The senior citizen who died was smoking cigarettes in bed when the fire started.

Fortunately, the interiors were non-combustible enough to slow the fire for emergency responders to help the neighbors.

When all else fails, construction quality is the last line of defense.

More: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/fr...erings-2246873

Grand & Clark (between 1962-68)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fn0VgZkW...pg&name=medium
https://twitter.com/chi_geek/status/1620475404615303169

Grand & Clark (2021)
https://i.imgur.com/CXCqhYhh.png

wow they screwed up that. Great pics!

That makes me sad. Much better back in the 60s right there..

Harry Weiner and Hotel Wacker in the same shot....well done!!

Off subject But WTF NYC ?!?!?


https://www.curbed.com/2023/01/anish...-complete.html

^^^ That won't capture lightning in a bottle like ours does.

It looks more like The Bun rather than The Bean

Just look at the picture, it reflects a bunch of banal 7 story tenements.

Hey Chicagoans. Would love your thoughts on >>this post<< I just started in City Discussions about the Early Chicago Skyscrapers sitting on the tentative list for UNESCO designation since 2017. I tried to search for past discussion about this, but I couldn’t find anything. Personally, I think it would be amazing for the Printers Row/South Loop area that needs some enlivening.

Construction Physics Substack posted a great breakdown of skyscraper construction speed that reflects favorably on Chicago's construction industry compared to NYC.

Here's the conclusion:

Huh, interesting. Good news for the city. Speedier/more efficient construction makes tall buildings more economical to build for developers, which is of course a net positive for skyscraper nerds like us!

This has probably been discussed before, but why does Chicago not have a permanent public market downtown somewhere? (One that hopefully would sell normal produce in addition to bougie waffle balls). Has this ever existed or been proposed? The closest thing I guess is French Market but that's mostly a food hall...

I think Mr. D weighed in on this a few years ago. Historically there was wholesale grocery in the Haymarket/Randolph area and the South Water Market on what is now Wacker Drive, but not really public markets like you see in Europe (or Cleveland, lol). Probably in the early days these markets sold directly to consumers on a small scale, but the rapid commercial growth of downtown soon pushed most of the residents to outlying neighborhoods. Downtown became strictly a business district and the downtown markets focused in on wholesale only by ~the 1890s.

Out in the neighborhoods, Chicagoans did their shopping at countless small grocers, often with a particular ethnic specialty. I assume all those small grocers had political power, so the city never stepped in to build neighborhood-level public markets that might compete with them. Eventually the small grocers gave way to larger supermarket chains (A&P, Jewel, etc) that combined greengrocer, butcher, fish, dry goods, bakery, floral, and eventually pharmacy/liquor under one roof and importantly provided parking for shoppers.

Later even the wholesale markets moved out of downtown, ironically to make way for new waves of residential. The South Water Market moved to 15th/Blue Island in the 20s and then to Damen/Blue Island in the 2000s. Obviously the meatpackers moved out of Fulton Market in the 2010s...

I guess we could fix the "mistake" and build a market today, but what would be the purpose? Downtown residents are already fairly well-served by supermarkets, although there's room for improvement. If the point is tourism, what exactly would the market offer? There are some good producers out there, but the Midwest doesn't have the rich bounty of California, Spain or Italy. We have a short growing season and most farmers are growing corn or soybeans. The existing farmer's market system is excellent, but if you shop there you quickly figure out that the good stuff is only available for 4 months out of the year. Not really enough to support a permanent structure.

Milwaukee of course has a great public market, but I think part of the rationale for building it was to provide a grocery option to the Third Ward so the residential population could keep growing. I assume private grocery chains were not interested in building there, or at least weren't interested in an urban format. We don't really have that issue in downtown Chicago.

I was thinking of both Milwaukee and Cleveland as localish examples, and places like Jean Talon in Montreal as a reach example (in perhaps a worse climate for growing...). I think it would probably be a mixture of tourists, downtown residents/commuters and a general city-wide hangout spot.

Sure we don't NEED one, but it seems like a bit of a missed opportunity. Not that I know where to put it, should one exist. The Robert Morris Center (which I think is basically empty now?)? That area of downtown isn't very close to any grocer...

In terms of produce Maxwell Street market used to fulfill that need albeit it was only open on sundays. It still exists but its sadly a shell of it's former self.

Streetsblog Chicago editor John Greenfield is in the hospital after being injured by debris from a truck in downstate Marion. https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/4/...thern-illinois

:(

Very sad, critical situation. prayers indeed.

Record hotel and visitor revenue for Chicago surpasses 2019

https://gov.illinois.gov/news/press-release.26700.html

With Commercial in the doldrums Residential and Hospitality seems up to the task of picking up the slack.

This is green light for Tribune East baby! :shrug:

Note: Fiscal years in IL end June 30 so '23 is done.