That is really true, and the Great Lakes will someday again be a big draw as fresh water becomes more scarce. One thing I also noticed about Denver is they don't have many large trees. I really do not like that look. It's the Loess type soil that does that in that area.

Yea, it should start drying out now.

If only we could build a giant pipeline and send the water to Denver when it rains here in Chicago, and then charge Denver for the water! They could process it there, and use it to water yards or agriculture uses I suppose.

Colorado has a $1 billion budget surplus and we need pension funding. Sounds like a perfect match.

Of course according to the international treaty on Great Lakes water usage. http://www.glslcompactcouncil.org/ This would require the 8 great lakes states and the provinces of Quebec and Ontario to approve any water diversions outside of the basin.

Would that really include this though ? I thought the water captured in these reservoirs never makes it to the lake anyway.

True, most MWRD outflows are dumped in the North Branch channel or river and then flow backwards to the Mississippi. Jardine discharges into the lake though which I think is the biggest outflow point for the city itself.

jardine discharges into the lake? what does it discharge?

i thought jardine was a water filtration plant, not sewage treatement.

You are right, I guess all waste treatment in Chicago drains into the river which always flows to the Mississippi unless it's so overfilled with sewage and runoff that they have to open the locks. That's how the sewage contaminates the lake after big rainfall. Jardine just purifies water for consumption.

This is really cool. There's a group called the Outerbelt Alliance that has hiked a 170 mile loop around Chicagoland using mostly forest preserve trails. They're working with hotels and Airbnb to help hikers overnight where there aren't dedicated campsites yet.

Maps here:
https://www.hikingproject.com/trail/...uterbelt-route
https://outerbelt.org/

https://weather.com/science/weather-...icago-michigan



Chicago Skyline Visible 60 Miles Away in Michigan Due to Fata Morgana Phenomenon


By Brian Donegan and Jonathan Belles3 days agoweather.com


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The Chicago skyline was seen from 60 miles away across Lake Michigan in St. Joseph, Michigan, at sunset Saturday, May 4, 2019.

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Chicago Fire move back into the city has its own thread now: https://forum.skyscraperpage.com/sho...d.php?t=238910

eSports & LakeSide center
 

According to this article: The eSports Boom, and the Numbers Behind the Sector’s Explosive Growth eSports gaming has surpassed the music/film industry with 140 billion in revenues. (Im not going to vouch for the authors numbers). My point is that Chicago can play a role in this industry by hosting events and the Lake Side center is an ideal venue. Consider that the ArieCrown theatre which has only a few events booked through the summer, is a perfect site for televised regional and even national events and the layout for Lake Side would serve like any other expo. Some bigger eSport competitions may require the larger capacity of the new DePaul arena nearby. My point is that Chicago has almost no participation in this industry and the Lake Side center has capacity, location, scenic views and auxiliary support systems needed these events. I would love to see the Lake Side Center building promoted and booked for a new and rapidly expanding entertainment industry-the eSports gaming competitions and expos.

Chicago casino sites
 

Chicago is long over due to bring Casinos to the city. It is time that Chicago & Illinois drop all the bs on restricted gambling and outright build full service Chicago based casinos to capture the revenues that are leaving for the 3 NE Indiana casinos, Wis and even suburban casinos (sorry big dog gets the bone). Suburban casinos would probably contract but some would survive due to immediate population and income. The Indiana casinos would be vulnerable since by far the majority of their business is from Illinois and who the f**k would go to Gary instead of Chicago. And that is the point. We are letting this revenue walk across the border and it is time to recapture our money with Chicago based casinos.

Next is where to put them. I like the US Steel site for a Multi casino operation. Maybe 3 casinos, 3-4 hotels, large marina, green space. Loop the ME right up South Shore Drive from 93rd up to 79th. Add vital commercial services for the neighborhood on S Lake Shore Dr including grocery stores, U of C medical buildings, City Colleges trade training for the hospitality/gaming industry.

Other sites for casinos have been floated including; McMk Lakeside, and the Micheal Reese hospital and the OPO. The OPO is clearly on a new trajectory so no need to include that in the discussion.

The Micheal Reese site is better suited for the eventual replacement for the NFL/MLS stadium hopefully a dome capable of hosting Super Bowl, NCAA Final4, Major College games.

The Lakeside Place would be a good location and is under utilized for conventions. But the location would certainly provide immediate competition for the Motor Row, Michigan Ave and other close in entertainment options.

Any other sites or thoughts?

I'd prefer Casinos fleece tourists instead of locals. Put one at Navy Pier. It could be on a boat.

Chicago really should try to do more to cater this industry. Purpose built eSport arenas are being built all around the world now including in the US. This one was just announced in Philly:

• Video Link

Yes! This arena seats 3500. Arie Crown seats 4250. The back stage of arie crown is huge, literally fits several full size trucks in the indoor loading docks. Chicago has plenty of other theater venues that can take Arie Crowns music/theater bookings. Re-purpose this into a state of the art digital broadcast arena. Use the 'Chicago is the nerve center of the fiber optics' hook to play on Chicago's connectivity.

230 N may
 

Chicago | 230 May st by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

The rains this year are becoming increasingly noteworthy. On the local side, the deep tunnel and reservoirs have worked well but you kind wonder how many more rounds of rain they can absorb.

Picture gets much worse in rural midwest, farmers were already facing trash prices and now many won't even get their crops in because of essentially non-stop flooding across much of the corn/grain belts. Could be looking at some large bailout costs.

The numbers are appalling for Illinois farmers. By mid May, 75 percent of the crop is usually planted, but this year it was only 10 percent. This data is from May 12, but the weather still hasn't improved and the insurance deadline is June 5.

https://will.illinois.edu/news/story...rop-prices-and

Yeah recent events really show what even what we might perceive as a slight uptick in atmospheric moisture can do. Climate change is real and people better get started thinking about its impacts sooner rather than later.

TARP works decently for now but the system is undersized to meet our needs and what is likely to come. Another tunnel under the west and south sides of the city is required plus expediting completion of McCook Phase 2. Also a program to keep roof discharge out out of the combined system that goes block by block would be good.

Eventually a diversion tunnel that takes overflow from the Desplaines and Chicago rivers and dumps it out below Joliet could have to be considered. Even if we keep all the sewage out of those systems the volume of regular drainage to be dealt with is only going up.