CHICAGO | General Discussions

[pip]

None for me. Those NYC neighborhoods are double or triple the population density and are much larger in population. I see no point in comparing.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by pip

None for me. Those NYC neighborhoods are double or triple the population density and are much larger in population. I see no point in comparing.

I think the poster is more talking about the personality types of the businesses, people who live and hang out there, etc.

It's been awhile since I truly hung out in those areas, but at least last night in Logan Square the people hanging out there could have been picked straight out of Williamsburg, Greenpoint, or East Village really. But again - haven't hung out there in a long time. Last night was the first time in 5 years.

And yeah I agree with this quote I posted, but I think the ask above is more about the business makeup and who hangs out there than anything else.

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I think the poster is more talking about the personality types of the businesses, people who live and hang out there, etc.

It's been awhile since I truly hung out in those areas, but at least last night in Logan Square the people hanging out there could have been picked straight out of Williamsburg, Greenpoint, or East Village really. But again - haven't hung out there in a long time. Last night was the first time in 5 years.

And yeah I agree with this quote I posted, but I think the ask above is more about the business makeup and who hangs out there than anything else.

Welcome back!

[Chisouthside]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

OHC= Open House Chicago!

amazing views at boa tower. Probably the only chance we'll get since it seems like theyll build it out into office space eventually.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by Chisouthside

amazing views at boa tower. Probably the only chance we'll get since it seems like theyll build it out into office space eventually.

Yes I spent over an hour up there and could have spent a lot longer...

[MayorOfChicago]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Yes I spent over an hour up there and could have spent a lot longer...

Our offices are moving up towards the top of that building, I heard from a lot of people the views are really good. I'm looking forward to it!

[BrinChi]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

^^^ Either type will work, type O is basically what they would have used for everything 100 years ago. But it's very soft and doesn't need to be THAT soft. So it's OK to have a small amount of Cement in there and go with N.

For my buildings I use Type O when it's just patching empty joints. It cleans up better and is super easy to work with. If there lintel work, rebuilding, grind and point, then yeah, N is probably better because it's a bit stronger and you want to really glue any bricks you loosened up tightly in place. O is nice because you can just smash it into the joints and still broom it off 30 min later.

Sorry to revisit this topic again, but a preservation-minded neighbor just stirred the pot by steering me away from Type O/N mortars, introducing me to Hydraulic Lime mortars. Referenced this site: https://hfsmaterials.com/restoration...e-mortar-tips/
Purportedly, the Naturally Hydraulic Lime (NHL) products are breathable enough to release moisture and eliminate effervescence.
Is going this route more than what is necessary, especially if it's unlikely that a building doesn't currently use an NHL mortar?
I can't wait to hear from all the experts here.

[Via Chicago]

i think a lot depends on the kind of brick you have and when your home was built. if its after 1920-30 youre getting into harder bricks. if its Chicago Common, which is what most of the stuff is around here from the turn of the century (esp on the sides of buildings), that stuff is much softer.

in almost all cases the ideal solution would be matching the mix that was used originally. the challenge is theres really very very few masons who know how to work with HL out there, so youre going to have a challenge lining up contractors for that kind of work. most will consider Type O "good enough", but its hard to say how good or bad that would be without knowing more about the brick and the home. at the end of the day, if the mortar is harder than the brick youre going to run into some degree of a problem down the line

[Steely Dan]

i didn't see any write-ups on this when the census 2020 figures were released in august, but the chicagoland MSA is right on the cusp of flipping to minority-majority. it will be the first major midwest MSA to do so.

i went looking for numbers on it, and not finding any, i tabulated the 14 MSA counties myself. as of the 2020 census, the chicago MSA was 50.2% non-hispanic white. given that was now already a year and a half ago, we might have already crossed the inflection point.

the chicagoland i was born into 45 years was ~75% non-hispanic white, and now that group is entering into minority status. it's really amazing to me how fast some of these demographic shifts can take place.


cook county already made the flip back in the '90s, but look at the non-hispanic white shares from some of the big collar counties in 2020:

Cook: 40.5%

Lake (IN): 50.4%
Kane: 54.7%
Lake (IL): 57.2%

Will: 60.1%
Dupage: 63.4%
Kendall: 64.2%

Dekalb: 71.0%
Kenosha: 72.1%
Mchenry: 76.9%
Porter: 79.1%

Grundy: 82.8%
Newton: 87.2%
Jasper: 88.4%


many of those are lower than i was expecting, some by quite a bit. the major collars have gotten so diverse that the entire MSA as a whole is now following Cook's lead to minority-majority status.

[the urban politician]

^ Is that why it gets easier and easier every year to find good tacos & goat biryani where I live?

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by BrinChi

Sorry to revisit this topic again, but a preservation-minded neighbor just stirred the pot by steering me away from Type O/N mortars, introducing me to Hydraulic Lime mortars. Referenced this site: https://hfsmaterials.com/restoration...e-mortar-tips/
Purportedly, the Naturally Hydraulic Lime (NHL) products are breathable enough to release moisture and eliminate effervescence.
Is going this route more than what is necessary, especially if it's unlikely that a building doesn't currently use an NHL mortar?
I can't wait to hear from all the experts here.

Maybe. I have used a general purpose hydraulic lime mortar for the common walls. So it flexes and self repairs. You can see where past contractors used something wrong on a newer wall made of reclaimed common and it’s already disintegrated at the joints. So your neighbors advise for NHL mortar seems great for common, but I’d be worried about using it on facade brick which may be more rigid and require something else.

I think it’s worth calling the manufacturer to discuss how the product would work.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Is that why it gets easier and easier every year to find good tacos & goat biryani where I live?

i would think so.

Lake County probably won't quite make it to minority-majority by 2030, but even if it doesn't, it'll still get pretty close to it.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Guys did you know downtown Chicago will soon need to be abandoned due to global warming?!?!

Chicago is at risk as climate change causes wild swings in Lake Michigan water levels

PUBLISHED WED, OCT 27 20217:00 AM EDTUPDATED WED, OCT 27 20211:50 PM EDT
Diana Olick
@IN/DIANAOLICK
@DIANAOLICKCNBC
@DIANAOLICK

The Great Lakes are often called the nation’s third coast, and the past five years in the region have been the wettest on record.

While the lakes don’t exactly correlate to rising sea levels, Chicago now sits in just as precarious a position as oceanfront cities. Heavier rainfall and more frequent droughts are now causing extreme swings in the water levels of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River, wreaking havoc on the city and prompting urgent action to find a fix.

In the winter of 2020, the water level in Lake Michigan hit a record high and intense rains just kept coming. Waves crashed over Lakeshore Drive, sending water up to the third floor of some buildings. The Chicago River also began to overflow into downtown.

The balance between the river and the lake has always been delicate, ever since the city dug canals over a century ago to keep waste from flowing from the river into the lake, which supplies the city’s drinking water.

A backup system for flooding was also created: locks that reverse the river back into the lake when the river gets too high. Last year’s rainfall, however, was so severe that for the first time that backup system didn’t work. The lake was higher than the river level, so water could not be reversed.

Lockmasters had to wait until the river rose above the lake before they could start the reversal process. That delay was destructive. Downtown Chicago suffered massive flooding, even knocking out power at the Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower.

Experts say this was not a once-in-a-lifetime event, but a sign of what is to come, as climate change causes heavier rains and more intense storms.

“The biggest risk is that these changes in the climate, in hydrology, or the water levels are going to exceed the infrastructure or the capacity of cities, coastlines and homes to handle those changes,” said Drew Gronewold, an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability.

Gronewold said Chicago and other cities around the Great Lakes are all in danger of not being able to handle these extreme highs -- and extreme lows. Just seven years before that storm, the water in Lake Michigan hit a record low due to a prolonged drought. That threatened the city’s water supply as well as shipping, critical to the economy of the Midwest.

“When water levels go down, they have to do what’s called light load. They have to reduce the amount of cargo they can carry, and they effectively lose millions if not billions of dollars,” said Gronewold.

After the 2020 flooding, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers installed large concrete barriers along parts of Lake Michigan that border downtown. This was necessary even after the corps began reinforcing Chicago’s shoreline in a half-billion-dollar project that started 20 years ago. Now it is launching a new multiyear effort funded by the EPA to evaluate future conditions, factoring in climate change.

“We’re trying to forecast what those conditions will be in the future so that we can plan for those conditions and create resilient designs,” said David Bucaro, chief of the project management section with the Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago District.

Those could include structural or natural features. The city is now working to plant tens of thousands of trees that can also help to capture the rain where it falls and keep it from all flowing into the river.

Chicago’s Metropolitan Planning Council has been pushing the city to reduce its carbon footprint, because the only real fix locally is to limit warming globally.

“A lot of people look at the Midwest like it’s a safe bet for the future of climate change, but if we’re having this problem, it’s maybe just not as safe a bet as people have been thinking,” said Justin Keller, manager at the Metropolitan Planning Council.

“The city and the Army Corps are hoping for more funding from the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill still making its way through Congress. Infrastructure designs of the past will no longer do, and while new research on rainfall and drought around the Great Lakes is certainly helpful, engineers need funding to implement all that learning into a critical fix.”

“I would argue that the economy of the Midwest depends entirely on water,” said Gronewold. “We really need to be paying more attention to the future of this area and, in particular, how we’re going to improve the infrastructure to handle these changes.”




https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/27/chic...structure.html

I can't believe I didn't hear about the waves crashing over LSD and through the third story windows of buildings downtown until now! I can't believe downtown was totally over run by the river like some modern day Venice!

Did you know Chicago is in "just as precarious" of a situation as NYC, New Orleans, and Venice?



Gag me with a spoon Diana you demented Coastie hack. I've never read such a deranged coastal hit piece on Chicago. This is one of the dumbest "articles" I've ever read in my life. Diana Olick should have her journalism license revoked for life for drooling this tripe into print.

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Guys did you know downtown Chicago will soon need to be abandoned due to global warming?!?!




I can't believe I didn't hear about the waves crashing over LSD and through the third story windows of buildings downtown until now! I can't believe downtown was totally over run by the river like some modern day Venice!

Did you know Chicago is in "just as precarious" of a situation as NYC, New Orleans, and Venice?



Gag me with a spoon Diana you demented Coastie hack. I've never read such a deranged coastal hit piece on Chicago. This is one of the dumbest "articles" I've ever read in my life. Diana Olick should have her journalism license revoked for life for drooling this tripe into print.

Obviously this article is written in a way to shock people, lvdw. I don't question that at all. However, it's definitely true that Chicago is at risk due to rising lake levels, especially given the reverse-flow of the Chicago River and the current lock situation. Climate change is real, Chicago is going to face bouts of severe flooding (especially given the fact that drainage is more or less terrible in much of the city), and things do need to be addressed and taken very seriously.

The one saving grace of the situation is that rising lake levels are causing the most problems in certain neighborhoods along the shore, such as Edgewater and Rogers Park, not necessarily in the heart of the city. That's no consolation to those who live in/own buildings in those areas, but at least they're not in the center of massive infrastructure and skyscrapers.

All in all, the crux of the article is actually correct, but the scare-tactic tone of it is pretty pathetic.

Aaron (Glowrock)

[the urban politician]

^ Agreed. Flooding is a huge problem in this city that was built on a swamp

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by glowrock

All in all, the crux of the article is actually correct, but the scare-tactic tone of it is pretty pathetic.

totally.

the issues raised are serious and worthy of attention/concern.

but the hyperbolic fear-mongering tone of the article, loaded with its factual inaccuracies, is entirely stupid and unnecessary.

Grade F journalism.

[Via Chicago]

what we know is that climate change is literally happening as we speak and even in a best case scenario (spoiler alert: were not going to hit a best case scenario), we're locked in for 1.5C of warming which is going to have massive global impacts as it is. likely we're going to warm more if we dont implement some big time changes NOW (spoiler alert: we cant even pass a common sense piece of climate legislation to accelerate our transition to renewables). we're F'd.

so while we may not have ocean rise, we are going to have extreme weather events. generally, its understood our region is going to be wetter and its going to get deluged in big rain events (warmer air can hold more moisture) more frequently. deep tunnel isnt going to save us from these kinds of problems. we also have expansive clay soils that a lot of our older homes are built on, and these are expensive problems to address/fix which a lot of our city residents cannot afford. we also know that the Chicago region is predicted to have the climate of Texas by mid century on the trajectory we're headed on. to think we're just going to ride out the worst of it while sipping cocktails is some extreme hubris and ignores the real ways our region is going to suffer along with everyone else. the consequences this has for crops/vegetation/invasives/human health/pollution is catastrophic.

theres nothing "good" thats going to come from this. and if you think social unrest/supply chain failures are bad now...

[twister244]

While I definitely agree that Chicago will have its fair share of climate change issues to deal with, to suggest our challenges are anywhere close to NY/Miami/NOLA/Houston is comical.

Chicago most definitely needs to invest in more infrastructure to handle more extreme storm runoff. And yes, the city needs to prepare for more violent swings in Lake Michigan.

But..... Lake Michigan != Atlantic Ocean.

The lake will swing, but there are various competing factors that will influence the water levels to go in any given direction over the course of a year:
- Extreme precipitation that will cause water level rises.
- Extreme drought that will cause water level decreases.
- Warmer climate means more evaporation off the water surface, which would result in water level decreases.

Also keep in mind the Great Lakes are one big hydrological system where water is actually moving from one lake to another, with the eventual outlet at Niagra Falls into the Hudson Bay.

The oceans only have one direction from here on out - Up.

So while Chicago will have to find ways to handle more extreme precipitation, and a more violent lake that may splash up more on given years, coastal cities have a much stepper challenge in front of them.

And if we are going to talk about impacts, you can't ignore the small positive impacts:
- Longer growing seasons and potentially more productive agriculture
- Overall higher average winter temperatures. I say average as violent swings will still occur from arctic air intrusions.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by twister244

Also keep in mind the Great Lakes are one big hydrological system where water is actually moving from one lake to another, with the eventual outlet at Niagra Falls into the Hudson Bay.

no, that's not quite how it goes.

lake superior discharges down the st. mary's river into lake huron-michigan.

lake huron-michigan discharges down the st. clair river into lake st. clair (with a small amount now diverted down the illinois river to the mississippi due to the reversal of the chicago river a century ago)

lake st. clair discharges down the detroit river into lake erie.

lake erie discharges down the niagara river (and over the falls) into lake ontario.

lake ontario discharges down the st. lawrence river into the gulf of st. lawrence and out into the north atlantic ocean.


hudson bay is not part of the system.


Of course, the vast majority of the water that leaves the great lakes system does so via surface evaporation.

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by twister244

And if we are going to talk about impacts, you can't ignore the small positive impacts:
- Longer growing seasons and potentially more productive agriculture
- Overall higher average winter temperatures. I say average as violent swings will still occur from arctic air intrusions.

cold winters are what keep lots of invasives at bay. if we dont have those, then there are whole host of pests/plants that are going to migrate up which our natural habitats have zero defenses for. all of that has massive implications for agriculture. to say nothing of our forests/urban canopies and the plants/animals that live in symbiosis with an environment that has been fine tuned since the last ice age. we're in the midst of a mass extinction.

also, we're finding our pesticides no longer work they way they used to as invasives are becoming faster and faster at evolving and dodging things which have historically worked at controlling them. but thats another story.