A $6 billion mistake

NO idea is too stupid for DALEY and government waste fanatics

Silence,
.
.
King Daley has spoken!

...meanwhile riding through Chicago's Subway remind of some kind of Disney World "Scary Train Ride". Way to go Chicago!!!!

Don't trash the 504 N. Dearborn park in the same breath as this boondoggle transportation center. There is no - repeat NO - park space in all of the greatly expanding River North area with literally thousands of children and no space to play. These mostly are families of relatively modest means living in small apartments. Rather than destroying the present post office for a traditional park, the city should keep the building and make it into a large year-around indoor recreation center since most of it is presently a large garage that could encompass many activities not possible in an outdoor park. The city has successfully attracted thousands of families to live downtown but it has not kept up in providing the same level of recreation facilities as found in other neighborhoods.

I cannot POSSIBLY believe that a $6 billion city-sponsored plan could be improved upon by a <$1 billion plan put forth by anyone else. The next thing you know someone is going to propose building a third airport that will improve air travel more than the so-called O'Hare Modernization Project but for a fifth of the cost. Crazy talk! Now where did I put all of those parking meter quarters...

The only good thing about putting a park at the Dearborn Post office is getting rid of the people who work there. THEY ARE THE WORST postal workers I have ever seen. You think you are viewing the world in slow motion and talk about people on a power trip.

This is not about making the city better, this is about making it easier for redevelopment. McCormick Place did not uplift the South Side enough to make people desire to spend big money to live near it. This didn’t happen because walking from the L station to any of the building in the complex is one very scary walk. Thus the thinking is that if we build a better transportation system and drop people off right in front of it, you will not notice how bad the area is. The same type of bad ideas is happening in Baltimore, Seattle, and Portland.

If Daley would just spend that type of money cleaning up the city from roads to crime, more people would want to live in the city.

Why is the Trib co-dependant to Daley? Are they afraid of him? Why does the Trib report on all of the negative stuff so infrequently?

Actually providing interstate infrastructure or an airport in the lake sound like good ideas compared to a 6 billion dollar train station.

If it doesn't cost a lot of money it ain't worth building. How else do I support my campaign contributors and cronies.

Yeah right wrote:

"It's going to get crowded under Clinton"
Didn't Monica say this first?

And the reply of the day goes to ---

"Yeah right!"

Completely agree. We need better transit connections to existing infrastructure where people are heading today (to airports, to offices, to cultural institutions - where's the "L" stop for the museum campus - Roosevelt??). Why aren't people talking more about the cirlce line that will actually get more people to use the existing we have in place today?

I can't believe you didn't reference the Central Area Circulator Project of a decade ago. It was the $800M light rail project that had the same goal. It never passed the drawing table because downtown people didn't like the overhead electric lines and dowtown businesses didn't want another tax increase to pay for it.

City transit planners must focus on improving existing facilities and travel corridors before they explore these new projects. What good is building these high tech facilities if it still takes 15 to 20 minutes to get accross the Loop from Union Station?

Stanton, I'm not against a park in the River North area, but your line, "These mostly are families of relatively modest means living in small apartments," kind of makes my blood boil. I'm sorry, but "River North" and "living modestly" do not really go together. River North is a part of downtown. If you're living on a modest income, there are many other safe but easier-on-the-pocketbook neighborhoods to consider. Of course, it means you would have to commute, but that's what countless working Chicagoans do each and every workday.

Chitownwritergal wrote:

Stanton, I'm not against a park in the River North area, but your line, "These mostly are families of relatively modest means living in small apartments," kind of makes my blood boil..

Parks make real estate near it worth more, that is why they want the park. Watch out for those living around Garfield Park, that would be real nice for large condos to look down on.

Don't you people understand anything? The purpose of a government beauracracy is to expand its influence and perpetuate its existance. It isn't supposed to DO anything- at least not anything that benefits the public. Who in the hell wants to save $5 billion when you can waste it and perpetuate political patronge into the next millenium?

And furhermore, why buid a riverwalk just to Chinatown? Why not to China?

Where can I submit my minority-woman-owned company bid? Any takers to front my new company? I want the scraps that Walsh won't get. I promise to hold cost overruns to 246%, maybe. I'll even throw in some cheap asphalt paved roads for 80% over cost, then bid to fix the potholes two months later.

Great idea, and "Build 53" while we're at it.

I don't really agree with McCarron here. The point of the Transit Center isn't just to get people from the Metra stations to Millennium Park. It's really about improving access to the West Loop for City residents.

The center of employment for downtown Chicago moves further NW from State and Madison every year, but there's still no easy way for City residents to get to office buildings on Clinton and Jefferson without walking several blocks over the Chicago River.

Moreover, if Chicago is really to become the center of a Midwestern high-speed rail hub, the City will have to find a way to get folks from Lincoln Park to Union Station in less time than it to get to Milwaukee...or no one will ride our trains, however fancy.

Lastly, his alternative bus loop idea has some merit, but it won't actually get people from Union Station to Millennium Park in a reasonable amount of time.