We do want nobody nobody sent

Chicago elected official seeking to put people to work, “for real.”

Browsing Facebook, as I do all too much, one sees a plethora of Job Fairs, Employment Expos, and Back-to-Work initiatives on the pages of Chicago’s politicians.

One Alderman, however, is taking a different approach and stopping just short of guaranteeing jobs for resumes.

(1st Ward) Work 1st

Someone else speaking with Moreno after me at the Wicker Park Farmers Market

1st Ward Alderman Proco Joe Moreno’s Work 1st Initiative will be launched later this month. Describing the program Moreno said, “The unemployed or underemployed will be able to submit their resumes to my office and I will find them a job.”

“We have a lot of companies that want to do business in the 1st Ward and I will require them to draw their employees from this program,” stated Moreno.

The companies that Moreno was referencing are a diverse bunch that will employ educated as well as undereducated individuals.

Western Blue Line Photographs

I work around here and, like a lot of the suit wearing peons, never really pay attention to my surroundings.

But  sometimes necessity breeds scrutiny and, in my case, it led me to discover the rather interesting story of the Western Blue Line.

(Note: these pictures do not include a “smell-a-vision” or a “scratch & sniff” component. And you should be grateful)

Western Blue Line

One Station: Two Eras

This view of the Western Blue Line shows the original decorative brick, from when the station was built in 1895.

The front is an attractive Art Deco addition, added around 1930.

The widening of Western Avenue in the 1930s, meant that parts of the 1895 structure were demolished. Progress often means the past has to go.

The facade of the building was built in green and tan terracotta and reads, with typical Art Deco simplicity, “L Rapid Transit L.”

The final picture is a perspective corrected and close up of the north facing green terracotta L.

L Rapid Transit L

Reaching this project, I discovered that there is a wealth of information and an interesting history about many of Chicago’s L stations.

Gapers Block, Chicago Now and The Future of the Community Forum

 

Andrew Huff speaks about generating advertising revenue (Photo by Michael Reilley)

 

Speaking to a class of 20 M.A. Journalism graduate students last week, Andrew Huff, the founder of Gapers Block, Chicago’s first community hyperlocal website, was optimistic that his version of the community forum had a bright future, despite the competition in town.

“Right now, there’s a lot of people throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks,” said Huff, who created Gapers Block with design partner Naz Hamid way back in 2003.

Seven years later, Chicago has many incarnations of the hyperlocal websites. Chicago people are determining who will control the community forums of the future and what they will look like.

The mighty Chicago Tribune, got into the game back in August 2009 with its community forum Chicago Now.

By most accounts they have been generating a large audience. The fact that the home page of the Tribune often links to Chicago Now blogs in its Around The Web section certainly helps generate traffic.

But Chicago Now has received some negative press. It has been criticized for paying their writers poorly, and for lacking innovation and purpose.

Last year, Gapers Block entered into an agreement with Chicago Now, which quickly turned sour.

Some animosity clearly remains. “A lot of it is worthless chaff,” Huff said, describing the content of his competitor. “How many times can you talk about Justin Bieber?” he asked rhetorically.

The Chicago Now section, presented by the Gapers Block team, was called On Ramp. Huff announced the end of the collaboration between the sites on New Year’s Day of this year.  

DALEY LEAVES; CHICAGO BLEEDS

Right now the best question to ask a political analyst about the race to replace Mayor Daley is, “Who’s not running?”

Typically, chaos theory can only be applied to mathematics, physics, economics and philosophy but the election to be the next Mayor of Chicago may well broaden future definitions to include politics.

As the number of candidates grows everyday it has become difficult to take a trip downtown without being asked to sign a petition for one candidate or another.

Currently, there are twenty(ish) candidates, as diverse as the city they wish to become Mayor of.

Some have no money, many have a lot. Some will play to their ethnic base, while others will seek to be “post-race”.