Karen: That really stinks! Sounds like a security guard on a power trip to me. I wonder if the security company is contracted. Sometimes I have to call a guard to open a closet for me at the meeting room, and nearly every time I have to explain very slowly and carefully what I need. I never see the same guard twice.

Thanks Alderlady about the bike racks. A little late though. I thought that the Chicago Bike Federation had already done that survey last year, but I didn't think that it would need to be put out to bid. Oh well. Next year, when gas hits $6.00 a gallon we will really need those racks. Perhaps, the city email newsletter (which goes out to hundreds of folks) could mention the bike parking in the garages.

"Thrilled, thrilled" said Candace Hill on Alderman Ann Rainey's website "what fun it will be to Ride the Ridge in an event that will start in the 8th Ward. Tell me when I should start designing the shirts on Cafepress."

Edited by author 07-05-2008 02:53 PM
Yes, Diane, given the timing and the demeanor of the security guard, it was a hospital being mean just for the sake of being mean.

We had been there for about 20 minutes before the Evanston fireworks started. The security guard could have swung through that small parking garage 5 times in 20 minutes. But no, he waited until the exact right moment for maximum effect...about 5 minutes into the show.

And you're exactly right about the little kids. We had 5 children age 8 and under (our 3 children and 2 of the neighbors') in the back of a station wagon watching with the tailgate open. They were thoroughly enjoying just being together and watching the show. We were seated on folding chairs right next to the car.

Then 10 minutes later, I had two in tears on the way home, asking why the man was so mean. Not even an "I'm sorry, folks, but you'll need to leave." Just..."it's time for the tradition to end." Oh so clever and cruel at the same time. You know that he had to spend some time thinking up that zinger. Great way to spend your time, figuring out how to be as mean as possible to children.

If a hospital is that sadistic and seems to take pleasure in being mean to children, I certainly won't be sending any family member there. Evanston Hospital isn't that far down the road so that's where we will be going from now on.

Our insurance company promptly pays the bills that it receives. Too bad for St. Francis that money will be going to Evanston Hospital from now on.

Karen -

That's just nasty! How sadistic to wait until everyone is there & it's probably too late to go anywhere else.

We've been to the parking deck too. It's such a great alternative for those with little kids, as you can pack them in the car with all of their gear, blankets & pillows, drive up and park, then drive the sleepy tots home.

I remember one horrible year when Chuck had to carry one of our not so little anymore twins all the way from the beach to where our car was parked, maybe a mile away. I think it was the year after that when we went to the parking garage instead.

Karen - I have forwarded your comments to Jeff Murphy and Rick Lavacchi at St Francis.

Also the parkway prolem is being inspected today.

Bike lady - here is the reply to where are my bike racks:

Alderman Rainey - a comprehensive bike location study for the City was completed earlier this year in conjunction with the Chicago Bike Federation. Rajeev's staff are now out taking exact measurements at specific downtown locations and developing specs. for the bid. The racks will be installed beginning in October.

This will coincide nicely with our very own BIKE THE RIDGE EVENT which I think we have concluded will be in October from Howard to Church - News at 11. There is an Events Committee that must approve.

Good Lord - Well, I guess going to jail is one way to celebrate independence...

Thanks for the response, Ann.

people beating the heck out of each other.

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Does anyone know what necessitated upwards of 4 squad cars in the vicinity of 732 Dobson at about 10pm on the 4th? They've been there for a while; I heard shouting a while back, but it's quiet now...

Sad to say that my entire family has decided that St. Francis Hospital is not a good neighbor.

Tonight, as we did last year, we trouped with our three young children to the St. Francis Hospital parking deck to watch some of the fireworks. I have been told that some families have been doing this for years. It's not a mob, mind you. Just a few families with their children. On our level of the parking deck, there were maybe 14 people total.

So St. Francis let people enter the parking facility. They let them get into position to watch the show.

Then, just as the show started, a security car drove up, turned on its flashing lights and a man proudly sneered, "It's time for the tradition to end." With that, he glared until we packed up and left.

How nice. How heart warming. So glad that they waited to tell all of us that it was a "no." Why not tell us "no" as the people were entering? A simple sign would have worked. I would have respected that and gone somewhere else.

Instead, they seemed to have waited just long enough so that they could disappoint parents and crush their children's evening.

How nice. Next time that St. Francis wants support for ANYTHING, they better knock on someone else's door. They established tonight that they lack decency in dealing with their neighbors. My family will take our business elsewhere as well.

St. Francis made no friends among the families that had assembled there tonight. And I will spread the word about the brand of compassion that this hospital has displayed.

Happy 4th of July to all.

On this beautiful day, please note that there is no new sod on Custer Street in the blocks south of the Metra station. Still plenty of patches of sad looking grass and lots of construction rubble that looks like concrete gravel.

June has come and gone. I wonder if those sod farms have enough of a supply to sell sod to the road construction firm that did the work on Custer Street all last summer and until winter settled in?

And why no garbage cans near the Ridge Avenue construction? I see trash (orange construction tape, plastic soda bottles, food wrappers, small chunks of concrete) every day tucked into holes and little channels dug near the roadway. Then one day, I see the hole covered with new dirt. Poof! The trash is gone, right?

Actually, the construction workers appear to be creating mini-landfills in the two blocks that I walk just north of Oakton. I assume that it is happening everywhere along the Ridge construction site as I see no garbage cans when I'm driving that stretch. Yuck.

Just like every thing looks like a nail if you are carrying a hammer, every little empty strip of asphalt looks like a lane if you are riding a bike. Bike Lady knows better, but sometimes . . . . she cheats!

But, more importantly, Alderlady, where are those new bike racks we kept hearing were coming? Yesterday, the Metra Station downtown was overrun with locked bikes, there were bikes locked to garbage cans, there were bikes locked on trees planted inside landscaped areas. There were desparate bikes just locked to themselves as there was not a pole left.

If I had nothing better to do, I slip a little card on a rubber band and place in on every bike. The card would say "safe inside bike parking in the Sherman Ave. and Maple Ave. garages". But even the Maple Ave garage bike racks are nearly full every day. There is plenty of room at the Metra for two or three more racks. Maybe, the bike rack biz is so good these days that supply can't keep up with demand? I like bikes as much as anyone, but downtown Evanston is beginning to looks like my living room, bikes parked everywhere.

Candace - that isn't a "mini bike lane" on Ridge but rather to keep the traffic off the raised gutters (until the final coat is on). I agree with Ann - Ridge is no place for bikes at anytime.

Ann - YES!!! I was going to mention the "Ride the Ridge" but you beat me too it. Looks like the Great 8th Sector is wrapping up soon. Let's DO it.

I meant I am working on ....

Candace - it is illegal and dangerous to ride your bike on Ridge Avenue.

I am woeking on a Ride The Ridge event so let us play nice until it is firm.

Bike Lady knows that Ridge is off-limits for bikes, but I'm not the only one who has discovered the teeny-tiny bike lane that exists now due to construction. It's very fussy getting across Ridge these days on a bike, the west side sidewalk is torn up for blocks, and the east side sidewalk is hard because the asphalt is now high above street grade, making it hard to cross streets. So, we ride just a block or two on Ridge in order to get to the right one-way street down to Maple.

It's amusing to see oneself "quoted" in the Evanston Review, when one was never intereviewed by the Evanston Review. I have noticed lately how quotes in newspapers have been lifted from internet forums or boards, but I don't think it's a very smart thing to do journalisticly, IMHO.

FYI: IMHO stands for "In my humble opinion."

I had heard that Steve and Barry's was supposed to open yesterday but from the appearance of the site, it's obviously not happening. From what I've heard they've actually hired lots of young people for this new store. Where does that leave them?

We can hope for the best.

I am just glad Freed didn't make a deal with General Motors.