WBEZ | M(apps) & Data

Chicago’s data chief bids farewell

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:14:00 -0500

Chicago’s first data officer is departing public service for a job in academia.

Brett Goldstein, who has worked with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s team since he was elected, is the city’s first Chief Data Officer and Chief Information officer for the Department of Innovation and Technology (DOIT).

Last month, it was revealed that Goldstein would depart the mayor’s administration for a position at University of Chicago.

On Thursday, he used a “hacker meet-up” opportunity to thank members of Chicago’s civic tech community for making his effort work, and took the opportunity to point out individual staffers by name and the role they had in Chicago’s data effort.

His group was tasked with consolidating the technical side of Chicago under one roof. Among those things: coordinating data and logistics for NATO, ramping up the city’s data portal, which included hundreds of city records, mandating reporting of data by agencies and creating tools to analyze and respond to citizens via 311 or social media.

“Data.cityofchicago.org has become the standard for data portals,” Goldstein said. “We get countless calls that say ‘Oh my God, how did you do it in Chicago?”

But his departure has raised questions as to whether his replacement will continue to open up city records and if information will actually be used by the public to apply pressure on politicians with facts and data.

Goldstein was first appointed by the Mayor to head up the city’s data effort in May of 2011, but after issuing an executive order in December of 2012, was made the city’s first Chief Data Officer.

“An open and transparent administration makes it easier for residents to hold their government accountable, but it also serves as a platform for innovative tools that improve the life of all residents,” Emanuel said at the time.

It was that sentiment that Goldstein was trying to echo as he stood before a room of civic-minded techies, many of whom have utilized the flood of data to create apps and websites to help Chicagoans understand their city better.

“This is your data,” Goldstein said to the crowd on the 22nd floor of a downtown office of the Chicago Community Trust, a group that provides charitable resources to communities.

The group’s partner the Smart Chicago Collaborative invited Goldstein to the talk.

(Editors’ note: WBEZ is a media collaborator with the Smart Chicago Collaborative.)

Behind the speech there were hints of philosophical beliefs — even hopeful tones of what would happen after his departure.

“How do we continue to foster this… Tim O’Reilly used the phrase: ‘government as a platform,’ I absolutely believe in the data portal as a platform,” Goldstein said.

To get at this requires a bit of background. Goldstein, an official empowered to open up Chicago’s information, (and has worked with the likes of New York City and others to do the same) was referring to a Zeitgeist tech world term.

The movement of “Government 2.0” grew out of tech conventions and terminology, to philosophical back-and-forth among industry leaders about standards that would set the stage for how people use the Internet, computers and eventually their mobile applications.

Among those subscribers was the recently deceased Aaron Swartz. Swartz founded Reddit and campaigned against political governance of the Internet. He caused stir after he released troves of federal court documents as well as a database of the Library of Congress.

There are some that see Open Government as a way to have people respond democratically to government through technology. They hope by freeing up government’s data vaults it will allow the public to keep track of government functions and information in order to hold officials accountable.

Whether or not that has happened, is up for a great deal of debate.

Last month, Crain’s published a scathing op-ed by Chicago writer Steve Rhodes.

He took issue with the mayor touting his administration as data-driven, when his actions on school closings, red-light cameras, gun laws and parking meter policies suggested otherwise.

Rhodes cited examples of how the available data ran against claims Emanuel’s office used to justify policies.

Goldstein, in his speech, often walked a line between talking about the technical and political.

He cited terms such as ETLs (Extract, Transform, Load), a technical method by which data moves from one city database like the Police Department into the data portal site, directly to the Internet.

“There isn’t a little dude in the basement of city hall vetting it. It’s just blocks of Java that update the portal, so that I can go away,” he said. “It’s actually harder to turn it off at this point, than to keep it on.”

Goldstein would not comment on whether his replacement was named and deferred to the mayor’s office.

But when asked about how data is and can be used in government, he responded as the role of the facilitator.

“I might have some expertise about what the data shows,” he said. “I might be able to use an algorithm to induce what I think might be an interesting treatment… How do we bring these things that are shown in the data and make them part of the discourse?”

“I want to make it easier so that data informs the decision-making process.”

the term "nerd herd" will forever haunt the city of chicago #opendata #byebrett cc: @ryanbriones @ChicagoEl @ChicagoCDO
— Vriti Jain (@vrimjai) June 14, 2013

Well @ChicagoEl, we let our speakers speak for themselves. Here's Brett Goldstein's CCC May 13, 2013 speech http://t.co/K3sK4nNAZf #byebrett
— City Club of Chicago (@CityClubChicago) June 14, 2013

Elliott Ramos is a data reporter and web producer for WBEZ. Follow him at @ChicagoEl

Brett

Perusing Chicago Public Library data: Rogers Park ranks high among bookworms, Great Gatsby flies off shelf and eBook checkouts on the rise

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 10:10:00 -0500

Chicago's open data program has some detractors, but most can agree that we like books. Or at the very least Rogers Park does, according to city data.

The Chicago Public Library system, one of the largest in the country and in place since 1873, has kept a meticulous set of records.

Libraries could well be considered some of the earliest adopters of open data as they ditched card catalogues and rubber stamps for computerized records. Librarians are professional catalogers, and so to bridge the print and digital worlds, we wanted to take a look at some of the data CPL has to offer.

What we found:

The Great Gatsby saw a resurgence as interest was likely piqued by a movie release
Rogers Park ranks among the highest in checkouts for neighborhood branches
eBook checkouts are on the rise

What's in CPL's data trove?

Among the data sets on the city's portal site:

The Great Checkout

According to the popular fiction titles, "The Great Gatsby," first published in 1925, now ranks among the top reads in Chicago. After tabulating the data from CPL's website, we've found that Chicagoans are moving the copies between libraries, interest has started to wane in some branches and a decent amount of copies were placed on hold.

Why the uptick?

“We often do, a lot of people when you know you want to go see a movie and when you read the book you want to read the book first,” said Ruth Lednicer, spokesperson for CPL.

Chart: Checkouts, holds and available copies of "The Great Gatsby" in the Chicago Public Library system as of 6/11/2013

eBooks are on the rise

While CPL has grown its eBook capabilities, starting first with Sony and Barnes & Noble Nook readers, the greatest increase came after Amazon launched its library lending program, which at the time opened up over 3,536 titles to Chicagoans using Kindles.

How many checkouts are we talking about?

Well, in January of 2011, there were 13,841 eBook checkouts. In April of 2013, there were 35,651. That's a 158 percent increase.

Which neighborhood has the most bookworms?

Chicagoans, ever competitive with their rival neighborhoods, may be interested to know how their library stacks up among others, or how often they're being utilized. Interestingly enough, Chicagoans read more during the winter months.

Also, the Rogers Park branch ranks among the highest in checkouts for 2012. This may be in part due to a heavy immigrant community, which adopts English by reading books and a neighboring school, according to CPL's Lednicer.

The Lincoln Belmont branch also ranks as one of the highest in checkins, just behind the Sulzer Regional Branch and the Harold Washington Library Center.

Sometimes the stats can be skewed, such as the Edgewater branch, which is currently operating out of a bookmobile while their new branch on Broadway is being contructed.

Circulation figures include new checkouts as well as renewals. In January all branch locations were closed on Monday, January 9, Monday, January 23 and Monday, January 30. Beginning in February, all branch locations restored partial Monday hours, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. On June 18, all branch locations restored full Monday hours. Edgewater closed 6/16/11 for construction of a new branch scheduled to open in mid-2013. The library’s bookmobile opened 6/24/11 for Edgewater holds pickup and returns. Douglass closed for 10 days in February for roof repairs. Humboldt Park closed 3/26/12 for facility improvements and expansion. Lincoln Park closed for four days in August for replacement of the air conditioning system. Many locations experienced sporadic closures in summer 2012 due to air conditioning issues and area power outages. Albany Park closed 9/22/12 for construction of a new branch and will remain closed until 2014. Brighton Park, Jefferson Park and Portage Cragin were closed 11/26/12-12/7/12 for replacement of their HVAC systems.

2012 circulation by branch

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Circulation figures include new checkouts as well as renewals. The Chicago Public Library opened four new locations in 2011: Greater Grand Crossing (4/23/11); Dunning (5/6/11); Daley, Richard M.-W Humboldt (7/8/11) and Little Village (10/3/11). Edgewater closed 6/16/11 for construction of a new branch; a bookmobile for holds pickup and returns opened 6/24/11. Altgeld closed for extended periods in July and August for air conditioning installation. Back of the Yards closed permanently 8/22/11 due to repeated flooding. All locations were closed February 2-February 3 due to weather. In addition, many locations experienced sporadic closures in summer 2011 due to weather-related issues.

2011 circulation by branch

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What's trending in CPL?

While the New York Times Bestseller List may be a good indicator of what the nation is reading, in Chicago, the closest thing we may have is the most popular titles data set.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a data-cke-saved-href=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;https://data.cityofchicago.org/Education/Popular-Nonfiction-Titles-at-the-Chicago-Public-Li/6mc3-ah7p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; href=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;https://data.cityofchicago.org/Education/Popular-Nonfiction-Titles-at-the-Chicago-Public-Li/6mc3-ah7p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; title=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;Popular Nonfiction Titles at the Chicago Public Library&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; target=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;_blank&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Popular Nonfiction Titles at the Chicago Public Library&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a data-cke-saved-href=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;https://data.cityofchicago.org/Education/Libraries-Popular-Fiction-Titles-at-the-Chicago-Pu/nv46-bxa3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; href=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;https://data.cityofchicago.org/Education/Libraries-Popular-Fiction-Titles-at-the-Chicago-Pu/nv46-bxa3&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; title=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;Libraries - Popular Fiction Titles at the Chicago Public Library&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; target=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;_blank&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Libraries - Popular Fiction Titles at the Chicago Public Library&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

In a sea of Twitter and Facebook updates, the data does indicate the Chicago's libraries are not just well used, they're booming from computer use, eBook checkouts and more.

The data would seem to suggest: Chicagoans give a hoot.

— Elliott Ramos is a data reporter and Web producer for WBEZ (and a card-carrying member of Chicago's Public Library system). Email him at eramos@wbez.org or follow at @ChicagoEl.

Why are Chicago’s sidewalk cafes all on the North Side? Part 2

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:19:00 -0500

With warm weather securely in hand, Chicagoans are dining out in droves. We don’t know exactly where all this sun-drenched dining is taking place, but we can make a solid case that nearly all of the dining at sidewalk cafes is happening near downtown and in several North Side neighborhoods. How do we know this?

Last week we released the map you see here, which lays out the location of sidewalk cafe permits that existed in 2012. The map and the data that inform it show that sidewalk cafe permits are densely concentrated on Chicago’s North Side, but few exist on the South and West Sides. That post laid out where disparities in cafe permits exist, as well as the regulatory framework governing sidewalk cafes. (We can now add another likely economic factor, one related to public transit.)

Chicago's Sidewalk cafes in 2012

Data analysis and map produced by Elliott Ramos

Source: Chicago Department of Transportation, Chicago Department of Business and Consumer Affairs, Steven Vance, Azad Amir-Ghassemi and Bill Vassilakis (See data: WBEZ Open Socrata)

Our first article received plenty of feedback, a lot of it pressing for an obvious followup: Why do these disparities exist? Does City Hall and the other powers that be make a conscious effort to keep the North Side flush with sun-kissed dining opportunities?

The answer says a lot about the state of economic development across Chicago. But before we dig in, why should we even care?

Chicagoans (and their aldermen) want out

On a Wednesday afternoon in Lakeview, we met a trio of young women dining at the sidewalk café of Bahn Mi, a Vietnamese Sandwich shop on north Broadway.

For one of them, 28-year old Lauren Flanagan, a sidewalk cafe’s plus side is obvious.

“If you’re sitting out on the street, you can watch people as they go past,” she said. “It’s just nicer than being indoors on a day like this, it’ll be stuffy. You feel like you should be outside.”

We told the trio about the gist of our cafe permits map, and all three were surprised to learn that sidewalk dining was so concentrated on the North Side.

Krist Giuntoli, a 20-year-old who lives in Highland Park, asked “Do you think that has a socioeconomic impact?”

Well, Krist Giuntoli, there are many people who are convinced sidewalk cafes can have an impact — alongside restaurants, bars and other outdoor social outlets. And, as we pointed out in our last post, officials engineer (and pay for) streetscaping projects that clear away regulatory hurdles and make all of this activity more likely in the long run.

Philip Ashton, an associate professor of urban planning and policy at University of Illinois at Chicago, has studied economic issues such as food deserts and foreclosures on the city’s South and West Sides.

“I think planners have been really curious about what makes a vibrant public space,” Ashton said. “Like a sidewalk that’s still full of people, some of them sitting outside dining. Those are really attractive spaces for planners.”

Chicago Department of Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein considers streetscaping part of a city’s economic development toolkit.

“A streetscape can be very catalytic, and a streetscape, and I’ve seen this in Washington D.C., and I’ve seen it here where streetscapes can really foster a lot of growth,” Klein said.

He does, however, caution that they’re not panaceas. (“That’s a lot of pressure to put on a streetscape.”)

Just a few examples would suggest Klein’s caveat is on the mark. Take the example of two significant streetscapes: Auburn Gresham’s 2004 revamp of 79th street, and Bronzeville’s 2002 revamp of 47th Street. Both projects had all the works and fixings (wider sidewalks, new street lamps, etc.), but they occurred in areas pocked by vacant lots and abandoned properties. Economically speaking, neither streetscape has fully delivered. And, incidentally, neither location had a sidewalk cafe in 2012.

But for much of City Hall and City Council, the jury’s out; both are politically invested in streetscaping efforts. Among the proponents: North Side Alderman Ameya Pawar (47th).

“Things happen on streets where there isn’t a lot of development, where there isn’t a lot of business, because you can get away with crime in those areas,” he said. “I think when you have a vibrant neighborhood with a lot of people walking around spending time outside, I think what ends up happening is that neighborhood becomes safer.”

Pewar says he eagerly awaits the completion of a streetscaping project along Lawrence Avenue. And what’s prominently listed in the schematics for that project?

Space for sidewalk cafes.

The aldermanic funnel

As we explained earlier, Chicago aldermen hold the proverbial keys to the sidewalk cafe — it’s up to the local alderman to secure City Council approval. After reading the first part of this story, several commenters suspected foul play; maybe some aldermen, they wrote, are simply denying permits.

That doesn’t seem to be the case.

Calls to several aldermen and their offices suggest it’s rare for permits to be denied. When permits are denied, they said, it’s usually because the permits don’t conform to parameters outlined in city regulations (e.g., not allowing enough space for passersby). Aldermanic staffers and the city’s Department of Business and Consumer Affairs said they work with businesses to be in compliance.

Instead, North Side aldermen simply receive far more requests for sidewalk cafe permits than their counterparts on the South and West Sides. And that, both aldermen and development groups tell us, reflects the relative disparities in economic health across Chicago neighborhoods.

On the South Side, small buds of growth

Hyde Park is an anomaly, with its sprinkling of sidewalk cafes on 53rd Street. Ald. Will Burns (4th) said while many parts of the South Side lost population over the past decade, his area didn’t. He said population gain has led to a surge in recent commerce.

Burns said he’s never rejected a sidewalk permit.

“I want people out on the streets. I want eyes on the street. It makes the community feel more vibrant. I try to facilitate the process when I can. I don’t want to be a hindrance,” Burns said.

Norman Bolden owns an eponymous bistro on East 43rd in the North Kenwood neighborhood. Bolden’s sidewalk café, with fare such as cranberry-smoked salmon, Caribbean-style duck and a variety of martinis, is a popular neighborhood attraction. This part of the 4th Ward has less commercial activity than Hyde Park.

Bolden said applying for the permit year after year can be a red-tape worthy headache. But Bolden, who also lives in the community, said having outdoor seating is essential.

“It’s important that the people in this community know that they have the option to experience what the downtown community, what the North Side community are offering. This café is an additional reason for people to feel good about themselves and the community,” Bolden said.

True, the South Side did lose population over the last decade or so. But the South Side is the city’s biggest geographic area. There are still neighborhoods full of people for whom non fast-food dining — outdoor or otherwise — isn’t an option.

“I wasn’t really surprised,” said Leana Flowers, concerning conclusions drawn from WBEZ’s café map. Flowers chairs the Bronzeville Retail Initiative, which works with the Metropolitan Planning Council, a regional planning and development advocacy group.

“There’s a fundamental need to have these kinds of amenities; you have to have restaurants,” Flowers said. “The North Side has lots of restaurants and you’d expect they’d have [outdoor] cafes. The challenge for us is we need to get more retail on the South Side of Chicago, and that includes restaurants. Then we can address sidewalk cafes.”

Aesthetically pleasing streetscaping — often the first step before a crush of local retail — is tied to Special Service Areas (SSAs.) These local tax districts fund programs such as façade improvements and public way maintenance and beautification. Property owners have to vote to be a SSA for the additional tax. If there isn’t a strong existing business corridor, it’s harder to pull off an SSA.

UIC’s Ashton says that SSAs can help, but there needs to be more.

“A lot of times it’s not just the physical investment, but also business organizations are using SSA or business improvement districts and local chambers of commerce as a way to get businesses more organized to promote themselves,” Ashton said. “So it can be sort of a package deal. And I believe that’s an important tool in the local economic development planners’ toolbox.”

West Side Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) said three things are needed to make an area sidewalk-café ready: density, safety and retail estate value. He knows parts of his ward lag in those categories.

“As our areas improve and our level of retail escalates and restaurant, we are open to have those cafes. The constituents will demand it. I believe people would take it if it were an option,” said Ervin, who lives in economically starved West Garfield Park. “You need some density and vibrancy. You need factors other than just chairs and tables outside of a restaurant.”

Ervin said streetscaping can provide a corridor a needed facelift.

“A lot of those streetscapings are done with SAA dollars or TIF dollars and some areas on West Side we don’t have access to that money,” Ervin said. “We need more entrepreneurs to come into the community other than a submarine shop or chicken shack. We want to attract the nicer retail.”

Streetscapes not always a silver bullet

And here’s the kernel of an answer to why the spread of Chicago’s sidewalk cafes is so uneven, and skewed to the North Side. If Chicago aldermen are eager to approve sidewalk cafe permits, and there are streetscape projects throughout the city that lay the (literal) foundation for them, then the business environment (informed by location of SSAs and TIF districts) is likely behind the disparity. In other words, there are just too few dollars available from too few businesses to create a critical mass of restaurants that sport sidewalk cafes.

This outcome is not necessarily a good thing for South Siders and West Siders, and it’s one that everyone in the city should consider.

Steven Farber, an assistant professor of geography at the University of Utah, recently published a study that examined land use and transportation in 42 major U.S. cities. His work looks at how urban space affects how often and how well we interact. The gist is that seemingly small differences in landscape affect our social networks and well-being.

“I think that neighborhoods without those types of opportunities for social contact may not fare as well as neighborhoods that do have these cafes and sidewalks and better streetscapes,” he said.

But Farber isn’t suggesting that Chicago put cafes where they wouldn’t be viable. “I’m not sure that building sidewalk cafes in neighborhoods that don’t seem to be demanding that kind of business infrastructure at the current time is necessarily going to have a huge impact on the neighborhood structure,” he said. “I think that raising socioeconomic status is far more important than providing sidewalk cafes, or at least these things have to come together.”

Still, Farber’s work could provide a little ammunition to South and West Siders who suspect there’s something wrong with the distribution of cafes across the city. And it’s not founded in a easily-dismissed gripe that they have to travel out of their neighborhoods for good food in some warm sunshine.

—Natalie Moore is WBEZ’s South Side bureau reporter. Follow her @natalieymoore. Elliott Ramos is a data reporter and Web producer for WBEZ. Email him at eramos@wbez.org or follow @ChicagoEl.

Weary of high Chicago asthma rates, some lobby Washington

Fri, 31 May 2013 11:21:00 -0500

The asthma hospitalization rate in Chicago remains significantly higher than the national average. While the origins of the disease remain elusive, mounting evidence has made its risk factors more clear, and Chicago has somewhat of a perfect storm for asthma problems.

Part of the city’s above-average rate is demographic. Minorities have a higher prevalence of asthma. Puerto Ricans, even when sharing the same environmental conditions as other ethnic groups, suffer higher asthma rates. African-Americans, too, are significantly more likely to have asthma than non-Hispanic Whites, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

And while the demographic trend is toward higher risk for asthma in cities like Chicago, the “triggers” that set off asthma attacks are also clustered in and around the nation’s major metros.

“Having the disease is one thing. Having it under control is another,” said Brian Urbaszewski, director of environmental health programs for Respiratory Health Association.

Based in the West Loop, the nonprofit RHA has worked to fight lung disease since 1906. They promote asthma awareness and education, and have joined with environmental groups to advocate pollution controls for area coal plants. Public health studies tied Chicago’s shuttered Fisk and Crawford coal plants to 2,800 asthma attacks annually.

Asthma is a chronic disease, meaning there is no cure. But poverty makes it difficult to manage a recurring condition like asthma, which could require a lifetime of treatment.

“Nobody should wind up in the hospital for asthma,” Urbaszewski said.

Yet each year there are thousands of asthma hospitalizations in Chicago alone. Death rates from asthma are particularly high for African Americans and Hispanics, and are concentrated in urban areas, including Chicago.

Air quality in the Chicago area has improved since 2000, following a national trend, but The American Lung Association again flunked Chicago in its annual “State of the Air” report released in April. Local agencies have taken steps to improve air quality awareness, including a new system of colored flags for Chicago schools. But air pollution from vehicle exhaust remains a major factor for poor air quality.

Urbaszewski recently traveled to Washington to push for new smog standards proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA is accepting public comments on their Tier 3 Vehicle Emission and Fuel Standards program through July 1.

New research suggests some air pollution might directly cause asthma, as opposed to it just triggering an attack, but the principal cause of the disease remains unclear.

A recent study in the European Respiratory Journal, the first ever to estimate the how many asthma cases could be linked to road traffic pollution specifically, found car exhaust on par with second-hand smoke. The study said 14 percent of chronic asthma in kids is caused by car exhaust, comparable to the 4 to 18 percent bracket of childhood asthma cases resulting from exposure to second-hand smoke, according to World Health Organization estimates. There are more diesel cars in Europe, however, whose fine particle soot could exacerbate the effect compared to the U.S. auto fleet.

Whether or not it causes asthma, car exhaust — a major contributor of smog, or ground-level ozone — is a potent trigger for asthma attacks.

The proposed EPA standards, which wouldn’t take effect until 2017, would require auto manufacturers to build heartier catalytic converters — the car part that chews up noxious chemicals before they exit the tailpipe — and oil producers to clean sulfur impurities from gasoline. Oil and gas companies have spoken out against new regulations, which they call an undue burden on the recovering economy. The steps would raise the cost of gas slightly, but proponents of the higher standard say the cost would be about one cent per gallon.

“Are you going to spend that money on pain and suffering,” Urbaszewski said, “or put it in prevention?”

California already has its own tailpipe standards. While 12 states have adopted California’s higher bar, Illinois is among the majority who follow the national standard that currently allows for more smog.

Chris Bentley writes about the environment. Follow him on @Cementley.

The city's open data initiative has logged asthma hospitalizations 2000-2011:

Public Health Statistics - Asthma hospitalizations in Chicago, by year, 2000 - 2011

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a data-cke-saved-href=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;https://data.cityofchicago.org/Health-Human-Services/Public-Health-Statistics-Asthma-hospitalizations-i/vazh-t57q&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; href=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;https://data.cityofchicago.org/Health-Human-Services/Public-Health-Statistics-Asthma-hospitalizations-i/vazh-t57q&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; title=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;Public Health Statistics - Asthma hospitalizations in Chicago, by year, 2000 - 2011&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; target=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;_blank&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Public Health Statistics - Asthma hospitalizations in Chicago, by year, 2000 - 2011&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Illinois' 'outrageously insane' gun license loophole

Thu, 30 May 2013 13:28:00 -0500

State lawmakers now have less than two weeks to pass a law allowing Illinoisans to carry concealed guns.

But some say Illinois’ existing system of licensing gun owners is badly broken.

The state is supposed to take away Firearm Owners Identification Cards, or FOIDs, from felons, the mentally ill and people who have restraining orders against them, like those who have been charged with domestic violence.

But of the more than 11,200 cards that were revoked as of mid-May, more than 6,700 of those cards are still unaccounted for, according to Illinois State Police data obtained by WBEZ through the Freedom of Information Act.

Spotty enforcement of Illinois gun laws mean those revoked cardholders could be hanging onto their guns. And legal loopholes mean they could still buy ammunition, and possibly more firearms through private sales.

But there are some law enforcement groups in Illinois that are trying to stop that.

On a hot, sunny afternoon last week, Sgt. Chris Imhof started up his unmarked SUV in the parking lot of the Cook County Sheriff’s department in Maywood.

He and two other officers were going hunting for revoked FOID cards.

“The first guy is, uh - was revoked for some sort of possession of a controlled substance,” Imhof said as he drove to the first location.

He wore jeans and a ballcap with a green shamrock on it, and if it weren’t for his gun and bullet-proof vest, you might not even know he was a cop. But he’s heading up a special team of Cook County Sheriff’s officers whose job it is to go out a couple of times a week just to seize FOID cards from people who have had them revoked.

If this seems like overkill - three guys with guns and Kevlar going to get a plastic identification card - Imhof says there’s a reason for the precautions.

In Illinois, somebody trying to buy a gun with a revoked card at a local gun shop - where a background check is required - would likely get caught. But Imhof says there’s still a lot you can get away with in Illinois without somebody checking whether a FOID is actually valid.

“They can get ammunition and they can also get the weapons on a private deal if somebody doesn’t check to see if, uh, he’s revoked. So, I mean it’s important to grab ‘em,” he said.

So Imhof and his team are going door to door in the suburbs, trying to track down the nearly 3,000 revoked FOID cards that are still floating around Cook County - and, more importantly – to ask people to hand over their guns.

One of Imhof’s partners squawks him over the radio to say that the man at the first stop is recorded as having bought a shotgun within the state of Illinois.

“There’s still a potential that he has a gun, he has his card,” Imhof said. “We won’t really know until we actually have contact with him.”

We roll down a tree-lined street in suburban Melrose Park, and pull up to a white house with a chainlink fence. I stay in the car while the three officers walk past a row of bushy green hostas and knock on the front door.

After a few minutes of knocking, there’s still no answer. So they leave a note telling the person with the revoked card to give them a call.

If this all seems a little polite for police work, it’s because local law enforcement in Illinois don’t actually have the legal authority to seize this person’s gun - even if they had their FOID revoked for beating their spouse or being mentally ill.

“We’re asking them to voluntarily hand their weapons over to us,” Imhof said. “They - they really don’t have to.”

‘Outrageously insane’

Experts and advocates say this is a problem that pervades Illinois’ gun licensing system.

Yet it concerns one of the few things people on both sides of the polarized gun debate seem to agree on, at least in principle: that certain groups of people shouldn’t have access to guns.

But in Illinois, there’s no uniform mechanism for anyone to go and get them. And while efforts in Cook County, Chicago and by the Illinois State Police and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives bring in a few hundred guns each year, there are still thousands of revoked cards floating around the state, with no way of knowing how many guns are in the hands of people who aren’t supposed to have them.

“Honestly, I would challenge you to find an issue that is more outrageously insane than this one,” said Cook County’s Democratic Sheriff, Tom Dart, who launched his gun team back in February when he first learned about the holes in the FOID revocation process.

“If the system were to work completely the way it’s set up to work, all we’ve got is your card,” Dart said. “We could care less about the fact you’re sitting on an arsenal of guns, and you clearly shouldn’t be within a million yards of a gun.”

Dart and other critics say the whole process is set up to fail.

When the State Police initially revoke somebody’s FOID card, they simply send a letter in the mail, requesting that it be returned, according to spokeswoman Monique Bond.

And that’s usually it, says Mark Walsh, with the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence.

“You’re supposed to voluntarily surrender your FOID card,” Walsh said. “And that’s one of the problems that we have.”

But if you read Illinois’ current laws, Walsh says everything looks fine on paper.

People who are judged to be mentally ill, who are convicted of a felony or have a restraining order against them are supposed to have their FOID cards revoked by the State Police.

But in practice, more than 60 percent of the revoked cards are still out there.

And it’s impossible to know how many of those people still have their guns, because the state does not track individual firearms, Walsh said.

“To say that it’s keeping people safe - I would have to say no. I mean I think we really need to put the time and money into fixing the system,” Walsh said.

A lack of money - and communication

Both the Cook County Sheriff and the Chicago Police Department now have special teams that hunt down revoked FOID cards as part of larger efforts to stop the flow of illegal guns.

Both agencies say they have unwritten agreements with the State Police that allows them to get notifications whenever a FOID is revoked.

But several other big law enforcement agencies in Illinois say they’ve never even asked for information about revoked FOIDs, and the Illinois State Police don’t offer it up.

“Everybody, including the chief, was kinda shocked that we have 187 outstanding,” said Lt. Pat Hoey, with the Rockford Police Department, referring to the number of revoked FOID cards from his town that are still unaccounted for.

Hoey says that’s the kind of data local law enforcement should know about.

“If Alex Keefe’s a badass, and now we realize, ‘Oh my God, he’s got a revoked FOID,’ which means he probably has guns, and if we suspect he’s doing narcotics or gang crimes, well - that would be good intelligence information to know,” Hoey said.

Law enforcement officials in Lake and McHenry Counties, as well as the cities of Rockford, Springfield and Aurora - where a total of 804 unaccounted FOIDs were last registered - say they do not get revocation lists from the state police.

(Other jurisdictions with the highest number of revocations, including Will and DuPage Counties, and the cities of Joliet, Peoria and Decatur, did not respond to calls for this story.)

But no law enforcement agency contacted by WBEZ blamed the Illinois State Police for failing to retrieve revoked FOID cards, even though the law says it’s their responsibility.

There are just about 25 people working in the FOID office, which has an annual budget of just $1.5 million, according to Bond, the State Police spokeswoman. And they’re dealing with a record number of applications in addition to the thousands of revoked cards.

WBEZ repeatedly requested interviews with the person in charge of FOID, and with Illinois State Police Director Hiram Grau. The agency refused those requests.

But Grau spoke briefly about the problems with FOID during a press conference with Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin in January.

“Our issue with the FOID unit is, quite frankly, funding,” Grau said. “We continue to experience retirements. We’re, we’re - manpower-wise, in our FOID unit, it’s very, very low.”

Bond later added that State Police sometimes notify local law enforcement of especially urgent FOID revocations - but not all of them.

And state troopers also work with federal agents to retrieve guns and revoked cards as part of their larger mission to collect illegal firearms, Bond said.

Together with the ATF, troopers seize an average of 200 guns a year, according to an ATF spokesman.

Still, advocates point to the danger posed by thousands of missing revoked cards to argue the FOID system needs an overhaul, especially as the state stares down an early June deadline to legalize the carrying of concealed weapons.

With concealed carry, potential ‘chaos’

Dart is pushing bills in Springfield to give local law enforcement the power to seize guns from people who’ve been revoked, instead of relying on the State Police.

The provision, which is currently folded into proposed concealed carry legislation, would also require that people turn in revoked FOID cards within 48 hours.

“Otherwise what you’re gonna have, is you’re gonna have individuals who have a concealed carry permit, in addition to their FOID card, that’s been revoked, and no one’s gettin’ those guns, either,” Dart said. “And they’re carrying them all around the streets, as well. So I mean this will be complete and total chaos.”

Dart also wants people with revoked FOID cards to make a list of all guns they own - an idea that has concerned the National Rifle Association and other gun rights advocates.

A spokesman for the NRA in Illinois did not respond to interview requests.

Back in the suburbs last week, Dart’s gun team has visited a handful of homes in a couple of hours. But they’ve still had no luck getting any revoked FOID cards - or any guns.

Not from the guy who was revoked for child pornography. Or from another guy whose card was revoked for unlawful use of a weapon.

But then Sergeant Chris Imhof’s radio starts to crackle.

“You guys win! Number 100!” said a voice on the other end of his walkie talkie.

It’s from two other officers who are a few suburbs away, where they’ve just retrieved their 100th gun from someone with a revoked FOID.

Imhof congratulates them over the radio, but he doesn’t get too excited. There are still thousands of revoked FOID cards in Cook County, he explains, and who knows how many guns.

Alex Keefe is a political reporter at WBEZ. Follow him @akeefe.

Map: Where are the revoked FOID cards?

Illinois takes away gun rights from criminals, the mentally ill and people who have restraining orders against them. But more than 6,700 revoked Firearm Owners Identification cards across the state are unaccounted for, potentially allowing their owners to still buy guns and ammunition. Here’s a map of where the revoked FOIDs were last registered. (Data from the Illinois State Police)

Photos:

Why are Chicago’s sidewalk cafes all on the North Side? Part 1

Wed, 29 May 2013 20:53:00 -0500

(Photo, interactive illustration by Elliott Ramos/WBEZ)

Residents on the city’s South and West Sides have few options available for outdoor socializing — and that’s partially by design.

Whenever Chicago shakes off winter, the temperature isn’t the only quality of life indicator on the upswing. It’s as though city-goers have license to be more social and especially so when it comes to eating. It’s not just that neighbors will barbeque together or that families will flock to parks for picnics; summer opens up the opportunity to socialize with friends over wine, cafe fare or Thai food while sitting on city sidewalks.

On a recent afternoon, we caught diners just at restaurants started serving on sidewalks.

“I wanted to eat outside, it’s the first warm day of spring. It’s nice to come outside, eat and people-watch,” said 33-year-old Mike Capasso.

Chicago's Sidewalk cafes in 2012

Data analysis and map produced by Elliott Ramos

Source: Chicago Department of Transportation, Chicago Department of Business and Consumer Affairs, Steven Vance, Azad Amir-Ghassemi and Bill Vassilakis (See data: WBEZ Open Socrata)

We caught Capasso outside with his friends at Lady Gregory’s, an Irish restaurant in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood, where patrons can take advantage of sidewalk cafes that stretch along blocks of North Clark Street’s manicured sidewalks.

But this is not a scene you can spot in all parts of the city.

WBEZ compiled data about where City Hall issues sidewalk cafe permits that allow eateries to serve customers on sidewalks. Our analysis paints a disparate picture of Chicago’s sidewalk dining and drinking spots. It may not surprise many longtime city-goers that such permits are concentrated on the North Side. But what may surprise some is just how uneven the spread really is: There’s quite literally no comparison with communities on the South and West Sides, as those parts of town have no permits with which to compare.

Next week, we’ll provide an account of the economic and social consequences of this mismatch. For now, we lay out where Chicago’s cafe permits are issued, where they are glaringly absent, and how the city’s outdoor dining landscape got this way.

Setting up shop outside

Aside from weather, there are three things that make sidewalk dining in Chicago possible. The first is a permit for a sidewalk cafe, which is not to be confused with an outdoor patio. The latter is on the owner’s property, but if you’re eating at a sidewalk cafe, technically you’re eating on public property. That’s even the case if your establishment seats you on the sidewalk after asking if you want to dine “on the patio.”

1. Getting a sidewalk cafe

A sidewalk cafe requires a permit to use ostensibly public space for a business purpose. The sidewalk cafes allow restaurants and coffee shops to set up tables and chairs in front of their businesses, provided they adhere to certain rules.

Maureen Martino is the executive director of the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce, which represents many local bars and restaurants. She says many chamber members utilize sidewalk cafes.

“When spring comes out and you see the first sidewalk cafe go up, you like to be in a place not usually seen during the year,” she said. “It creates a people spot, a spot where people go to socialize.”

Unlike a license distributed by a City Hall department, a sidewalk cafe permit is approved by City Council, with the permit’s sponsor being that of a business owner’s alderman.

The approval process is usually expedited; however, the city limits the sidewalk cafes’ specs, which can range from the height of a table to spacing between a building and sidewalk.

“The city does set guidelines on how your sidewalk cafe should be constructed,” Martino said. “They mandate that you have flowers.”

Indeed, according to Chicago’s 2013, Sidewalk cafe application, “at least 50% of the boundary must be covered with live plants.”

However, it’s that spacing that may affect where a cafe can go, because the city requires that pedestrians be allowed a minimum of six feet of walk space. The rest, the code says, should allow enough space for diners, especially those with disabilities access to the tables.

This means that you can’t place a cafe on a nine-foot sidewalk, but you can place one on a sidewalk that’s been widened. Some of these are widened to accommodate such seating. And that widening, it turns out, is not even across the city, either.

2. Streetscapes lay a foundation

Chicago’s official motto, embossed on its corporate seal is “urbs in horto,” a Latin phrase which means city in a garden.

(WBEZ/Elliott Ramos)

Under the stewardship of Mayor Richard M. Daley, Chicago expanded the number streetscapes. These urban renewal projects were implemented by the Chicago Department of Transportation, but bankrolled from sources which include (but were not limited to) city, state and federal transportation funds. At times, these sources included what’s known as tax increment financing.

According to 2003 guidelines issued by Daley’s administration, streetscapes are meant to “encourage the enhancement and revitalization of commercial areas in Chicago.”

That guideline is still adhered to, notably by Gabe Klein, the current commissioner for Chicago’s Department of Transportation.

“We want to have a robust economy, we want to have a safe city and we want to have a city that people can feel like they can move around safely as pedestrian, cyclists, transit users or automobile users and the way we design our streets is absolutely key to making that happen,” said Klein.

Klein’s department works with community groups, businesses, builders and aldermen to to use Chicago streets, sidewalks and alleys as development tools.

Streetscape projects can vary dramatically from neighborhood to neighborhood. Projects can include, but are not limited to: the repavement of streets, the replacement and widening of sidewalks, installation of new street lamps, ornamental lighting, flower beds, sidewalk planters, viaduct improvements, vaulted sidewalks, bike lanes, bus stops, and benches. Streetscaping can even involve removal of a traffic lane. The projects sometimes last years and several rollouts can span a decade or so.

One effect of a streetscape — not lost upon developers and planners — is that wider, more accommodating sidewalks are amenable to sidewalk cafes. Planners often will draw in cafes on renderings of streetscape projects when pitching them to the public.

(WBEZ/Andrew Gill)

Sidewalk cafes must maintain a distance between city structures such as trees and parking meters, with enough space for pedestrians to pass.

After filing a Freedom of Information Act request with CDOT, WBEZ was able to obtain a list and description of streetscape projects spanning back to 1996. From 1996-2012, there were roughly 127 individual streetscapes. In some cases, streetscapes were done in already flourishing areas in Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Wicker Park and Andersonville.

When asked about the concentration of sidewalk cafes on the North Side, Klein said a streetscape can be a factor.

“One of the things we look at definitely look at is how to activate public space,” he said.

“A streetscape then allows for more frontage for a restaurant might mean that restaurant might move in there, which means they might have an outdoor patio, which means that you might have more eyes on the street. Decorative lighting might make it more pleasant to be out there in the street. Bump-outs [portions of sidewalk that jut into the street] and taking a lane of traffic away, may slow the cars down so that people feel more comfortable sitting outside. It feels more like a neighborhood street or boulevard instead of a highway.”

3. Pedestrian zones maintain flow of customers

Businesses with sidewalk cafes require a certain threshold of foot traffic to work effectively. Business owners will say that large crowds will spur larger crowds, which increases the appeal for restaurant-goers — especially those in the mood to do some people-watching.

(WBEZ/Andrew Gill)

Pedestrian streets can increase the flow of customers, but businesses must stay within standards.

By default, all licensed restaurants in Chicago lay in areas zoned for business or commercial use, but there’s another zoning classification that explains where sidewalk cafes land across the city: so-called “pedestrian streets.”

According to Chicago’s Zoning and Land Use Ordinance, pedestrian street regulations are “intended to preserve and enhance the character of streets and intersections that are widely recognized as Chicago’s best examples of pedestrian-oriented shopping districts.”

The ordinance goes on to state that the “regulations are intended to promote transit, economic vitality and pedestrian safety and comfort.”

The city’s pedestrian streets, or p-streets, were mapped out by Chicago transportation advocate chi.streetsblog.org writer Steven Vance who created the map with Azad Amir-Ghassemi and Bill Vassilakis. We've included the maps in our analysis of cafes.

A pedestrian street must have a “high concentration of existing stores and restaurants” and have a “continuous pattern of buildings that are abutting or very close to the sidewalk.”

The regulations go on to stipulate that a p-street should have businesses with storefront windows and there should be few vacant stores. In other words, a p-street must already have a vibrant economic scene before receiving this designation. But when it does, the regulations are similar to those of a condo board’s, requiring that new businesses abide by standards that can include the size of building entrances, facades and windows.

If you want to account for sidewalk cafes’ thriving North Side presence, as well as their dearth on the South and West Sides, p-streets have an impact.

Consider that a p-street designation effectively shuts out businesses and structures commonly found on the South and West Side arterial streets: strip malls, drive-through facilities, gas stations, residential storage warehouses, car washes and car sales lots. The designation also shuts out big-box retailers, which several South Side aldermen have actively sought to attract. In effect, the regulations make aldermen choose one path of economic development or the other.

Chicago has nearly 50 streets and intersections designated as pedestrian streets. About 10 of those are on the South Side. None exist on the far West Side. And the rest are located on the North and Northwest Sides.

The last lines of the p-streets regulations state that “the following uses are encouraged on lots abutting pedestrian streets”: sidewalk cafes and outdoor eating areas and outdoor display of produce, flowers and plants.

Where are Chicago’s outdoor venues?

Permits by Community Area 2006-2012

Permits

Our map of sidewalk cafe permits data shows where Chicago’s outdoor hubs lay as of last summer, but we also obtained data (from 2006 and on) that suggest where the number of cafes is growing.

Chicago’s Near North Side

This community area, just north of the Loop, is the sidewalk cafe stronghold. It includes parts of the city’s Michigan Avenue shopping district, as well as Streeterville and the Gold Coast. In 2012, Chicago’s Near North Side had 223 sidewalk cafes — a 33.5 percent increase from 2006, when that community had just 167.

Lakeview

In 2012, the Lakeview community area came in a strong second with 151 sidewalk cafes — an 18.9 percent increase from 2006. That number is not surprising as Lakeview regularly attracts entertainment venues, taverns and restaurants. It’s also home to Wrigley Field and Boystown, the largest of the city’s gay bar districts.
The data suggest that the rate of growth has slowed in Lakeview, perhaps even that the market is peaking or saturated. But businesses continue to expand northwest.

West Town and Logan Square

West Town, which encompasses Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village, saw a 72 percent increase of sidewalk cafes from 2006-2012.
The Near West Side, which includes the West Loop and Little Italy, saw a 92.85% increase, nearly doubling from 42 to 81 sidewalk cafe permits for that same period.
Logan Square had an increase of 54.54%, up from 12 permits in 2006, to 34 in 2012.

Where the permits stop ... but the story doesn’t

Chicago community areas are not all the same. Some are or were previously industrial zones. Others lack real estate density or have no access to mass transit. Still, restaurants and dining are ubiquitous throughout the city, though sidewalk cafes are not, especially in North and South Lawndale, Washington Park, South Shore, Roseland or Pullman, all of which have no permits.

Even on the North Side, communities like Jefferson Park, Avondale and Albany Park have just one or two permits each.

Permits for 2013 were available by request, but many of them are still pending, and some businesses may wait until the weather is consistently warm before applying for a permit.

Permits are scarce or nonexistent in a few North Side neighborhoods, but not nearly as acute as those on the South and West Sides.

Permits become scarcer west of California Avenue and south of Roosevelt Road, with the exception of clusters at University of Illinois at Chicago’s campus, Pilsen and University of Chicago’s Hyde Park campus.

But the story doesn’t stop there.

Next week, we’ll take up what we’ve heard over and over: that these disparities matter when it come to quality of life and economic development.

—Elliott Ramos is a data reporter and Web producer for WBEZ. Email him at eramos@wbez.org or follow at @ChicagoEl.

CITY OF CHICAGO SIDEWALK cafe PROGRAM

Streetscape Design Guidelines by Chicago Public Media

Chicagoans prep for massive 'civic hackathon'

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:27:00 -0500

New flag program to promote air quality in the Chicago area

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:35:00 -0500

An airplane pulled out of Midway and over the Chicago Academy for Global Citizenship while a group of kids raised a yellow flag Tuesday to signify that the air is moderately clean, but not perfect. The flag-raising signaled the launch of a program created by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) and Illinois Partners for Clean Air to involve school kids in pollution monitoring.

The IEPA already monitors and color-codes a daily air quality index for the greater Chicago area, but IEPA director Lisa Bonnett says she wants to involve the public more closely in air quality monitoring.

“All of us can do our part,” Bonnett said, “and that’s how you really get those improvements to air quality.”

Although air pollution in the Chicago area has decreased in recent decades, Cook County this year got a failing grade for air quality from the American Lung Association. Meanwhile, says Bonnett, standards for air pollutants have been lowered as regulators discover or confirm new health risks from poor air quality.

Weather is the primary cause of daily fluctuations in air quality; hot, stagnant summer days mean Chicago’s smog sticks around in the area, and the direction of the wind or a storm can also lead to higher-air pollution days.

“The weather’s been a challenge over the last few years,” said Bonnett, referring to drought, flooding and heat waves that have all stricken the region lately.

IEPA says Chicagoans can contribute to cleaner air over the long term by taking public transportation and switching to energy-efficient lighting and appliance options. And the USEPA is taking public comments on a new proposed regulation for vehicle emissions that would hold the whole country to a much tighter standard beginning in 2017.

For now, any school in the greater Chicago area can request air quality flags.

Lewis Wallace is a Pritzker Journalism Fellow at WBEZ. Follow him @lewispants.

Map of commercial and industrial air pollution sources

A USEPA map provides data from 2008 on yearly emissions of six key pollutants from major contributors like landfills, airports and manufacturing plants. Find out more about air pollution in your area on USEPA's website.

How Argonne is using supercomputer Mira to crunch mega-sized data to create visualizations from the formation of galaxies to aneurysms

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:48:00 -0500

One of the participants to Chicago's portion of Big Data Week was the Argonne National Laboratory, which is utilizing the world's 4th fastest computer to create data visualizations that can show a brain aneurysm or the formation of the universe itself.

With new garbage grid, Mayor Emanuel trashes symbol of Machine power

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 06:50:00 -0500

Old grid New Grid

Dual maps code via @GISDoctor

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel killed the last of the Democratic Machine last week.

Well, not quite.

The finalization of Chicago’s new Grid Garbage Transition marked a dramatic change to the city’s refuse collection grid. Its workings were left largely unchanged in the past 100 years.

That system has strong and storied ties to Chicago’s Democratic Machine, which used city services as political levers to curry favor with voters — and as a vehicle to dole out patronage jobs.

“Adopting the grid garbage collection system allows us to replace an outdated method that started when garbage was still collected by horse and buggy and divert personnel resources to support the citywide expansion of recycling,” Emanuel said in a statement last week.

Chicago’s garbage collection was based on the boundaries of the city’s 50 wards, the recent re-map of which was the subject of controversy and a federal lawsuit.

While ward boundaries zig-zag across much of the city’s geography, the daily garbage routes put even the most gerrymandered territories to shame, resulting in a kaleidoscope of pickups, rarely viewed by the public.

It’s those convoluted routes that Emanuel says costs the taxpayers $18 million in labor and fuel.

According to the mayor’s office, by moving to a grid garbage collection system, “the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation will reduce its average daily refuse collection truck deployment from nearly 360 trucks to less than 320 trucks each day, while using fewer crews and fuel.”

Garbage collectors and garbage truck drivers have largely been union workers, but the status quo of sanitation services has evolved throughout the years, especially in Chicago.

“In the old days, when I was alderman, we still had 50-gallon drums,” said Dick Simpson, a former alderman and current University of Illinois-Chicago professor.

Simpson served as alderman for the 44th ward from 1971-1979. He said the office would get complaints if garbage wasn’t picked up or if there were special pickup needs such as mattresses.

And he said good garbage collection was good politics.

“Mostly it was used to make the voters happy and to get the voters to vote for you,” he said.

Simpson said addressing other city services such as tree-trimming, fixing curbs and street repair often went a long way with voters too.

When Chicago’s Democratic Machine was at its zenith, party bosses, committeemen and precinct captains utilized the ward-controlled distribution of city services to give priority to those loyal to the party. And since many services were under the control of an alderman, it cleared the way for patronage jobs.

Simpson said the patronage system still hasn’t died out, but it’s been cut back.

“Under the Shakman cases, there were 20,000 patronage workers,” he said.

“Under the Sorich trial, the clout list of people seeking patronage appointments under Richard M. Daley were 5,000,” Simpson said, referring to the conviction of Robert A. Sorich, a former patronage chief of Daley’s.

That trial was sparked by an infamous Sun-Times investigation into Chicago’s hired truck program. It was found to have mob ties and employ deadbeat contract workers.

“Is everyone on a garbage truck a patronage worker? Not necessarily, but quite a few were and quite a few are,” Simpson said.

Simpson said that at one time, there was one driver and three loaders for each garbage truck. One was supposed to be sweep the alleys. With supervisors involved, there could be as many as five people for each garbage truck.

But as truck designs and garbage cans changed, so did the need for manpower.

The transition to the standard rubberized plastic bins began in the early ‘80s. Modern garbage trucks can clasp onto the 96-gallon bins for automatic loading. It allowed for one laborer to be dropped from each truck crew.

Before the plastic bins, larger crews were needed because of the hodge podge of receptacles used by residents was inconsistent — and messy. And before that, well, as Emanuel said: it was collected by horse and buggy. And that was only for residents in nice neighborhoods. Many Chicagoans did not even have the luxury of garbage cans and relied on dumps scattered across the city.

The creation of Chicago’s garbage grid did not fully take shape until the turn of the 20th century. Around that time, cities across the U.S. were dealing with increasing household and industrial waste, sometimes including coal ash and dead animals.

A report made to City Council in 1905 by the commissioner of public works sought to address serious issues with garbage at the time.

The commissioner was none other than Joseph M. Patterson, a storied Chicagoan, who went on to found the New York Daily News. He was also grandson to Chicago Tribune founder Joseph Medill.

Patterson was blunt in his report:

“Those who have interested themselves in the problem of garbage disposal in Chicago are agreed on this proposition: The dumps must go. Dumps poison the air for miles around; and if ground made by dumping is dug up years afterwards it is found still putrid. Dumping is a barbarous anachronism for a twentieth century city.”

The dumps were littered all over the city, many amid residential areas.

Patterson documented how New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh dealt with municipal trash. He recommended the council adopt the method of “reduction,” which involved pressing liquid out of solid trash to make it better suited for burning or dumping.

While a 2011 Wall Street Journal article points out that Chicago currently uses three workers per garbage truck, the 1905 report called for a garbage teams of up to five workers per wagon. Each used about four horses. The report, with entries by the Assistant Superintendent of Streets, indicated that a typical team averaged two loads per day, with a ward employing between 8 and 19 garbage teams.

By 1914, a similar report indicated that burning trash was more commonplace and newer methods of transportation such as street cars were used to transport ashes. By this time, waste management began adopting barges and transfer stations to move garbage to a centralized location away from densely populated areas.

But even as new technology and transportation options took root, management was still handled by ward offices.

As the city's population grew in the early half of the 20th century, so too did its political apparatus, with European ethnic groups settling into defined enclaves.

Ethnic identity was a major part of Machine politics, which sometimes capitalized on poor English skills of immigrants to function as a middleman between communities and the government. Those service jobs were often taken care of by precinct captains.

In Chicago, each ward elects a party committeeman, who would recruit precinct captains charged with getting out the vote.

A survey, published in the 1937 study by Harold Gosnell titled Machine Politics: Chicago Model outlined services rendered by captains from 1928-1936. Among the services rendered were brokerage for streets and alleys, as well as providing legal aid, help with weddings, providing coal and handing out Christmas baskets.

By this time, concrete structures began to pop up in the alleys of Chicago. The structures are still visible on many Chicago homes, with most forgetting their original purpose.

These were generally used as trash receptacles, and up until the ‘70s were in use by many residents to burn garbage and leaves.

As the concrete receptacles fell out of use, residents switched to steel garbage cans.

Tim Samuelson is a cultural historian for Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs.

“Years ago in many neighborhoods, you requested a new garbage can from the alderman or the neighborhood Streets and Sanitation office. It was typically a recycled oil drum - sometimes repainted and stenciled with the politician's name on it,” he said.

Then a shift to the plastic carts began in the 1980s, under the watch of Mayor Harold Washington. He began to more aggressively roll out and replace the city’s steel cans in 1985, according to a report by the city’s Department of Planning issued that year.

“When there was the change to uniform plastic carts, many local politicians were unhappy that this ages-old tradition of providing a garbage can to constituents was over,” Samuelson said.

That however, still did not stop some politicians from playing favorites, with some homeowners managing to secure multiple bins for for their homes throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Now, all that seems to have changed, with even aldermen acknowledging that it makes more sense for garbage to be handled by the city.

“As a former Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation ward superintendent, I have first-hand knowledge of the city’s refuse operations and of some of the unique challenges each community can present,” said Ald. Michelle Harris (8th). “I’m pleased the department has developed a thoughtful system that meet the needs of residents while making smarter use of our resources.”

The sentiment was echoed by fellow Alderman Anthony Beale of the 9th ward.

“The ward-based refuse collection system is outdated and inefficient,” Beale said. “By transitioning to the grid system we can eliminate waste and redirect those valuable resources to support other service areas.”

While it remains to be seen how much the city will save off the new grid, much of the city’s attention has been focused on Chicago’s long-delayed recycling program, which floundered under Daley’s administration with the now defunct blue-bag system.

But one thing's for sure: ward-based garbage in Chicago has been trashed.

Elliott Ramos is a data reporter and web producer for WBEZ. Follow him at @ChicagoEl

Documents

1905 Report to the City Council on Garbage Collection and Disposal by Chicago Public Media

1914 Report of the City Waste Commission of the City of Chicago by Chicago Public Media

1985 Report from Chicago's Department of Planning