A medley of summer questions answered
We’re cleaning out a fridge-full of summer-themed questions that we’d hate to see rot in our archive. Learn how Chicagoans beat the heat before AC, where you can surf on the lake and why you should …
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Alderman calls for food truck law reform
A Chicago Alderman is calling for city council to renegotiate the recently passed mobile food truck ordinance in part because the repurcussions on ice cream trucks were not taken into consideration.
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Interactive Map: proposed changes to CTA bus routes
What factors lead to bus routes get added or removed? WBEZ’s Curious City is investigating. This interactive map shows the current round of bus route changes the CTA is proposing.
Investigation timeline: What factors lead to bus routes being added or removed?
We begin investigating how decisions are made around adding and removing bus routes. This comes right as the CTA is finalizing plans to cut a dozen bus routes. Our story begins with a listener’s …
Are there ice cream truck territories?
A listener wondered why her son can’t get an easy ice cream fix. That led us to look at how drivers get the leg up in the battle for ice cream supremacy.
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Are Chicago’s Green Roofs Really Working?
WBEZ Listener Jenn Lawrence asked about one of the city’s highest-profile green initiatives. Does ‘The City on The Prairie’ still want prairies on our roofs?
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Commuters count on the South Side, read on the North?
If Chicago streets are messing with our directional skills, can historians come to the rescue? Curious City takes on a question posed by Mark Sheldon about why Chicago’s sensible numbered streets …
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What determines the quality of parks and playgrounds?
Our latest Curious City question comes from a woman who noticed that a park across town was bigger and better than her own.
Is Salt Mined Under Chicago?
If not, what’s up with that Umbrella Girl on Elston?
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Finding Chicago’s first maps
A reader wondered how Chicago’s coastline has changed over the decades. We look at the earliest maps of Chicago to get us closer to an answer.
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