[VIDEO] I already shared a tweet by CTA on March 12, 2020 with regards to their response to the coronavirus. At that point things haven't gotten bad enough where businesses and schools were closed and no stay-at-home order. I also noted that there were personnel at 95th Street where I'd get on the train who will work to wipe down some of the surfaces (seats and handrails) on the train with sanitizer.
I hate to note this but over the weekend it was in the news that a CTA bus driver had tested positive for the coronavirus. For those who do have to work to keep our public transit system running I hope that they will be very careful out there. Especially for those of us who work in essential businesses and depend upon the services provided by CTA.
For those of you who do depend on public transit, do you believe CTA is working dilligently to keep their vehicles and facilities clean for the general public? What do you think the CTA could do better to keep their vehicles and facilities clean?
On Monday, Chicago Tonight did a story about that DJ booth located within the massive newly reconstructed 95th street red line terminal. I've seen it in action and heard the music with a DJ performing their craft. What do you all think of the booth? Do you stop near the booth and dance before continuing your journeys to and from the terminal.
[VIDEO] You might have seen this on WGN yesterday and another story about a DJ booth at the new 95th terminal from ABC Chicago.
Here's the ABC 7 story
Chicago artist Theaster Gates and Mayor Rahm Emanuel unveiled new works Monday morning at the newly-renovated CTA Red Line station at 95th Street.
A radio station called "An Extended Song of Our People", or "AESOP", will broadcast music by local artists at the terminal.
During the process of developing ideas for the new installations, Gates said at a press conference Monday morning that he wanted to address the needs of people in the community.
"We want to see clear examples of the history of the people on the South Side. We want to see clear examples of the future of our city. We want to see real examples of the present. We want to hear all our stories, all the time," Gates said. "I thought, that's a lot to deliver in a mural."
Here's what appears to be raw video
I want to check out this DJ booth, where in the station is it?
[VIDEO] I shared a photo (twitter & ig) of a flyer handed to me this AM rush by CTA personnel noting that the revamped original terminal of the red line terminal at 95th would reopen today. CBS 2 did a quick story on this and saw that the Mayor of Chicago did a quick live stream. Hope to have more later now that both sides of the 95th station is now open!
BTW, I just have to ask. A swanky DJ booth? Really? At a CTA station? Aren't there more worthwhile amenities worth having at a transit hub than a DJ booth?
This is really old news to most of us as it was shown on the local news last month. The connecting bridge between the north and south terminals at 95/Dan Ryan had been installed and work continues on that bridge and the new north terminal on 95th Street.
In the ig post below CTA shares some of their own photos from the continuing project.
[VIDEO] Well this is old news, but for the last week if you've been driving along 95th Street across the Dan Ryan Expressway you see a bridge over the street. It's a pedestrian bridge that will connect the new south terminal with the original north terminal.
I did a quick snapshot when I noticed the bridge and finally posted it to our IG page. I think some of the structure for the bridge was staged at the old service station at 95th & State before it was eventually put up.
Thanks to the continuing work at 95th according to WGN:
Drivers along 95th Street will notice lane reconfigurations for the next
2-3 weeks as crews work to put the glass enclosures and flooring in
place. For the latest details, visit transitchicago.com/alerts.
Before sharing with you a CTA's ig post from earlier this week I wanted to give you all a history lesson. Many of you who read this blog may already know this if you've been riding the CTA's Dan Ryan branch for its 49 years of operation.
So the Dan Ryan branch of what we now call the CTA red line was opened on September 28, 1969. Originally this route was connected with the Lake Street branch to Harlem/Lake via the 18th Street connection and eventually along the south side mainline through the Loop elevated. On February 21, 1993 the Dan Ryan branch would be redirected to the Howard branch through a tunnel into the State Street subway created the red line as we know it today!
In 1971, the trains you see at 95/Dan Ryan in post below with one departing and the other arriving are on what they would call the west-south (aka Lake-Dan Ryan) route. With all the changes to the Dan Ryan due to various construction projects especially the 5 month shut down of the Dan Ryan (aka red line south) and the current reconstruction of the 95th terminal it's cool to see this look back to when it was like new.
This meeting features speaker Dr. Lou Turner, University of Illinois and African American Leadership & Policy Institute who is also a foremost expert on the red line extension project.
This event will take place on
Wednesday, September, 26, 2018
6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Carter G. Woodson Regional Library Auditorium
9525 S. Halsted Street
h/t to the West Chesterfield Community Association for letting us know of this event!
Got this in an e-mail from the West Chesterfield Community Association. The Abbott Park Advisory Council fired up this past spring and are certainly looking not for people to attend especially if you live nearby. They're especially looking for people to serve on the council and as officers.
A New Abbott Park Advisory Council
The Chicago Parks Consortium, West Chesterfield, Roseland Hts and Red Line Extension Coalition (RLEC) helped organize a New Abbott Park Advisory Council and invite your to attend its 6:30 p.m. meeting July, 18, 2018 in the Abbott Park Field House.
These organizations thank the Chicago Park District (CPD) for addressing many Abbott Park operation service requests since the September 19, 2017 CPD Budget Hearing Meeting. The community would like Abbott Park and the 95th Street area to be a “Preferred Point of Destination” that has good business neighbors, level 1 schools, a great park… all of which will improve area walkability and the use of public transportation within the ¼ mile to ½ mile transit-oriented development area of the at the $280 million 95th CTA Terminal.
Since 2017 the CPD planted 140 new trees at Abbott Park, installed Exterior Lights on the field house, trimmed Low tree branches, planted 1040 trees, install a new sink and water heater and drain pipe in the cultural center, repaired park benches and under ground pipes have been repaired in the center field of the.
Michael LaFargue, Chicago Parks Consortium president, congratulates Ms. Lori Burns and Sharon Banks Pincham, Co-Chair’s of the Park Advisory Council for Abbott Park. The PAC is working on its by-laws and goals for the next year.
BTW, I wanted to explore this but will do so at a later time even if it's already a done deal. There is an old playlot on 98th & Michigan that has long since been dismantled and has often seen little activity. Perhaps someone might have a picnic there rarely and sometimes more frequently grown folks or Harlan student just loitering there.
All the same, there is finally a plan to turn this former playlot into a dog park that should've been debated at the last Roseland Heights Community Association meeting in June. I should ask for an update although unfortunately I didn't attend this meeting to observe the results. Though I hope to talk more about this soon and I'm sure this is a topic of conversation at the Abbott Park Advisory Council also.
I wanted to share this ig post from T.A.Rountree who documented the work being done on the old 95th street red line terminal. The original station had been shut down in April for more work on the new terminal that's still a work in progress. The southern terminal opened in April as well as a new platform under the new south station.
[VIDEO] It was probably open since Saturday night when they had workers pass out flyers with regards to the change at 95/Dan Ryan. As part of this extensive rehab project a new south terminal is open and is now where Red Line riders will currently board not only Pace and CTA buses also Red Line trains.
There was work on a new platform directly under the south terminal so trains will be pulling from a different location than usual. The original station house on the north side of 95th will be rehabbed. As a result it is now closed. As you see in the video above there was a ribbon cutting ceremony that shows many state & local officials.
I did go up there around the time of the ribbon cutting to just check out the scene. Snapped a few shots long the way I would've liked to have gotten the inside of the terminal where there was a black curtain blocking the view of the back part of the terminal. There was a police officer posted to that curtain so I chose not to snap a shot of it. I presume this is where the ribbon cutting had taken place yesterday.
One thing that can be said utilizing ig is that Mayor Rahm Emanuel was there for this momentous occasion which you can see in the post below. Feel free to swipe to see a more complete record of Sunday.
Snapped this shot of the new south of 95th terminal on Friday. And snapped other shots around the station Friday morning and evening. They took some of the fencing away and perhaps it won't be too long before this new station is open. Of course the original north of 95th station remains open and there is some construction there as well.
Here's a post from ig that includes the above pic and additional shots with some video included.
[VIDEO] So along the Dan Ryan or Bishop Ford Expressways on Thursday a scary car chase was going on. Three jurisdictions tried to stop the car and suspects were undeterred, but ultimately police got their men. There were injuries, thankfully no one was killed. Two are in custody.
As you will see the chase went through West Chesterfield at one point then all the way up to 87th by the Jewel Store off the Dan Ryan and then back west along 95th. Ultimately the chase ended at 93rd & May.
Video above courtesy of CBS 2 Chicago. Also at the Sixth Ward blog fb page is live video of the chase from FOX 32. Yes right on fb you could've seen this chase live on your table, phone, or PC even.
Tuesday night bus boardings has returned to normal. Although the project to rebuild the 95th Red Line terminal continues the arrangement many have been used to is back to normal. According the Sun-Times:
The west bus terminal along Lafayette Avenue had been closed since November as part of the station’s $280 million overhaul. Most CTA and Pace bus routes were scheduled to return to their normal boarding areas as of 10 p.m. Tuesday, according to the transit agency.
Boarding at the north side of the terminal are the #29 State bus as well as Greyhound buses. Boarding at the east terminal are the CTA’s #N5, #100, #108 and #112, along with Pace bus routes #352, #359 and #772.
CTA routes #N9, #34, #103, #106, #111, #115 and #119 return to the west terminal, along with Pace routes #353 and #359.
Riders of the westbound CTA #95 and Pace #381 buses still have to board at 95th and Lafayette in front of the McDonald’s restaurant, due to sidewalk construction.
Recently got an update with regards to where the Chicago Transit Authority is currently with the planned Red Line extension south from 95th Street to 130th St. near Altgeld Gardens. You can read a two sheet update here from their official website.
With this in mind there are two videos with regards to the extension which in my opinion is beneficial to the far south side of Chicago. However, what I strive to do on this blog is to be fair and the first video is a local homeowner who is opposed to the Red Line extension because it's construction means the destruction of homes as far as whatever alignment the CTA will choose.
This first video is courtesy of The Chicago Reporter - and posted to YouTube in December 2016 - and shows commentary by Shari Henry who opposes the extension as the project could threaten her family home. We see a drive around through the communities that are affected by this proposed project. As I may hope there could be further development Henry uses 95th as a guide with little business development around the 95th Terminal. [VIDEO]
The next video shows a proposal for the revitalization of the intersection at 115th & Michigan - although yeah they refer to this as 116th & Michigan. This is geared towards transit oriented development with mixed use buildings that hopefully will include storefronts, low-income housing, a grand entrance to the nearby L station, and greenspace to be used for community events. Seems like a great plan that should be considered even if it must be refined. The video was posted to YouTube in May 2017. [VIDEO]
Here's yet another video which was posted to YouTube in Dec. 2012 - 4 years ahead of The Chicago Reporter video with Shari Henry. Of course this is a video that is in favor of the Red Line extension to 130th Street and certainly wants us to know the benefits of building this extension. An hour commute to downtown Chicago for cultural, education, or even jobs. The far south side won't be so disconnected or it won't take so long to take advantage of all the opportunities the city of Chicago has to offer. [VIDEO]
What you see below is the project development phase which is the final environmental impact statement and record of decision as far as the Red Line alignment along the Union Pacific Railroad route. I suppose this means which side of the tracks will have their properties impacted which is also explained in the two-page report from CTA.
Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to go to the recent meeting hosted by state Rep. Elgie Sims on the Walgreen's store that closed on Tuesday Jun. 27th at 95th/King Drive. However I'm glad that the West Chesterfield Community Association was able to share a quick report on their fb page. That report is embedded below
In about one month the Walgreen's location at 347 E. 95th Street will be closed permanently on June 27, 2017. It'll just be another vacant storefront just like the former Wendy's across the street on 95th.
The flyer you see below is seen on a table as you enter the store and signs are posted in that location alerting customers of the impending closing. This particular space had only been open for roughly a decade.
With all the good news coming from Englewood it seems this blog has been posting a lot of news from that community. Even reposting from those Englewood folks who are on ig.
Today we share this ig post from the Chicago Transit Authority a scene from 63rd/Ashalnd. Riders boarding the 110 Marquette bus to 71st/Pulaski back in 1975. I got to see if that bus got cut in later years. It's even noted that the Ashland/63rd Green Line station is the terminal for some Red Line trains during rush hour period as work is underway to revamp the 95th/Dan Ryan Red Line terminal.
You can read the most outspoken comments of Second City Cop:
So...not random, as in targeted.
And targeted why? Judges aren't usually notoriously rich.
So from the Tribune article 2nd City Cop linked from:
At a news conference Wednesday evening at police headquarters, Chief of Detectives Melissa Staples answered few questions, emphasizing that the investigation remained "open and ongoing" and that more details would come out in court Thursday. But she did call the attack on Associate Judge Raymond Myles and his girlfriend "a targeted robbery." However, Staples wouldn't say whether it was the judge or his girlfriend who was the target of the robbery.
According to the Cook County state's attorney's office, Joshua T. Smith, 37, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and armed robbery. ... Police would not identify Smith's role in the attempted armed robbery, but multiple law enforcement sources told the Chicago Tribune that he acted as the alleged getaway driver.
As the cop blog stated at least one down and apparently two more to go...
