Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Monday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

Posted by The Beachwood Reporter on Saturday, November 7, 2015


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Bus Boo-Boo
“The CTA’s Loop Link service aimed at reducing the travel times of bus customers through the downtown is still scheduled to start next month, city officials say, but a recent blunder in the design of the $32 million bus rapid transit project does not instill confidence,” Jon Hilkevitch reports for the Tribune.

Computer simulations that determined how much pavement to set aside for buses-only red lanes on the approach and exit paths at Loop Link stations were off the mark, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation, the construction manager for the Loop Link project. After the red lanes were built on Madison and Washington streets between Michigan Avenue and Canal Street, field tests using CTA buses were run. Those field tests revealed that at four locations, the taper – the narrower points of entrance and egress – leading into and out of the bus stations was too narrow.
“The field testing showed that making minor adjustments to the pavement would provide bus operators an optimal path,” said Steele, the CTA’s spokesman.
But that’s public relations-speak. The trial runs actually showed that without widening the lanes, the CTA’s 60-foot-long articulated buses would run the risk of hitting the stations.

In other words, Brian Steele optimized bullshit by making major adjustments to the truth.
I Have This Rule And It’s Fucking Golden
“Speaking to a Chicago gathering of business students last month, Gov. Bruce Rauner related how a professional mentor long ago had instilled in him the importance of embracing the golden rule,” the Tribune reports.

“Treat other people the way you’d like to be treated,” Rauner said.

So, for example, if you prefer not to pay for your child’s ventilator, cut off payments for other people’s children’s ventilators, too.
Or if you clout your kid into Payton High, clout everyone else’s kids into Payton High too!
See! It’s easy.
Pound Foolish
“When Illinois returns to the municipal market after its unprecedented 18-month borrowing drought, it may find its budget impasse will cost taxpayers millions of dollars in the coming decades,” BloombergBusiness reports.
“On a $1 billion offering of 25-year tax-exempt bonds, it would cost about $175 million more now than if an equal amount was issued with spreads at 2014 levels, based on data compiled by Bloomberg that assumes the yield equals the interest rate paid. Now in its fifth month without a spending plan, signs are mounting that debt sales for cash-strapped Illinois are only going to get more expensive.”
Pushing Ventra
Maybe this is just a fluke, but for the first time since Ventra came online, I received an e-mail over the weekend warning me that my account was low. Now, my account has been low before – it actually tends to dip into the negative before I refill it. And I’ve never received an e-mail about it. Also, my account balance isn’t low right now.
I’m pretty sure the e-mail is legit and not a scam, so my theory is that the CTA is making a new effort to get people to keep their accounts flush in order to attain a more positive cash flow position. Anybody?
Paper Principals
“Chicago Public Schools principals overwhelmingly say they care more about reducing paperwork than getting extra pay, according to a new report on principal retention by the Chicago Public Education Fund,” Catalyst reports.
I’m not doubting that for a second when I say that I’d love to see a “day in the life/week” example of all the paperwork CPS principals have to fill out.
Also, paperwork?
Is that a euphemism or is everything there still done on paper?
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Also, would they forego more money in exchange for more toilet paper?
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The Weekend In Chicago Rock
Featuring: God Module, Kendrick Lamar, Miranda Mullholland, The Weeknd, Mark Rose, What’s Eating Gilbert, Ready and Willing, Stephen Kellogg, Los Plebes del Rancho, White Hills, BJ the Chicago Kid, and Doug Paisley & Joan Shelley.
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BeachBook

Posted by The Beachwood Reporter on Saturday, November 7, 2015

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Posted by The Beachwood Reporter on Saturday, November 7, 2015

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Posted by The Beachwood Reporter on Saturday, November 7, 2015

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TweetWood
A sampling.


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Posted on November 9, 2015