$59.6 million: Additional Safety & Security Investments on Transit An increased human presence on transit vehicles and in stations Additional sworn officers from the Chicago Police Department, Metra police force, and Cook County Sheriffs More security/response staff including K-9 patrols and Safe Ride Specialists who provide crisis intervention

The RTA seems to imply the K9 guard units will be *increasing*.

You can give them feedback through May 8: www.rtachicago.org/transit-fund...

“I always thought she was going to be famous, so, let’s make her famous one way or another.”

Wouldn’t it be funny if every state identified the Strait of Hormuz as a bottleneck?

When you want transportation at wholesale prices (trains), instead of boutique offerings (personal vehicles).

Vote for your favorite design! Like this post to vote for the Switching Design Love this post to vote for the Curves Design

Well, they had a vote on it...

The Terrence O'Brien Water Reclamation Plant in Skokie, Illinois: wastewater treament operations, activated sludge aeration tanks, final settling tanks, trades building and tower, UV disinfection building and facility, main control operations building, preliminary settling tanks, office buildings, adminstrative building, North Shore Channel, pump and blower. In operation since 1928, the O’Brien WRP originally treated sewage for a population of 800,000 within a 78-square-mile area, but now both the service area and the population are nearly twice as large. The O’Brien WRP currently serves over 1.3 million people in an area of 143 square miles and cleans an average of 230 million gallons of wastewater per day (mgd) and has the capacity to treat 450 mgd.

What a gorgeous building, it must be a school, right? No, it's the O'Brien Water Reclamation plant, where we process our 💩.

Municipal service buildings used to be designed to appear to last forever. Now our budgets are more concerned with making them impenetrable.

Even the robots want step-free access to the CTA Blue Line at Clinton.

We passed a Warehouse Tornado Preparedness Act in Illinois just last year: my.ilga.gov/Legislation/...

The Sear Tower and the Saint Charles Airline Bridge viewed from the boardwalk at Ping Tom Park.

Ping

A view of the Sears Tower skyline over a FedEx logistics hub.

logistics overview

Flood YouTube video by Vagabon - Topic

youtu.be/tN2ngjv2Ly8

did we really

Brighton Park Community Bike Ride Bicycle Safety Workshop Saturday April 18, 2026 10am-2pm Join us for a community bike ride through Brighton park, starting at Palace Hall (4046 S Archer Ave, Chicago, IL 60632) Bring your bike and helmet. Learn more about safety tips and resources. Divvy bikes are available on a first-come, first-served basis during the ride.

Igor Does My Bike: April Events Earth Day Cleanup Sat, April 18 9am-Noon Igor's Bike Shack Group Ride: Smallest to Tallest! Sun, April 19 10am-Noon Igor's Bike Shack Group Ride: Birds and Bikes Sat, April 25 5pm-7pm Igor's Bike Shack

Gage Park Cyclists Join us on a sweet 8-mile ride through Brighton Park! We will visit a few parks and points of interest within the neighborhood and then stop for something to eat before riding back to our starting point. If your bike needs a quick tweak to get it rolling, bring it through; we will have basic tools on hand and should be able to get you going. If you are not sure if we'll be able to fix it on the spot, message us before bringing it. This is not an organized ride, everyone is responsible for their own safety and equipment. Wear a helmet if you decide it's necessary. We will assist in the event of a breakdown. Nobody gets left behind. ✊🏽 *Archer & Rockwell Monday 4/20 Meet at 5pm Ride out at 6pm sharp.*

Black Joyride Season Kick-off Bike Ride Tuesday, April 21 at 6 PM. 10-15 Miles Intermediate-advanced Ellis Park 3538 S Cottage Grove Ave

The next four days in group bike rides #chibikerides

Yesterday was the highest crest ever for the Mainstream Deep Tunnel at McCook Reservoir.

@mwrdgc.bsky.social has the McCook Reservoir at 92% full.

More 🌧️ tonight...

Description: Blast Furnace Orchestra. Nine men with instruments. Seated, left to right: Johnny Gobly, George Garrett, John (Jock) Buchan. Standing, left to right: Pete Oliver, Art Mansfield, Andy Ferbos, Len Rought, John Hughes, Charles Robinson. Backstory: At various points, U. S. Steel organized activities for employees including sports teams and singing groups. Such activities were seen by managers as a way to create good will towards the mills (and not incidentally, as historians noted, dispel desire for unions). Pictured here is the Blast Furnace Band, also known as Garrett’s Orchestra, in 1918. The South Works Review, a plant magazine, published a number of stories about the group. A June 1918 article began a list of members by noting, “This orchestra consists of the following Blast Furnace Department boys and their work cannot be too highly praised.” This particular photograph was published in the October-November, 1920 issue of South Works Review. After unionization in the 1930s, unions increasingly took over sponsorship of social activities.

The Blast Furnace Orchestra of 1918 is my new favorite band.

Postcard print: World's Pastime Exposition Cheltenham Beach, Chicago

World's Pastime Exposition Cheltenham Beach, Chicago, July 3, 1886 and continuing (...) The Coney Island of the West (...) Last Days of Pompeii! (...) Postcard very water-damaged.

Before the Columbian Exposition, there was the Pastime Exposition.

8 months to solve a hit-and-run on Ashland Avenue, and the family is still waiting for answers. Sunday at 11am in Harrison Park.

Seen here: the deadly roadway, the school speed limit, and the call to rally and march

What is with Republicans and camouflage clothing?

Raise your voice for a safer Grand Avenue! Show your support for the upcoming street safety improvements on Grand Avenue. Business owners and out-of-towners want Grand Avenue to stay dangerous. They're protesting at the intersection of Grand and Ogden every monday from 4-6pm. Join our counter-protest and show that you support safe streets for kids, families, and seniors! Bring signs, friends, and a positive attitude. We know that Grand is unsafe. Let's fix it!

Everyone who lives near Grand Avenue knows that it's dangerous. Unfortunately, some business owners haven't gotten the message yet.

We're hosting a counterprotest to their protest against the upcoming street safety improvements. Bring your homemade signs and a positive attitude!

That’s why we’re concerned about a bill making its way through the statehouse. While well intentioned, House Bill 1429 would restrict when governments can impose fines or criminal penalties on unhoused people for certain “life-sustaining activities” on public property — and in doing so may actually make it harder to address encampments in public parks.

Alden Global Capital's editorial arm is concerned that HB1429, a bill preventing the criminalization of homelessness in Illinois, would prevent the criminalization of homelessness in Illinois.

chicagohomeless.org/response-to-...

The Sears Tower among low-lying clouds that let through a sunset reflecting low to the ground.

😶‍🌫️ still there

Gillig, New Flyer, and Nova Bus have at least one battery-electric option that is Buy America compliant.

I think there are some others too, but after Proterra's collapse I expect there is more interest in established industry leaders.

On the plus side, Pace is potentially getting in on this order too, so the agencies are prepared for some overlapping maintenance in the NITA era.

CTA Options Schedule: Option 1 (20 buses) – March 31, 2028 Option 2 (20 buses) – September 30, 2029 Option 3 (20 buses) – March 31, 2030 Option 4 (20 buses) – December 31, 2030 Pace Options Schedule: Option 1 (70 buses) – March 31, 2029 Option 2 (70 buses) – March 31, 2030

Key Components of Electrification Timeline The specific steps in CTA’s electric bus implementation timeline will vary based on the performance and evolution of technology, and the degree to which CTA may need to grow its service over the transition period, but the key features of electrification timelines are common among all the scenarios we developed for further analysis: • Based on a standard bus lifetime of 14 years, CTA’s bus purchases will have to transition to all-electric by 2026 to ensure that the last diesel buses are retired by 2040. • Facility upgrades will need to be timed to accommodate the number of electric bus purchases planned for each year, and to minimize overlap between the more significant projects. Graph: Potential Timeline for Transition of CTA Bus Fleet, 2022-2040

CTA has an RFP for electric buses out now, with an anticipated delivery of 2028-2030. 🚌🔋

There are 1,966 buses in the fleet, and a goal to electrify them all is 2040. Plans from 2022 hoped they'd make up 10% of the fleet by now.

A protest at the Illinois State Capitol grounds from “Don’t Tread on Illinois Gun Owners”, featuring a sign saying “Bad CTA idea” with a no gun symbol.

People protesting for more guns on the CTA.

"Justice for Marcela" rally Sun. 4/19, 11 AM at Harrison Park, 18th/Damen.

On July 19, a hit-and-run Jeep driver fatally struck Marcela Herrera, 22, and seriously injured her fiancé, Mauricio Leyva, 21, at Cullerton and Ashland avenues in Pilsen. chi.streetsblog.org/2025/07/25/h...

A copy of “Missing Middle Housing: Thinking Big and Building Small to Respond to Today’s Housing Crisis” by Daniel Parolek, held in front of the Illinois State Capitol dome.

In Springfield to BUILD some middle housing!

Sign our petition to push these housing bills forward: actionnetwork.org/letters/pass...

@abundanthousingil.bsky.social
@yimbyaction.bsky.social
@govpritzker.illinois.gov
@danielparolek.bsky.social

Michael McLean Chief of Police (630) 530-3061

But is this you?

elmhurstpolicedepartment.org/about_us/com...

Another day another "I have the walk signal but there are two lanes of traffic with the green light who want to turn through my body" near death experience. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! Can anyone set up a meeting for me with the IDOT traffic engineers I just want to talk I swear.