For condos, it’s mostly because 1) condo defect liability laws and 2) it’s harder to get financing

Van Buren Street Station and Millennium Station Platform Design and Track Reconfiguration - Lochner In anticipation of expanding service on Metra’s Electric District, Metra is adding new tracks from Balbo Drive to Millennium Station and providing new platforms at the Van Buren Street Station and the...

This goes into it a bit, it says Metra is running it but they are doing it on NICTD’s behalf:

www.hwlochner.com/projects/van...

How much of the QoL improvement do you attribute to the fact that your building is single-stair? Am contemplating buying a condo rather than renewing my lease this year

The Test of Time: NIST’s Wall of Many Stones Frequented by more deer than people, the NIST stone test wall lives a fairly isolated existence.

It even has its own blog post: www.nist.gov/blogs/taking...

That building was intentionally set on fire and was still under construction www.wbur.org/news/2017/08...

Probably right the smokeproof tower is a big cost constraint for the 5-8 story provision but for up to 4 stories, you could theoretically build two of those buildings together and that serves as your adjacent building

Yes, see my reply above. 2019 is when all of Chicago's building codes were rewritten to adopt IBC and I imagine since noone was using the provision, that it was just removed with little fanfare. Scissor-stair not as sure, but I believe it was allowed up until late 2000s, after 9/11.

Yes, but I have yet to find a building where it was used. It's not super clear why but my working theory is because it was limited to Type I construction. (see pg 204, www.chicago.gov/content/dam/...)

Yeah I think the redrawn floor plan is off and misses the second opening to the stairwell. This floor plan from when it was built shows it (pg 153, www.usmodernist.org/AF/AF-1955-1...)

From 1949-2019 it was permitted but only up to 8 stories. So I’m skeptical it’s single-stair, but I feel like it might be a scissor-stair building?

I think this is what the insurer is paying out if there was a scaffold claim/lawsuit on a given project. So its total paid out for scaffold claims/total payroll for the associated projects * 100.

I think its per $100 of payroll

Also, that link has a clearer version of the same chart:

"Insurers price this risk of tort liability through a variable called 'loss cost', which incorporates previous losses (e.g. indemnity payments for successful claims) in determining the expected risks faced by the insured." www.agcnys.org/files/220420...

courtesy of NIST/NEHRP report comparing Chile and U.S. building codes/practices and seismic requirements: www.nehrp.gov/pdf/nistgcr1...

Great report, many other insightful nuggets of wisdom:

This is a big reason why the U.S. built environment has so many undesirable outcomes. (e.g. high labor costs -> buildings use light wood to reduce labor costs as its easier to work with -> increased risk of fire -> many costly requirements added to code to address increased fire risk)

It's not Chicago-specific, but here is data showing insurance-loss costs in Illinois before and after the repeal. (pg 3, legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/20...)

An Illinois Building Was a Bird Killer. A Simple Change Made a World of Difference.

Requiring for all buildings is prob excessive but there is a use case if targeted correctly. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/c...

Wow, you have even more plants than I thought. Puts those windows to good use!

You're not one usually to read print newspapers...

oh what I would do to get ANY major US city building department to adopt this mindset...the things we could achieve in the development space. @stephenjacobsmith.com

If MBJ ended Chicago’s Century of Humiliation early he would be written down as as a successful mayor despite his many steppings on rakes.

Most federal judges at that age are semi-retired. The most senior active judge is 98 y.o. and is currently suspended by her fellow judges because of her mental fitness. She refuses to accept that and has resorted to suing the other judges. She's lost at every stage of her case so far.

Was pretty telling that some of the biggest opposition to the transit bill was from suburban mayors, who currently control the Pace board and feared losing control of their fiefdom. bsky.app/profile/star...

You're president of your condo board? How are your building's reserve fund levels?

app.oath.vote is the way, they don't pass your information onto candidates or other party orgs. Main downside is since they focus on general election races, only candidates in higher-profile or competitive races are on there.

Cook County Government Live, work or hang out in Cook County? Tell us where you'd like to see new rail stations! Your input helps shape future transit investments—and it takes just 3 minutes. Only two weeks left to fill.....

Closing on 12/4 or 1/4? This FB post implies it was going to close 12/31 (www.facebook.com/cookcountygo...)

Do we know if the survey is closed or not? I saw a post on Cook County's FB page implying it closed at the end of the year but right now it seems to be still taking responses.

Do you have a sense on the rough split between CTA and Metra?

I believe it is from this bsky.app/profile/noka...