Hyde Park

The collision, which critically injured the driver, was at least the third crash along the south Lakefront Trail within a few months.

At public meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, officials from the Chicago Department of Transportation and the Obama Foundation revealed the latest site plans for the Obama Presidential Center ("the library"), which included details about how the foundation plans to build an aboveground parking garage on parkland.

Now that they've got support from residents, the campaigners want to get the Obama Foundation, Mayor Emanuel, and the CTA onboard with the proposal.

Neighbors have launched an online petition demanding that the CTA restore Green Line service to Stony Island and the future presidential library site.

Metra has proposed sweeping schedule changes on the Electric District services that will increase service to one neighborhood, decrease service to other comunities, and fully eliminate weekend service on the Blue Island branch.

It was no surprise that read that Hairston opposes pedestrianizing streets in Jackson Park. She’s shown time and time again that she prioritizes easy driving above all other transportation modes.

The Chicago Tribune recently reported that the Obama Foundation has proposed pedestrianizing stretches of the highway-like roads that run through Jackson Park, the future home of Barack Obama’s presidential library, to create a museum campus. The tone of the article, and quotes from some community members, suggest that this change would cause strangle transportation on the Southeast Side.

The idea of Metra running its Hyde Park and South Chicago-bound Electric District line more like a CTA 'L' line may be gaining traction. If so, much of the credit goes to advocate Mike Payne, who has been tirelessly promoting the concept online and at public meetings. He calls this proposed rapid transit service as "The Gray Line," since that's one of the few colors that doesn't yet appear on the Chicago Transit Authority train map.

[This piece also ran in Checkerboard City, John's column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets on Wednesday evenings]