Lily Shambrook

Yesterday, Block Club Chicago's Alex V. Hernandez reported that the 4700 block Lincoln Avenue in the Lincoln Square community would be opened for car-free use starting Monday, for the next week. That's being done to accommodate construction work on Leland Avenue between Western Avenue and Lincoln, including a new plaza next to the Western Brown Line station and raised bike lanes. The latter will complete the long-awaited Leland Neighborhood Greenway, a lower-stress, mostly side-street bike route connecting the North Shore Channel Trail and the Lakefront Trail.

Predictably, some neighbors are confused about the bump-outs, and worried that they will make the street less safe, and less convenient for drivers.

The street is not getting major bikeway improvements, but hopefully planned curb bump-outs will lead to safer driver behavior.

Hopefully one outcome of this lawsuit will be corporations, commercial drivers, and city officials prioritizing cyclist safety. That would help ensure that Lily's passing will not have been in vain. 

Hopefully it's some comfort to the families of kids who were lost to traffic violence this year, that their stories helped bring about change that could prevent others from experiencing that kind of heartbreak.

While the ordinance looks very likely to pass next week, it couldn't hurt to contact your local alder and let them know you support this commonsense law to help prevent future heartbreak. 

It did pass, that does, in fact send a very bad message to drivers about a life-and-death matter for bike riders.

Fortunately, no one was hurt. But infuriatingly, the dad suspects the driver, who fled the scene, struck them on purpose.

Ald. Daniel LaSpata announced that Chicagoans can hold bikeway blockers accountable by creating a 311 service request that includes photos of the vehicle obstructing the lane and its license plates.