Scott Waguespack

Does the idea of slathering the centrally located riverside land at Fullerton/Damen/Elston with asphalt make you red-hot? Let 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack know this traffic artery-clogging plan for the sausage emporium site doesn't cut the mustard.

Last night at a hearing on Mid-America Real Estate Group’s preliminary proposal to redevelop the Vienna Beef hotdog factory site, local residents said they don’t relish the thought of valuable riverfront land being slathered with acres of asphalt. The community meeting, served up by 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack, took place at the sausage emporium, 2501 North Damen, which will be razed as part of a Chicago Department of Transportation project to reroute Elston Avenue.

There are many productive ways Chicago could use the hump of centrally located, riverfront land that’s becoming available for redevelopment as part of the reconfiguration of the Fullerton/Damen/Elston intersection. The space, currently occupied by the Vienna Beef factory, could accommodate another light industrial business, pedestrian-friendly retail space for local merchants, an apartment complex, and/or some new parkland. Instead, what’s being proposed is a worst-case scenario of suburban-style development that would cover most of the land with asphalt, and likely cancel out any congestion improvements that would otherwise result from the reroute.

Palmer Square neighbors who want to see the city install raised raised crosswalks by the park appear to greatly outnumber opponents, judging from numbers provided by both sides.

Last month, a DNAinfo.com article drew attention to a new campaign to improve pedestrian safety at Palmer Square by installing raised crosswalks, also known as speed tables. Unfortunately, factual errors in the piece left the impression that raised crosswalks would be an expensive solution that doesn't have the Chicago Department of Transportation's approval. It turns out that speed tables would be quite affordable, and CDOT first proposed adding them years ago. Other changes to the roadway could further discourage speeding and enhance the park – if only the park's neighbors would allow them.

After ten months of stonewalling, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is bowing to pressure from aldermen, chambers of commerce, and business owners and finally making good on his promise to bring back paid Sunday parking in some commercial districts. The Sun-Times reports the mayor plans to introduce an ordinance at the April City Council meeting that will eliminate free Sundays on select retail strips in Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Bucktown, Wicker Park, and Portage Park. This is in response to longstanding requests from aldermen Scott Waguespack (32nd), Tom Tunney (44th), and John Arena (45th).

Kudos to the Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce for taking a stand against free Sunday parking. As reported by DNAinfo, last week the chamber sent its members an email titled, “Call to Action: End Free Sunday Parking at Meters.” The message asks merchants to contact aldermen like Scott Waguespack (32nd), Michele Smith (43rd), and Robert Fioretti (2nd), to show support for bringing paid parking back to their retail districts sooner than later. "Our understanding is feedback from business constituents would help sway those forces that are holding it up," explained chamber spokesman Padraic Swanton.

As I’ve written many times on this website, 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack has done some good things for the city, and he’s a likeable person. So it’s painful to see him take an increasingly reactionary stance against the CTA’s plan to create a more efficient and equitable Ashland Avenue by building a bus rapid transit system.

Even when I’ve disagreed with him over his recent comments on transportation and public space issues, I’ve always used the word “progressive” to describe 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack, but it might be time to drop that adjective. He has been an important independent voice at City Hall, most notably in his opposition to Richard M. Daley’s disastrous parking meter deal and Rahm Emanuel’s fishy reboot of the contract. He’s a nice person and a regular bike commuter. But Waguespack's statements in a recent article on bus rapid transit in Our Urban Times community newspaper reveal a strange hostility to building an effective, equitable surface transit system.