Tag: Chicago

Leak from Exelon nuke hits major NJ aquifer

Seth Anderson0 comment

Speaking of government regulation being half-hearted, notice how this spill occurred in 2009, but nobody seemed to care much at the time.

It Is a Bit of a Joke

Radioactive water that leaked from the nation’s oldest nuclear power plant has now reached a major underground aquifer that supplies drinking water to much of southern New Jersey, the state’s environmental chief said Friday. The state Department of Environmental Protection has ordered the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station to halt the spread of contaminated water underground, even as it said there was no imminent threat to drinking water supplies.

The department launched a new investigation Friday into the April 2009 spill and said the actions of plant owner Exelon Corp. have not been sufficient to contain water contaminated with tritium. Tritium is found naturally in tiny amounts and is a product of nuclear fission. It has been linked to cancer if ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin in large amounts.

“There is a problem here,” said environmental Commissioner Bob Martin. “I am worried about the continuing spread of the tritium into the groundwater and its gradual moving toward wells in the area. This is not something that can wait. That would be unacceptable.” The company did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The tritium leaked from underground pipes at the plant on April 9, 2009, and has been slowly spreading underground at 1 to 3 feet a day.

At the current rate, it would be 14 or 15 years before the tainted water reaches the nearest private or commercial drinking water wells. But the mere fact that the radioactive water — at concentrations 50 times higher than those allowed by law — has reached southern New Jersey’s main source of drinking water calls for urgent action, Martin said.

(click to continue reading Leak from Exelon nuke hits major NJ aquifer | Crain’s Chicago Business.)

Crazy fools, did they think the problem would just solve itself? If corporations want to be treated like people, then corporations that subvert the public interest should lose their corporate charter. Or worse.

Everyblock and the Chicago Police Department

Seth Anderson1 Comment

I’ve been a long time fan of EveryBlock, from its earlier incarnation called Chicago Crime.org, through its purchase by MSNBC. I had noticed this police report information shortfall as well.

Sunday Morning Parking Lot

In Chicago, the police department declines to make any details available online to us or to EveryBlock, a five-member operation based here. EveryBlock was bought last year by MSNBC.com and cranks out daily updates for neighborhoods in 15 other cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Dallas.

The site’s frustration with Chicago underscores how scant our access is to public records at most levels of government.

Take the city’s Department of Public Health. It stopped updating its Web site last year. That means that for months, citizens haven’t been able to find out about, say, what restaurants have been hit with violations. In part, the department blames technological problems.

EveryBlock is the brainchild of soft-spoken, angular Adrian Holovaty, 29, well-known in the online world for innovations in computer code. He retains oversight and, with two colleagues, operates out of an airy but bare Ravenswood loft about a mile north of Wrigley Field.

Mr. Holovaty is asking his audience here to sign a petition, to prod the Chicago Police Department to change its ways. He links to the petition from each crime. ‘Would you like to see more information about this crime? So would we!’ he asks.”

(click to continue reading Chicago News Cooperative – In the Age of Information, the Police Department Lags Behind – NYTimes.com.)

What is strange is that the local paper The Chicago Journal has a page of police reports written in English. I guess these are hand-crafted by Chicago Journal reporters? They are not as extensive, of course.

If you have a second, take the time to sign the EveryBlock petition.

Chicago Police Bomb Squad

Chicago Police Bomb Squad

As I hinted, I love Everyblock – I receive a daily email about my 8 block area, and another email1 that contains all news in a hand-crafted area of my own choosing, plus I subscribe to an RSS feed that covers similar ground, and have the EveryBlock iPhone app installed.

Neighborhood demarcations are like country borders, they are useful sometimes, but in real life, are less meaningful. When I walk around taking photos, there is an area that I usually stick to – about a mile in some directions, but it is not a geometrically perfect circle. I walk west to Ashland, but usually not beyond, walk south to maybe Jackson, or occasionally Van Buren, but not beyond, walk north to Chicago Avenue, along the Chicago River, but not west of Halsted, walk into the Loop proper, but not too far. In other words2 my personal stomping ground includes portions of 4 or 5 different neighborhoods, but to me, it feels like one. EveryBlock allows me to mark a map and then pulls information from this marked “personal” neighborhood3.

Anyway, I strongly agree with Mr. Holovaty that the Chicago Police should open up their data for EveryBlock, I don’t see the downside for CPD.

It’s one thing to know there was a $300 theft down the street; it’s another to read the police officer’s description. “Clearly, there’s a huge difference between a random break-in and, say, an ex-boyfriend breaking into an apartment to get his stuff,” Mr. Holovaty says.

We can get those details if we go to the police station. But the department won’t make descriptions available online. The end result is ignorance, possibly about the real dangers in a neighborhood. Lack of context can breed fear and needless anxiety.

Chicago is not alone in arguing that there are privacy concerns, notably names of victims, and what can be raw descriptions replete with misspellings. But Mr. Holovaty underscores that EveryBlock, as a matter of policy, does not run people’s names on any of its listings, be they crimes, real estate transactions or granting of business licenses.

Further, he says he could devise algorithmic solutions to dealing with privacy issues like bad spelling and raw language. But he meets resistance.

“The trend in the law is fairly robust when it comes to access for the public,” said Eve Burton, vice president and general counsel for the Hearst Corporation. “But the practice among those implementing the laws is less good, and media companies are no longer putting the time, energy and resources into being the watchdog of government.”

If government wanted to live up to its obligations, technology could make everything from crime reports to restaurant inspections available. But instead, the cat-and-mouse game will continue, with government preferring secrecy and the likes of Mr. Holovaty banging on doors, or at least their data servers.

Footnotes:
  1. overkill I know, but what can I say, I adore collecting information [↩]
  2. for non-Chicagoans [↩]
  3. news, photos, real estate transactions, city permits, whatever [↩]

One Kind Favor

Seth Anderson0 comment

Skybridge, West Loop. Applied the new 3D filter in Photoshop CS5, can you tell? Pretty subtle, at least on this particular photo.
One Kind Favor

[Click to embiggen, natch]

My AlienSkin filters1 no longer work – they claim a new version of Exposure is to be released in June, taking advantage of the 64 bit architecture of Photoshop CS5. Haven’t attempted to run CS5 in 32-bit mode. Also haven’t tried my scanner to see if it will work, or if Epson has released new drivers yet.2

Footnotes:
  1. that emulate various films and darkroom techniques [↩]
  2. doubtful, but who knows [↩]

Threadless moving to West Madison

Seth Anderson0 comment

Cool, I’ll pop in there more often, perhaps.

Threadless on Broadway

T-shirt firm Threadless moving to West Loop | Crain’s Chicago Business: “Internet T-shirt retailer Threadless.com plans to move its headquarters from Ravenswood to a former FedEx Corp. warehouse in the West Loop. Threadless, which lets online visitors choose the designs of the T-shirts it sells, hopes to move into the 45,000-square-foot building at 1260 W. Madison St. in July, says Charles Stephens, the company’s vice-president of operations. The 10-year-old firm, which shipped two million T-shirts last year, is quickly outgrowing its operations in Ravenswood on the North Side, where it has two warehouses that would function more efficiently if they were in the same building, Mr. Stephens says. ‘We’ve got some pretty aggressive growth targets, and in order to scale up and meet that growth, we’ve got to eliminate that bottleneck,’ he says. Threadless signed a seven-year lease for the West Loop building with a five-year extension option, says Larry Bell, chief financial officer at JRG Capital Partners LLC, the Chicago-based firm that acquired the FedEx property last year. Mr. Bell hopes the Chicago City Council this month will approve a zoning change that would allow Threadless to use the building. “

(Via T-shirt firm Threadless moving to West Loop | Crain’s Chicago Business.)

This location1 was originally just going to be a mixed use condo building, Threadless is much better from my perspective.

Via GB

Had Enough for a Long Time
This photo taken on a friend’s balcony, right next door on West Madison

Footnotes:
  1. which I went to frequently when it was an active FedEx drop-off point, closing at 9PM [↩]

Churchgoers forced to pay parking gods to pray

Seth Anderson1 Comment

Poor, poor Christians, forced to pay the city a pittance. Not forced to pay property taxes or anything like that, but even contributing nickles and dimes is apparently too much of a burden.

No Parking

Churchgoers forced to pay to pray: Ever since the steeple of Chicago’s First United Methodist Church went up across the street from City Hall in the 1830s, worshippers have sought a place to hitch their horse or park their station wagon to pray.

But since the city privatized its parking meters last year, more churchgoers have encountered unanswered prayers for parking. Pricey meters and restricted curbside parking now surround historic houses of worship in the Loop, forcing the faithful to pay to pray or get free parking by volunteering for soup kitchens, tutoring or other ministries.

Some pastors are pushing the city to consider what churches contribute to city life and ease parking restrictions for congregants, especially on Sunday mornings when commercial and government traffic is light.

(Via Churchgoers forced to pay to pray.)

Fixing Another Parking Meter

If churches whine themselves into special treatment, I’m petitioning various businesses I frequent to become churches too; restaurants, bars, retail, whatever. Only makes sense, right? Food can be a transcendent experience, better than any bible thumping, at least for me. In fact, I’m declaring that I am a Church, so I demand the right to park anywhere in the City of Chicago for free, at any time.

A Moment In Time May 2nd 2010

Seth Anderson0 comment

The Lens blog of The New York Times invited all photographers, of all levels of skill, to submit a photo taken at 15:00 UTC, which translated into 10 AM C.S.T. for me.

May Day Lingerers Chicago

May 2nd. Activists lingering at the Haymarket Riot Memorial Statue, with guitars and so forth.

embiggen

Uploaded to the New York Times “A Moment in Time” global mosaic.

Where will you be on Sunday, May 2, at 15:00 hours (U.T.C.)?

Wherever you are, we hope you’ll have a camera — or a camera phone — in hand. And we hope you’ll be taking a picture to send to Lens that will capture this singular instant in whatever way you think would add to a marvelous global mosaic; a Web-built image of one moment in time across the world.

We extend the invitation to everyone, everywhere. Amateurs. Students. Pros. People who’ve been photographing for a lifetime or who just started yesterday.

What matters more than technique is the thought behind the picture, because you’ll only be sending us one. So please do think beforehand about where you will want to be and what you will want to focus on. Here are the general topics:

Religion
Play
Nature and the Environment
Family
Work
Arts and Entertainment
Money and the Economy
Community
Social Issues

[Click to continue reading A Timely Global Mosaic, Created by All of Us – Lens Blog – NYTimes.com]

I was reading my Sunday papers (including, coincidentally, The New York Times), drinking my first coffee of the day, and almost forgot about the project. However, I remembered in time to put on a clean shirt and strap on my camera for a brief walk up and down my street. I took about a dozen photos, a few of which I’ve uploaded to Flickr. The photo above, of the Haymarket Riot Memorial Statue is the one I submitted, even though I’m not that happy with it, truth be told.

Here are a few others I took this morning. Click a photo to enlarge it…

Everlasting Broken Windows
Everlasting broken windows

Sunday Morning Parking Lot
Sunday morning Parking Lot

Contrained Urban Living
Constrained Urban Living – Polapan Blue

Roofs May Second 2010
Rooftops

Green Roof-esque
Green Roof-esque

Chicago Ice Age
Chicago Ice Age

Dreaming of Fulton Market Cold Storage

swanksalot0 comment

Shot with my Hipstamatic for iPhone
Lens: John S
Film: Float
Flash: Off

Was considered to be converted into condos, but that was before the mortgage bubble ended.

Reading Around on April 15th through April 26th

swanksalot0 comment

A few interesting links collected April 15th through April 26th:

  • Weird Places to Get Your Hair Done – What’s the strangest place you’ve ever done it — had a haircut, that is? Source: Flickr User swanksalot
  • Report: March was Earth’s warmest on record – Science Fair: Science and Space News – USATODAY.com – Although a large chunk of the USA didn’t get in on the warmth in March, the rest of the world sure did. March was the warmest March ever recorded worldwide, the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported Thursday. NCDC records go back to 1880.
  • The massive NYT suck-up to the Tea Party | Philly | 04/14/2010 – Hey, remember back in late 2002 and early 2003, when tens of thousands of people showed up for several rallies to protest the looming war in Iraq — suggesting that maybe a pre-emptive war under false pretenses wasn’t the best use of American dollars and lives — and when the American news media was falling all over itself to get the Iraq war protesters to tell their stories, and what their movement in opposition to the president of the United States was all about? Yeah…me neither.

Evanston Wind Farms

Seth Anderson0 comment

Are wind turbines ugly? I think they are kind of cool looking, actually, sleek, modern, and of course they are a tangible symbol of alternative energy. I’d like to see a few spinning out in Lake Michigan.

No Lifeguard On Duty

EVANSTON, Ill.—Residents here are used to seeing nothing but water, sky and sailboats as they survey the horizon on Lake Michigan.

Now, many are wondering whether wind turbines would add to or detract from that view, as the city explores the possibility of harvesting the wind that barrels down Lake Michigan at an average speed of 18 miles an hour.

“We’re determined to find a way to reduce our carbon footprint,” said Elizabeth Tisdahl, mayor of Evanston, where the city council last week approved a plan to seek information from developers interested in building a wind farm about seven miles offshore.

The proposed wind farm, which is expected to be privately financed, is projected to cost $400 million, take about seven years to complete and include 40 large wind turbines capable of producing power for 40,000 homes. It is unclear how this would affect utility rates in the college town, which has about 30,000 homes.

[Click to continue reading Wind Farms Catch a Gust on Great Lakes – WSJ.com]

Postpone Your Obedience

All of those factors come into play with the biggest proposed development in the lakes so far, a $4 billion wind farm off Western Michigan proposed by Scandia Wind Offshore, a Norwegian-American concern. The project would supply enough power for 300,000 homes and have easy access to the Chicago and Detroit markets.

“This is the best spot in the U.S. for industrial wind power, without a doubt,” said Harald Dirdal, development director of Havgul Clean Energy, a Norwegian firm that is majority owner of Scandia Wind.

Scandia’s plans, unveiled late last year, have drawn heavy opposition from the tiny resort and retirement community of Pentwater, Mich., where residents fear the project four miles offshore would hurt property values while providing little benefit locally. Jobs would largely flow elsewhere, and the electricity would be fed into the regional grid.

“We won’t benefit from jobs, and we won’t benefit from reduced electricity [rates]. And we certainly won’t benefit from the windmills being in front of our sunset,” said Juanita Pierman, village president.

Scandia has since split the planned development in two, moving half slightly north of Pentwater and the other half offshore of Muskegon, where Scandia hopes a windmill manufacturer might locate a factory to take advantage of the large-scale development.

Shanghaid

Any new project will have some Not In My Back Yard response, such as:

In Evanston, a community group called Citizens for a Greener Evanston spent about two years studying alternative energy sources, said Nate Kipnis, an architect who co-chaired the group’s renewable-energy task force. The group recommended the wind farm to the city council because it best captured the city’s most unique resource and could even become a draw for visitors, he said.

Others are skeptical. City Councilwoman Judy Fiske supported the vote to gather more information, but first read from three pages of questions she wants answered.

A picture provided by the backers meant to show how small the windmills would look from shore worried her. “It does give you a very strong sense that there is some development on the lake,” she said. “Suddenly you’ve lost that quality of serenity that comes from living on a large body of water.”