The Dumpsters in Our Lives aka The Homebase of Vandals and Graffiti

This am I took a little time (2minutes) to get rid of graffiti on our local street sweeping dumpster
at Birchwood and Ashland. Dumpsters are the whipping boy of Graffiti Artists famously. And if you dont want your neighborhood to be the haven and home of graffiti you have to get rid of ALL Graffiti. Dumpsters live a semipermanent life in our neighborhoods. We need to treat our dumpsters as part of our neighborhood because they are. I like dumpsters because they are gigantic trash cans that I can throw litter into. I used silver spray paint to quickly go over the graffiti here and on the front of the dumpster some goof off. Easy Peasy.

Roof Of Bus Terminal @ Gateway Plaza.

         Wave like awning of the Howard/Paulina Bus Depot down below the catwalk on the walk back from Dominick's heading dangerously close to urinevator. The former Gateway Centre Apartments are off to the right. Currently this is Senior Housing, James Sneider Senior Apartments. Better looking than the average modern building of this size. In the distance to the left of the senior apartments you can see the little condo building with ample balconies on the south and west side of Rogers.

Take A Ride On The Urinevator

           

              After walking on the catwalk back toward the Gateway Mall parking lot take a ride on the Urinevator. This elevator smells like a zoo, hence the name. The Cinder block wall is especially weird.  The glass is filthy and filmy.That's what happens to elevators that double as public latrines. Next time the stairs will be a better option.

Boundaries of Previous Village of South Evanston?

"Evanston grew by annexing North Evanston in 1874, and South Evanston in 1892, and resisted an attempt to be annexed to Chicago in 1904. The Daily News account of the 1892 vote suggests that, in addition to material questions of taxation and provision of municipal services, local and class identities may have entered into voters' decision-making. Many students at Northwestern University opposed annexation, fearing that Evanston's growth would dilute its identity as a college town. "Voting on Annexation," Chicago Daily News, 20 February 1892."

Runges on Rogers and Restored Fire Hydrant/Lane and Sign

           Recently worked on this stretch of Rogers Ave as well during my now permanent exile from EveryBlock. I had talked to Mr Runge while picking up trash there and he had told me how a customer waiting for their car to be delivered to them at the sidewalk had been robbed by a group of youths in broad daylight. The area didn't look good at that time a few weeks ago. There was alot of litter, the hydrant looked sad, his sign on the fence had stickers on it and there was trash on the inside of his yard. There was Latin King Graffiti on his grey door. In other words it looked like a good place to get robbed or worse. Living in Rogers Park this writer has learned if it looks the part then it will play the part. Sure you could get robbed in the nicest neighborhood or location in the world, but it sure is a lot less likely. The graffiti has been removed, the trash picked up, the hydrant and fire lane restored.  His sign on his fence was restored. Now it looks like a nice place to walk by or get your car fixed at. 

The Photos That Everyblock Censored In September

The photos that Everyblock didn't want you to see

            This conversation was abruptly halted on Everyblock in September and not allowed to run its normal course.  Everyblock is heavy on censorship to the point where this writer will no longer ever post on there again. Questioning a local business'es advertising techniques resulted in excuses and apologies but nothing was done to rectify the situation. Pointing out an important problem, sign vandalism and that a local business was contributing to it created a firestorm on this forum. Everyblock decided it was just easier to shut it down and let everyone go back to griping about dogs barking or  parking problems in the neighborhood. These photos are from September, if you look close you can see what sticker I am talking about and this is a half a  block from the shop. Is this libelous and defamatory? No its not. And it needn't have been censored from public discourse.

Dry Barrel Hydrant Rogers Ave Circa 1935

     

            Yellow signifies 12-16 inch diameter water main down below. This fire hydrant was made during the great depression. As a dry barrel hydrant its water main is below ground. You can see if you look very closely that this indeed was a yellow flanged hydrant,  but most of the paint had flaked away over time. This is located on Rogers Ave just North of Clark.