MUDGE’s Musings

The four-day holiday-anniversary weekend was consigned to the status of staycation, due to … well, pick one: gas prices, economic malaise, inertia.

Fortunately, staying put doesn’t mean that tourism and sightseeing opportunities are lacking.

The summer season in Chicago offers a variety of ways to spend a week, a weekend or even an afternoon. This is not a tourism site, so we won’t dwell on all of the possibilities, which include the Cubs, the White Sox, the Museum Campus, the Art Institute, the wonderful again Museum of Science and Industry, Millennium Park and its free Grant Park Music Festival, and special events such as the ending today gorge-fest, Taste of Chicago.

For many years, the non-profit Chicago Architecture Foundation has offered a variety of resources: tours, lectures and a museum. Chicago has always taken its architecture seriously, especially its breathtaking skyscrapers; Chicago considers itself the birthplace of the skyscraper. For a long time, until the world’s economic center of gravity began its shift away from the U.S. to Asia and the Middle East, Chicago’s Sears Tower was the tallest such structure anywhere.

One of the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s most approachable products is the Architectural River Cruise. River cruises in Chicago are easy to find — just head down to Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive between May and November. CAF’s are unique because they feature commentary by trained docents who aren’t simply mechanically reciting a script; they really care about what they are so enthusiastic to show you.

We’ve enjoyed this cruise two previous times through the years; the last was perhaps 20 years ago. Wow, has Chicago changed in twenty years!

So, we drove two miles to the terminal, parked the car for $2.00 in the recent garage (the entire terminal has been extensively rebuilt — finally!), and rode the (air conditioned!) “El” train downtown, coming upstairs from the subway about 50 minutes after leaving home.

When we arrived at the departure dock, we were about 30 minutes early. It was a good opportunity to find a bench and relax on the Riverwalk, a tree-lined corridor that’s been built on either side of the river in recent years, watching people stroll by, and the river traffic, mainly competitor sightseeing cruisers, many private motor yachts, and a covey of kayakers. The bright yellow craft below is a water taxi, that makes a circuit between the train stations just west of the river’s South Branch, and this dock, just west of Michigan Ave.

Finally, the 1:00pm departure time arrived, and we were off on our 90-minute cruise.

There was lots to see. Yr (justifiably) humble svt’s very clunky and elderly Nikon Coolpix 2000‘s tiny 128MB memory card was in a race with my alkaline batteries as to which would poop out first. Fortunately, I conserved both, captured 131 images. Relax, you won’t see them all here. Today.

But you will see some highlights.

When this Philip Johnson structure was finished in the late 1980s, I believe, Chicagoans were put out that a New York architect had been hired for such a visible commission, at the three-way branch of the river. Today, everyone just loves it for the spectacular exercise in curved, mirrored glass that it is. At this point, the river splits to North and South branches; the tour goes north, first.

An all but abandoned bridge, this one built for the former Chicago & Northwestern railroad, to get rolls of newsprint to the Sun-Times and Tribune (both downtown printing plants long since relocated to less expensive real estate). The bascule design is typical of Chicago bridges; there are more of those here than anywhere else.

Once totally industrial, the North Branch of the Chicago River is more and more residential; here’s a recent example. Live on the river, walk to work. A very nice lifestyle for those who can afford it.

As we crossed the intersection between the North and South branches, I caught this view eastward, from whence we had originally come. Behind one of the “corncob” Marina Towers (could be a subject for its own post) we see the Trump Tower, a first for Chicago. The winner of Trump’s first “Apprentice” series was to become this project’s manager — I have no idea whether that actually happened (reality show, indeed!), or if so, whether the man is still connected to the building. But the multi-use structure is topped off, and the hotel at its base is in operation already, despite the high altitude construction above.

Inexcusably for an architectural photographer, I chopped off the tip of the tower of the Wrigley Building, a Chicago icon since it was built in the 1920s. But, it’s a holiday weekend, and the giant flag seems a suitably observant way to end today’s tour.

Chicago is a very, very photogenic city, and it was a beautiful, sunny afternoon. I am a very untalented photographer (I guess it’s that elusive vision thing), with a very simplistic camera, but even Mrs. MUDGE was impressed by these, and many of the others that I might be persuaded to share. Some other time. Maybe. Tomorrow?

It’s it for now. Thanks,

–MUDGE

This nanocorner of the ‘Sphere© doesn’t touch on issues in the world of sports that often.

But today I feel compelled.

I’ve spent all week sleep deprived, as the Chicago Cubs have been playing games on the West Coast, and those don’t begin until 9:05pm Central time. And the way baseball is played these days, only one of the past four night’s games has ended before midnight my time.

So, baseball has been on my mind.

They’re playing the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend. L.A. is the home of my daughter and her family: my son-in-law, and my two grandchildren.

My 7-1/2 year old grandson lived in Chicago for the first four years of his life, and somehow caught Cubs fan-itis, following the team on TV when available (and his mom and dad say it’s okay) and on line.

Last time we were together, he showed me how he logs into MLB.com on his Mom’s Macbook to get the latest scores and stats, and he grabs the L.A. Times sports section first thing to study the box scores. And his interest and enthusiasm, especially for all things Cubs, re-ignited mine. It doesn’t hurt that they’re off to a terrific start this season.

As I reflected on baseball, an enthusiasm that waxes and wanes for me, but which was a lifelong enthusiasm of my father, and which my older son inherited, and now, apparently, my grandson, I had this thought.

Most everyone who follows baseball in the U.S. knows about the Cubs. They last played in the World Series (that misnamed sporting event that only recently expanded its borders beyond the parochial U.S. into Canada [and has since pulled one of the two teams back to safe harbor in Washington, D.C.]) in 1945, before even I was born, and last won the championship in 1908, 100 years ago.

As I instant messaged a business colleague this afternoon the chat got around to weekend plans. some of my grandson’s Cubs fanaticism came out, as I described the fact that the entire L.A. extended family is going out to Chavez Ravine Saturday afternoon to watch the Cubs play the Dodgers.

My son-in-law grew up in L.A., and as that family is about evenly split between Dodgers and Cubs fans, it should be a rowdy afternoon.

As I described some of this while IM’ing my colleague, who works out of Boulder, Colorado, but comes from St. Louis and is a rabid Cardinals fan, he was ragging on me pretty good about how great it is to be a Cardinals fan, and how sad to be a Cubs fan.

The Cardinals indeed have had much more championship success over the past century than the Cubs — it would be impossible not to, actually.

He commented how sad it was that my grandson was growing up to know the perpetual futility and disappointment that is the lot of rooters for the Cubs.

I beg to differ, Mr. Cardinals Fan. We work together to support software, he on the technical side, and me on the end user side. The software has been a continuing challenge to support for the six or so years he and I have been doing this.

The pressures and stress of the constant emergencies we face, caused by the built-in shortcomings of the product that are his responsibility to maintain, have actually impaired his health, as he’s pretty much a one-man band on the technical side, and the software just isn’t a consistent performer.

I told him (kidding on the square) that my experience as a Cubs fan has prepared me well to support this particular software, whereas his Cardinals fandom has not at all prepared him for the constant disappointments he and I both face trying to figure out how to keep the tool available to the enterprise.

Further, while I wish only blue skies and sunshine and happiness and good health and prosperity to my children and my grandchildren, I strongly believe that being a Cubs fan will be for them a more realistic preparation for the inevitable roller coaster ride that is our real world.

But, that brings us to this year. It’s the one-hundredth anniversary of the last year the Cubs won the championship. The catchphrase “Tinker to Evers to Chance,” the double-play combination of that particular Cubs era, is one that still resonates in parts of my home town.

They’re actually playing very well so far this year, and it could be that this is the year that they stay strong and win it all. It would only be right, after 100 years.

So, MUDGE, what’s this Brigadoon thing?

Wikipedia says:

Brigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe.

It tells the story of a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every hundred years, though to the villagers, the passing of each century seems no longer than one night. The enchantment is viewed by them as a blessing rather than a curse, for it saved the village from destruction. According to their covenant with God, no one from Brigadoon may ever leave, or the enchantment will be broken and the site and all its inhabitants will disappear into the mist forever. Two American tourists, lost in the Scottish Highlands, stumble upon the village just as a wedding is about to be celebrated, and their arrival has serious implications for the village’s inhabitants.

Not the greatest musical of Lerner and Loewe (that of course would be the later My Fair Lady), but entertaining enough.

They made a movie of the show, of course.

A village that appears one day every one hundred years. A championship that hasn’t been seen in Chicago for 100 years. So, yr (justifiably) humble svt has perhaps coined a phrase. You read it here first!

Is 2008 the Cubs’ Brigadoon year?

Probably not. After all, this is a Cubs fan you’re reading.

But, even bitter, pragmatic realists entertain their sorry dreams.

It’s it for now. Thanks,

–MUDGE

Driving earlier this evening to pick up take out for dinner, found myself listening to radio news. Never do that, if I can help it. But this story sprang out at me.

It’s a crime story. Not usually a staple of this nanocorner of the ‘Sphere©. And it’s our next installment in a ever-lengthening series.

“Hold on, Mudge,” I hear faithful reader protesting. “What the devil does crime have to do with our deepening recession.”

Just about everything.

City crime statistics show increased violence

Violent crime is up 6% in first four months of the year compared with 2007, police say

By Angela Rozas | Tribune reporter |

4:52 PM CDT, May 16, 2008

Homicides in Chicago rose by almost 9 percent, while violent crime was up more than 6 percent in the first four months of 2008, compared with the same period last year, Police Supt. Jody Weis said Friday.

Weis blamed the uptick in violence on “unique” sets of multiple homicides, including two triple murders and a quintuple homicide, all in April. In April, there were 47 murders, compared with 34 the year before. A total of 134 homicides were tallied over the first four months of the year, compared with 123 in 2007.

Weis said the department is trying to combat the violence by improving coordination between patrol officers and specialized units and focusing more on the city’s hot spots to quell gang violence. He also said the department plans to conduct joint missions with specialized units and will deploy helicopters to patrol over the hot spots.
Some units have already been taking to the streets on weekends in battle dress, a visual deterrent to crime, Weis said.

First, some context.

The Chicago Police Department has required overhauling and reforming just about every 10 years. I don’t actually have the stomach to do the research for you, but the CPD wants to be a better department, but keeps falling short, in ugly ways. Detectives whose night jobs employed them as mob assassins. Cops whose methods for extracting confessions from suspects would sicken those hardened activists at Amnesty International. Etc.

Every few years, they bring in a new Superintendent of Police to clean house. The latest, who was appointed just over three months ago, has the oddly uncoplike name of Jody Weis, and came to Chicago from leading the Philadelphia office of the FBI.

So violent crimes are up. Yr (justifiably) humble svt is not at all surprised.

[Please click the link below for the complete article -- but then please come on back!]

City crime statistics show increased violence — – chicagotribune.com

In the mid-1990s, big city police departments took credit for a stunning reduction in crimes of all kinds, especially violent crimes. This occurred most emphatically in New York City under Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his hand-picked chief of police, Bernard Kerik. Kerik, a man who may yet go to jail himself, succeeded William Bratton, the man who in NYC and later in Los Angeles provided the clean sweeping broom in those cities, and whom Giuliani replaced when Bratton seemed to be getting more credit than Rudy for the improved crime statistics.

Okay, there’s no question that the NYC department required overhauling; they all seem to every few years. Every bureaucracy becomes set in its ways, resistant to internally driven change. When your bureaucracy carries batons and loaded sidearms, the need for radical change becomes more pressing.

But it’s my contention that the true cause of the incredibly steep decline in violent crimes in NYC and most big cities, including Chicago, was not improved policing, but a greatly improved economy.

Remember the 1990s? The Clinton White House took credit, perhaps deserved, for the boom times that only stumbled during the tech bubble of 2000-2001, and crashed as a result of 9/11, after Clinton’s watch.

But, they were good economic times, when essentially anyone who wanted a job could find one. Even the anyones who grew up in marginal conditions in fatherless households, where the most admirable role model might be the neighborhood’s bling-encrusted drug lord. In bad times, such drug-daddies are the employers of last resort in such environs. Such careers are often violent, extraordinarily dangerous and short.

In good times, there are usually conventional jobs for civilians, with predictable paychecks and regular hours where the dangers are usually limited to slick factory floors, carpal tunnel syndrome, or commuter-clogged highways.

Now faithful reader might recall another explanation for the diminished crime rate of the 1990s, presented by a University of Chicago economist, Steven Levitt, who later became even more famous for the publishing phenomenon of 2005: Freakonomics.

You see where I’m going, right? The headline tipped it off. Can’t avoid noticing that the economy has taken a severe hit, especially in the past several months.

Guys who had decent, if low-paying jobs in factories might have lost them to even lower paid factory workers in Sichuan or Vietnam.

High school dropouts, never anyone’s first choice for hire, are congregating on corners again. Can there be any wonder why crime statistics are climbing?

All of the bureaucratic and procedural overhauls in Bill Bratton’s manual (and Supt. Weis has replaced most of his direct reports in his first 100 days in the position) are not going to prevent the exurban (2-hours commute each way) metal-bending shop making cheap lawn furniture from closing its doors and putting its marginally employable janitors and day laborers back on the mean street corners.

And then back into the crime statistics.

As a lifelong resident of one of Chicago’s near suburbs, I wish Jody Weis well, for all of our sakes.

But history seems to be telling us that the best cure for violent crime isn’t more, better led policing. The best cure for violent crime isn’t to build more prisons (although this is, regrettably, one of the U.S.’s few growth industries).

The absolute best cure for violent crime is to put the people who want to work (and call me the un-MUDGE tonight, but I firmly believe that, give most people a chance and they’ll pick low-paid but honest and safe most of the time) to work.

There’s a country to rebuild, after all. Good, honest work for anyone who wants it. Then, watch the violent crime statistics plummet.

It’s it for now. Thanks,

–MUDGE

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Blast from the Past!

A post we really, really loved to write, and read, and re-read…

From our early days, originally posted August 15, 2007.

mm102: Fast Cities 2007

MUDGE’S Musings

I’ve always been a city guy, happier (even in its suburbs) than when away in some rural village, or bucolic resort. In fact, some would call my suburban home town more of a city than a suburb, and that’s just the way I love it.

And, I’ve always been secure in the knowledge that, no matter at what altitude and attitude I find myself on this breathtaking roller-coaster that is my life, I can count on my city to, eventually, provide me a livelihood. There’s just too much going on not to.

And during some extended times of un- or underemployment it was a matter of adjusting my own assumptions — the city was creating jobs every second, and I finally came to understand that I had to recreate myself to match up to one.

So, even while my faith in my home town has never wavered, even while one emotional center of gravity has shifted 2,000 miles west, it’s fun to encounter some more objective analysis about why my city makes me stay, no matter what.

And that brings me to the following story, first encountered in hard copy form (which means I’m probably 2 months late — an Internet eternity — in discovering it). I call special attention to the following tidbit:

Worldwide, the pace of urbanization is only accelerating. This year, for the first time, more of the earth’s population will live in cities than in rural areas–a cool 3.2 billion, according to United Nations estimates.

Take a look at the top of the story here:

Fast Cities 2007

From Chicago to Shanghai, urban centers that are shaping our future.

From: Issue 117 | July 2007 | Page 90 | By: Andrew Park

---

You’re smart, young, newly graduated from a university with the whole world before you. You could settle in a small town with well-tended lawns, pancake suppers, and life on a human scale. Or you could truck it to the big city, with all its din and dog-eat-dog lunacy. Your choice?Fuhgedaboudit: There is no choice. For all the challenges cities face–congestion, crime, crumbling infrastructure, environmental decay, plus occasional issues with basic civility–they are still where jobs and youth gather, where energy begets even greater energy, where talent masses and collides. Worldwide, the pace of urbanization is only accelerating. This year, for the first time, more of the earth’s population will live in cities than in rural areas–a cool 3.2 billion, according to United Nations estimates. “In a world where we can now work anywhere, we’re tending to concentrate in fewer and fewer places,” says Carol Colletta, president of CEOs for Cities, an advocacy group. “Smart people are choosing to live near smart people.”

Of course, not all “urban agglomerations,” in the parlance of demographers, are created equal. Rapid growth has a way of laying bare the gap between cities that merely get bigger and those that actually flourish. For every Karachi, which is on pace to double its population every 20 years but mired in poverty and violence, there’s a Shanghai, the emerging creative engine for an entire continent. For every Havana, which looks pretty much the same as it did 40 years ago (except worse), there’s a Curitiba, which has spent 40 years mapping its extremely livable future. For every St. Louis, a spot as bland as a flat Bud Light, there’s a hip joint like Fort Collins, Colorado, a high-tech hub that’s also the microbrew capital of America.

In other words, there are winners in this battle for the future. We call them Fast Cities. They are cauldrons of creativity where the most important ideas and the organizations of tomorrow are centered. They attract the best and brightest. They are great places to work and live.

I’m not sure that people who know me would describe me as “fast,” but I live in one of Fast Company’s Fast Cities, so I must be, right?

The rest of this introductory article is linked just below; take a look, and explore their expanded lists. I was fascinated; hope you’ll be too.

[Per L-HC's reformed process, please click the link below for the complete article -- but then please come on back!]

Fast Cities 2007 | Printer-friendly version

I know lots of people who’ve toured China. They talk about the Great Wall, the Yellow River cruise, the Forbidden city, etc. But I’ve long said that the only part of immense China that remotely interests me is Shanghai — the Chinese Chicago. Of course, it is or will be soon more accurate to describe Chicago as the North American Shanghai!

Now, admit it, who among my reader have ever heard of Curitiba, Brazil, or even Chandigarh, India (everyone’s heard of Bengaluru — formerly Bangalore — but Chandigarh?)?

I still recall a stint during one of the low-altitude aspects of afore mentioned roller-coaster when I was a temp secretary in a corporate HR office, putting together a diversity presentation. BTW, that experience helped me understand that in corporate America, “temp” is a contraction of “contempt,” which of course is how temps are treated, mostly.

But I digress. The point I was going for is that as part of the diversity training, it was presented that in a list of the 10 most populous cities in the world, New York doesn’t make the cut. Cities mostly in Central Asia that I still haven’t really heard of since made the top 10 — I wonder if 12 more years of our global roller-coaster have changed that.

And after a little research, here’s an update. Seems that the diversity propaganda I helped spread might have bent the facts a bit to prove a point, because there’s NYC a strong No. 4, and not one of those dusty Central Asian megalapoli made the list.

It all depends on how the metropolitan areas are defined, I’m sure, but I’m glad to see that my town, Chicago (had you guessed?) made the top 27(!) in this list I found courtesy of that other search engine, Ask.com.

But of course, (she keeps telling me) size isn’t everything…

Anyway, I’m happy to live in a Fast City — no question that it has helped keep me gainfully employed (at least mostly), intrigued, inspired and manifestly not bored (and I hope not boring!) for almost six decades.

But, I’d sure like to see Shanghai. And, maybe Curitiba…

It’s it for now, thanks.

–MUDGE

Cleveland. Philadelphia. New York City. Chicago. Most egregiously, Detroit.

For more than 30 years, the overwhelming impression has taken hold that the old, big cities, the engines of the industrial might of this country for more than 150 years, are hollowed out shells.

Their manufacturing jobs fled first, to the suburbs and exurbs, then the non-union South and West (before fleeing totally offshore). Their office jobs disappeared as the bureaucracy supporting those factories inevitably shifted: first to the suburbs, then the exurbs, then South and West (soon, Mumbai and Bengaluru?).

So, accepted wisdom: big Eastern and Midwestern cities: in steep decline.

Now, Michael Gecan is here to alert us that, as far as he can see, the suburbs and exurbs that became the refuge of those who could flee their declining city homes, are built on sand and are about to experience their own fall.

Found this thoughtful piece, as happens so often, through the good offices of Arts & Letters Daily.

On Borrowed Time

Urban decline moves to the suburbs

Michael Gecan | Boston Review | March/April 2008

A few months ago, about 125 leaders from religious institutions, civic organizations, and social service groups met … in the town of Lombard, in DuPage County, to wrestle with a new reality: a budget crisis. Budget crises are not supposed to happen in places like west suburban DuPage. It is home to nearly one million souls and more than 600,000 private sector jobs. It boasts a median income of $70,000, one of the highest in the nation. And yet the county, strapped for cash, was threatening to cut convalescent services, veterans’ services, housing assistance, breast cancer screening, and many other essential public functions.

Until recently DuPage County had been one of the big winners during the forty-year decline and imminent collapse of Cook County. Major corporations fled Chicago’s failing downtown and moved to DuPage’s open spaces and tax-friendly towns. Working class homeowners on the west and southwest sides of the city sold their bungalows and bought ranch houses, Cape Cods, and new town homes in Wheaton and Naperville and Downers Grove. Families troubled by the city’s public schools happily sent their children into shining new facilities and well-equipped classrooms. County government prided itself on its lean budgets and effective service-delivery.

Gecan’s focus is Chicago. DuPage County is due west of the city, and has been one of its fastest growing regions (and, indeed, pockets of DuPage have often made the national lists of fast growing areas.

The Chicago area, as faithful reader might recall, is yr (justifiably) humble svt‘s lifelong home, although my residence since age 10 is in one of the older, north of Chicago Cook County suburbs. For this reason, Gecan’s essay has more than academic interest, although DuPage County is some distance away.

His argument: suburban areas like DuPage are experiencing constant change that its residents are ill-prepared and ill-equipped to confront. The influx of immigrants, who in the case of Chicago, have found that its relentless gentrification leaves them without affordable, if low quality, housing, puts additional pressure on institutions, such as school districts and public safety. Funding, never subject to other than a patchwork approach, is drying up due to the ending of 50 years of unending growth. The county’s developers have no more soybean fields to redevelop. There are no new sources of taxable property. The result: soaring property taxes, always the go-to source for public funding in Illinois.

In that pleasant synagogue meeting space, with the last of the new McMansions going up across the street, with 60,000 more workers commuting in to DuPage each day than commuting out, with the local football teams on the rise and the SAT and ACT scores still high, I suggested that perhaps the county had hit its own high-water mark and that without clear-eyed re-evaluation, it was poised, as Chicago had been in the mid-1950s, for decline.

DuPage is not alone, of course. … [I]n almost every mature suburb in the northeast and Midwest and mid south, families face these same conditions. A Roman Catholic pastor I met in Nassau County described it as suburbia’s midlife crisis. It may be part of America’s midlife crisis as well.

Gecan compares Chicago the city to New York the city, which, nearly bankrupt 30 years ago, has pulled itself up by its bootstraps in many substantive ways, it is Gecan’s assertion, after local community activism, often religion-based, was ultimately backed by sensible public participation.

No such grass-roots activity has taken hold in Chicago, where developers are paramount (thus the aforementioned relentless gentrification), and Mayor Daley II seems hell-bent on placing wrought iron fencing (procured from grateful vendors) everywhere, a cosmetic face on a city that can’t hide its barely functional public school, public transit and policing administrations.

The lengthy article will, as we often say, reward your attention, as will the insightful comments section. A spirited debate, indeed.

[Please click the link below for the complete article -- but then please come on back!]

Boston Review — gecan.php

This is the conclusion that leapt out at this reader:

A fourth conclusion is that new kinds of money, from new sources, used in creative ways, will be required if cities, counties and regions are to revive. A relatively modest fund of $8 million, raised from religious sources by East Brooklyn Congregations in 1982, fundamentally changed the way its proposal to build affordable, single-family homes was received. The group of pastors and lay people from a part of the city that had been designated by the elites for “planned shrinkage” had somehow amassed a sum of money that impressed the mayor, his commissioners, newspaper editors, and developers. …  Local governments will need to reject the low-tax or anti-tax theology of the post-Reagan era. Higher taxes in support of carefully targeted social and economic strategies will be key to the rebuilding of older American cities and maturing suburbs. During the most productive years of its housing revival, New York City spent more than the next fifty American cities combined on housing creation and rehabilitation. It shows. The return on this investment is incalculable.

“… reject the low-tax or anti-tax theology of the post-Reagan era.” I’m afraid that I don’t see that happening, especially in the overwhelmingly Republican DuPage. Its changing demographics may dilute, but won’t materially affect, that historic legacy.

Coupled together with Illinois’ feeble property tax basis for the support of education, an unpleasant outcome is easy to forecast.

Interestingly, as in New York City, Chicago itself may actually have a basis for a more than cosmetic rebirth. At least, unlike most of its suburbs, MUDGE’s Evanston being a shining exception, there’s a public transit system. Woefully ignored during the age of the automobile and thus under-funded and in desperate need of modernization (not least to its management), public transit in Chicago could be resuscitated: New York’s remarkable transit renewal shows that, with funding and will, it’s possible.

The suburbs, of course, and especially the new exurbs, where the smell of former cornfield is never far away, have no public transit to speak of. Indeed, public transit is totally antithetical to the classic (Republican?) suburban spirit.

Many post-World War II suburbs and all exurbs were born and have flourished due to the automobile, and will perish as personal petroleum based transportation reverts to its original status when first developed a century ago, as luxury goods. No Prius or E85 is going to long deter this outcome.

In Gecan’s paradigm, local activism, spurring private seed funding, and ultimately official backing, may be the only path to suburban salvation, if New York’s experience can be replicated.

Think DuPage’s (or Bergen’s or Montgomery’s) soccer moms, or their Evangelical super-churches, are up to the challenge?

It’s it for now. Thanks,

–MUDGE

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Boeing Corporation is one of this country’s economic superstars. Through years of growth, organically and, as has been typical of the aerospace industry since the end of the Cold War, through acquisition, Boeing has become one of the top three defense contractors in the U.S.

Boeing competes globally with Airbus, the “upstart” European aerospace consortium, for the privilege of supplying the world’s airlines. In both roles, military and civil, Boeing has remained a shining exception to the cataclysmic conversion of the U.S. economy from manufacturing to not.

Boeing, long based where it began during World War I, in Seattle, unexpectedly transferred its corporate headquarters to Chicago, MUDGE’s home, so Boeing stories, always of interest to yr (justifiably) humble svt due to his lifelong fascination with all things aviation, now have a home town component.

Boeing, a hometown hero in several locales: Seattle, Wichita, St. Louis, Long Beach, and lately Chicago, took a hard hit Friday, when the U.S. Air Force announced that it lost its bid to furnish refueling tankers to its most bitter competitor, Airbus.

Northrop-EADS beats Boeing to build U.S. tanker

By Jim Wolf and Andrea Shalal-Esa | Reuters | Sunday, March 2, 2008; 1:58 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Northrop Grumman and Airbus parent EADS won a $35 billion U.S. Air Force refueling plane deal on Friday in a surprise blow to Boeing, until now the Pentagon’s sole supplier of aerial tankers.

Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) and EADS (EAD.PA), “clearly provided the best value to the government,” Sue Payton, the Air Force’s top acquisition official, told reporters at a briefing.

The Air Force plans to buy 179 tanker aircraft over the next 15 years to begin replacing its KC-135 tankers, on average 47 years old, that were built by Boeing Co (BA.N).

[Please click the link below for the complete article -- but then please come on back!]

Northrop-EADS beats Boeing to build U.S. tanker – washingtonpost.com

Some context: The turbulent saga of the KC-135 replacement goes back a number of years. The post World War II Air Force has always required the means to refuel its combat aircraft during a mission, a need that has only increased as the quantity of its global and domestic bases have decreased dramatically since 1991.

The KC-135, a first generation jet turbine powered craft, was developed in the 1950s. It was based on the original study Boeing created for a jet transport, the civil version of which became the 707.  Those craft are obsolete (you could find a commercial 707 flying these days, but not easily — think nighttime air cargo), and only intense maintenance is keeping the KC-135 in the air. They are overdue for replacement.

Boeing had a convenient answer when the Air Force came calling. Our modern 767 would be just the ticket. Bigger, faster, more fuel efficient (two turbofans rather than four turbojets), and (not stated publicly), we’ll have to close down its assembly line if we don’t get some new orders, and a nice lengthy contract from the U.S. government would be win-win.

So Boeing went after those orders quite aggressively.

A Mission to Rebuild Reputations

Upcoming Deals to Test Reforms at Air Force, Boeing

By Dana Hedgpeth | Washington Post Staff Writer | Thursday, January 17, 2008; Page D01

… Boeing had just agreed with the Justice Department to pay $615 million — the biggest penalty paid by a defense contractor — to settle allegations of misconduct, including assertions that its chief financial officer had conspired with a senior Air Force official to win work; and it had lost a contract worth about $20 billion to lease refueling tanker planes to the Air Force. The service’s former top procurement official and Boeing’s former chief financial officer went to prison. Confidence in the Air Force’s procurement system was at a low. The promises were meant to signal a new beginning.

Now those promises — and the public’s perception of the Air Force’s ability to spend its money prudently — are being tested by new contracting and public relations challenges. The Air Force is about to award two key contracts worth a total of about $55 billion, and Boeing is in the running for both deals.

One is a $40 billion plan to build the refueling tankers, a second run at the deal that was canceled after former Air Force procurement chief Darleen Druyun admitted to negotiating for a job with Boeing while representing the Air Force. The other is a $15 billion contract for search-and-rescue helicopters. Boeing had won that contract, but it was suspended when two competitors protested.

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A Mission to Rebuild Reputations – washingtonpost.com

The 2002 negotiations would have resulted in the Air Force leasing, later buying, 100 767 refueling tankers. The principal Air Force procurement person, Darleen Druyun, apparently had a very clear idea of her place in the military-industrial complex: straddling it.

Boeing, who had hired her when she suddenly resigned from the Air Force (one of the red flags that helped unravel the 2002 deal), fired her, and she later went to prison for the conflict of interest and other ethical violations.

Meanwhile, those KC-135s just kept aging.

In 2007, the bidding process was restarted. This time, EADS, the parent of Airbus, in order to make their deal more acceptable to the U.S., took on a U.S. partner, Northrop-Grumman (no. 2 defense contractor), and made commitments for final assembly of its KC30s in Alabama.

The KC30 (now renamed by the Air Force KC-45A) is a militarized and repurposed Airbus 330, a twin engine widebodied airliner, similar to the 767.

Since its launch in the early 1990s, Airbus has delivered over 500 330s, taking those sales from the Boeing aircraft, which is about 10 years older and thus not nearly so modern, especially concerning its electronics and control systems.

Special Report: Was Mobile’s future unveiled at Paris Air Show?

(PARIS, France) July 9 – With dozens of planes taking to the skies above Paris, much of the talk on the ground focused on a refueling tanker.

NBC15 News was at the Paris Air Show as the public got to see the KC30 Air Force refueling tanker for the first time. The assembly would take place in Mobile if the team of Northrop Grumman and EADS wins the contract to replace U.S. Air Force’s aging tanker fleet.

The KC30 is an Airbus plane militarized by Northrop Grumman.  NBC15′s Bruce Mildwurf and Chief Photographer Mike Corry toured Airbus’ massive facility in Toulouse, France with Governor Riley and several of Alabama’s congressional leaders to see what the future of Mobile could look like.

Northrop Grumman and EADS put together a chart comparing the KC30 to its Boeing rival – the KC767.  They contend it shows the KC30 is more effective, holds more fuel, is more fuel efficient, carries more pallets, passengers and is price competitive.

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Special Report: Was Mobile’s future unveiled at Paris Air Show? – NBC 15 Online

A bit later than promised, this past Friday the Air Force, bending over backwards to assure a fair and transparent (in government, always a dicey concept) process, selected the Northrop/EADS KC30.

Good news for Mobile, Alabama, Los Angeles (Northrop-Grumman headquarters) and Ottobrunn, Germany, Paris and Schiphol-Rijk, Netherlands (EADS HQs); bad news for Chicago, Wichita and Seattle.

As it affected a home town hero, the story was reported extensively in Chicago.

Tanker deal loss staggers Boeing

Airbus-based jet wins $35 billion contract

By Julie Johnsson and Aamer Madhani, TRIBUNE REPORTERS Julie Johnsson reported from Chicago and Aamer Madhani reported from Washington | March 1, 2008

… The winning proposal gives the military “more passengers, more cargo, more fuel to off-load, more availability, more flexibility, more dependability and it can carry more patients,” said Gen. Arthur Lichte, commander of the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command….

Boeing short in all areas

Air Force officials declined to say where Boeing’s proposal came up short. However, they rated the Northrop/EADS plane superior in every one of the five categories used to assess the tanker offerings.

“The fact that the Air Force thought there wasn’t a single measure where the Boeing proposal was ahead suggests their chances of an appeal aren’t good,” said Loren Thompson, defense analyst with the Lexington Institute, a public-policy think tank.

Boeing and its congressional supporters could pressure the Pentagon into splitting the contract between the two suppliers, although doing so would be far costlier for the government.

Boeing also may benefit from a congressional backlash over awarding such a large program to an overseas contractor, especially since Boeing estimated its proposal would create 44,000 jobs.

“I am very concerned that this decision means that the women and men in our military will not get the best tanker to meet our nation’s security needs,” said Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), whose district includes Boeing’s factory in Everett.
Lichte bristled at the suggestion that the program could face a political firestorm over outsourcing.

“This is an American tanker,” Lichte said. “It’s flown by American airmen. It has a big American flag on the tail, and every day it’ll be out there saving American lives.”

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Tanker deal loss staggers Boeing — chicagotribune.com

This is a morality tale for the 21st century. If the Air Force is to be believed, the KC767 is inadequate in most respects, compared to the winning EADS KC-45A.

The winning proposal gives the military “more passengers, more cargo, more fuel to off-load, more availability, more flexibility, more dependability and it can carry more patients…”

In retrospect, in light of the 2002 events, one can suppose that Boeing knew all along that the 767 derivative was inferior to its Airbus competition, and decided, with the Air Force’s (or at least one key officer’s) connivance to level the playing field.

By 2008, KC767′s chief attribute was apparently the not inconsiderable one of that “Made in the U.S.A.” label, with all of the U.S.A. jobs so implied.

And, ultimately, that wasn’t enough.

It’s it for now. Thanks,

–MUDGE

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Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?

[MUDGE is not especially a popular music fan in the conventional definition, but there are things that stick. Brass and woodwinds stick. And, after all, Chicago is home.]

In more and more parts of the world, time, specifically time zones, have become a political football.

The history of time zones has mostly to do with that engine of the industrial revolution, railroads.

Our Wikipedia link says that most major countries had adopted the classic system by 1929, but there are some exceptions, most notably India, which uses a half-hour deviation.

Turns out that it’s never been that cut and dried. There are even some areas with quarter-hour deviations. And some areas, Wikipedia reports, where three nations meet, encompassing three different time zones.

Lately, though, it’s really getting weird.

Caught this over breakfast the other day, in The Economist, the best magazine (about and) on the planet.

Stop all the clocks

Jan 24th 2008 | BUENOS AIRES | From The Economist print edition

On Patagonian time

NO FARTHER from the equator than are Los Angeles or Beirut, Buenos Aires is hardly known as a land of midnight sun. But at 10pm in the southern hemisphere summer, it is still not dark in Argentina’s capital. For this eerie illumination, porteños can thank Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the country’s new president. She decreed that the clocks should go forward by an hour on December 30th for eleven weeks in a desperate attempt to allay energy shortages.

Its geographical position suggests that most of Argentina should be four hours behind Greenwich Mean Time. But it has been only three hours behind for most of the period since 1969, when a military government made summer time last the whole year. Now it is just two hours behind, until mid-March.

I suppose it’s a reasonably lightweight way of exercising national sovereignty: local time in Freedonia is exactly what I say it is!

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Argentina | Stop all the clocks | Economist.com

Time has always been important to yr (justifiably) humble svt. Even as a kid, my mother tells me that she knew that, if I was supposed to be home by 6 o’clock, there I’d be.

I married a lovely person who feels exactly the same way – we’re never purposefully late, and it tears us up if we’re even a few minutes tardy.

I own more than 10 (very inexpensive) watches. And yes, each one tells a slightly different time.

A few posts ago I introduced one of my most useful links, to timeanddate.com. In my role as global web conferencing facilitator and instructor, I really need to know what the local time will be for the meeting or class I will conduct. If you click this link, and select the applet version, you’ll see the 25 cities I’ve chosen for my Personal World Clock.

But I’m not obsessed. Really.

However, it does make me upset when politicians play fast and loose with their local time, for no other reason than asserting their power to do so.

Ms Fernández is not alone in fiddling with time. Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s populist president with whom she is friendly, decreed last month that his country’s clocks should go back by half an hour permanently. The change, aimed at ensuring children go to school in daylight, “affects even the biological functioning of the body,” said Mr Chávez. Maybe, but the result is that Caracas is now two and a half hours behind Mendoza, which is further west. It’s enough to make the condors drop out of the sky in confusion.

Wow, I Wish I Could Write Like That! And, wow, I wish these self-important presidents would stick to playing with their currency and nationalized oil producers, and leave time alone.

And, before I leave off, might as well share another clip with you, if you’d care to indulge.

It’s it for now. Thanks,

–MUDGE

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Call me an environmentally shallow and sloppy reader, but somehow I’ve missed until now Chicago’s Green Alley initiative. Sloppy because I had to read about Chicago, MUDGE‘s home town after all, in the NYTimes!

By SUSAN SAULNY

CHICAGO, Nov. 25 — If this were any other city, perhaps it would not matter what kind of roadway was underfoot in the back alleys around town. But with nearly 2,000 miles of small service streets bisecting blocks from the North Side to the South Side, Chicago is the alley capital of America. In its alleys, city officials say, it has the paved equivalent of five midsize airports.

Part of the landscape since the city began, the alleys, mostly home to garbage bins and garages, make for cleaner and less congested main streets. But Chicago’s distinction is not without disadvantages: Imagine having a duplicate set of streets, in miniature, to maintain that are prone to flooding and to dumping runoff into a strained sewer system.

What is an old, alley-laden city to do?

Chicago has decided to retrofit its alleys with environmentally sustainable road-building materials under its Green Alley initiative, something experts say is among the most ambitious public street makeover plans in the country. In a larger sense, the city is rethinking the way it paves things.

In a green alley, water is allowed to penetrate the soil through the pavement itself, which consists of the relatively new but little-used technology of permeable concrete or porous asphalt. Then the water, filtered through stone beds under the permeable surface layer, recharges the underground water table instead of ending up as polluted runoff in rivers and streams.

Some of that water may even end up back in Lake Michigan, from which Chicago takes a billion gallons a year.

“The question is, if you’ve got to resurface an alley anyway, can you make it do more for you?” said Janet Attarian, the project’s director.

Once upon a time, Chicago proudly characterized itself as “the city that works.” Haven’t seen that self-congratulatory slogan lately.

Why? A public school system, that despite some pockets of (mainly charter school) competency, leaves far too many of its students, yes, behind.

Why? A police department that, after years of rebuilding a professional reputation, has recently displayed some alarmingly “Dirty Harry” characteristics.

Why? A public transportation system forced to go begging annually to the state government to bail it out; this year, the state bucket has been missing in action. Draconian service cuts have been narrowly avoided, but the political machinations continue, and the needs of the public for affordable means to get to and from their jobs, is, as always, well down on the pols’ lists of  priorities.

Why? A surface street system whose signaling has seldom been updated since its installation in the 1950s; facilities that are routine in suburban systems such as traffic sensitive left-turn arrows for high volume intersections are the exception.

Why? A trash collection recycling program that was a joke from start to finish, and even the emperor finally had to acknowledge his “blue bag” nudity, and begin two decades late to put in place a realistic program.

Why? A steady stream of city officials and elected ones populating the state and federal prison systems, as “the city that works” basically worked for the politically connected, with kickbacks, sweetheart contracts and the like.

Why? A perfectly useful and manifestly convenient lakeside downtown airport that served corporate and private traffic for more than 50 years until, without input from the City Council or anyone else, construction equipment delivered stealthily destroyed its runway in favor of a park no one knew we needed, late one night!

But, thanks to Mrs. Mayor, we’ve got some grassy roofs, a zillion miles of decorative (if politically sourced) wrought iron fencing around public parks, including the late, lamented downtown airport, and a superficial green sensibility.

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In Miles of Alleys, Chicago Finds Its Next Environmental Frontier – New York Times

This curmudgeon is guessing that, at a minimum, the more than likely politically connected Green Alley contractor is charging the city a considerable premium over the proper rate for its more than likely monopoly status, and somebody deep in the administration is quietly supplementing his grandchildren’s college fund, or supporting his Gold Coast mistress. Green business is Chicago business as usual.

Hey, keep those trains and buses running, Chicago, or your Green Alleys will be serving miles of foreclosed, abandoned bungalows, as homeowners, unable to cheaply commute to their jobs, lose those jobs.

Talk about fiddling while Chicago burns!

It’s it for now. Thanks,

–MUDGE

I’ve always been a city guy, happier (even in its suburbs) than when away in some rural village, or bucolic resort. In fact, some would call my suburban home town more of a city than a suburb, and that’s just the way I love it.

And, I’ve always been secure in the knowledge that, no matter at what altitude and attitude I find myself on this breathtaking roller-coaster that is my life, I can count on my city to, eventually, provide me a livelihood. There’s just too much going on not to.

And during some extended times of un- or underemployment it was a matter of adjusting my own assumptions — the city was creating jobs every second, and I finally came to understand that I had to recreate myself to match up to one.

So, even while my faith in my home town has never wavered, even while one emotional center of gravity has shifted 2,000 miles west, it’s fun to encounter some more objective analysis about why my city makes me stay, no matter what.

And that brings me to the following story, first encountered in hard copy form (which means I’m probably 2 months late — an Internet eternity — in discovering it). I call special attention to the following tidbit:

Worldwide, the pace of urbanization is only accelerating. This year, for the first time, more of the earth’s population will live in cities than in rural areas–a cool 3.2 billion, according to United Nations estimates.

Take a look at the top of the story here:

Fast Cities 2007

From Chicago to Shanghai, urban centers that are shaping our future.

From: Issue 117 | July 2007 | Page 90 | By: Andrew Park

---

You’re smart, young, newly graduated from a university with the whole world before you. You could settle in a small town with well-tended lawns, pancake suppers, and life on a human scale. Or you could truck it to the big city, with all its din and dog-eat-dog lunacy. Your choice?Fuhgedaboudit: There is no choice. For all the challenges cities face–congestion, crime, crumbling infrastructure, environmental decay, plus occasional issues with basic civility–they are still where jobs and youth gather, where energy begets even greater energy, where talent masses and collides. Worldwide, the pace of urbanization is only accelerating. This year, for the first time, more of the earth’s population will live in cities than in rural areas–a cool 3.2 billion, according to United Nations estimates. “In a world where we can now work anywhere, we’re tending to concentrate in fewer and fewer places,” says Carol Colletta, president of CEOs for Cities, an advocacy group. “Smart people are choosing to live near smart people.”

Of course, not all “urban agglomerations,” in the parlance of demographers, are created equal. Rapid growth has a way of laying bare the gap between cities that merely get bigger and those that actually flourish. For every Karachi, which is on pace to double its population every 20 years but mired in poverty and violence, there’s a Shanghai, the emerging creative engine for an entire continent. For every Havana, which looks pretty much the same as it did 40 years ago (except worse), there’s a Curitiba, which has spent 40 years mapping its extremely livable future. For every St. Louis, a spot as bland as a flat Bud Light, there’s a hip joint like Fort Collins, Colorado, a high-tech hub that’s also the microbrew capital of America.

In other words, there are winners in this battle for the future. We call them Fast Cities. They are cauldrons of creativity where the most important ideas and the organizations of tomorrow are centered. They attract the best and brightest. They are great places to work and live.

I’m not sure that people who know me would describe me as “fast,” but I live in one of Fast Company’s Fast Cities, so I must be, right?

The rest of this introductory article is linked just below; take a look, and explore their expanded lists. I was fascinated; hope you’ll be too.

[Per L-HC's reformed process, please click the link below for the complete article -- but then please come on back!]

Fast Cities 2007 | Printer-friendly version

I know lots of people who’ve toured China. They talk about the Great Wall, the Yellow River cruise, the Forbidden city, etc. But I’ve long said that the only part of immense China that remotely interests me is Shanghai — the Chinese Chicago. Of course, it is or will be soon more accurate to describe Chicago as the North American Shanghai!

Now, admit it, who among my reader have ever heard of Curitiba, Brazil, or even Chandigarh, India (everyone’s heard of Bengaluru — formerly Bangalore — but Chandigarh?)?

I still recall a stint during one of the low-altitude aspects of afore mentioned roller-coaster when I was a temp secretary in a corporate HR office, putting together a diversity presentation. BTW, that experience helped me understand that in corporate America, “temp” is a contraction of “contempt,” which of course is how temps are treated, mostly.

But I digress. The point I was going for is that as part of the diversity training, it was presented that in a list of the 10 most populous cities in the world, New York doesn’t make the cut. Cities mostly in Central Asia that I still haven’t really heard of since made the top 10 — I wonder if 12 more years of our global roller-coaster have changed that.

And after a little research, here’s an update. Seems that the diversity propaganda I helped spread might have bent the facts a bit to prove a point, because there’s NYC a strong No. 4, and not one of those dusty Central Asian megalapoli made the list.

It all depends on how the metropolitan areas are defined, I’m sure, but I’m glad to see that my town, Chicago (had you guessed?) made the top 27(!) in this list I found courtesy of that other search engine, Ask.com.

But of course, (she keeps telling me) size isn’t everything…

Anyway, I’m happy to live in a Fast City — no question that it has helped keep me gainfully employed (at least mostly), intrigued, inspired and manifestly not bored (and I hope not boring!) for almost six decades.

But, I’d sure like to see Shanghai. And, maybe Curitiba…

It’s it for now, thanks.

–MUDGE

Technorati Tags: Fast Company, Fast Cities, urbanization, temp work, 10 largest cities, Chicago, Shanghai, Curitiba, Chandigarh