Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about Chicago Tribune

Once Again, Hilkevitch Spins His Wheels When Writing About Biking

By John Greenfield | Jun 9, 2014 | 28 Comments

Veteran Tribune transportation reporter Jon Hilkevitch is usually effective at covering highway and transit news but, when it comes to bicycle projects, he often misses the mark. For example, around the time of the Divvy launch, in spring of last year, he wrote a couple of articles painting the system as a dysfunctional ripoff. By […]

Controlling Trains Will Save Lives, Reducing Car Speeds Will Save Many More

By Steven Vance | Dec 4, 2013 | 7 Comments

After the fatal Metro-North commuter rail crash in the Bronx this weekend, yesterday the Chicago Tribune published an informative article about Positive Train Control for Metra. PTC is a technology that can slow or stop a train when the engineer is incapable of operating it, not paying attention, or when something else goes wrong. After a commuter […]

No “Children’s Fund” But Speed Cam Revenue Will Still Boost Kids’ Safety

By Steven Vance | Nov 19, 2013 | 13 Comments

Today in the Tribune, reporter Hal Dardick implied that Chicagoans should be outraged because, despite Rahm Emanuel’s promise that money generated by speed cameras will be invested in traffic safety and violence prevention programs for kids, he hasn’t created a separate “children’s fund” in the proposed city budget. Dardick notes that any revenue generated by […]

More Mental Kass-turbation About the Lake Shore Drive Divvy Rider

By John Greenfield | Nov 18, 2013 | 26 Comments

Some Streetsblog Chicago readers have argued that we shouldn’t take the bait when Tribune writer John Kass writes one of his trademark “little bike people” rants, calculated to stir up controversy and rack up pageviews. That’s a valid viewpoint, but since Kass has such a bully pulpit as a columnist for the region’s highest-circulation newspaper, […]

Clueless Tribune Editorial Endorses Dowell’s Bike Licensing Proposal

By John Greenfield | Oct 25, 2013 | 19 Comments

Third Ward Alderman Pat Dowell has done some good things for cycling, including negotiating a compromise on upgrading the King Drive bicycle lanes, and sponsoring a youth bike camp. But her ill-conceived, unworkable proposal to require a $25 licensing fee for bicyclists instead of raising the tax on cable TV service has resulted in plenty […]

While Pawar Leads on BRT, Waguespack and Cardenas Hem and Haw

By John Greenfield | Sep 30, 2013 | 19 Comments

Tribune transportation reporter Jon Hilkevitch was on the wrong side of history when he more-or-less predicted Divvy would flop. He eventually acknowledged the bike-share program’s success, but he’s made the same mistake with this morning’s Getting Around column, an unflattering portrayal of the CTA’s plan for fast, reliable bus rapid transit on Ashland Avenue. Hilkevitch […]

John Kass Returns to Bike Baiting: “I Can’t Stand Those Divvy Bike People”

By John Greenfield | Aug 26, 2013 | 80 Comments

After a series of anti-bike columns in the Tribune, designed to tick off cyclists and rack up pageviews, John Kass crossed the line last May with a piece that implied motorists shouldn’t be expected to watch out for bikes before opening their car doors. Dustin Valenta, who sustained a cracked skull, fractured pelvis and shoulder […]

The Trib’s Jon Hilkevitch Changes His Tune, Reports Divvy Is a Success

By John Greenfield | Aug 19, 2013 | 45 Comments

Back in May, a month before the Divvy bike-share system launched, transportation reporter Jon Hilkevitch published the first of three Tribune articles characterizing Divvy as a rip-off, dysfunctional and racist. In that first piece, a faux exposé entitled “Overtime fees, legal potholes dot city bike-share program,” Hilkevitch portrayed the rules and charges associated with the […]

Chicago Already Has a “Traffic Disaster” – Transit and Bikes Are the Solution

By John Greenfield | Aug 9, 2013 | 4 Comments

John McCarron, a freelance writer, adjunct lecturer at DePaul University, and contributing columnist for the Tribune, suffers from Jeckyll-and-Hyde syndrome when it comes to writing about transportation. Back in November 2011 he wrote a clueless opinion piece for the Trib accusing Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein of waging a “war on cars.” […]

CTA: Poor People Will Register Ventra Cards, Won’t Get Debit Card Hard Sell

By John Greenfield | Aug 2, 2013 | 41 Comments

A recent discussion of Ventra, the new fare payment system for the CTA and Pace, with CTA spokesman Brian Steele, has allayed some, if not all, of my concerns about the impact on low-income Chicagoans. The cost of a single-ride ticket will rise from $2.25 to $3. This price hike can be avoided by purchasing […]

Hilkevitch Plays Dumb With an Anti-Divvy “Exposé”

By John Greenfield | May 30, 2013 | 34 Comments

I’ve long considered the Chicago Tribune’s Jon Hilkevitch to be one of Chicago’s best transportation writers. He works fast, gets his numbers straight and often gets the scoop on important stories, usually writing from a pro-walking, biking and transit perspective. For example, I always enjoy re-reading a brilliant article he wrote back in 2005, skewering […]

Making the Whole Route to School Safer for Walking and Biking

By Steven Vance | Feb 1, 2013 | 6 Comments

Earlier this week, the Chicago Tribune published an analysis of Chicago traffic crash data, finding that “from 2007 through 2011, nearly 1,700 youths, ages 5 to 18, were struck by vehicles in Chicago within about a block of a school.” Half of all pedestrian injuries to children occur near schools, and it’s great to have […]

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