Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about Wicker Park

Wicker Park Station Rehab Experience Shows Power of Transit to Boost Sales

By John Greenfield | Dec 15, 2014 | 35 Comments

The old saying goes, “You don’t miss your water ‘til your well runs dry.” That’s been the case with Wicker Park merchants during the two month closure of the O’Hare Branch’s Damen station for renovations. They’ve learned the hard way how important proximity to transit is to their bottom line. DNAinfo reports that several independent […]

Driver Fatally Strikes 53-Year-Old Woman in Wicker Park

By John Greenfield | Dec 9, 2014 | 19 Comments

Last night, a young woman driving out of a drug store parking lot struck and killed a female pedestrian in Wicker Park, according to Officer Janel Sedovic from News Affairs. At about 7:40 p.m., Samar Khan, 23, was exiting the parking lot of the CVS at 1200 North Ashland in her Nissan Juke mini-SUV, Sedovic […]

New Development, Investment Anticipates Future Bloomingdale Trail

By Steven Vance | Nov 17, 2014 | 15 Comments

The Bloomingdale Trail is attracting new investment along its length, including the construction of new multi-family and single-family housing. The blocks bracketing the multi-use path and adjacent parks (collectively known as the 606) saw less construction than their wider neighborhoods during the 2008-2009 recession — but now construction is picking up. Investors and developers are confidently […]

Wicker Park Bus Stop Hasn’t Been ADA Accessible for Months

By Steven Vance | Sep 19, 2014 | 2 Comments

For the past three months, #56 Milwaukee bus drivers have had a tough time picking up passengers, especially those with disabilities, from a temporary bus stop in the heart of Wicker Park. The bus stop was formerly located on the northwest leg of the bustling junction of Milwaukee, North, and Damen, in front of a […]

Milwaukee Bottleneck Addressed but Illegal Parkers Endanger Cyclists

By John Greenfield | Jul 9, 2014 | 42 Comments

On Thursday, Steven Vance and I got the news that the city was forcing a developer to fix a dangerous bottleneck on Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago’s busiest bike street, in Wicker Park. However, when I dropped by around 4:30 p.m. yesterday to check out the new street configuration, I found that the situation was as dysfunctional […]

Wicker Park Counts Up Better Ways to Use Its 11,650 Parking Spaces

By Payton Chung | Jul 2, 2014 | 4 Comments

Every Saturday night at dusk, the main streets in Wicker Park and Bucktown seize up. The stalled lines of cars don’t just infuriate drivers — they also stall buses, block crosswalks, and push cyclists into the dangerous door zone. These crowds don’t descend out of nowhere to watch the sunset, or to pile into shows […]

What’s the Fastest Way Around Chicago? That Depends, Says New Map

By Steven Vance | Jun 27, 2014 | 26 Comments

Researchers at the MIT Media Lab published an interactive map this week that shows a new way to measure access across Chicago via different transportation modes. Instead of assessing how far one can travel by a certain mode, like a previous online map has shown, or showing the cost of travel, this map looks solely […]

Eyes on the Street: Wood St. Neighborhood Greenway Construction Starts

By Steven Vance | May 29, 2014 | 19 Comments

Crews were out installing lane markings and bike symbols for a Wood Street bike route, running through Wicker Park, on Wednesday. They installed a contraflow bike lane on Wicker Park Avenue, which runs one-way westbound. The lane will allow for eastbound bicyclists to continue along Wood via a short diagonal jog via Wolcott Avenue and Wicker […]

1611 West Division Proves High-Rises Don’t Need Parking to Succeed

By John Greenfield | May 14, 2014 | 49 Comments

Last week I reported that the Belmont-Clark tower, located a block from a Red Line station, may include 90 rental units but only 39 parking spaces. A commenter scoffed, “Good luck renting those apartments when they run out of parking spaces.” However, the 1611 West Division rental tower, which opened last year next to the […]

Second Person in One Week Killed After Exiting Vehicle Under Kennedy

By John Greenfield | Apr 24, 2014 | 7 Comments

View Larger Map The crash site. Image: Google Street View This morning, a truck driver was fatally struck after he exited his vehicle following a minor crash on Division Street by the Kennedy Expressway. It happened six days after a similar tragedy only four blocks north, at North Avenue and the Kennedy. Last Saturday morning, […]

Wicker Park Trader Joe’s: Good Company, Wrong Location

By Steven Vance | Mar 26, 2014 | 38 Comments

Neighbors of a Trader Joe’s grocery store, proposed by Smithfield Properties for the corner of Division Street and Honore Street in Wicker Park, fear that the development will harm the work they’ve put into crafting a pedestrian-friendly street lined with locally-owned businesses. The store is welcome in Wicker Park, but neighbors say that the proposed […]

To Smooth Out the Blue Line Rehab, Divert Cars From Milwaukee

By Steven Vance | Feb 24, 2014 | 14 Comments

As the Chicago Transit Authority prepares to fix up Blue Line tracks, the agency is warning riders that they’ll face significant delays during the weekends when work is underway. But tens of thousands of transit riders would face less inconvenience if the city cleared some room on Milwaukee Avenue by diverting motor vehicle traffic. The […]

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