Disqus - Latest Comments for stevevance

Re: Why I think the juice of Chicagoland transit consolidation is going to be worth the squeeze

Steven Vance — Wed, 08 May 2024 22:16:00 -0000

Do you know what model Seamless Bay Area is emulating?

Re: Illinois might join the country’s league of states adopting land use reforms

Steven Vance — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 12:25:34 -0000

What are the barriers to doing that right now and what do you think the impacts of that legislation would be?

Re: Why courtyard buildings aren’t allowed in Chicago anymore

Steven Vance — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 01:00:23 -0000

I rewrote the building code section since you left this comment, so I request that you reread that section to understand the issue around stairs.
Other cities in the U.S. allow single stair exiting in a greater range of building sizes and typologies than Chicago. I believe Seattle and New York City allow single stair exiting in six story multi-family buildings, but I don't know what other considerations there are.

At YIMBYtown this week I learned that bringing one's own fire safety engineering consultant to a meeting with city building code officials has been an essential move to start single stair reform.

Currently, some state laws are passed or about to be passed that require building code officials to review and present a proposal to the state legislature on how to adopt single stair reform.

Re: Reading “climate-fi”

Steven Vance — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 12:33:36 -0000

Termination Shock is long but very enjoyable. I love how the story revolves around an actual potential climate fighting technology (that was being tested this year or last year until the company was asked to stop) and takes the reader around the world (namely the Netherlands, Texas, and the Philippines).

Re: Reading “climate-fi”

Steven Vance — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 22:24:47 -0000

When my library queue is empty I'll be adding some of these books to it!

Re: Chicago’s massive parking footprint – as measured on December 30, 2022

Steven Vance — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 12:11:02 -0000

That is so cool, Peter

Re: Today’s Headlines for Monday, April 24

Steven Vance — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 12:03:55 -0000

Hear hear!

Re: Chicago’s Best Landlords, Inc.

Steven Vance — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 17:36:24 -0000

Hey Mr. Kirk, it's very nice to hear from you and I'm glad that you found this blog post.

Have you had a chance to read Ms. Satter's book about the building and the "Chicago's Best Landlords, Inc." group?

Re: Two-flat owner journal 1: Peoples Gas charges a lot of money for no gas

Steven Vance — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 15:58:41 -0000

Can you electrify your house?

Re: A report from abroad: Barcelona transforms transportation—What it means for Chicago

Steven Vance — Fri, 15 Jul 2022 18:59:27 -0000

I visited Barcelona in 2015 and I was very excited when I encountered their public transport ticket machine that was DESIGNED FOR tourists.

Among the row of ticket machines was a subset of them with big signs saying, "How long are you going to be in Barcelona?" implying that tourists should come and use these machines.

The machines sold the same products as the other machines, but the software had been reconfigured to ask three questions from the beginning: What language do you want to interact with this machine in, and how many days are you staying, and how many people are in your group.

Within a couple minutes my travel partner and I had our multi-day transit pass.

Photo of the machine: https://www.flickr.com/phot...

Re: A report from abroad: Barcelona transforms transportation—What it means for Chicago

Steven Vance — Fri, 15 Jul 2022 18:57:08 -0000

That's a little different than the armadillo.

You can see the armadillo in one of Sebastian's photos here: https://photos.google.com/s...

Re: Here’s the CTA’s explanation for the infuriating “ghost” bus and train problem

Steven Vance — Thu, 26 May 2022 10:38:44 -0000

What supplementary information does CTA believe third party apps are using?

Re: CRG and Shapack present updated design for 170 N. Green

Steven Vance — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 19:56:16 -0000

I like the removal of the bridge.

I hope that the Chicago Dept. of Transportation works with the developers to create a continuous pedestrian path between the two mews (the existing one at 167 N Green and the future one at 170 N Green). That means keeping the path at the same grade level, effectively creating a raised crosswalk between the two buildings.

Re: YMEN launches Bike Box to help serve North Lawndale’s transportation needs

Steven Vance — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 20:35:19 -0000

I joined an Equiticity walking tour of North Lawndale on 12/12/21 (along Pulaski Road between Roosevelt and 18th Street) and we visited the YMEN Bike Box. https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Re: After multiple snafus, Metra breaks ground on long-awaited Peterson/Ridge station

Steven Vance — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 14:31:00 -0000

yes, it's enough land

Re: Amtrak is restoring long-distance service and dining, and replacing seat cushions

Steven Vance — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 23:32:52 -0000

I found a roomette available from Vancouver, WA, to Little Rock, AR, for $1,501, but it's 80 hours long.

I think there are some kinds of trips that are just not good to use Amtrak for.

https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Re: Amtrak is restoring long-distance service and dining, and replacing seat cushions

Steven Vance — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 23:26:20 -0000

now that one's a typo :)

Re: Amtrak is restoring long-distance service and dining, and replacing seat cushions

Steven Vance — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 23:26:06 -0000

An employee said that the dining car should be available to coach passengers later this year after they've implemented and had a good experience with restoring dining service for roomette and bedroom passengers.

Re: Amtrak is restoring long-distance service and dining, and replacing seat cushions

Steven Vance — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 23:25:16 -0000

One of the employees said that the Superliners have gotten a "deep clean" everywhere.

Re: Amtrak is restoring long-distance service and dining, and replacing seat cushions

Steven Vance — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 23:24:09 -0000

I don't know...maybe they were including dessert or nightcaps in that figure, or I misheard it.

But on my ~37 hour trip from Chicago to Salt Lake City on the California Zephyr I brought five meals of my own. I can see myself enjoying five more if I continued from Salt Lake City to Emeryville.

Re: Amtrak is restoring long-distance service and dining, and replacing seat cushions

Steven Vance — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 17:33:35 -0000

Thank you, I've corrected this.

Re: Amtrak is restoring long-distance service and dining, and replacing seat cushions

Steven Vance — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 17:33:02 -0000

This is true! The dining car was outfitted with real china during the event and the VP in the photo said it would be restored by the end of the month.

Re: Metra hints that it may eventually move to a less 9-to-5-focused train schedule

Steven Vance — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 13:37:17 -0000

Yep.

It's like for reverse commuters, too: Required to be at work at 9 AM? You can get there at 8 AM or 10 AM :/

Re: Metra hints that it may eventually move to a less 9-to-5-focused train schedule

Steven Vance — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 13:36:52 -0000

How would you propose that they get connected? Better pedestrian infrastructure?

Re: Metra board chooses new modern passenger rail cars to replace 1950s “Gallery” cars

Steven Vance — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 00:23:34 -0000

You're right - I've edited the story to reflect that there's still one step, which is somewhat obvious in the header rendering.