The only things better than the Friday of Labor Day weekend are the Saturday, Sunday and Monday of Labor Day weekend. Today, we have stories on flirting turtles, the proposed DuSable Lake Shore Drive redesign, and more.
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City in a Garden with Patty Wetli: Flirting Turtles |
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Have you ever seen turtles flirt? Well now you have. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
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This is the year I fell in love with turtles.
In the spring, I stumbled onto a very weird turtle basking site that kind of felt like my own personal discovery/secret. And I started visiting it almost daily.
Some days there would be a dozen turtles, some days five or six, once there were nearly 20 — all lounging on these concrete pillars jutting out of what I call the Chicago River but is actually the North Shore Channel.
Considering turtles’ reputation for being slow, there was a surprising amount of activity. Sure, there were times when my husband and I would stand there and maybe we’d be lucky to see a turtle’s head move. But other times, we’d catch one plopping back into the water or, even better, swimming up from the murk and clambering onto a perch. Watching turtles swim became my new obsession.
Back in May, I used World Turtle Day as an excuse to interview experts about Chicago’s native turtle species and they explained a lot about their behavior, including why turtles bask in the first place (to regulate their temperature).
One of the things I learned is that some species of turtles have a mating “dance,” if “dance” is what you call the male swimming backwards and waving his claws in front of the female. I got to witness this with my own eyes last weekend at Lincoln Park’s south pond and I’m not exaggerating when I say it was one of the highlights of my summer.
Click here to see the video for yourself, and I dare you not to fall in love too.
Extra, extra: Though lots of turtle species are thriving in the Chicago area, the Blanding’s turtle is not. The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County shared a heartwarming Blanding’s success story this week on its Facebook page.
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DuSable Lake Shore Drive (LMM / Stock)
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For more than a decade, the Illinois and Chicago departments of transportation have been holding public meetings on a proposed redesign of North DuSable Lake Shore Drive. Earlier this month, they held an open house to show off their preferred option — one that doesn’t include a dedicated or shared lane for buses that’s aimed at improving often sluggish transit travel times. It did not go to plan, as WTTW News reporter Nick Blumberg writes.
Of the 308 comments CDOT provided WTTW News under a Freedom of Information Act request, 192 say the proposed redesign doesn’t do nearly enough to improve public transportation.
Here are some selected comments:
“Transit has been given the scraps of scraps.”
“You are trying to re-entrench a structure and a social order that favors wealthy commuters and their free time at the expense of Black and Brown working class Chicagoans. None of that is new to Chicago.”
“This plan is the most car friendly plan possible, as if Henry Ford and Elon Musk designed it!”
Read Nick's story on the open house, which included calls for bus-only lane as well as a few comments from those who support the proposal and urged CDOT, "Please DO NOT indulge the small, vocal minority of anti-car activists, and the politicians catering to their madness.”
IDOT and CDOT said they’ll take feedback anytime at info@ndlsd.org, with comments submitted by Sept. 9 becoming part of the official record.
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Houses in a Chicago Neighborhood (Credit: WTTW)
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Vice President Kamala Harris made her case for the presidency by zeroing in on a problem plaguing many Americans: affordable housing. She vows to end the national housing shortage, lower the cost of rent and make homeownership more attainable to the average person by building 3 million new homes and reducing inflation. Her plan proposes $25,000 in down payment assistance to first-time homebuyers with a reliable rent history, and greater assistance to first-generation homebuyers. It outlines a $40 billion innovation fund for the construction of starter homes, housing supply solutions and the expansion of tax credits for affordable rental units.
But how does this affect Chicagoans? It turns out that some people are split on what the Harris campaign has put forward.
Chicago has a historic shortage of homes on the market, with fewer than 5,000 homes for sale in July of this year, which is an 8% decrease from the same time last year, according to Illinois Realtors.
On one side, Don Washington, executive director of the Chicago Housing Initiative, said the Harris-Walz plan may not go far enough to address the magnitude of the issue, including the unhoused population.
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Mosquito (Stephen Waycott / iStock)
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A Lake County person in their 80s died shortly after having an onset of West Nile virus symptoms in mid-August, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). Illinois public health officials are reminding residents to take precautions and WTTW News reporter Eunice Alpasan has a roundup of the latest advice.
There is no specific treatment or vaccine for West Nile virus. IDPH is recommending residents practice the three “R’s” to help prevent infection:
REDUCE - Make sure doors and windows have tight-fitting screens. Repair or replace screens that have tears or other openings. Try to keep doors and windows shut. Eliminate, or refresh each week, all sources of standing water where mosquitoes can breed, including water in bird baths, ponds, flowerpots, wading pools, old tires and any other containers.
REPEL - When outdoors, wear shoes and socks, long pants and a light-colored, long-sleeved shirt, and apply an EPA-registered insect repellent that contains DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, or IR 3535 according to label instructions. The CDC does not recommend use of products containing oil of lemon eucalyptus or para-menthane-diol on children under 3.
REPORT – Report locations where you see water sitting stagnant for more than a week such as roadside ditches, flooded yards and similar locations that may produce mosquitoes. The local health department or city government may be able to add larvicide to the water, which will kill any mosquito larvae
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Back in the Day: August 30, 2004 - Joe Borchard Hits Longest HR in White Sox History
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PHI@CWS: Borchard launches tape-measure home run
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So far in 2024, the longest home run of the season belongs to Miami Marlins right-fielder Jesús Sánchez, who launched a dinger 480 feet on Aug. 5. That’s a massive hit, but it’s nothing compared to the moonshot White Sox outfielder Joe Borchard mashed 20 years ago today. Though he struggled to make contact during the regular season — only hitting .174 in 201 at-bats — he went deep for a whopping 504 feet during a matchup against the Philadelphia Phillies. To date, the tater he mashed is the longest ever in Guaranteed Rate Field history (back then it was called U.S. Cellular Field). The White Sox haven’t had much on-field success this season, but Luis Robert did knock
one 470 feet back during a June home game against the Colorado Rockies.
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Learn more about advertising & sponsorship with WTTW.
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What’s a now-closed Chicago neighborhood spot that you miss dearly?
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You emailed DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and now your answers are published. Check back Monday for next week's
question.
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Monastero's on Devon Avenue. It was torn down a few years ago but was a favorite for many of us here in Sauganash and Lincolnwood. Opera students sang in the evenings. - Mary V.
In the Garland building at 111 N. Wabash on the seventh floor was a small restaurant called Heaven on Seven. It offered a diverse menu of Cajun food. From Gumbo to Etouffee to sweet potato pie, the food was excellent. My favorite was turkey etouffee with sweet potato polenta. Sadly, the restaurant was a victim of the pandemic. — Kevin C.
For me, the answer can only be Marshall Field & Co. — Carol F.
The Thai Star Cafe. When I started working downtown in the 80s it was the first Thai restaurant I'd ever gone to in my life. It really was a hole-in-the-wall (or more accurately, hole-in-the-basement!) and my friends and I loved it. The whole River North area, the way it was back then. It was kind of run-down, dumpy, and a little scary after dark, but there were so many unique little shops, bars, independent coffee shops and restaurants. It was so much more interesting before most of the old buildings were torn down and the shiny new hotels and skyscrapers were built. —JC
Teen Town and Archer Avenue Big Store, both in Brighton Park —Max R.
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Other News From Around Town:
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The Race To Build Quantum Campus Is On — And South Siders Won’t Be Left Behind, Officials Say (Block Club Chicago)
Downtown Newspaper Racks Removed By City Ahead Of DNC, With No Plans To Bring Them Back (Block Club Chicago)
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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry
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