Year 2, Day 143: 20 March 2014: Getting Ready for the Weekend

Work was underway today preparing for a busy weekend. Click here for information from Ald. Joe Moore's office on the scheduled changes in service on the Red Line this weekend.  

Year 2, Day 142: 19 March 2014: A Little History

Oh, the wonders of social media! Thanks to Facebook friend Phil Wizenick, i encountered this picture of the intersection of Glenwood & Farwell, taken by Lou Gerard in the summer of 1962. With the exception of the mural painted in 2012, that side of the street hasn't changed much in the past 50 years. It would be really great to find a picture of the southeast corner, where the substation now reigns supreme. 

PS. The train experts identify the train as an Electroliner. It is one good-looking train!

Northeast corner of Glenwood & Farwell.
Photo by Lou Gerard, Summer 1962

Year 2, Day 142: 19 March 2014

This notice was posted on the turnstiles at the Morse station today. It looks like this will be a good weekend to avoid the Red Line. If i decide to go to Evanston, i think i'll just walk to Howard. 

Year 2, Day 141: 18 March 2014

Pardon the poor quality of the picture, but I just saw this notice posted outside and thought it best to share the information as quickly as possible. Now that winter has released her grip, it looks like the work of running the power lines from the substation out to the L tracks will be taking place over the next three weekends, resulting in some street and sidewalk closings. If i'm reading this correctly, there will be no access to the area of Farwell that passes under the L tracks while this work is going on. 

After a year and a half of living next to this construction site, i am undaunted by the warnings of round-the-clock noise and construction lights, and am actually looking forward to having something interesting to photograph--it's been pretty boring around here lately! Best of all, this is one of the final stages in the project, so it's a welcome sign that the job is almost done. 

On a personal level, my biggest concern is that my neighbors and i will be unable to gain access to our dumpsters due to the closure of the sidewalk on Farwell: after a lot of trial-and-error last year, the dumpsters serving four buildings on the east side of Glenwood were placed on the west side of the tracks, under the viaduct, a location which--while not ideal--at least gave both the residents and the refuse company access to the dumpsters. But the street closure will separate us from our dumpsters, much like the tragic tale of Running Bear and Little White Dove. I hope a solution can be found by the weekend.

Year 2, Day 140: 17 March 2014

These first two pictures were taken last Thursday, but I didn't get a chance to post them earlier. 

Nice new doors replace the makeshift plywood one that was there previously.

And here's how things were looking at ground level this morning:

My hard hat and i are ready and eager to hear from the CTA 

about getting a closer look at the substation.

Year 2, Day 135: 12 March 2014

There's been little to photograph at the substation these days as most of the work continues to focus on the inside of the building, with little change to the outside. The most obvious change is the absence of vehicles parked under the viaduct, after complaints to the alderman's office from a neighbor and an article in DNAinfo. I was contacted by Ben Woodard at DNAinfo for my thoughts on the situation, but didn't respond to his voicemail because of some pressing professional obligations last week; i admit that i was also a little puzzled as to why this situation was suddenly newsworthy since it had been much the same for the past year, especially since the problem would resolve itself in the near future as the project winds to a close. Besides that, my thoughts on just about any topic rarely lend themselves to a short, unambiguous quote, and i have an absolute phobia about giving up control of my words and being misunderstood by having my remarks taken out of context: we literary types make for bad interviews. But ultimately, the result has been a positive one, making the intersection safer and more easily navigable. 

My feelings about the parking situation have been mixed from the beginning, but with the exception of one or two occasions, i've accepted it as the most reasonable alternative. Finding a parking space in this neighborhood has never been easy (or so i've been told by my car-owning neighbors), and it is even harder now that the construction zone has taken away all the parking spaces along the east side of the L tracks on Glenwood. Since the workers have to park somewhere, it seemed to me that it was better for them to park under the viaduct than to fill those rare on-street parking spaces that the neighborhood residents need. 

There were, however, some problems that went along with having two rows of vehicles parked under the viaduct: one against the construction fence in the right lane of the roadway, and the other on the sidewalk. My biggest concern has been for safety, since the vehicles parked on the roadway made it difficult to see if there was oncoming traffic until you were well into the intersection; and, because the stop sign is obscured by the support beams for the viaduct (see picture), cars sometimes go through this intersection faster than they ought. Under ordinary circumstances, the parking on the sidewalk area under the viaduct was little more than a minor inconvenience. But with the buildup of ice and snow all winter, things have gotten more difficult, especially when compounded by the People's Gas vehicles and excavations on Farwell. There was one particular day when there was a larger than usual crew at the substation, including some workers who were not part of the regular crew; there were extra vehicles as well, including a large pick-up truck that was parked so close to the dumpsters that it blocked the sidewalk, forcing anyone trying to walk under the viaduct to climb over a big pile of snow and walk in the street. I think this was the day that led Mr. Pollard to complain to the alderman; i complained on this blog on the same day, posting pictures of the blocked sidewalk here. I was also annoyed that when i approached a group of workers (who were not part of the regular crew, who have always been friendly, respectful, and helpful) and asked if the truck could be moved, i was given the "cranky-old-lady" brush-off, and told laughingly that that was just how it was and i could "thank the CTA." Fortunately, i saw the job supervisor a minute later and called the situation to his attention. The truck was moved immediately, and has never parked in that area since. This has always been my experience with the workers on this job, beginning with the famous dumpster dilemma at the beginning of the project. If there was a problem and it was brought to their attention, they would find a way to resolve it. So i'm glad that this latest issue has been settled. 

Since the heavy equipment is gone from the site now, there's room to park a few cars on-site (this would not have been possible during the major phase of the construction); the larger vehicles are parked along the west side of Glenwood. Crossing the street is a lot easier and the sidewalk under the viaduct is clear (at least until the next time someone decides to abandon their bed-buggedy old mattress there). Now if the sun would just take its job a little more seriously and melt the rest of the ice and snow….

Year 2, Day 124: 1 March 2014

Although i didn't notice any activity at the substation today, the CTA had a crew doing what appeared to be related work at track level on the opposite side of Glenwood this morning. The substation is visible in the background.