CTA Tattler

Is it desirable to force thriving retailers out of the neighborhood? No. Do I really care that disdainful hipsters will have one fewer place to waste their record-store-clerk salaries on $100 pairs of sneakers and $40 T-shirts? Hell no.

this quite possibly is the most disdainful and snarky comment ever. i got my first (and only) pair of 14 hole doc martens at that store (which i still have 11 years later -- just good and broken in), and i'm SO sick of these ridiculous generalizations. i am plenty judgmental and make them myself (i think things about 'frat boys' and 'trixies' all the time), but... i think it's the 'record store clerk salaries' part that irritates me.

what the hell do you care where/how people spend their money? it's as if you're saying that if people only make so much they shouldn't spend it on certain things.

i don't know. i will be very sad to see the belmont army-navy store go, even though i walked past there JUST the other day and thought... man, they sure don't just sell boots and camo anymore!

Apparently neither of you took the time to thorougly read the "Screwed by the CTA" signs. The business is just moving a couple of blocks east. So fear not, the army surplus shall live on. ^_^

If that's "the most snarky and disdainful comment ever," you really need to get out more. And if you dislike Trixies as much as you say you do, perhaps you shouldn't adopt their grating habit of appending "ever" to the end of sentences in order to convey emphasis. "Like, OMG, Yakzies is the best bar EVER!!"

I'm just sick of getting a dirty, you're-ruining-my-neighborhood-just-because-you-look-like-you-have-a-decent-job glare every time I pass by some disheveled art-school poseur on the street.

"Screwed by people in wheelchairs" would be more accurate. But that would bring in protestors instead of customers, wouldn't it? Moving two blocks, paid market rate, and the CTA complies with federal law to be accessible. Seems like progress to me.

It sucks that the Bottom Lounge is being knocked down. It's such a great venue. And it gives small bands a place to play and be recognized. Hopefully they will relocate like they wanted to.

Not to sound inconsiderate here, but why should the Army store have to suffer so that some cripples can ride the L? I mean, I don't need an elevator... so why should I have to buy one for someone else. Isn't the majority of the CTA's operational budget for paratransit? I say get rid of that and build some new lines for us able-bodies.

"Not to sound inconsiderate here, BUT"....geeeeze Anonymous, you sound like one real piece of work!!

I can certainly see why the guy chose the name "anonymous". Wouldn't want your mom to stumble across something like that.

that's funny. since i didn't capitalize the ever to "EVER" and i *do* write like i talk, you had that all wrong. and i said that i sometimes judge trixies, so i was copping to my own judgmentalism.

so for the record, i sometimes really can't STAND corporate america-uptight-workin' in the loop-decent job havin'-upwardly mobile peeps either. (oh, and i work in the loop.)i'd rather hang out people who -want- to be in art school than people who have a beef with them.

and i must have been in a mood about the 'snarky and disdainful' thing. you're right. i mean anon alone just shows how much people can go out of their way to be assholes.

also what will suck about the bottom lounge being gone is that it's an 18+ venue, and i'd heard when that liquor license is gone, its gone.

Sigh ... I am so so so tired of all the trixie/chad/hipster/yuppie generalizations. Can we all just take a deep breath and take a vacation from our personas, labels, nicknames, classifications, etc.? Can't we all just get along, people? Imagine trixies walking hand in hand with art school math rock geeks ... what a beautiful thing. Whether it's a Banana Republic oxford or vintage form-fitting western polyester, there's a heart underneath, people.

im glad to see the store is moving to another location and not closing down all toghther. i spend a hundred dollars on gym shoes and i spend 50 bucks for a t shirt.
im also glad to see that the days of jeoulous, hating, type people are over.

I like the wheelchair ramps, they're usually the quickest way to the platform.

And the bohemian neighborhoods never last. The weird punky stores come and go, rent goes up or down. Neighborhoods are always in transition. The fun is in finding the new places, the vinyl record store or goodwill joint you didn't know about, the chinese restaurant you've never been to. Explore chicago! Who sticks to one neighborhood anyway?

Yes, it makes total sense to spend tens of millions of dollars so that a relatively few people, who already have special transit service that they pay almost nothing for, can ride the El. It's absurd PC nonsense. The wide, and I do mean WIDE, majority of CTA elevator users I see are perfectly able bodied people who are just utterly lazy. And usually their laziness is evident in the hideous layers of fat drooping off of their bodies. All that money could have gone towards new equipment that would have benefited everyone equally...

Interesting! People who don't use the stairs are fat and lazy. It's so SIMPLE! Or simple-minded. Most of the folks I see using the elevator are kids goofing around. I can tell you that some folks are forced to retire cuz they can't handle the stairs anymore. Your grungy behinds gonna be old someday. Hopefully the taxpayers will have a kinder outlook.

And I think your idea of fat is 10 pounds overweight. Just guessing.

I'd rather see awnings or roofs put it to protect the stairs from the snow. But thats me. I nearly fell down the red line stairs one day cuz a snow drift was covering the first two steps. I emailed the CTA and asked if the community could chip in and put an awning or some protection over the stairs. They said no!

Should we pay to have vans drive around the few handicapped people, saving the system millions? Probably. will it happen? Doubt it. The ramps are going in, despite the systems many needs. Not great, but the renovation usually leaves the whole area looking better. And if that means a few businesses, which have been hugely benefitting from being by the stations for YEARS have to move, its not a big deal to me. I know a lot of areas have large buildings waiting to be used or developed. Maybe their moving will help another area blossom.

You have guessed wrongly. I'm talking about corpulent adults who are, by appearances, younger than 50. Of course I've seen thin people take the elevator, but given that they weren't elderly or handicapped either just further supports my argument against the exorbitant cost of these things.

Renovating stations is perfectly fine by me and if adding access can be done without a ridiculous amount of expense, then that's great. However, the elevators alone account for a unjustifiably high percentage of the cost of these renovations, not to mention reconfiguring stations to accomodate ramps. Considering that taxpayers are already paying for paratransit services, why should we have to pay again for the miniscule number of people who will use elevators because stairs present an actual hardship? The money we spend on this kind of thing could be used much more efficiently to benefit far more people, but because there is apparently no argument that can trump the handicapped guilt card, everyone gets raked over.

Of course, in the greater scheme of things, the cost of just one Haliburton contract or a single high tech military boondoggle destined to be blown to bits in Iraq could pay for everything the CTA needs, but that's a whole other can of worms...

The CTA is not spending millions to renovate the Brown Line solely to add handicap access to the stations. The main goal of the Brown Line renovation is to increase the length of trains to 8 cars (as opposed to the maximum length of 6 cars currently). The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that when there is a major renovation to a "grandfathered" station, the renovation must include measures to make the station accessible.

Since the renovation is so major, I doubt that the cost to make the stations accessible is overly prohibitive.

And one more thing, it's not just fat and old people who use the elevators. Parents with strollers, people on crutches and obviously people in wheelchairs will use them as well. Maybe if the system was completely accessible, the outrageously expensive paratransit program could be reduced. I know that if I were in a wheelchair, I would much rather use the regular trains and buses than paratransit.

In cities like Portland where the entire system, including all buses, trains and train stations, use of the system by special needs riders is high. The paratransit options are only available to those who cannot use the regular system. Ultimately it's less expensive to provide accessable mass transit than it is to provide paratransit quasi-taxi service.

Of course if you consider the less abled folks to be less than human, yeah, then it's too much money to spend either way. We shoud go back to buses with 13" steps, and stop replacing curbs with ramps at corners. And we can tell all those less than able people they can stay home.

Meanwhile, if I feel like taking an elevator if one is available, I'll take the elevator, and I don't care if you think that makes me an "utterly lazy" person.

If you're so un-lazy, get off of CTA, and start walking or riding a bike. You must be utterly lazy to get on a bus or train instead of choosing to walk or ride a bike.

Or are you not able enough to not need the CTA?

The cost of the handicapped access stuff serves a lot of folks, and is small potatoes compared to many state and federal spending programs. Why don't Chicago invest in wind turbines when they're so much cheaper in the long run? Or solar panels? It may be more expensive initially than coal, but the radically increased rates of disease in the periphery of the coal burning plants make clear the real costs. I find that a lot more offensive than fat people or wheelchair ramps.

Hey stop electing democrats so we don’t have to make everything PC (handicap accessible). I know this is almost impossible in Chicago with all the morons who support king Daley.

Dear Allcostnobenefit,

We're all happy to hear that you consider yourself not one of the "utterly lazy". Congratulations. Maybe this weekend (if you have a spare minute between all your activities) you could call your mom and ask her how you ended up so selfish.

I'll probably regret saying this but...

To anonymous, Dan and allcostnobenefit:

May you be hit by an ADA-compliant bus and be stricken to a wheelchair forever. I hope that you are not really as draconian in real life as you are in your internet postings. I realize that some people use the relative anonymity of the internet to make inflammatory statements just to stir up a discussion.

And to Dan:

The ADA is a federal law and was enacted in 1990 during a REPUBLICAN administration (George I). Voting for Daley or any other local politician has no effect on the requirements set forth in the law. For more information, see http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm

oh these postings are great!!!! How in the world did we get from Army store, to trixies, to the word "EVER", the handicap, fat people, ADA, and now Republicans.....Keep it going!

How did army surplus stuff ever get FASHIONABLE? (I always remember that Bob & Ray skit when I see that surplus store: Bob Elliot: Shirts from the Spanish American War! Half of a Pup Tent! Friends, how can you lose?)

And What the heck is a trixie?