There are areas where there are barriers to keep runners/bikers/walkers from getting too close during the winter months. That particular area (Oak Street, for those who know) is so narrow now, because of the rising lake. There just isn’t any place to put up barriers, so instead they block access north and south of that section. The truck was there specifically to salt, probably because there’s no margin of error in that one spot. You can see how close it is to the Drive (a major thoroughfare for the city).
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There are small ladders everywhere along the bike path. People will plop kayaks in here and there, or just get in the water for a swim. Normally, no vehicles allowed and the risk of bikers or pedestrians falling in the water is there, but… There’s ladders built into the concrete all along these sections.
Re: Fish, heck yeah. I used to jog the lakefront path after the office. You’d see “zombie salmon” periodically cruising the seawall. Or big carp milling about.
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I finally took the Seattle underground tour. So strange to see storefronts underground.
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it’s a funny thing about barriers and such. when i moved to estes park, colorado in 1990 one of the first things i noticed was the obvious difference in the philosophy of guardrailing. in texas, where i’m from, if there is as much as a two foot drop to the side of the road there will be a guardrail next to the road, even on paved farm market roads. in colorado by contrast you would drive for hundreds of yards past sheer 200-500 foot drops without so much as a shoulder between the road and the cliff.
when my family (mom, dad, grandmother, sister, brother-in-law) came out to see me a year later i would take them to some truly beautiful locales around the area and they would ooh and aahh over it and punctuate their acclaim with exclamations to whomever was driving not to look.
i admit that after living there for two years, when i moved back to texas i kept thinking the state was sure wasting a lot of money on guardrails.
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Now this is something that’s literally ironic.
Climate change is real, and “just ignoring it” won’t make it ‘go away.’
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It could be worse. When I moved to PA it seemed like there was some aversion to street lights. On highways between towns sometimes the only lights are at intersections or the glow from businesses next to the road.
Once there was a turnpike bridge under construction without a single light on it. I’d driven that route before, but it was very strange to cross that span at night. I guess they weren’t worried about people running into the guardrails or the median once they noticed the only lights appeared to be coming from buildings far below their cars.
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Oh no I wouldn’t.
Yikes.
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Been there, done that - while I was young enough to be on a learner’s permit, with my mom and my sister, piloting a hopped-up VW microbus. Needless to say, flatlander that I am, I was more careful than the locals.
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Well, now I’m a little worried for my dad, who lives just a few blocks from the lake.
A little worried only, 'cuz he’s 80 and my dad, but not so worried 'cuz it’s a white-privilege condo that sits at least 6 feet above street level.
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I do agree that the uninhibited access to the lake north of LSD is really, really cool. To have that in the city would be something else. However, what do we do with all of the damn cars? The traffic on the Kennedy and North Side would completely collapse.
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Used to be you could catch smelt late at night by tying hooks (without bait) or baskets to a line with weight on the bottom, then dipping it up and down in the lake from the path. This was easiest in the harbors, but the fish caught there had a bit of engine oil odor.
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Maybe the City Fathers are just looking to rebrand the “Windy City” as “The Venice of North America”?
Dip Netting. I’ve heard of this. During the spring runs, when their digestive tracts get absorbed and turned into eggs and milt, guys would net them right out of the lake and into fryers.
Smelt are still there, but not in the numbers they once were. This is not a bad thing, since they were invasive. Even alewife populations are down. The big invasive critters these days are bloody red shrimp and gobies.
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Maybe a big truck of Lasix will help bring the water levels down.
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Nah, it’s just the LSD in the water:
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This image of lifting an entire city block using hundreds of strong men with big wrenches and jacks always makes me happy.
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A conversation I have had with multiple people:
Them: So, you’re from Chicago? Is it really as windy there as they say it is?
Me: No, it’s actually called the Windy City because of our windbag politicians, not because of the wind.
Them: NUH UH IT"S BECAUSE OF THE WIND!
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Blimey! Only 10.3mph average wind speed?! I am surprised. Looking at it on the map, hugging the coast of Lake Ontario, I imagined it to be a hell of sleet and howling gales. My home town is famous for drizzle.
Wrong lake
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Prevailing weather patterns are from the west, so it’s the east side of Lake Michigan that gets the really nasty weather - especially when it comes to snow. Kalamazoo gets almost twice the annual snowfall of Chicago.
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