Bus tracker kiosks in Wicker Park/Bucktown make life easier (and warmer)
December 16th, 2009 by Chris
Christmas in Chicago: the colorful lights, the warmly lit shops and restaurants… the icy slush of the roads, the biting wind, the horrendous traffic, the expensive parking. What’s an urban shopper to do?
To encourage the use of public transit this holiday season and beyond, the Wicker Park Bucktown Special Service Area (WPB) has installed electronic kiosks that show arrival times of several major CTA bus lines serving the neighborhood.
“The kiosks let shoppers get out of the cold and into a coffee shop, restaurant or store, while still keeping an eye on their bus,” said Jamie Simone, WPB Program Manager.
Kiosks are located in three cafes, four retail stores, and two community offices in the neighborhood, with plans to install three more in coming months. Shop owners are already experiencing an increase in business.
“People come in to check the monitor, and invariably they take a moment to look around,” said Krista Isaacs, owner of Gallery Café on North Avenue.
The electronic mini-billboards began appearing at numerous spots in the Wicker Park/Bucktown area in the fall of 2009. In addition to CTA bus information, the kiosks highlight events and updates on neighborhood happenings. The kiosks are owned, operated and fully funded by WPB and use data transmitted via CTA’s Bus Tracker application programming interface (API).
“CTA had already developed the bus tracker for its own tracking and logistics purposes. We are simply providing that information in a way that is easy to access,” said Simone.
The WPB kiosks provide up-to-the minute updates on incoming buses in both directions for the 56 Milwaukee Avenue, 50 Damen Avenue, 72 North Avenue, 9 Ashland and 49 Western Avenue routes.
The WPB kiosks are the first of their kind in Chicago and the nation. Transit officials from Boston have already traveled to Wicker Park and Bucktown to learn how to integrate a similar system in their community.
“Wicker Park and Bucktown have always been the cutting edge communities of Chicago,” said Simone. “These monitors are just one more example why.”
The kiosks were a result of WPB’s master plan, which was adopted in February 2009. One of the many goals of the master plan is to encourage transit ridership to decrease vehicular congestion and parking pressures in the neighborhood.
The kiosks were installed and are maintained by RedPost, which also manages the online advertising display system.
Bus Tracker Kiosk locations
- Wow & Zen – 1912 N. Damen
- caffe de Luca – 1721 N. Damen
- Gallery Café – 1760 W. North
- Red Hen Bread – 1623 N. Milwaukee
- W Grocer – 2060 W. North
- Myopic Books – 1564 N. Milwaukee
- The Silver Room – 1442 N. Milwaukee
- Office of 1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores – 2058 N. Western
- Wicker Park/Bucktown Chamber of Commerce – 1414 N. Ashland
ABOUT WPB
WPB is the Special Service Area (SSA) for the Wicker Park and Bucktown communities. Unique among Chicago’s SSAs for its size and eclecticism, WPB encompasses a vibrant yet varied, mixed use urban area home to a diverse mix of people and a rare combination of nightlife, culture, family, and art. WPB’s goals are to preserve, encourage, and enhance the qualities of Wicker Park and Bucktown that make the neighborhoods and their corridors distinct; and to balance the needs and desires of all residents, visitors, and businesses in the allocation and expenditure of their tax dollars. More information at wickerparkbucktown.org.
Roll Call
October 22nd, 2009 by ChrisRoll Call’s “Shop Talk” profiles the Julie Hamos for Congress campaign team:
Hamos has also put her campaign team in place, and the team includes several new aides to the 10-year state Representative.
Campaign manager Julie Sweet most recently managed author Tom Geoghegan’s (D) long-shot special election bid in the 5th district, which was won by now-Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.). Field Director Russell Griffin served in the same capacity for Rep. Donna Edwards’ (D-Md.) triumphant primary bid over then-Rep. Albert Wynn (D-Md.). Political Director Eric Danko is a former campaign aide for Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-Ill.), while Finance Director Kari Lundstad-Vogt most recently served as a job bank coordinator at EMILY’s List.
They are joined by Press Secretary Christopher Lackner, who most recently worked with Sweet on Geoghegan’s special election bid.
Hamos has also signed up Will Robinson and Tierney Hunt of the New Media Firm to do her media, Diane Feldman and Melissa Diemand of the Feldman Group to do her polling, Lloyd Betourney of the Public Response Group to do her direct mail and Brett Di Resta of the Maccabee Group to do her media.
Read the whole thing here.
See you in LaSalle
September 11th, 2009 by Chris
LaSalle County Democrats are holding a workshop tomorrow. Assuming I can find LaSalle County, I’ll be there to talk about all things campaign media. Not sure who else is going to be there. Perhaps will post a tweet or two if they have wi-fi in the room.
Illinois Valley Democratic Activist Workshop
Saturday, September 12
10:00 am to 3:00 pm
Registration on-site (beginning 9:30)
IVCC, 815 Orlando Smith Ave, Oglesby
sponsored by IVCC College Democrats
Illinois Democratic Women, LaSalle County Democrats, local Labor
One final squeeze on the Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op
September 10th, 2009 by Chris
A Fresh Squeeze is a lovely “green living” website that focuses on Chicago sustainability. Today’s story is a great feature on the Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op:
A core group of local restaurants have chosen to participate in a new initiative sponsored by the Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op in efforts to create more sustainable dining conditions in the Chicago area for restaurant-goers.
Restaurants that choose to seek the “Guaranteed Green” status have one year to prove their sustainability in eight different areas of their businesses: water efficiency, waste reduction and recycling, sustainable furnishings and building materials, sustainable food, energy management, management of disposables, chemical and pollution management and community outreach and training. Each restaurant that receives the “Guaranteed Green” must be certified by either the Green Restaurant Association or Green Seal, two independent, national not-for-profits that have created comprehensive environmental standards for restaurants. Guaranteed Green restaurants will have an emblem placed in their front window next to the logo from the certifying agency.
Read all about it at afreshsqueeze.com.
Twitter in the kitchen
September 9th, 2009 by ChrisChicago Chef Rick Bayless has become rather adept at The Twitter, so much that Chicagoist interviewed him exclusively on that subject. I’m particularly impressed by this answer:
“I never wanted to use Twitter solely as a marketing tool. 90 percent of my business is behind closed doors and I wanted to use this as a means of making fans of the restaurants vested members of the Frontera family. It’s hard to do that within the context of, say, a public appearance or a book signing. I want to hear what people have to say, be able to have a conversation with them, and create a forum for discussion.”
Clearly, the guy knows his way around social media as well as he knows his way around a kitchen. Too bad he didn’t tweet our press conference last month. Of course, Ina’s has a no cell phone policy so maybe he didn’t want to take a chance.
Speaking of which, Ina has been known to pontificate on occasion. Find her at breafastqueen1.
