Near North Community member profiles
Here are some profiles of the members of the Near North community.
Goose Island Express
To most Chicagoans, the stretch of Clybourn Avenue between North and Ashland is a shopping destination. On Saturdays, the sidewalks bustle with people out to buy new couches, winter coats, and garden planters. Cars move at glacial speeds down the jammed streets as drivers search for a coveted parking spot.
Clybourn is a "hot" destination - and Ted Wysocki, who works to support local businesses as president of the Local Economic and Employment Development Council (LEED Council), wouldn't have it any other way.
Yet Wysocki recognizes that as the area has adapted from a one-time manufacturing hub to a more diverse commercial center - and as residential development continues apace, including a new mixed-income community at Division and Clybourn being created by the Chicago Housing Authority's Plan for Transformation - so, too, must transportation options in the area evolve.
"Investing in transportation may cost money initially, but the City of Chicago, business owners and other community stakeholders understand the payback is worth the investment," said Wysocki.
One of the transportation investments LEED Council promotes is improving public transportation connections along the corridor and between downtown and nearby transit stations. Wysocki says it's not uncommon for delivery drivers to have to jostle for position to unload the latest clothes, house wares and furniture that will beckon shoppers to North and Clybourn's tony shops. Business owners are concerned that they're paying drivers to sit in traffic - and are fully aware of the irony that at least some of that traffic is due to their own workers.
"If you're already talking about transporting goods and materials, it's a logical next step that you also need to talk about transporting local workers," said Wysocki.
That's why LEED Council began working with local businesses and the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) in 2006 to revive rush-hour bus service to the Clybourn corridor. Local businesses agreed to subsidize the bus service, and together with the CTA and LEED Council, developed a route that serves local workers.
The #132 Goose Island Express bus made its inaugural run during the morning and evening commutes on Jan 2, 2007, linking downtown Metra stations with the CTA's Grand Avenue Blue Line and North & Clybourn Red Line stops. It also connects to Metra's Clybourn station at Armitage & Ashland, and makes stop at major area employers, such as Kendall College and the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company.
Each day, more than 300 people ride the #132 - many of whom otherwise would drive to work. The LEED Council continues to promote the #132 to encourage the public and even more workers to give it a whirl, and is participating in Reconnecting Neighborhoods to explore more ways to improve transportation options in the Clybourn corridor.
(Route and schedule info for the #132 Goose Island Express bus is available at: www.transitchicago.com/maps/bus/bus/132.pdf.)
