By Whet Moser
A study looks at Seattle's bus-tracker system, and finds nothing but love. The biggest benefit? Eliminating the mystery of the next bus's arrival. Read more
October 2011
Top 5 Things to Do This Week: Profiles Theatre goes dark (as in comedy) … Twyla Tharp stages a premiere … Matthew Sweet still needs a girlfriend … plus, loads of free stuff and the new MSI crasher’s weekend plans Read more
October 1 & 2, 2011--The 2nd edition of the Design Harvest Festival proved to be a mecca for design fashionistas, with droves of enthusiasts turning out to celebrate the consortium of local design vendors. Under picturesque autumn skies, furniture & accessory makers, vintage stores, antique dealers and local home design retailers popped-up shop with their latest creations as visitors perused the displays, finding new ways to beautify their homes.
Chicago Home + Garden was a media sponsor of the festival and returned with their Designer Meet Up Lounge offering complimentary consultations for attendees with Chicago's best interior designers. Room & Board provided gorgeous pieces of furniture for the lounge and consultations. Beautiful terrariums were graciously donated by Sprout Home, in honor of their new how-to terrarium classes.
Read moreWhere we got the data and how we prepared our charts Read more
By Dennis Rodkin
Five years into the steady decline of Chicago-area home prices, the gloom is pervasive. It’s evident in the faded signs hanging on long-unsold foreclosures, in the half-empty condo towers with their swaths of darkened windows, and here in the columns of Chicago’s annual real-estate charts, which were prepared with information provided by Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED)... Read more
By Dennis Rodkin
THE NEW NEW RULES OF REAL ESTATE: Eleven years ago, Chicago offered a guide to making the most of the sizzling-hot housing market. What a difference a decade makes. Now, confronting the realities of today’s pinched economy, local real-estate pros weigh in with the best strategies for buying or selling a home. PLUS: Our annual survey of housing prices in nearly 300 neighborhoods and towns Read more
By Carol Felsenthal
My last book was about Bill Clinton’s post-presidency. He was in exile back in 2001, almost broken by the Lewinsky scandal, with his outlandish pardon to billionaire Iran arms trader Marc Rich nearly finishing him off. Today, soaring in mass affection while his onetime nemesis Barack Obama (think 2008 primaries) sinks, Clinton is no longer anything close to an exile; he’s the toast of every town and country he visits. When news broke that he was coming to town for Chicago Ideas... Read more
By Dennis Rodkin
In Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit and Indianapolis, the rate of homes going into foreclosure is about the same. But according to a new study by analysts at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, distressed homes here stay in foreclosure longer than they do in those other markets—which means they are likely to drag down our local housing market longer than the distressed homes in those other cities... Read more
By GINA BAZER
We had a great time at Design Harvest October 1-2, thanks to our designers, Room & Board, and some wonderful artists... Read more
By Whet Moser
The targets of Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Together lead difficult lives full of uncertainty, fear, and instability. (No, seriously, let me explain.) Further proof that the rich are like us, they just have more money. Read more