A Brief, Expensive History of City Hall: History Never Changes, But Inflation Does

By Whet Moser

No, the renovation of City Hall will not cost more than twice what the building originally cost. The current one was expensive enough that the state had to raise its debt limit—in order to replace a terrible building that cost just as much and lasted less than 30 years until it blew up. Read more

Watch the Entire CTA Over 24 Hours

By Whet Moser

A software company used data feeds from public-transit systems around the world to create visualizations of their systems—and all their routes—over a 24 hour period. Chicago, the great grid city, is a lot more comprehensible than its peers. Read more

A Visual History of Chicago Public Transportation: Chicago's First Bus, Its Early Green Technology, Funeral Cars, and More

By Whet Moser

From horse-drawn cars to compressed-air motors to battery powered streetcars to propane buses: what public transportation in Chicago looked like and how it got around, from 1857-1970. Read more

The Cost of Phone Calls In Cook County Jail To Drop

By Whet Moser

Thanks to reporting by Rob Wildeboer, the county is set to reduce the high fees jail inmates are charged to make phone calls. It sounds very Chicago, but we're hardly alone: the FCC might tackle the cost of prison phone calls in coming months. Read more

The Geography of Chicago City Employees, and City Layoffs

By Whet Moser

Chicago, like the national government and governments throughout the country, has been cutting back on headcount throughout the Great Recession. Which neighborhoods is that hitting the hardest? Read more

The Math Behind the CTA Fare Increase

By Whet Moser

Besides Rahm Emanuel's comments about how people can just drive instead of buying more expensive CTA passes, the Chicago Transit Authority really is in a bit of a fix, thanks to increased costs, declining federal subsidies, the disappearance of the stimulus, reduced state subsidies, and perhaps the fiscal cliff. Read more

A Short History of Black Friday, Long Before It Was Black Friday

By Whet Moser

In 1906, the Chicago Tribune encouraged Christmas shoppers to begin the shopping season early, so that "the condition of the tired and overworked shopgirl should be taken into account." Read more

The Geography of School Poverty in Chicago

By Whet Moser

Across the city, most public school children are eligible for free or reduced lunches—an 85 percent average across the city, showing distinct geographical patterns, and 30 percent higher than the state average. The highest eligibility? It can't get any higher than in East Saint Louis. Read more

College Enrollment Spikes During the Great Recession, As It Has During Less Great Recessions

By Whet Moser

One semi-silver lining for the Great Recession, as it's been for most American recessions in recent years, is that people obtain more education (at, on average, a modest increase in lifetime earnings). But the benefit to the economy doesn't compare to what was lost. Read more

The Geography of Lottery Spending in Chicago

By Whet Moser

In 2011, Chicagoans spent $600 million playing the state lottery, out of $2.3 billion statewide. Here's a map that shows which areas of the city are the biggest spenders. Read more

Sections

Magazine

More

Follow Us

Get Our Newsletters

Follow Us

Get Our Newsletters