Do you feel that closing the Mag Mile for Oprah will benefit the city? (Chicago: foreclose, renters)

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by supernerdgirl

wow, I am really REALLY glad I don't work down that way anymore.

Yeah,I am glad I don't either anymore.

[linicx]

It sure beats the heck out of closing down a ten block area for a 9 days. Talk about inconvenience to residents. I cannot even imagine what that mess will be like. I would stay home.

[fairmarketvalue]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Therein lies one of the problems with your past posts in this thread. Thanks for stating it for everyone to see.

You're funny, really. Again, grow up. Info has been plastered on the news and in newspapers for days. Your info is easy to access, as yet again, they are talking about it on the 6am news this morning. And the news is "positive and excited" about the event. So I will, once again, give you the opportunity to show your own ignorance by putting in a sentence for you to "cut and paste" out of my post by saying, I know nothing about the alternate routes, didn't need to know, think it down right ridiculous that anyone, including you, can be that upset over ONE DAY, and just overall, hope you continue to spend more of your what seems to be "too much time" on your hands to translate the alternate routes for others who will be going down for "whatever purpose".

And darn, they are actually putting metal fencing around those planters? How dare they!! I'll have to let my wife and her friends know....they were going to stake those out!!

Anyway, if attempting to insult me makes you feel better then I at least hope that was accomplished. I am sure there are many posters on here who can come to their own conclusions and opinions. Sorry, once again, you seem to have a problem with mine, no matter what the topic, and please, try to lighten up. And I've underlined the sentence you probably want to "remove" from it's context and post it for others to read with your sarcastic reply. Hope it helps.

[scarletneon]

Originally Posted by fairmarketvalue

You're funny, really. Again, grow up. Info has been plastered on the news and in newspapers for days. Your info is easy to access, as yet again, they are talking about it on the 6am news this morning. And the news is "positive and excited" about the event. So I will, once again, give you the opportunity to show your own ignorance by putting in a sentence for you to "cut and paste" out of my post by saying, I know nothing about the alternate routes, didn't need to know, think it down right ridiculous that anyone, including you, can be that upset over ONE DAY, and just overall, hope you continue to spend more of your what seems to be "too much time" on your hands to translate the alternate routes for others who will be going down for "whatever purpose".

And darn, they are actually putting metal fencing around those planters? How dare they!! I'll have to let my wife and her friends know....they were going to stake those out!!

Anyway, if attempting to insult me makes you feel better then I at least hope that was accomplished. I am sure there are many posters on here who can come to their own conclusions and opinions. Sorry, once again, you seem to have a problem with mine, no matter what the topic, and please, try to lighten up. And I've underlined the sentence you probably want to "remove" from it's context and post it for others to read with your sarcastic reply. Hope it helps.

Sorry, for those that are stuck working on Michigan Avenue, in all those retail stores the tourists think are so awesome for some reason, or work at the hospital and don't own a car/going to visit people at the hospital w/o a car, you know, on the holiday? it's been a TWO DAY mess for them. And they ARE the ones that have to put up with the alternate routes, or put up with more people on the train that don't want to take the alternate routes.

But like I noted in my post, this will just ironically confuse those tourists that don't want to watch Oprah and just want to easily get down Mich Ave on the bus to maybe go to the EMPTY Grant or Millennium Park, or the museum campus, which is hilarious. But i'd really hate to be a bus driver on any of those 15 routes, what with the inane questions I hear from people not from here on a REGULAR day on Mich Ave.

[fairmarketvalue]

Originally Posted by supernerdgirl

Sorry, for those that are stuck working on Michigan Avenue, in all those retail stores the tourists think are so awesome for some reason, or work at the hospital and don't own a car/going to visit people at the hospital w/o a car, you know, on the holiday? it's been a TWO DAY mess for them. And they ARE the ones that have to put up with the alternate routes, or put up with more people on the train that don't want to take the alternate routes.

But like I noted in my post, this will just ironically confuse those tourists that don't want to watch Oprah and just want to easily get down Mich Ave on the bus to maybe go to the EMPTY Grant or Millennium Park, or the museum campus, which is hilarious. But I'd really hate to be a bus driver on any of those 15 routes, what with the inane questions I hear from people not from here on a REGULAR day on Mich Ave.

Good post and points well taken. I understand the frustration, at a minimal level, I just don't see it is that big of a deal. And it has nothing to do with where I live or it being "none of my business", or any other disgruntled reason some display on this thread. The retail shops will be busy, restaurants too, and while I understand it is a bump in the everyday life of these specific folks, is it really worth bashing people and insulting posters who are in support of the event? Thank you for not being one of those, but rather just pointing out some of the "other side" and the inconveniences that go with it. As to the hospital workers.....most of them do not enter the campus from Michigan ave., trust me. Lets be reasonable. I also think tourists will be just fine. Michigan ave is still open, for shopping, and those tourists are on foot anyway. What an awesome bonus to be here on the day that Oprah is taping and the blackeyed peas are performing. And if they really are not intersted in the crowd, then they should have already planned to see the many other sites of Chicago and stay away from the mag mile today. I am sure this is not the only day they are here for tourism. I also find it interesting that NO ONE has responded to my comparison of road closures for construction, which happens ALL the TIME in the city of Chicago and for a heck of a lot longer than 1-2 days.

[scarletneon]

Originally Posted by fairmarketvalue

Good post and points well taken. I understand the frustration, at a minimal level, I just don't see it is that big of a deal. And it has nothing to do with where I live or it being "none of my business", or any other disgruntled reason some display on this thread. The retail shops will be busy, restaurants too, and while I understand it is a bump in the everyday life of these specific folks, is it really worth bashing people and insulting posters who are in support of the event? Thank you for not being one of those, but rather just pointing out some of the "other side" and the inconveniences that go with it. As to the hospital workers.....most of them do not enter the campus from Michigan ave., trust me. Lets be reasonable. I also think tourists will be just fine. Michigan ave is still open, for shopping, and those tourists are on foot anyway. What an awesome bonus to be here on the day that Oprah is taping and the blackeyed peas are performing. And if they really are not intersted in the crowd, then they should have already planned to see the many other sites of Chicago and stay away from the mag mile today. I am sure this is not the only day they are here for tourism. I also find it interesting that NO ONE has responded to my comparison of road closures for construction, which happens ALL the TIME in the city of Chicago and for a heck of a lot longer than 1-2 days.

Construction is generally necessary to take care of our deteriorating infrastructure. Oprah on Mich Ave is not.

[Chicago60614]

As far as the re-routes - 95% of the people I've ever seen on the express buses along Mich. Ave are commuters and not tourists. The 151 is about the only one that tourists would use, but it's mostly people coming to/from the train stations or people who live in the Gold Coast.

A VAST majority of tourists would take a cab or walk. They're usually a nervous bunch about getting on one of the dozens of buses that are streaming up and down Michigan Ave.


I actually went into downtown today on Michigan instead of the Brown Line just to see what was up. I was surprised that everything was actually moving faster than it would on a normal day. Take away a lot of the cabs and cars that are crawling up Michigan at rush hour and the buses were able to get down to Ohio/Ontario much quicker. Jumping to Dearborn/Clark really only added a minute or two onto the ride, but most people had gotten off by then. If you work south of the river and take express buses, most people realized long ago to just take the Red Line or the 134/135/136 which bypass all those damn stops north of the river.

I was expecing some sort of confusion or chaos, but really no one seemed to notice, let alone care about the change of pace. Most people I saw were more excited about Oprah.

Maybe it will be different tonight, but in the end I think this affects cabs and drivers more than it would people who take public transit.

[Avengerfire]

IrishTom you were right...Too bad you deleted your post...


Things get crazy as crowds await Oprah
"...Oprah fans were told not to camp out overnight. As a result, many of them spent the night walking the show area’s perimeter...

...At 8:30 a.m., security guards opened the gate to move the crowd more than a block, to 425 N. Michigan. A small stampede ensued, and some of the elderly and slower moving audience members — including Laveta Mitchell — said they didn’t get a hand stamp indicating they were at the front of the line...

...“It’s very disorganized,” Giles said. “For those who were here very early, half of us didn’t get the right [stamp] number.”..."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1758406,chicago-oprah-michigan-avenue-090809.article (broken link)

[jdiddy]

Seems like commuters haven't had much of a problem. I was in the area yesterday. It was actually pretty pleasant being able to walk around without all that traffic around. They should think about closing parts of Michigan to vehicles every Labor Day.

[fairmarketvalue]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

IrishTom you were right...Too bad you deleted your post...


Things get crazy as crowds await Oprah
"...Oprah fans were told not to camp out overnight. As a result, many of them spent the night walking the show area’s perimeter...

...At 8:30 a.m., security guards opened the gate to move the crowd more than a block, to 425 N. Michigan. A small stampede ensued, and some of the elderly and slower moving audience members — including Laveta Mitchell — said they didn’t get a hand stamp indicating they were at the front of the line...

...“It’s very disorganized,” Giles said. “For those who were here very early, half of us didn’t get the right [stamp] number.”..."

Things get crazy as crowds await Oprah :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State (http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1758406,chicago-oprah-michigan-avenue-090809.article - broken link)

Crap, Now I wish I'd have taken the day to go. Just heard James Taylor is part of the lineup! My wife and I could have reminisced and romanced. Oh well, Glad she's there. And they arrived about 9 this morning and they are in, hands stamped, so I'm not sure what this info is about. They were a group of 7. She says they are in view of the staging area and happy with their "seats".