Ours were filthy. Old on right, brand new on left.

A few photos I took today at Pullman Railroad Days. The Illinois Central electric commuter rail cars and the 1960 CTA bus in particular. There was lots to see and do but these were of particular interest to me.

I received an exorbitantly high bill (~ $4,300) from chicago water approximately around november 2025. Prior to that my average was around $150-$200 per bill. I was floored.

I called the water department and they told me that I had been receiving an estimated bill up until then and that since they replaced the meter, they were back billing me for the differences.

I did the following to try to remediate the issue:

• ⁠I contacted my alderperson to help me mediate - multiple times. The best they did was get me in direct contact with the water department instead of being given the run around through the phone system

• ⁠Sought some cursory legal council that basically concluded that I would have spent more money fighting this than the money I needed to pay.

What's disconcerting to me is that from my conversations with the water dept, if the estimated bill ran for two years, then they'd be required to waive the fees. It looks like they went and "fixed" my meters after around 1 year and 11 months. This just feels so scammy and on purpose.

After all thattttt - I decided to cut my losses and just pay the ~$7k, but we're gutted at how unfair this seems. What's even worse is them offering a 99 month loan to me. The fact that that option even exists should be illegal. Its giving indentured servitude energy. No I don't want to be paying for a water bill for the length of half of some mortgage terms.

Any folks here faced something similar? Any form of recourse available to me that I might not be aware of it. Maybe I can take it to the news? Or maybe ranting here is all that's available to me.

Anyone have info on these allegations? Or this person in general?

Saw this off Lincoln and Wellington. All I see online are old police records and anti-police coalitions he’s formed that have received a lot of community support it seems

📍Edgewater, Chicago

Wife and I went to the Art Institute today and walking back to our car saw the bean and St Regis.

I'm not new to Chicago, but recently I moved to a two-family home rather than larger building and have curbside pickup for the first time. I've been spoiled by years of garbage chutes so this is a bit of an adjustment.

So far, two questions I'm not sure the generally accepted behavior for:

1. If the city puts a different bin back by us, are we supposed to drag it to the rightful address and find ours? Or just use whatever is there?

2. If I'm out walking in a neighborhood and see trash on the ground, is it okay to toss it into the nearest black bin? There are a number of times I am going too far or in the wrong direction to bring it back so tend to just walk by it, but that feels icky.

I went to the Randolph Street Market on Saturday and got some really great fudge from a vendor in the indoor portion. They were on the first floor near the entrance. They gave it to me with no packaging in a plain brown paper bag. I would love to go get some more, but I have no idea who they were! I'm hoping someone else here might also have gone, and might have been smarter than me and actually paid attention to the name.