The image of a glass tower rising above Boston’s South Station is striking. That project rests on decades of layered planning, established air rights and a transit hub designed to absorb extraordinary density. It is downtown-scale development supported by downtown-scale infrastructure.
Chicago is debating density in neighborhoods that function differently. In these neighborhoods, mobility is a layered system of buses, elevated trains, commuter rail, pedestrians, bicycles and cars that all intersect in constrained corridors. Floor area ratio measures bulk, not merely height.
In downtown contexts, high intensity is accompanied by alley service, wide rights of way, coordinated intersections and transit capacity calibrated to match it. Those conditions help manage loading, traffic and operational impacts before they spill outward and burden surrounding streets, intersections and neighborhoods.
Where those conditions are absent, bulk demands careful justification. The issue is not growth. It is proportionality between mass and infrastructure.
Air rights may define Boston’s tower. In Chicago, infrastructure must define intensity. It’s called good planning, and we want more of it.
— Tim Carew, Chicago
BUILD plan problems
Another half-baked political plan: Gov. JB Pritzker unveiled his BUILD (Building Up Illinois Developments) plan, which would strip local governments of their zoning powers, allow builders to build multiunit buildings on currently zoned residential lots, reduce the lot size requirement and add additional buildings to current sites. This is an effort to increase the supply of affordable housing. There are serious consequences to these actions.
Congestion is exacerbated by inserting multifamily units in place of single units. Fire spread becomes more probable by reducing side yard setbacks. Flooding is exacerbated by increasing the impervious area. Emissions are worsened by increasing the number of vehicles and appliances as well as with the reduction of vegetation. Utilities such as water, sewer, gas and electric may not support the increased load. In more rural areas, there is needed separation of wells and septic systems.
The governor is trying to place the blame for Illinois’s problems on local governments but is, in fact, giving residents another reason to leave the state.
— Bill Shafer, Hennepin, Illinois
Do something, mayor
We’re a year out from the mayoral primary, and what can Mayor Brandon Johnson claim he’s done to make Chicago better? He’d probably say the reduction of crime, but it is down across the country. That’s like taking credit for jobs when there’s a national economic upturn. Like President Donald Trump, Johnson has spent his time playing to his base. Like Trump, he has responded to criticisms by attacking the critics. I could go on.
There are so many small things he could do, but he’d have to leave his progressive bubble to do them. I’ll name two: Nobody wants to get on the “L” and listen to someone blasting something on their phone. Announce that the police will ticket those with their phones on speaker. Second, people in my neighborhood ride electric scooters and bikes on the sidewalk. Announce that they’ll be ticketed.
We’re a year out. Do something, mayor.
— Gene Sweet, Chicago
Black Chicagoans’ plight
In his Feb. 26 op-ed (“Pritzker’s budget does little to help Black and brown Illinoisans”), Chicago businessman and thinker Willie Wilson writes movingly of the plight of Black Chicagoans, who according to his essay constitute 53% of Chicago’s homeless population and 54% of those who died while in Cook County custody between January 2020 and November 2025. And they have a median net worth of exactly zero, according to the 2024 “Color of Wealth in Chicago” report.
While Wilson urges more legislative solutions and government spending, the simplest and most obvious solution to these tragic numbers is twofold: Reform Chicago’s public school system and stop funding programs that subsidize a culture of dependence.
The sad truth is that Chicago Public Schools (like much of the city of Chicago at this point) is run by the Chicago Teachers Union, which has amply demonstrated for decades that it cares more about high teacher salaries and out-of-control pensions than it does students and their education. Somehow the CTU’s power needs to be cut back to the legitimate union function of negotiating wages, hours and working conditions and not the ability to oppose charter schools and other educational reforms and set public policy. Sadly, that won’t happen as long as a former CTU member and organizer sits in the mayor’s office.
Then the city, state and country as a whole need to ask themselves if over 60 years of “Great Society” programs are helping or hurting our most vulnerable communities.
— David L. Applegate, Huntley
Excellent city service
While criticism of government services in Chicago is often warranted, the city’s tree trimming program demonstrates what effective public investment can achieve. Increased funding for the Department of Streets and Sanitation’s Bureau of Forestry has led to expanded crews and enabled a coordinated, citywide approach that is both efficient and fair.
By trimming all trees within a geographic area at the same time, the program ensures consistent service across neighborhoods while protecting the long-term health of Chicago’s wonderful urban tree canopy. Even outside the typical April-to-December season, crews have continued working during this month’s mild weather to remove dead branches and hazardous trees along parkways and medians — proactively improving safety, reliability and quality of life for residents citywide. With more than 500,000 parkway trees, their work is never-ending as they also treat insect and disease threats while safeguarding and strengthening tree health.
Kudos to the department leadership for developing and executing a tree-trimming program rooted in service to all Chicago residents.
— Tom Tunney, former alderman, 44th Ward, Chicago
Tyler Technologies mess
I have been following the problems and finger-pointing for blame with the revamp of the Cook County property tax system. The latest nasty exchange between Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas and Tyler Technologies makes it clear to me that Tyler has not properly performed project management, including changing management, nor even close to it.
Tyler is supposed to be providing the information technology expertise for this project. A big part of that is of course project management. A big part of project management is the planning and preparation and involvement of all the areas that the new system touches.
Tyler should have had designated partners with authority in all those areas including Pappas’ area. Pappas should have had a partnership relationship with Tyler, and Tyler should have made sure that that was the case. I think it is now safe to point the finger of blame at Tyler, and it should own the fact that it mismanaged this project and its management.
— John Captain, Antioch
Phones in classrooms
The lawmakers in Springfield are working on ensuring cellphones are not allowed in classrooms during instructional time. Seems to me it should have been that way from the start, when teachers were at the mercy of district policy. The trend these days is to allow developing young minds to have adult privileges. It’s a shame.
Now that the children are wholly addicted, as with any addiction, there will be withdrawal. Who is ready for that emotional crisis? And it will be just that.
Any person with commonsense could have seen this coming. Hmmm.
— Cynthia Marks, Palos Park
Thank you, Title IX
After watching the Winter Olympics, as well as the most recent University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine basketball game and a few matches of the University of Hawaii SandBows beach volleyball a recent weekend, I said to myself numerous times: “Thank you, Title IX.” That 1972 law banned sex discrimination in all U.S. educational settings.
Equal opportunity is right and good for all of us. When I went to school, women’s sports were an afterthought, maybe a tennis team or a field hockey team. No team basketball, volleyball, fencing, softball, let alone hockey. I had team experiences growing up that helped shape who I am, and I’m glad so many women and girls have that opportunity today.
Thank you, Title IX.
— Mark Wieting, Glen Ellyn
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