For many summers I enjoyed watching plays at the Theater on the Lake at Fullerton and Lake Shore Drive. The building was, to put it kindly, not fancy. It was not air conditioned and the concessions were limited to drinks. A different local theater group put on a play each week. A few times we brought food and ate beforehand, sitting on the wall in front of the theater, facing the lake. Then we would take our seats in the warm theater and watch an always interesting performance. It was a great way to spend a summer evening.
The building was closed for several seasons for a complete renovation. They turned half the building into a nice restaurant with those wonderful views of the lake. For a while, plays were put on, and they were free. We went once, eating in the restaurant. It was good, but really lacked the “summer stock” charm of the old building and performances. I just checked the list of events at the facility and there are no plays scheduled. I’m sure they do a good business with weddings and parties but I miss the plays.
Those wonderful memories will stay with me, coming back every time I pass the building.
— Andy Olcott, Glenview
Vendor regulations
I was dismayed to read the distorted coverage regarding the increased enforcement of street vendor regulations. (“New wave of enforcement leaves street vendors fearful”, June 2)
I am thrilled that the regulations are finally being enforced. Last summer, as I walked down Michigan Avenue and along the river, I was appalled that our once magnificent walkways were now a carnival of vendors selling cheap trinkets, disco-like karaoke experiences and fruit cups, fruit cups, fruit cups.
There is a reason vendors are prohibited from Michigan Avenue and the parks … they are a distraction from fully enjoying the beauty and architecture of the city and cheapen the experience.
The plight of immigrants, street vendor laws and police tactics are all worthy topics, but were unnecessarily conflated to cast aspersion on enforcing a simple and reasonable regulation that has existed for years and is important in preserving our most valued tourism corridors.
— Marge Malo, Chicago
Plastic pollution
The review of plastic contamination of the Great Lakes and the world was very revealing and thorough (“Great waste in the Great Lakes,” May 31). I am interested because of the New England Journal of Medicine article about a study of nanoplastics in carotid arteries that supply the brain with blood.
In short, the number of plastic nanoparticles in the arteries increased during the 10-year interval of the study. The average number was more per gram of tissue late in the study. Importantly, the patients who had their specimens studied during the first phase had more cardiovascular disease and strokes if they had a larger burden of plastics than the people studied in the same time frame who had less, when assessed 10 years later.
They had more heart attacks because if they had plastic in the carotids, they likely have plastics all over the body. The article carefully points out that this study demonstrates association, not causality. However, unless select patients have a predisposition to depositing plastics plus the usual pre-existing risk factors, the plastics are likely a cause of the vascular events.
I am 80. When I was a child, there were no purely plastic toys, no plastic soda bottles, no plastic medicine bottles. Basically all of the above were glass bottles. Glass soda bottles were recycled for 5 cents. People were not less happy in the 1950’s.
As a partial solution to this increasing problem I suggest that we gradually shift back to glass food and drink containers. We do not need plastic bottles of honey shaped like bears. That is clearly a marketing tool, with no benefits to health or cost to the consumer. Bottles could be standardized by category, which would facilitate recycling of unbroken glass containers. A bottle of pickles from one brand will be shaped like the other brands. Only the label would be different. Those bottles could then be used for other purposes too.
Used milk bottles used to be picked up when the next bottles of milk were delivered. Kids and others would pick up and get a refund for soda bottles. That is true recycling. This suggestion is just a starting point for a multifaceted problem.
I am not against exceptions: plastic bottles in the tub or shower are a real health benefit. Intravenous tubing is almost irreplaceable. Also, caustic chemicals such as muriatic acid should be in plastic since a bottle of such substances could have very bad results.
— Dr. Stephen Randag, Elmhurst
Real leadership
Reading Jake Sheridan’s article about Donald Trump’s shameful attack on Pope Leo XIV for meeting with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson last week added to my frustration of seeing, once again during Trump 2.0, an American president insulting, for no legitimate reason, the first American pope to have ever existed in the history of the Catholic Church, as well as one who happens to be, just like his predecessor (Pope Francis), a genuine world leader (“Trump attacks pope for meeting with Johnson,” May 31).
Is President Trump simply unable to admit that he just cannot compete with another American who, in reality, happens to be the true American world leader these days — that is, Pope Leo?
It’s time for somebody to tell President Trump that Pope Leo is the actual leader of approximately one billion people who live across the planet, and that he himself is only the leader of his currently dwindling MAGA base within the United States of America.
Let us all face it: the problem we’re dealing with right now is not just about competing personalities between two American leaders on the global stage; at the end of the day, our “President Trump problem” is an American problem and it can only be solved, both morally and through elections, by the American people.
Unfortunately, it’s still not clear if the midterm elections come November will provide any robust spine to Congress in Washington, D.C. What appears to be clear, though, is that what’s left of the Trump 2.0 journey will continue to be torturous for our nation.
— Alejandro Lugo, Park Forest
Note to readers
The Obama Presidential Center is opening on June 19. Do you have memories of former President Barack Obama you’d like to share? (Sincere thoughts only.) Send a letter of no more than 400 words by Thursday, June 11 to letters@chicagotribune.com. Include your full name and city/town.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
