As a River West resident and volunteer for Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, my mornings are spent scanning sidewalks for glass-collision victims. It is an emotionally draining routine, and I am not alone. I speak with countless neighbors who care deeply about our city, are tired of seeing deceased and injured birds on their morning commutes, and feel helpless about how to stop it.
On a single morning recently, across Fulton Market and River North alone, I recovered 20 dead birds and eight stunned survivors — a fraction of the citywide toll. Fall migration is at its peak, bringing millions of vulnerable migratory birds through our corridor. Nationally, up to 1 billion birds die annually from window strikes. Sitting squarely on the Mississippi Flyway, Chicago remains the single deadliest skyline in North America because we keep constructing massive glass buildings without bird-friendly materials. What are we waiting for?
Opponents claim a bird-friendly building ordinance would derail housing supply and inflate construction costs. That claim is demonstrably false. The proposed ordinance explicitly exempts single-family homes, townhouses, two-flats and three-flats. For larger developments, integrating treated bird-safe glass during initial design adds less than 1% to total construction budgets and lowers utility bills by curbing solar heat gain.
Architects and developers solve complex aesthetic and structural design problems all the time; incorporating bird-safe design principles is no different. In fact, we need to catch up. New York City mandated bird-safe glass in 2021; development did not stall. Locally, major projects such as Bally’s casino and the Chicago Fire stadium have committed to incorporating bird-safe glass. Chicago’s voluntary checklist fails because developers routinely bypass the lower 75 feet where the vast majority of collisions happen. We do not make basic building and safety standards optional, and bird safety should be no different.
If Chicago continues to build with glass, that design must be responsible and sustainable — built for the future. Chicago made history through bold architectural innovation; let’s not let our legacy become engineering a death trap for millions of migrating birds.
Which side of history do we want to be on? With a vote expected soon, it is time for the City Council to follow the data, listen to residents demanding a safer, sustainable and environmentally innovative city, and pass the Bird-Friendly Design Ordinance.
— Jennifer E. Bell, Chicago
Keeping sidewalks clean
As I recall, back in the early 1980s when I had an apartment on Madison Street downtown, most, if not all, of the building owners/managers took responsibility to keep sidewalks and streets in front of their buildings clean. This involved a maintenance worker heading outside several times per day, picking up trash and hosing down the sidewalk directly in front of the building. Gum deposited on the sidewalks was carefully removed with a spade. I presently maintain an apartment in the city on Michigan Avenue and take time picking up trash on the sidewalk; I must carry my own trash bag, as currently, city trash bins are few and far between.
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My wish list is for Chicago to reinstate this valuable practice for our beautiful city; post signs reminding people to refrain from littering; install trash bins on every corner that are affixed to the sidewalk (or as the alternative, for building owners to maintain trash bins in front of their buildings).
In the meantime, I encourage everyone to pick up trash when they are able — to help keep our city beautiful.
— Catherine Wifler, Chicago
Lower the price for parking
As the Tribune Editorial Board stated in a previous editorial (“A Chicago parking deal emerges with nada, zilch, nothing for Chicago parkers,” Sept. 16) about a proposal to improve the parking meter deal — the worst deal in Chicago history and Mayor Richard M. Daley’s giveaway — what is the benefit to us taxpayers? There is none!
I’m tired of hearing about how the city will benefit from this new deal and the minor concessions by the prospective new owner.
Has there ever been a study about how much more the public pays to park compared to what was paid in the good old days? We should all be outraged about this and be disgusted by the aldermen bettering the terrible Daley deal when they are only fighting about who gets our money.
Why don’t they lower the price we pay to park?
— Richard Prince, Chicago
CPS needs to right-size
Now that Chicago Public Schools has announced enrollment has dropped by more than 11,500 students to a low of about 304,700, we should see a proper response such as closing of underused schools and selling of those buildings. Staffing should be adjusted, too, and teachers impelled to make a better effort to increase proficiency scores that are low compared to the national average, especially since lower enrollment should mean smaller class size.
Finally, I hope the new Board of Education realizes that a 3.7% decline in the number of students from last year, as well as the staffing and school closures, should result in a similar decrease in property taxes for CPS, a win for Chicagoans. It can apply the business model of doing more with less.
I’ll be waiting.
— Robert Stasch, Chicago
Pipeline threatens Great Lakes
The Sept. 18 article “3 weeks after spill, aging pipeline back in service” gave an update on the 73-year-old pipeline threatening the Great Lakes. But what about the other pipeline — the newer and safer one undergoing expansion to be ready for the day Line 5 is gone?
Enbridge has two pipelines carrying Alberta oil to Sarnia, Ontario: Line 5 through the Great Lakes and Lakehead Line 78 around the Great Lakes. Only one endangers the Great Lakes. Why would Enbridge try to tunnel under the Great Lakes for that one? Perhaps it’s the billions of dollars that Line 5 earns every decade.
Thank goodness Michigan’s Supreme Court vacated the tunnel permit. Following the court ruling and a leak in Wisconsin, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer renewed her call to shut down Line 5. She told Enbridge to pursue an alternate route to get oil out of the Great Lakes within months.
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The feasible and prudent alternative, Line 78, was rebuilt and expanded after the 2010 Kalamazoo River spill. It can carry most of Line 5‘s oil today. If further proof is needed about how unnecessary Line 5 is, Enbridge had to reroute oil to Lakehead Line 78 while Line 5 was shut down after the Wisconsin spill.
For too long, a foreign oil corporation has been allowed to determine the fate of 20% of the Earth’s fresh surface water. Tribal nations led the Mackinac Bridge Walk this year to shut down Line 5. A slight loss of profit for Enbridge is a small price to pay to save the Great Lakes.
If Line 5 is not decommissioned when Michigan’s new governor takes over in January, that must become the No. 1 priority.
— Barbara Stamiris, Traverse City, Michigan
Why are data centers so big?
One of the most remarkable technological advances that I’ve witnessed during my 90 years has been the development of miniaturization. As an example, my smartphone can outperform a room-size computer of several generations ago.
Why, then, do these data centers require so much space, energy and water? Why not apply what we already know of miniaturization to these behemoths as well?
— Don Draganski, Evanston
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