More From the Trib'
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Spring Blooms in School
In an ambitious first-time endeavor, horticulture students have transformed the lyceum, a staid multipurpose room at their school, into an elaborate flower and garden show.The show, open to the public this week, required 60 cubic yards of mulch, 750 bricks, 10 trash bags of dead leaves, sod, ceramics, several 12- to 14-foot trees and even a few rotten logs.and geraniums.
"When we left school last week, it was pretty much just a room," said teacher Jeff Yordy, who could barely contain a manic glee over the project. His 130 students have spent the last three days working during their free periods and after hours, first laying down plastic, then lining a pathway with brick. By Wednesday, students plunged their hands into mulch, planting dozens of flowers in themed gardens that include forest floor plants and a floral display shaped like a lightning bolt, the school's Titan athletic theme.
Over the last few months the students spent hours planning and designing the landscape and obtaining donations from parents and area businesses. Chalet Nursery of Wilmette delivered more than $6,000 in trees and shrubs, which it will pick up again Saturday, Yordy said.
City Weighs Out-of-Blue Recycling
More homes in Chicago soon could recycle with bins instead of blue bags, as Mayor Richard Daley's administration considers expanding a successful pilot program beyond the Beverly neighborhood.
Chicago recycles less than 8 percent of the garbage that it collects, far short of the 25 percent target set by Daley when the program began 10 years ago. The results have been much better in the test area in Beverly, where more than 80 percent of 700 homes are participating and about 20 percent of the garbage is recycled.
For the last year, homes in the pilot area have placed recyclables in bins that are left curbside. The recyclables are collected separately from garbage.
A majority of the City Council supports a proposal calling for the city to ditch blue bags and expand curbside recycling across Chicago. The proposal's chief sponsor, Ald. Joe Moore (49th), said Johnston's announcement is "a step in the right direction." But Moore said he would not be satisfied until the city comes up with a plan to institute curbside recycling in every neighborhood.
The Daley administration has "put so much political stock and financial resources into blue bag that it's difficult to admit it's a failure," Moore said.
ARCHITECTURE NOTES
Saving the city's historic graystones
By Blair Kamin
Like the humble bungalow, the handsome graystone is an essential part of the housing stock that makes Chicago Chicago.
At once muscular and graceful, occupying a midway point in the socio-economic spectrum between the bungalow and the mansion, the graystone stretches in a belt that runs roughly from Lakeview on the north to Garfield Park on the west to Bronzeville on the south.
Now, facing the twin ravages of decay and gentrification, the graystone may be getting the same kind of help that has allowed bungalows throughout Chicago to be preserved and renovated to meet today's needs.The plan, scheduled to be formally announced in June, is called the Historic Chicago Greystone Initiative (which uses an alternative spelling of graystone). Still taking shape and to be limited at first to the poor, drug-infested North Lawndale neighborhood, it is backed by Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, a non-profit devoted to rebuilding the city's neighborhoods. Besides saving buildings, the group wants to avoid the displacement of residents if and when the neighborhood redevelops.
Spring Blooms in School
In an ambitious first-time endeavor, horticulture students have transformed the lyceum, a staid multipurpose room at their school, into an elaborate flower and garden show.The show, open to the public this week, required 60 cubic yards of mulch, 750 bricks, 10 trash bags of dead leaves, sod, ceramics, several 12- to 14-foot trees and even a few rotten logs.and geraniums.
"When we left school last week, it was pretty much just a room," said teacher Jeff Yordy, who could barely contain a manic glee over the project. His 130 students have spent the last three days working during their free periods and after hours, first laying down plastic, then lining a pathway with brick. By Wednesday, students plunged their hands into mulch, planting dozens of flowers in themed gardens that include forest floor plants and a floral display shaped like a lightning bolt, the school's Titan athletic theme.
Over the last few months the students spent hours planning and designing the landscape and obtaining donations from parents and area businesses. Chalet Nursery of Wilmette delivered more than $6,000 in trees and shrubs, which it will pick up again Saturday, Yordy said.
City Weighs Out-of-Blue Recycling
More homes in Chicago soon could recycle with bins instead of blue bags, as Mayor Richard Daley's administration considers expanding a successful pilot program beyond the Beverly neighborhood.
Chicago recycles less than 8 percent of the garbage that it collects, far short of the 25 percent target set by Daley when the program began 10 years ago. The results have been much better in the test area in Beverly, where more than 80 percent of 700 homes are participating and about 20 percent of the garbage is recycled.
For the last year, homes in the pilot area have placed recyclables in bins that are left curbside. The recyclables are collected separately from garbage.
A majority of the City Council supports a proposal calling for the city to ditch blue bags and expand curbside recycling across Chicago. The proposal's chief sponsor, Ald. Joe Moore (49th), said Johnston's announcement is "a step in the right direction." But Moore said he would not be satisfied until the city comes up with a plan to institute curbside recycling in every neighborhood.
The Daley administration has "put so much political stock and financial resources into blue bag that it's difficult to admit it's a failure," Moore said.
ARCHITECTURE NOTES
Saving the city's historic graystones
By Blair Kamin
Like the humble bungalow, the handsome graystone is an essential part of the housing stock that makes Chicago Chicago.
At once muscular and graceful, occupying a midway point in the socio-economic spectrum between the bungalow and the mansion, the graystone stretches in a belt that runs roughly from Lakeview on the north to Garfield Park on the west to Bronzeville on the south.
Now, facing the twin ravages of decay and gentrification, the graystone may be getting the same kind of help that has allowed bungalows throughout Chicago to be preserved and renovated to meet today's needs.The plan, scheduled to be formally announced in June, is called the Historic Chicago Greystone Initiative (which uses an alternative spelling of graystone). Still taking shape and to be limited at first to the poor, drug-infested North Lawndale neighborhood, it is backed by Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, a non-profit devoted to rebuilding the city's neighborhoods. Besides saving buildings, the group wants to avoid the displacement of residents if and when the neighborhood redevelops.
