Althouse: "Its design touches the ground lightly and with an environmentally sensitive and delicate presence - like jewels in a necklace - energising the city's Riverwalk, and attracting the eyes of the world."

May 6, 2016

"Its design touches the ground lightly and with an environmentally sensitive and delicate presence - like jewels in a necklace - energising the city's Riverwalk, and attracting the eyes of the world."

"Gently fitting in and standing out at the same time, it will allow local people and visitors alike to appreciate the city and its world-class architecture from a completely new perspective, stimulating Chicago's tourism industry."

41 comments:

buwaya said...: Well, at least they cant be mugged in those.; 5/6/16, 1:40 PM
Alex said...: Another taxpayer boondoggle. Chicago, what else would you expect?; 5/6/16, 1:41 PM
Alex said...: Remember great architectural achievements of the 1920s like the Chrysler building? I feel that America peaked at that moment and it's been downhill ever since. No the iPhone is not the cultural achievement of those early Manhattan skyscrapers.; 5/6/16, 1:43 PM
Alex said...: Oops, the Chrysler Building was built and completed 1930-1931, but you get the idea.; 5/6/16, 1:44 PM
Henry said...: The night rendering is pretty cool.

Like Blade Runner, but with wires.; 5/6/16, 1:46 PM
bagoh20 said...: The "High Roller" ferris wheel in Las Vegas provides a fantastic view of that city, especially awesome at night. It lasts about 1/2 hour, and best of all, they serve adult beverages! I like this idea if they do likewise, as long as it's not packing them in too tight.

Even better would be a zip line that goes all around the city starting on top of the Sears Tower and zipping from sight to sight until you eventually end up on the ground. Summer only of course.; 5/6/16, 1:56 PM
mockturtle said...: Necklaces are 'environmentally sensitive? How so?; 5/6/16, 2:00 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: If the plans are approved, designers estimate that the aerial cars would lure 1.4 million visitors a year to the city

That looks neat, but no, it's not gonna lure ~3800 people per day to Chicago.; 5/6/16, 2:00 PM
Richard Dolan said...: The idea that this, on its own, will lure an add'l 1.4 million visitors to Chicago seems outlandish, even accepting that this 'article' is just fluff and noise. There's an aerial tramway that connects Manhattan to Roosevelt Island. Very doubtful that anyone comes here specially to ride on it. Since Chicago is flat broke, I'd be surprised if this ever gets built.; 5/6/16, 2:01 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Since Chicago is flat broke...

Trivial point. You never, ever actually run out of other people's money. Ask any Sanders supporter.; 5/6/16, 2:05 PM
traditionalguy said...: The Architecture Tour Boats are better visuals and hold more people and a last longer.; 5/6/16, 2:05 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: This gondola reminds me of the so-called "Cavalese cable car disaster". On February 3, 1998, a US Marine Corps Prowler airplane flew underneath a gondola cable at a ski resort in Cavalese, Italy. The airplane's tail hit and broke the cable, and a gondola crashed to the ground. All 20 people in the gondola were killed.

The pilot was tried by a US military court in 1999 and was acquitted in March 1999. (The charges against the co-pilot were dropped before the trial.) The pilot's successful defense was that he was practicing low-altitude flight and did not know about the gondola cable.

The acquittal was outrageous, because most people understood that the pilot flew underneath the cable deliberately as a stunt. One of the plane's crew members had brought along a camcorder and filmed the airplane flying under the cable. Immediately after the flight, the video was destroyed. All the crew members remained silent about the camcorder until August 1998, when one of the members was given immunity in exchange for telling about the camcorder.

A second trial was conducted in May 1999, and this time the pilot and co-pilot were convicted for obstruction of justice for destroying the video.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_cable_car_disaster_(1998); 5/6/16, 2:08 PM
traditionalguy said...: They are selling this useless tramway as jewelry for the skyline. But the whole point is the Buildings's beauty and history interacting with the River's unique history.; 5/6/16, 2:09 PM
rehajm said...: monorail!...monorail!...monorail!...; 5/6/16, 2:16 PM
Leslie Graves said...: Like you said: Long sentences.; 5/6/16, 2:25 PM
Hagar said...: and a sniper with a .50 Browning . . . .; 5/6/16, 2:27 PM
Sean Gleeson said...: Well I think it looks pretty cool. And if it gets built I plan to ride it. Some further thoughts:

1. I can't tell from the article whether this project is being developed privately or by taxpayers. If it's private, I am all for it.

2. It would not attract 1 million more annual tourists to Chicago. That is pure wishful thinking. But it might attract a few, and it would certainly be a part of many a tourist's itinerary while in the area.

3. But why restrict it to tourists? If it runs regularly all day and year-round, wouldn't commuters want to use it? I know if I lived uptown and worked downtown, I would rather ride that thing than drive and park, or take a cab or subway.; 5/6/16, 2:35 PM
Gahrie said...: How long until the windows are etched with gang graffiti?; 5/6/16, 2:38 PM
Rusty said...: Some alderman's BIL is going to make a killing. And by extension the mayor. In Chicago it's called the "trickle up" economy.
"3. But why restrict it to tourists? "
The locals can't afford it. Property tax increases, you know.; 5/6/16, 2:57 PM
CWJ said...: I think the "real" reason for this thing is to help keep Navy Pier going. A problem with Navy Pier is that its not close enough to any other attractions, and the walk to Navy Pier is a long and boring one. And once you're there, the pier itself is a bit of a hike as well. To look at the drawings, it appears that the only "commuters" who would benefit would have to live in Lake Point Tower.; 5/6/16, 3:09 PM
CWJ said...: And here's the "tell" confirming my earlier comment.

"Steven Davis, Partner at Davis Brody Bond, said: 'We realised that without creating an innovative mode of transport, directly connecting the Loop with Navy Pier, we would leave a trove of potential visitors untapped.'"; 5/6/16, 3:21 PM
Carter Wood said...: Gondolas are being considered for crossing the Potomac between Rosslyn and Georgetown. Uh huh. And Metro would manage it?; 5/6/16, 3:27 PM
jg said...: eyesore; 5/6/16, 3:27 PM
mikee said...: Chicago as a tourist city? Apparently my last 50+ years on earth misled me about the purpose of this commercial hub on the Great Lakes.; 5/6/16, 3:42 PM
Dan Hossley said...: People visiting Chicago are called "targets", not tourists.; 5/6/16, 3:51 PM
knox said...: If they *really* want tourists, they should recreate the White City.; 5/6/16, 4:17 PM
george said...: Chicago is The Windy City, right?; 5/6/16, 4:40 PM
Anonymous said...: When I hear the Phrase "Chicago River"

I think of "The Fugitive"

"If they can dye the Chicago River green on St Patrick's Day, why can't they dye it blue the other 364 days of the year"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwG2K-__2GA; 5/6/16, 5:16 PM
Michael K said...: "Well, at least they cant be mugged in those."

Exactly. I'm going to be there in June and I don't even like to go to Watertower Place anymore. All of North Michigan is gang territory.

I don't like what has happened to Los Angeles since I moved here from Chicago 60 years ago but at least you only get killed on the freeway here.; 5/6/16, 5:31 PM
buwaya said...: "Chicago is The Windy City, right?"

Little known fact, San Francisco is windier.; 5/6/16, 5:37 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: "Chicago is The Windy City, right?"

That was my thought too. Ridden enough ski lifts in the wind over the years to know that I really don't like it. Still remember the swaying riding up the Sears tower some four decades ago.; 5/6/16, 6:01 PM
Virgil Hilts said...: Sounds like the perfect setting for Nighthawks II. Both Rutger Hauer and Stallone are still around. Since its Chicago it would be a cool twist if this time Wulgar comes out on top. I can see Karen Lewis in a cameo as one of the brave hostages, and Rahm Emanuel playing himself and absolutely refusing to negotiate with the terrorists, leading to the dramatic but tragic ending that lights up the white city during a city wide debt-induced blackout.; 5/6/16, 6:47 PM
Virgil Hilts said...: I meant Wulfgar. I blame autocorrect.; 5/6/16, 6:55 PM
Big Mike said...: @george, true fact. At the time Chicago got its nickname "windy" was slang for "loud-mouthed." You can look it up.

Chicago's schools are failing and the city decides to spend a quarter of a billion dollars on this. Way to prioritize!; 5/6/16, 7:33 PM
buwaya said...: More money won't help the schools.
More money may help the pension funds, maybe, but it seems unlikely.; 5/6/16, 7:38 PM
MikeD said...: Corrupt bankrupt Chitown spending 1/4 billion dollars for a tourist view of gang murders? Oh, wait, it'll be a birds eye view of striking "teachers", somebody intimated pay for results, totally wrong, pay for showing up, sometimes/occasionally. Gotta love the public employee unions, the coal mine canaries for the dissolution of Nation!; 5/6/16, 8:05 PM
Rusty said...: Blogger CWJ said...
I think the "real" reason for this thing is to help keep Navy Pier going. A problem with Navy Pier is that its not close enough to any other attractions, and the walk to Navy Pier is a long and boring one. And once you're there, the pier itself is a bit of a hike as well. To look at the drawings, it appears that the only "commuters" who would benefit would have to live in Lake Point Tower.

Plus,like, the Daley family mke a shit pot of money off the concessions.; 5/6/16, 8:10 PM
traditionalguy said...: Interestingly the Chicago River that dumped into Lake Michigan was such a polluted mess in the late 1890s that Fresh water had to be piped back in from miles out into the Lake.

So they reversed the River flow by installing a canal lock at the Lake and digging a reversal ship canal to the Illinois River that carried the pollution into the Mississippi near St Louis.

Carl Sandburg's Hog Butcher for the world City with big shoulders builds whatever it needs.; 5/6/16, 9:13 PM
William said...: The lighting and isolation of the glass bubbles have a real potential to save lives, especially those of innocent bystanders.. I just don't understand how gang members will be able to entice their rivals to enter those glass bubbles.; 5/6/16, 10:20 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: It will never compete effectively in the marketplace with light rail.; 5/7/16, 4:11 AM
Anonymous said...: I took a train (Amtrak) from NYC to Chicago a few years ago. Just outside of the Windy City, somewhere in Indiana, our conductor gave a lecture on how to behave when we arrived, among other things she said: "Do not set you bags down anywhere in the station or around the station and do not accept any offers to carry your bags from any strangers. Only the Redcaps should carry your bags," or words to that effect. None of the train crew looked excited to get to this tourist destination.

Of course, if you close your eyes and wish very hard, while you are there, you can still see the remnants of the shattered Olympic dream lying about.; 5/7/16, 8:47 AM