It’s a normal rush-hour afternoon in the small northwest-side community called Ravenswood Manor. A van, speeding over the bumpy Wilson Avenue bridge, spins out of control. Kids on bicycles dodge the cars that drift through the stop signs. Intersections of residential tree-lined streets are jammed with traffic.
Both factions in the dispute agree that there is something special about Ravenswood Manor. Roughly, its boundaries on the south and north are Montrose and Lawrence avenues, and on the west and east Sacramento Avenue and the north branch of the Chicago River. It’s more suburban than nearby neighborhoods; there are fewer apartment buildings and more large single-family homes. “Many of these homes were built in the teens and early 20s,” says Holly Birnbaum, a Manor resident. “They were built for the doctors and lawyers of their time.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
The side streets in the Manor, however, were not built for so much traffic. There are too many kids playing on the sidewalks–and, perhaps, darting into the street–and too many cars parked along the sides. “After a while motorists start disobeying the rules,” says Friedman. “They think they’re still on Kedzie, so they drive too fast. Or they drift through stop signs instead of coming to a full stop. Or they’ll whiz down an alley at speeds as high as 40 miles an hour.”
Complicating matters is the fact that the Manor features among its residents an inordinately high number of experts–including traffic planners. “I was very surprised when I saw the intersection decisions that didn’t make sense,” says Weaver, a traffic planner for the state. “There are one-way patterns that are dangerous. Frankly, I was shocked that a process that took so long would produce this.”
“Remember–this is only a proposal,” added LaMotte. “Nothing is set in stone.”
