FOR many people Chicago is the quintessential American city, an extraordinary artefact in the middle of the heartland, where tall buildings reach for the heavens, overhead railways rattle above the sidewalks, politicians rule by machine and immigrants are fashioned into citizens of the world's first new nation.
"Now is the time to make sure that these new spaces, which are not parks, which are not sidewalks, have basic rules in place to ensure they can be used by everyone," Wiener told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Under the new rules, repeat sidewalk puffers could find their names published in the newspapers and face fines as high as $165.
It was around that time that rules against sidewalk encroachments got tighter — at least on the avenues, where automobiles needed more room — and stoops, window bays and other projections were stripped away.
For many people, the unwritten rules of sidewalk choreography now include this: if what I'm reading or watching on my phone is sufficiently interesting to me, it's entirely up to you to get out of my way, just as if I were very frail, or three years old, or blind.
Wan sunlight bathes the sidewalks, a pale fluorescence rules the night and the sight of falling snow carries a palpable chill.
"The problem with getting a sidewalk, it gets into city rules.
They vow to fight this bill, pointing out that among other things, the Department of Buildings doesn't have enough staff members to enforce the rules, and illicit sidewalk shed ads will quickly proliferate.
The Police Department and Department of Consumer Affairs have dusted off all the rule books, ticketing sidewalk vendors for all types of violations that had not been enforced in decades and, in some cases, are still not enforced elsewhere.
It's time to create a citywide permit system to allow vendors to sell on sidewalks and in parks, with rules to allow pedestrian passage, to encourage safe and nutritious food and to collect sales taxes to help city finances.
