Hey Chicago, don’t smother the Friday Morning Swim Club in regulations

Swimmers joining the Friday Morning Swim Club at Montrose Harbor often brought playful — but illicit — inflatables, like this unicorn. One of the city’s concerns is the use of such flotation devices, which is against park district rules. (Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times)

I was working on April 13, 1992, and covered the Loop Flood, when the Chicago River poured through a crack into a forgotten freight tunnel and shut down businesses across downtown.

My central memory, besides the phalanx of six mounted Chicago policemen cantering up an otherwise deserted Wabash Avenue, is of the streets around City Hall.