If Chicago officials are serious about reviving State Street, they should pedestrianize it.
The idea would generate attacks, as the semi-pedestrian mall on State Street in 1979 to 1986 was a failure, but there are a couple key differences.
The Loop now boasts some 46,000 residents, whereas the area had at most 1,000 or so inhabitants in the era of the mall. Most residents of the Loop today are affluent with the money to spend.
In addition, the Loop is now among Illinois’ biggest “college towns,” rivaling or even exceeding traditional burgs like Carbondale, Evanston and Urbana-Champaign for student population. Students love night life, eateries and art.
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Merchants would lay into the idea of a pedestrianized State Street, fearing it would diminish spending, but they should talk to their peers on La Rambla in Barcelona, Spain; the Third Street Promenade in Los Angeles; and Cat Street in Tokyo. They would say that a lively, safe and fun pedestrianized street drives business, rather than hinders it.
Officials should be smart about it, as the previous mall felt half-hearted, with exhaust-belching buses and thousands of taxis plying the thoroughfare.
Chicago boasts a deep bench of architectural talent to make a pedestrianized State Street a success, whether with a modernist, traditional or some new-fangled flavor. In contrast, the old pedestrian mall was tacky, aping a tawdry suburban mall.
Chicago would have a nearly unbeatable one-two punch for urban charm with a pedestrianized State Street two blocks from Millennium Park.
Craig Barner, Lincoln Square
Take action to protect kids from big tech
For too long, Big Tech has been running a national experiment on our kids – and the results are abysmal. The mental health crisis among teens and pre-adolescents has skyrocketed.
We now know from research that the algorithms used by social media companies are feeding harmful content to kids — including pro-anorexia videos, school shooting simulations and promotions of illegal substances — that is worsening the crisis.
Even the U.S. surgeon general has warned that social media platforms pose a “profound risk of harm.” Meanwhile, Big Tech companies that expose children to harmful content make ever-bigger profits from our kids’ data and ad-watching.
This harm is not unintentional: These companies know what they’re doing, and they’re profiting off it. The parent company of Instagram and Facebook, Meta, derives $230 million per year from content that promotes eating disorders, according to a 2022 report from the organization Fairplay, which focuses on kids’ safety. This content is viewed by children as young as 9 or 10.
It is a critical time to pass the Kids Online Safety Act and give parents tools to help protect their kids. The Act is backed by experts including the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Children are in crisis. We must respond. This legislation has bipartisan and general public support. Each of us must urge our senators to cosponsor KOSA. Do your part to help our kids.
Dr. Kim Dennis, co-founder, CEO and chief medical officer
SunCloud Health, Northbrook
