Scared space

De-engineering residential streets to make traffic safer

The folks down in Chatham are facing that dilemma so familiar to our migrant middle class families whose second homes consist of minivans or SUVs: As more and more young families with children move to

Why did the children not cross the road?

They no longer enjoy the freedom of their city

The setting was breakfast, the mood nostalgic. I and three aging friends sat talking about mobility. No, not our corroded knees or where to buy replacement tips for our canes. We were recalling our yo

Unicorns on the Sangamon

The scarcity of Harvard grads in Springfield

When asked by new acquaintances which of my many achievements I am most proud, I do not mention my bird imitations or my role (admittedly peripheral) in the Great Bran Flake Robbery in 1967. I tell th

Better boxes

The case against replacing Springfield High School

Having resolved to build new high school facilities it can’t pay for, the board of School District 186 is exploring several tax hike proposals that the voters won’t approve. The board&rsqu

Going ’round and ’round:

Roundabouts and the accident problem at Lawrence and MacArthur

For years the noise of vehicles colliding has been making the cats nervous around the intersection of MacArthur Boulevard and Lawrence Avenue. And for years the City of Springfield and residents on Sp

Just extra money

The folly of the mortgage interest tax deduction

For a day or two in late November, it was just like the old days on Wall Street — well, like 2008, anyway. The National Association of Realtors had reported that house sales had risen 10.1 perce

The Illinois budget is broken

Embracing the simple at the expense of the wise

The day after Veterans Day, we were reminded of another long-running war of attrition, in which clueless elected officials have been squandering resources in ways that threaten our security over the l

All is not well forever

Robert Fitzgerald’s youth in Springfield

All but a few members of the Springfield High School Hall of Fame are not in the least bit famous in Springfield. In the English-speaking bookish community, however, one of those anointed is celebrate

Underground movements

New solutions to the old problems of human remains

Watching TV around Halloween — when so many rotting corpses rise from the grave to threaten the unwary that it is easy to think that it is an election year — reminded me that dead people a

My life as a guide at the Lincoln law offices

I was out of school, out of work and out of ideas when the new owners of the Tinsley Building hired me. It was 1968, and they had just restored the building at Sixth and Adams, believing it prudent to