January 19, 1872 – A little over a year after
Chicago is destroyed by fire, the Chicago
Tribune reports on the progress being made at establishing a fire-proof
ordinance within the city. The City
Council, according to the article, is leaning toward a strict fire-proof
ordinance within the center of the city, but seems inclined to exempt “that
part of the South Division west of State and south of Twenty-fifth street, and
west of Halsted street; all of the West Division south and west of Halsted,
Rebecca, Throop, Twelfth, Reuben and Van Buren streets, and west of Western
avenue … all of the West Division beyond Western avenue, north and west of
Walnut and Reuben streets and Chicago avenue … in the North Division, all of
the territory north and west of Chicago avenue, Wells street, and North
avenue.” [Chicago Tribune, January 19, 1972] This plan, the article
indicates, “surrounds the city, north, west, and south, with a cordon, several
miles deep of wooden buildings.” The
plan seems to take special care to avoid damaging the lucrative house-moving
business, an industry the paper did not look upon with favor. “No man who erects a permanent building,” the
article states, “can tell the day when there may not be backed in on each side
of his building some old rotten tenement, to be rented out at extortionate
rates for prostitution, gambling, or other equally disreputable business.” Contained within the ordinance, though, is a
stipulation that whenever the owners of a majority of the ground on any block
outside of the fire district shall so request, that block shall come under the
provisions of the fire ordinance. The
paper urges the legislators to go farther, to make it unlawful “to erect any
wooden building, barn, or shed within 150 feet, in any direction, from a brick
or stone building already erected.” The
article ends with a plea to pass the legislation, “The passage of an ordinance
prohibiting the erection hereafter of any wooden buildings in the city, with
proper provision for the enforcement of the law, would be equal, in its
financial effects, to the free loan of several millions of dollars. It would relieve this city of an enormous indirect
tax, and would invite hither a large amount of capital for permanent
investment, which will avoid us if we continue to be a city of shanties.”
Also on this date from an earlier blog entry . . .
January 19, 2010 -- Researchers report that for the first time DNA of Asian carp has been found in Lake Michigan. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies quickly moved to allay fears about the invasive species spawning on the balconies of River North high rises, saying that there was still no evidence that live carp had entered the lake. Army Corps Major General John Peabody said, "The fact is that we don't know where the fish are. DNA tells us there is a presence in those areas and we've got to begin looking at whether we are getting false positives or negatives so we know what we're dealing with." Hours before the announcement the U. S. Supreme Court refused to address the carp issue, rejecting Michigan's request for an injunction that would force Illinois to stop any sources of water that might flow into Lake Michigan.
Also on this date from an earlier blog entry . . .
January 19, 2010 -- Researchers report that for the first time DNA of Asian carp has been found in Lake Michigan. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies quickly moved to allay fears about the invasive species spawning on the balconies of River North high rises, saying that there was still no evidence that live carp had entered the lake. Army Corps Major General John Peabody said, "The fact is that we don't know where the fish are. DNA tells us there is a presence in those areas and we've got to begin looking at whether we are getting false positives or negatives so we know what we're dealing with." Hours before the announcement the U. S. Supreme Court refused to address the carp issue, rejecting Michigan's request for an injunction that would force Illinois to stop any sources of water that might flow into Lake Michigan.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment