Fix Those Potholes Rahm
- Chicago taxpayers are likely on the hook to pay a $1.5 million settlement to a bicyclist who suffered brain damage and other injuries that left him with quadriplegia when he crashed into a barricade guarding a sunken catch basin in a late-night accident in the Wicker Park neighborhood.
Brian Baker was 23 years old when he hit the barricade in June 2009 while biking around 1:45 a.m. near Wabansia and Damen avenues, just north of the six-way intersection in the Wicker Park neighborhood, according to city attorney Leslie Darling.
We had some pictures up a year or more ago documenting the massive state of disrepair of the bike lanes one might see on the way to 26th and California. The boulevards are riddled with potholes, as are the bike lanes. Many even have weeds and assorted other flora growing there, curbs have crumbled and the lane markings are nonexistent. It points to a larger problem of decaying infrastructure across the city, but if crews didn't have to work around miles of unused bike lanes.
Labels: we got nothing
posted by SCC at 12:03 AM
44 Comments:
I'm a biker but I stick to bike paths. You fucking nuts if u take to the city streets on a bike. Even more so if you have kids with you. Darwin's law in action.
A lot of the Wicker park kids (hipsters) ride "Fixies" (bikes with no breaks). If that was the case here, I hope the city fights it.
the clown aldercrook arena refuses to fix milwaukee ave from foster to albion.time to vote his ass out next year.
So who do these avid bikers blame when they're biking in a forest preserve or out in the country and there bike hits a rut or a branch? The only perfect riding surface is a velodrome.
It's not just lane markings that are non-existent, SCC. Crosswalks, center lines, HYDRANT markings... all flat-out INVISIBLE in this city.
I thought it was all about THE CHILDREN! Aren't these pretty clearly 'safety issues', Rahm? Are you skimping on lane markings and other safety painting just to save a buck?
Spending Billions of dollars rebuilding others parts of the world. No soup for you!
What a crock of shit. Biking at 1:45am when he ran into the barricade the city put up to protect people from running into collapsed sewer. Probably never felt a thing after a night of bar hopping... But the nanny state council hands out 1.5 million to the douche...
Was the guy drunk? Did he have a light on the front of his bike? Granted the city needs to accelerate the time it takes when a hole is identified and ultimately fixed, but was there any negligence on this guy's part for failing to perceive the hazard and take measures to avoid the hole?
Aha Grasshopper, if the bike lanes were not is such terrible shape and full of deep potholes, than they would not be unused. And is the city/county would use prisioner labor in street repairs it would not cost so much to repair the streets.
And the guy was drinking with no helmet, so that certainly was a help to him falling in a pothole. But legally it doesn't matter.
The Suntimes has a bit better coverage:
http://politics.suntimes.com/article/chicago/15-million-settlements-tied-alleged-city-negligence/tue-06242014-303pm
the bike lanes even have sewer covers that are turned in such a manner that a road bikes skinny tires will fall right into the slots sending the rider for a head over the handlebars. seen it happen more than once and if you swerve around the manhole cover then you're outta the bike lane and risk getting hit by traffic.
It's really a poor and negligent design.
I mean they obviously thought all ya gotta do is slap down some paint to make a white line and you're done. Ya gotta bike lane
Any bicyclist suing the city for the condition of the streets should get a percentage of their lawsuit based on that which they pay into the system. That would be ZERO%. They pay NOTHING in gasoline/license/permits/taxes. They are a law-ignoring nuisance who should collect based on what they pay! Sorry for your loss, but it's a gain to the motoring majority.
" . . . left him with quadriplegia when he crashed into a barricade guarding . . "
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If you read the ENITE story you will read HE WAS DRUNK.
The barricade was set up so no one would fall / drive into it.
Why should WE pay for this drunken Logan Square hipster for his stupidity?
Fix those potholes? You silly goose, we have many, many useless projects to fund like a multi-million dollar skatepark at 31st street . . . oh wait, the people that use those parks are "potholes". Now I get it.
So we are now responsible for every bike rider that hits an obstacle or falls in a pothole. Jesus Christ! Thanks Mayors Daley and Emmanuel for that HUGE liability hanging over our heads.
Lets build more bike lanes!!!!! Fellow taxpayers, what do you say?
The 9 didgit midget angrily argued that they were not pot holes, instead , they are really rabbit holes. He's getting the city council together to "Ban Rabbits" from Chicago in an effort to save our streets.
He crashed into a barricade blocking off a pothole? Wasn't he watching where he was going? And gee,at past 1 in the morning riding a bicycle? Was his D.L. suspended?
Hit the wall. Poor kid, but I bet he was a little intoxicated too.
Yeah, but George Lucas is going to get millions in city incentives to build his glorified storage closet and the police pension fund still is not funded. Rahm's strategy is to patch, paste,cover over, hillbilly rig, etc. until he gets re-elected and then moves on to serve his real masters, The Clinton's.
The potholes are terrible. I am shocked that Rahm hasn't ordered them fixed. Even his pretty north side neighborhood is full of them.
I still find this to be a stupid settlement. The guy was drunk and riding without a helmet. Crashed into a barricade. If you can't see a barricade then you don't deserve to be on a bike.
I think the city needs some new lawyers.
this ain't LA Rahm....
The potholes, decaying infrastructure etc. is just going to have to wait. Rahm's got Maggie Daley park and the DePaul Arena to fund.
Priorities you know.
City can't paint lane markings on LSD. Maybe after they install tolls?
Anonymous Anonymous said...
So we are now responsible for every bike rider that hits an obstacle or falls in a pothole. Jesus Christ! Thanks Mayors Daley and Emmanuel for that HUGE liability hanging over our heads.
Lets build more bike lanes!!!!! Fellow taxpayers, what do you say?
6/25/2014 05:22:00 AM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
the clown aldercrook arena refuses to fix milwaukee ave from foster to albion.time to vote his ass out next year.
6/25/2014 12:13:00 AM
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Arena is backing the plan to ELIMINATE one whole car lane from Milwaukee Avenue in that area. He plans a FULL ten or twelve foot wide BIKE LANE, which will decimate whatever businesses are still open along Milwaukee, because they won't be able to get deliveries at the curb anymore.
You might want to get to that community meeting the first week of July and voice your opinions about potholes and bike lanes and traffic congestion out that way. Since I'm a big Milwaukee Ave user, I'm going to be there. Rahm's 'traffic calming' plan is rapidly becoming a traffic gridlock plan.
Get rid of the fuking bike lanes that's just the beginning every jag off that falls off his bike now will sue...more stupid shit city of chiraq DOOMED
Talk about useless bike lanes. I was driving on Narragansett, Irving to Belmont, and saw a "bike lane", but it was filled with parked cars. Exactly where does the City expect the bikes to ride at? On top of and over parked cars? Not much thought went into this flop, just lots of useless white paint and man hours wasted. The City would have been better off just fixing some of their several months old, super-large potholes, instead. Now it's going to cost them boo-koo bucks, because of their negligence and stupidity. No, I don't think a drunken bike rider should be riding his bike drunk at 1AM, but I have much less sympathy for the "City that Doesn't Work". This crap has been going on way too long. Fix the potholes already, instead of making all of us wait.
014 said...
" . . . left him with quadriplegia when he crashed into a barricade guarding . . "
If you read the ENITE story you will read HE WAS DRUNK.
The barricade was set up so no one would fall / drive into it.
Why should WE pay for this drunken Logan Square hipster for his stupidity?
6/25/2014 02:57:00 AM
If you read the entire story, you should have noticed that the barricade was set up IN the hole, not in front of it. I see these barricades (or cones) in holes all the time, and it's just more lazy stupidity from the city.
"""A lot of the Wicker park kids (hipsters) ride "Fixies" (bikes with no breaks). If that was the case here, I hope the city fights it."""
They will lose.
I can't wait to hit a gigantic pothole on my motorcycle, or better yet one of those stupid crosswalk signs bolted to the middle of the street, while trying to avoid someone making a left turn in front of me. Pay me MF'ers !!!!
How am I supposed to watch for THE CHILDREN, when my head is down looking for potholes that could put a bad ending on an otherwise nice day??
Politicians just don't get it......
It's not just lane markings that are non-existent, SCC. Crosswalks, center lines, HYDRANT markings... all flat-out INVISIBLE in this city.
I thought it was all about THE CHILDREN! Aren't these pretty clearly 'safety issues', Rahm? Are you skimping on lane markings and other safety painting just to save a buck?
6/25/2014 12:14:00 AM
Totally agree with you on this one, just was saying the other day road markings are virtually non-existent, even the new bike lanes have worn out quite a bit. It seems like they just mark the road once when repaving and thats it !!! They come up with these ideas like the bike lanes and those state signs in the middle of the road highlighting crosswalks , yet when they wear out or get knocked out they are not replaced !!! Why waste money in the first place if they are not going to be maintained !!!
Responding to the poster who said that bicyclists pay zero towards the upkeep of the streets - your argument isn't very well thought out, is it?
I ride my bicycle all the time on the streets but we also own two cars and live in Chicago. That's a sunk cost every year (2 license plates, 2 city stickers, taxes levied when we fill them up with gas) whether my car leaves the garage or not. Anytime I am riding my bicycle, I'm not doing anything close to the amount of damage to the streets that my cars do, am I?
Don't worry I'm sure they're charging you to fix streets even though they ain't.
Rahm and the 50 losers are all drunk too what a sorry shape we are in.
Captain Conspiracy Pop Quiz:
Why the abundance of potholes since our glorious new mayor's crowning?
a) The new crop of kickback cronies demand equal treatment under the unwritten kickback rules.
b) City 'workers' do not fear the prick, thus settle to their natural level of job performance.
c) A shortage crisis in the supply of materials, due to the Chinese running low on expendable citizens to use as paving, has resulted in no wiggle room in costs for the aforementioned kickback standards to be met.
d) The Water Department will be tearing up the streets in the near future, so some ecologically minded city planners have decided to let nature get the process started.
e) Our aforementioned newly anointed mayor truly believes that he doesn't need to give a fuck.
f) In the obamanation, things for the rabble to complain about are not merely expected, they are required. After all, the obamanites have to have something to blame on everyone else, besides all of their own bullshit.
g) It's all part of the master plan. Who do we peons think we are, to question our betters.
h) The potholes are needed to counterbalance the speed bumps.
i) Some connected person, or persons, are heavily invested in the auto repair industry.
j) It's a Republican plot. Oh yeah, I forgot. There are no Republicans within the confines of the New Camelot.
k) The crowned one says, "Let them eat cake!".
l) It's just an additional tool in the campaign to encourage a reduction in the use of fossil fuels. Ya know, like friggin' 5 buck a gallon gasoline.
m) what, you thought this quiz was gonna cover the entire alphabet?
What happened to fixing 20,000 Potholes a Second or what ever the B.S. Lie was.
That one was as good as his promise to ADD 1,000 more Police Officers.
You said ADD Rahm, not SUBTRACT.
We have more than 1,000 LESS.
Not MORE.
the clown aldercrook arena refuses to fix milwaukee ave from foster to albion.time to vote his ass out next year.
6/25/2014 12:13:00 AM
-----------------
Arena is backing the plan to ELIMINATE one whole car lane from Milwaukee Avenue in that area. He plans a FULL ten or twelve foot wide BIKE LANE, which will decimate whatever businesses are still open along Milwaukee, because they won't be able to get deliveries at the curb anymore.
You might want to get to that community meeting the first week of July and voice your opinions about potholes and bike lanes and traffic congestion out that way. Since I'm a big Milwaukee Ave user, I'm going to be there. Rahm's 'traffic calming' plan is rapidly becoming a traffic gridlock plan.
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yes I plan on going....from what I understand though,arenas toadies are planning on filtering the participants beforehand,so he can skew the audience.should be good.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
this ain't LA Rahm....
6/25/2014 09:03:00 AM
SURE it is!!! Now he intends to tear up our precious lakefront to build a private 'museum' (really, a private entertainment venue)for George Lucas.
CARPETBAGGER, go home to Washington, D.C. Leave our city alone before it is completely destroyed by you and your ilk !!
Merit sergeant DEMOTED. First time for everything!
I have no sympathy for this drunk bike rider. it's his own fault. The city, and that means we taxpayers, should not be forced to pay for this moron's stupidity for riding his tricycle drunk.
Anonymous said...
Merit sergeant DEMOTED. First time for everything!
No way,more to the story
yes I plan on going....from what I understand though,arenas toadies are planning on filtering the participants beforehand,so he can skew the audience.should be good.
Idiot,then lie and act like your one of Arena's guys to get in and then do you thing. Duh,pretty simple to figure that out.
drinking and no helmet. bad thing happene d, but why are on the hook? get a dui law passed for cycling. what if he hurt or killed a pedestrian?
12:34am is correct, ass wipe was out drinking till 1:45 am, and crashes into a barricade and we have to pay, BS is what I say, Rat face and this city sucks.
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