[glowrock]

Originally Posted by thegoatman

Even in the downtown area, the city institutes shitty land usage near stations. No way a Mcdonalds that look like it belongs in Orland Park should have been allowed to be built right next to the Grand/Chicago red line subway stop.

Now a city that does TOD right? DC. Even in suburban VA, there's tons of good infill development near every station. Here are some examples.

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8828...8i6656!5m1!1e2

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8871...8i8192!5m1!1e2

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9111...8i6656!5m1!1e2

2/3 of these are in suburban Arlington. Notice the mix of high rises, mid rises, and dense infill.

Now lets do Chicago...

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8911...8i8192!5m1!1e2

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9035...8i8192!5m1!1e2

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9166...8i8192!5m1!1e2


Now I picked prime real estate blue line neighborhoods to show. If I were to show the orange line or green line stops you would see nothing but vacant lots and parking lots. Now is it the worst? No, but compare these 3 to the one I shown for the DC area, not even touching it. Every single L stop needs to be upzoned asap. Love this city but it needs the right leadership to realize its true potential, especially transit wise. Strip malls, drive thrus, and parking lots should be banned anywhere within a mile of an L station.

While I agree with you about upzoning, you're failing to understand that the Milwaukee Ave corridor never had much in the way of highrises, always a pretty dense commercial low to midrise corridor. As you already know, of course, the areas around Grand and Chicago are rapidly densifying. Damen/North is already very commercially dense, Western is rapidly getting much better, etc... Division/Ashland definitely needs work, no doubt about it.

Aaron (Glowrock)