It’s nice to know, now and again, that we’re not the only ones forced under intense scrutiny thanks to technology. We’ve been a little uncomfortable with the implications and aesthetics of the Chicago Police Department cameras sprouting high over intersections throughout the city and wondered about their effects on everything from privacy to real estate values. Last month, the city took things a big step further, mounting security cameras atop Jaume Plensa’s glass video towers in Millennium Park.
Devyn Caldwell, who writes the terrific Looper blog, registered his dismay at the cameras, as did his boyfriend, Mike Doyle, on his entertaining Chicago Carless blog. Devyn tipped off Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin, who wrote a story about the city’s addendum to Millennium Park artwork. The blog posts and follow-up Trib story created a tempest that reached both the artist and city officials, and yesterday, the cameras were removed.
Want something in your neighborhood removed, fixed, added? Want to harness the power of the Internet to inform, complain, praise? YoChicago makes it easy to sign up for a neighborhood journal and do just that. Go ahead, vent. You never know who might be listening.
