The streetscape improvement projects along Lincoln Avenue and Clark Street that we’ve been watching over the course of the construction season are just about finished, and you know what? They look pretty good.
Merchants who grumbled about the disruption and mess will have to agree that the brick crosswalks and parkway areas are a major step forward.
Unfortunately, the city announced earlier this summer that it didn’t have the money to move forward with the next proposed stage, which was supposed to extend the treatment north to Addison, and beyond. But the consolation here is that unlike similar projects in other neighborhoods, there has been no attempt to graft an “identity” on to these neighborhoods with the kind of theme park-y street furniture that looks so cheesy in Old Town and Lakeview.
So if the city had any plan to do so on Lincoln Avenue, budget constraints will luckily rule it out.