The 3 P’s of parking (P-1)

You’ve heard of the 4 P’s of marketing, right?  Product, price, promotion, and placement.  As regards existing parking, placement is a given.  But let’s look at the other 3 P’s of marketing/parking as they relate to the Emmett Street parking lot, which as previously noted (see Is there a parking problem?), is always at least half empty.

Product

You want a product that appeals to your customer. 

Thankfully, I periodically see workers cleaning up trash in the parking lot.  The pavement markings seem in pretty good shape, but the pavement could use repair in some places.  The fence around the lot also needs repair in a couple of spots, but these are not yet too troublesome.

Attendant station

But the presence of the abandoned attendant station in disrepair hadn’t even occurred to me until brought to my attention by someone who said this was one reason she did not use the parking lot.  I guesss having lived in the neighborhood long enough to remember when there was a

Café con Leche is now BYOB

Café con Leche’s long-awaited expansion at 2714 N. Milwaukee Avenue is ready to be experienced, even over a bottle of wine or beer — that you bring with.

For now, you’ll still order at the counter and bring your food into the expanded space (photo above).  Perhaps you’ll have picked up a bottle of something across the street at Red Star Liquors.  Enjoy a cozy conversation near the warm and inviting fireplace, a more solo pursuit on your laptop with free Wi-Fi, or watch some T.V. near the future bar area.   The hours have expanded too — until 10:00 p.m. every night.

And/or allow a little extra time on your weekday mornings to take advantage of a dine-in breakfast special.

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Fall diversions in Logan Square:

Phantom Gallery Chicago’s ”Chicago Revisionists” opening reception Friday, October 16, from 5:00 – 10:00 p.m. at 2827 N. Milwaukee Ave.; show continues Saturday and Sunday, October 17-18.

The Logan Square
ARTicipation Tour
continues with the family-friendly Victor M. Montañez/Know Art Gallery Open Studio Saturday, October 17, from 12:00 – 6:00 p.m. at 3036 N. Sawyer (dress to ARTicipate!); RSVP requested.

Milwaukee Avenue Art Walk 2009

Yes, it’s back.

Pick up a hot cider at New Wave Coffee or coffee at Café con Leche and take a stroll down Milwaukee Avenue between Logan Boulevard and Diversey Avenue to see the work of Logan Square artists and art about Logan Square on display in the storefront windows now through October 26.

While you’re there, take a look at what’s new on Milwaukee Avenue, and please let the business owners know that you appreciate their participation in events like this.

My thanks go out to all the artists, businesses and property owners for their participation.  And thanks also to Logan Square neighbor Erica Sims for helping me hang the art.

This year’s Milwaukee Avenue Art Walk starts small in size and ends in, well, “atmospheric” proportions, with much variety in between.  Here’s where you’ll find the art this year:

"Descending" by Dan Zamudio

• 2624 – “Descending” and “Lake Street” by Dan Zamudio 

Converting pavement for people

This year’s PARK(ing) Day on September 18 prompted New York Times’ By Design blogger Allison Arieff to write a piece on “Pavement to Parks,” which further prompted me to write this piece in the context of Open space and Milwaukee Avenue.

In writing about San Francisco’s Pavement to Parks program, which was apparently spurred on by New York City’s Plaza Program, Arieff writes:

(The) program creates spaces for people by reclaiming excess roadway, through the use of simple and low-cost design interventions.  What’s innovative about these parks isn’t so much the design as the implementation.  As Andres Power, urban designer at the San Francisco Planning Department explains, because there is no structure in place to do something like this “it fundamentally changes the old impasse of years of planning and just lets the space evolve over time.”

That last part about letting the space evolve over time got me thinking about the idea of permanently closing down Milwaukee Avenue between east- and westbound Logan Boulevard and Woodard Street