City Removes Rat Hole. Nooooo!

A preview of my story this week in Inside—Booster:

The Rat Hole: Before and After

The Chicago Department of Transportation removed the section of sidewalk in Roscoe Village on Wednesday with the animal impression frozen in the concrete—Chicago’s famous “Rat Hole.”

Early last Wednesday, CDOT workers removed and replaced sections of sidewalk and curb in the 1900 block of West Roscoe containing the Rat Hole. The animal impression in concrete has drawn nationwide attention in recent months. By mid-afternoon, a new sidewalk was poured. By early evening, the concrete had set and the forms were removed putting an end to the Rat Hole which some accounts said had been in place for twenty years.

CDOT’s Ambrosio Medrano, Jr., on the scene at the time of the removal said that the section of the sidewalk with the impression of the rodent was preserved and is in the possession of CDOT. Medrano said that the Rat Hole sidewalk would be given to the City’s Rodent Control Office in the Department of Streets and Sanitation. CDOT officials later would not confirm plans for the Rat Hole.

The animal impression gained notoriety in early January 2024 when a local artist posted his rat sculpture with the “rat hole.” Since then, it has blown up social media and news reports. A wedding is reported to have taken place at the Rat Hole. For a while in February, lines formed in the 1900 block of Roscoe to examine and leave tribute at the Rat Hole. It was regularly filled with coins like a European fountain, only smaller, and with a Chicago flair.

At least one purported expert who studied the Rat Hole believes that the impression is actually that of a squirrel that fell out of an adjacent large tree into wet cement when the sidewalk was first poured some twenty years ago. The impression is consistent with the anatomy of a squirrel rather than that of a rat was his hypothesis.

“This is definitely something we have not encountered before,” said Paul Sajovec, Alderman Waguespack’s chief of staff. Alderman Waguespack’s office has had lots and lots of complaints since January and February when people started visiting the 1900 block of Roscoe to check out the Rat Hole. Sajovec said, “the City’s 311 call center had received and forwarded numerous call to Alderman Waguespack’s office.

Alderman Waguespack contacted CDOT in late January or early February to “raise the issue” since this is a City infrastructure issue. Alderman Waguespack also discussed the Rat Hole directly with CDOT Commissioner Tom Karney.

“Some people were very vocal about immediately removing the sidewalk,” Sajovec said. The Alderman did not side with people who demanded that it be removed.

“It was CDOT’s decision to replace the sidewalk,” Sajovec said. It is not known when CDOT decided to remove sidewalk.

After reports of the Rat Hole removal, Alderman Waguespack’s office received mixed feedback from community members.

“Some people are pleased; some people are very upset [with removal of the Rat Hole]. The reactions are all over the board,” Sajovec said.  

This reporter’s tweet about the removal of the Rat Hole generated 462,000 view in two days on Twitter—also know as X.

CDOT had a slightly different take on removing the Rat Hole. “This sidewalk removal and replacement was in coordination with the Alderman's office and is funded through the 32nd Ward’s Aldermanic menu funds,” CDOT responded to Inside’s inquiry about how the removal came about.

“CDOT surveyed the sidewalk earlier this year and is replacing several other small sections of damaged sidewalk on Roscoe Street through CDOT's 311 hazardous sidewalk program,” wrote CDOT’s Erica Schroeder, the public information officer.

“[T]he square of concrete containing the "rat hole" is with CDOT's Division of In-House construction currently. Future plans are not confirmed, but I will certainly keep you posted once those are finalized.”

Stay tuned. We will have to see where the Rat Hole ends up.

Lane Tech Broadcaster Alex Burstein set to Graduate and Conquer the World

A preview of my upcoming Inside—Booster article 

By Jack Lydon

Alex Burstein is going to be famous someday. That day may be soon. The eighteen-year-old Lane Tech senior is a young man on a mission and that mission is well underway. Alex broadcasts Lane Tech football, basketball, volleyball and baseball games on Lane Tech’s You Tube channel.

“Tonight (April 24 game against Von Steuben) was my 163rd broadcast,” Alex said. “I do every baseball home game. And for basketball it’s home and away. I also do home games for girls’ volleyball and football. I also did one or two flag football and boys soccer games. I’ve done the boys basketball games since freshman year. I have done the baseball games since sophomore year.”

To prepare for each broadcast, “I keep notes. I email the coach a week in advance. I talk to the opposing coach in advance. I look up the opposing players on Twitter and news articles. Even if it’s one or two notes about a player. Parents really love when they hear me say something about a player,” said Alex.

The Rogers Park eighteen-year-old, whose brother Simon is a junior at Lane, has known what he wants to do from an early age.

“Growing up I was always interested in sports, but I was not great at sports. In fifth grade, I realized that I wanted to do this as a career. I wanted to find a way to work in sports,” Burstein said.

“Before [Alex] even started at Lane, I was in the stadium for a state soccer game. He hunted me down trying to talk about next year’s football team,” said Lane Tech men’s basketball coach and former athletic director Nick LoGalbo.

“Broadcasting is my thing that I do out of school. I put a lot of time into it. Basketball season is usually three games a week. Baseball is three to four a week. I also work with the school newspaper as a co-editor-in-chief,” Alex said.

In addition to broadcasting, Alex is one of three editors-in-chief for the Lane Tech school newspaper, the Champion. Oh, and his grade point average is 5.07 on a four-point scale. His tireless work in and out of school has landed Alex a full ride scholarship to Syracuse University where he will major in broadcast journalism with a minor in political science.

Alex has a gained a certain celebrity in the Lane Community. “The parents, a lot of them watch. But also the coaches. LoGalbo doesn’t love it because a lot of the coaches get film on him. So a couple times this year we “privated” video. There is not a lot of programs like this in Chicago. It’s nice to get recognition,” Alex said.

As for the players, “they all think it’s pretty cool.”

“I have been doing this now for almost 20 years. He is one of the most special people that has come out of our school,” LoGalbo said.

“For what he does, he is driven by such a clear north star and sense of purpose. It’s really crazy to see that. To have a young man like that who has had a such a clear sense of purpose and direction, he’s done wonders for our school and our athletic department.”

“Him getting a full scouting report on us for other teams when they watch his live broadcasts hasn’t been awesome but if you are a good coach you are going to do your scouting anyway,” LoGalbo admitted.

“Alex does his homework on the other teams too. He has called every coach that we have played for the last four years to get their starting lineup, to get their story to get their records. It’s no wonder he’s got a full ride to Syracuse. We’ll see him on ESPN one night.”

Last year after Lane’s varsity basketball game at Whitney Young, legendary Dolphins’ head coach Tyrone Slaughter went over to Alex who was broadcasting from a table on the sideline and said to Alex, “I am a huge fan. I watch you on You Tube. You do a great job. I find it very helpful.”

Lane head baseball coach Sean Freeman praised Burstein as well. “He is a huge piece of Lane. Not only does he do all the sports games; he is head of the paper. He does a lot for the community as far as getting out all the good things that are happening. He has been an invaluable piece of our program, the football program, the basketball program and covering school wide news.”

“I think it’s a great thing [that Alex broadcasts our games]. We have people all over the country that are now able to watch our games. My parents live in Colorado. Up until last year, neither of them had seen any of our games live, now they are able to watch every home game because he puts those on-line. If the other teams get a little scouting edge on us, in my book, it’s worth it overall,” said Freeman.

“I am not surprised that [Alex] has a high GPA. He’s been part of our publication here for his four years. He did not take journalism as a freshman but he contacted me” to get involved, said Lane Tech English and journalism teacher and newspaper advisor David Strom. 

“Alex became the sports editor pretty early in his sophomore year. He has been co-editor-in-chief his junior and senior years. He has a ton of experience with reporting and writing. That’s a huge advantage. He is a leader in our classroom and our staff. He collaborates with first year journalism students. He will go along on an interview with someone who is new. That is hugely valuable for me as a teacher,” Strom said.

“He carries himself like a professional and he has just been there. And he does really good work. I have seen the improvement he has made. People recognize that and think highly of him because of it,” Strom said.

Favorite experience as a Lane broadcaster, “probably Wrigley Field. That’s hard to beat. So the City Championship last year for baseball, that was pretty cool. For basketball, I’ve done the Chicago Elite classic every year. My freshman year, they had me on radio row at DePaul’s Wintrust arena. That was early on but that was hard to beat. This past summer I went to Israel to cover the Maccabiah Games. Just calling games there was really cool. That was probably my favorite,” Alex said.

As for favorite broadcasters, “I would say it’s Pat Hughes, the Cubs’ radio broadcaster. That’s my dream job, Cubs’ radio. For basketball, it’s Adam Amin, Bulls’ TV broadcaster. He also does a lot of national work with Fox Sports. That’s my other dream job because he does so many other sports,” Alex added.

“Broadcasting has been my main extracurricular. That and the school newspaper. I am the editor-in-chief of the school paper. Those two are the heart of my college applications. I think it helps a lot. I have a demo real that I submitted to a couple schools. I wrote my essay about going to Israel and transitioning from being an athlete to be a broadcaster. I am going to Syracuse. I am majoring in broadcast digital journalism. My goal is to do this professionally. I really like sports journalism but I really like political journalism. I am probably going to do minors in sports analytics and political science.”

As for a color commentator on his broadcasts, “it’s hard to find someone to do it. The biggest thing is that the kids who care most about sports that could be a color commentator are the kids playing. It would be ideal to have a color commentator, but I think it’s good practice [for me] to do both rolls,” Alex said.

As for the equipment used, “it’s a mix. I bought a lot of the audio equipment,” Alex said. [The school has] helped with a couple GoPros and stuff so it’s a mix.”

“They are all really supportive. The broadcasts are on the school’s You Tube channel. They kind of have let me do whatever I want to do with it. All the administrators know about it and they watch. There is a lot of support. And obviously, with the coaches too.”

You can find Alex’s broadcasts on the Lane Tech You Tube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@lanetechathletics743/videos

At Wrigley Field for the CPS Baseball City Championship Game

I had the good fortune to cover the Lane v. Brooks CPS City Championship on Monday at Wrigley Field. I was in the photo well adjacent, really just part of the Cubs dugout. Very cool.

My article about the game which appears in today’s Inside Booster, Skyline and News Star and is also posted on this blog. I posted my photos from the game there. Many of the photos are unremarkable but I want to put them up so players and coaches might see themselves and others can get a better feeling for the action.

I parked for free in the Cubs “Camry Lot” on Grace. By chance, Quinn Harris and Kirsten Stickney pulled in behind me. Quinn and Kirsten are two of the best photographers anywhere. I have been lucky enough to get to know them some from shooting high school sports over the past few years. I have learned a great deal from them. They are wonderful people eager to help me. I greatly appreciate that.

Quinn takes the most beautifully exposed, colored and composed photos one will see anywhere. Kirsten’s gift for the reaction shot is unequaled. I try to get those shots but never come close to here level. Being there with them made it all the more special for me. Quinn took Kristen and I on a little tour of Wrigley and where to get the best shots. He shots at Wrigley quite a bit.

After the game, I was sitting at a table in the dugout working on my story and Pearl Jam’s “Someday We’ll Go All the Way” song come over the sound system. I got a little choked up.

I have known for some time that it is not advisable to both a photograph and report on the same game. When I started this amateur sports coverage stuff for Patrick Boylan and Mike Foucher’s Center Square Journal eleven years ago, I learned that if I try to do both, I do both poorly. I had to choose one or the other. I choose photography because I like it more. I am better at it than writing.

But I was at Wrigley to do a job. And so I did. I felt like a real working reporter. Frankly, it’s not something I are really up to. My wordsmithing could use plenty of help. I write these articles at the expense of my vanity, because there just isn’t enough reporting on high school sports out there. Michael O’Brien and Mike Clark can’t be everywhere.

As excited as I was to be shooting at Wrigley Field, I knew I really did not have the proper equipment to shoot a baseball game at a major league ball park. One really needs a 400mm/f 2.8 lens. My 7D with the 300mm lens is roughly that equivalent but the quality is greatly reduced—basically a poor man’s rig for the job. But that what I have, so I used it to some effect. I also have a 1Dx so its not like I don’t have good enough stuff. My failings as a photographer are not for want of good equipment. It’s just more suited to basketball.

This day, I concentrated on writing the article for Inside Publications. Throughout the game I kept asking myself, “what is the story of the game?” It didn’t take long to see that the story was how Lane Tech’s junior pitcher, Josh Katz, to over the game.

I cannot overstate how impressed I am with the poise of this young man. He is either 16 or 17 years old and yet he took the mound at Wrigley Field like a seasoned major league veteran and retired the first six batters he faced—1, 2, 3—in the first two innings.

When I spoke to him after the game, I could see just how genuinely excited and happy he was just to be playing at Wrigley Field. He did what he could to take it all in. After the game, I got some shots of him walking out into the infield in the direction of the bleachers just to soak it in.

In my questions, I brought it all back to baseball asking about what pitches he was throwing. He seemed even more excited talking about how his two-seamer was riding in on the hands of the Brooks batters.

Baseball is such a beautiful game played on the grass field between one's ears. Josh Katz gets it. His catcher Zach Shashoua gets it. Lane Tech manager Sean Freeman gets it. The whole Lane Tech Baseball Team, all 500 of them, get it.

I’m not Frank Deford or Rick Telander writing eloquently about the majesty of baseball. But I sure experienced the majesty of the game, our national pastime, at Wrigley Field on Monday. Truly a wonderful experience.

Last Day in My House

I sold my house in July and moved out on August 8, 2021. I lived in this house almost half my life. These are the photos that I took that day. I didn’t have to move everything out because the house is being torn down. I just left what I could not keep.

Should I continuing writing?

Sun-Times writer Mike Clark came to the DePaul Prep stadium opener to cover the Marian Catholic game for his main job as preps editor for the Northwest Indiana Times. It’s always great to see Mike. He is such a great guy and so much fun to talk to about prep sports. Just so much knowledge.

He asked me how I liked writing.

“Sports writing is hard,” I told him.

I like to think of myself as a competent writer. Most of what I do is technical writing. I concentrate on clarity and brevity. That should translate to sports writing I thought. I was not looking to win any Pulizer prizes. Just say what happened and publish a photo. Four or five weeks into writing pieces for Inside Publications, such as they are, I am not so sure it’s a good idea. My writing hasn’t been good. And by that I mean, it’s “bad.”

Ten years ago, I started covering sports and politics for Patrick Boylan’s Center Square Journal. It was hard and time consuming. I gave it up to concentrate on photography. I love the photography. I have gotten pretty good at it. It’s opened doors for me.

I knew all this when I approached Inside about writing a prep sports column. My thinking was I don’t have to write well. Who really cares? I didn’t want to be so proud that if I can’t do it as well as real sports writers, I won’t do it at all. There is so little coverage of high school sports that people will just be glad to have more. The Inside publisher loved the idea. He didn’t seem concerned with my amateur status.

As I was talking to Mike outside the DePaul Prep stadium, he clearly had read my articles although he graciously never said as much.

“You are telling a story. Nobody wants to hear too much of the game action,” he said. “Just figure out what the story is and write about it.”

Mike is so right. His gentle advise affirmed my thinking. He inspired me to keep going. He pointed me in the right direction on how to be a good sports writer.

Thanks Mike.

Why is Texas Suing Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin to Overturn Election

The State of Texas filed a complaint in the United States Supreme Court against Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin and Michigan asking to enjoin [those state’s] use of the 2020 election results to appoint presidential electors and authorize those states to conduct a special election to appoint presidential electors or to direct such State’s legislatures to appoint a new set of presidential electors or to appoint no electors at all.

And it’s not just Texas. President Trump is attempting to intervene with his own complaint. Twenty-two other states are supporting the lawsuit as friends of the court. And lots of congressmen and state legislators too.

Basically, Texas and the other sycophants are saying that four other states’ presidential election results should be thrown out.

Really? Seriously? Seems a little drastic.

You probably don’t know this about me but I have been interested in the little details in the Constitution, for a long time; details such as the kinds of cases for which the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction, (meaning that’s where one files the case). I remembered that suits between states are one of those few kinds of cases. U. S. Constitution, Article 3, Section 2, Clause 2. (I didn’t remember the cite. I had to look that up.)

So I got the complaint from the Supreme Court’s website and I read it.

Texas claims that government officials “weakened ballot integrity” through “executive fiat” or “friendly lawsuits” and “flooded states with millions of ballots to be sent through the mail, or placed in drop boxes with little or no chain of custody and, at the same time, weakened the strongest security measures protecting the integrity of the vote . . ..” Complaint at pp. 1-2.

Okay, that’s crazy talk but, just for our purpose here, suppose it is true. What is the legal theory? What law gives the Supreme Court the authority to overturn election results in Pennsylvania?

Texas suggest that it is the U. S. Constitution’s Electors Clause, Article 1, Clause 2. I confess that’s a new one on me. The Electors Clause provides that “[e]ach State shall appoint, in such manner at the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors . . ..”

So I guess the theory goes that the electors appointed, or soon to be appointed, in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin, were not appointed in the manner directed by the legislature, i.e., by executive fiat, friendly lawsuits and flooding states with millions of weak security ballots.

As we all know, the Federal Courts have been tightening up the notice pleading standard after Twombly. Plus, we’ve got Rule 9(b) that requires that fraud claims be plead with particularity.

So what in particular did the election officials do to appoint electors in violation of the manner directed by their legislatures? This is where the train leaves the Twombly tracks.

Let’s look at the actual allegations of fact about vote stealing:

Pennslyvania

Pennsylvania Supreme Court extended the deadline to accept non-postmarked ballots for three days after the election. ¶48.

Pennsylvania allowed people to cure defective mail in ballots. ¶50.

According to Republican legislators in PA, there were lots of ballot irregularities. ¶55-58.

Georgia

Authorized ballot processing before election day. ¶67

Court ruling made it far more difficult to challenge signatures. ¶70.

Michigan

Michigan secretary of state sent millions of absentee ballot applications to voters. ¶81-84

Michigan secretary of state allowed on-line absentee ballot applications.¶85

Wayne county didn’t stamp ballot return envelopes as verified. ¶93.

One guy, Jesse Jacob, was instructed not to look at signatures on ballot envelopes. ¶94

Lots of ballots were counted without a registration number for precincts in Detroit which meant ballots were counted multiple times. ¶97.

Wisconsin.

Wisconsin used unmanned ballot drop boxes. ¶110.

Wisconsin officials were letting indefinitely confined citizens register to vote without a photo ID. ¶116-126

One guy in Wisconsin said postal workers back dated ballots. ¶127.

That’s what you’ve got? And you want to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters in four states? You want to overturn a presidential election on this? I didn’t read anything about hundreds of thousands of discarded ballots or altered ballots. I didn’t read anything about more ballots than applications, or more fewer ballots than applications. It’s hard to steal votes. It’s really hard to systematically steal hundreds of thousands of votes in four states.

So good luck with that Texas?

But God help us all of the Trump appointees on the Supreme Court go along with it. I fear we’ll be going to the mattresses. We should all be holding our breath.

I would not want to be John Roberts today.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the case. (website photo)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the case. (website photo)

Protests Turn Violent--The Next Morning.

The Loop was open this morning but hard to get to.

The police made all the cars exit Lake Shore Drive at Fullerton. Stockton Drive was open down to North Ave. LaSalle Street was blocked at Division Street by large city trucks. Clark, Wells and Franklin were blocked by trucks too. Halsted was open. I made my way over to Kinzie but the bridge was blocked by snow plows. I had to walk over the Kinzie Bridge.

All the bridges were up except the LaSalle Street bridge. I crossed and made my way east on Wacker to State and Lake, the apparent center of the mayhem last evening. There we broken windows here and there. The was some serious looting and destruction at the 7/11 at Lake and Dearborn. The shelves were bulled down. The instant lottery ticket machine was pushed over and vandalized. The ATM was smashed apart and liberated of its contents.

There were very few policemen around at 0830 plenty of board-up guys and spectators doing their work.

I don’t know what to make of this time in our lives. A global pandemic has killed over a one-hundred thousand people. Businesses have mostly been shuttered for two and a half months. A policeman murders a black man on video. There is rioting in the streets. And Donald Trump is president. What the hell is going on?

Stay at Home Order Protest at Thompson Center

On my way to drop off Dan downtown, I noticed police and media gathering in anticipation of a protest at the Thompson Center. I wasn’t covering the protest for any publication but it has been over a month since I photographed any people so I could not resist. I just wanted to shoot something. I went to the office, put on an N-95 mask, gloves and a hat. Then walked up there. I love a good protest. Some many different people to photograph.

This protest was pretty tame. Not a whole lot of action. But lots of honking horns. If never hear another horn honking it will be too soon.

I got some good shots. I learned a lot about how to shoot in the harsh midday sun. The good part is that was plenty of light. My Canon 7D works great in lots of light. Just as sharp as the 5D Mark IV. One also has a lot more options in Lightroom when there is plenty of light.

I got a very interesting shot of a couple at the southwest corner of Clark and Randolph. They were lite with direct sunlight from behind them on Clark Street and from in front of them by reflection off the Thompson Center windows. The high f-stop meant everything was in focus and there is very little depth perspective. I am fascinated by this one.

I hope you like the photos.

2018 Chicago Air and Water Show

It had been some years since I went to the Chicago Air and Water Show so I went this year. I couldn't spend all day at it. I went from about 12:00 until 3:00. I weaseled my way down front right outside the beach house. 

I got some good shots with my 300mm. The Thunderbirds move fast, one has to be paying attention and anticipate which direction the planes will be coming from. Now that I have a little practice I will be able to get some better shots next year. The low cloud ceiling helped because the planes had to do the "low" show which meant they were much closer. 

Posted some photos to social media after some quick processing in Lightroom Mobile on my phone. They looked okay but I wasn't very happy with them right there on the beach. But when I got back home and did some processing on my computer and big monitor I was surprised to see how i could pull the color out of the RAW images. And the high megapixels camera allows tight crops. To all those people that say, "the camera doesn't matter.," try shooting the Air and Water show with a crappy camera. 

 Hope you like the photos.

Shut Down the Ryan

I was out this morning so I thought I would drive down to 79th and the Ryan and see what was going on. I found a place to park right near the northbound entrance ramp to the Ryan 

I ran into one of the usual suspect sports photographers Patrick Gorski. Patrick is very talented and very nice. I look forward to seeing his shots.

I was struck with just how well planned this all was. Extremely so. To the credit of all concerned. I was out of place for many good shots. I ought to have stayed at the ramp entrance where I was initially. 

Interestingly, I did not see many newspaper photographers, only John J. Kim (@jkimpictures) from the Tribune. Looking forward to seeing his photos. 

I learn a lot every time I go to one of these things. Stay close to the action. Don't over think it. 

I hope you like the photos.