CHICAGO — Here's what we're reading today.
Divvy For Everyone Riding Into Success: With a flailing city budget, sometimes it's just nice to hear about Chicago programs that actually work. That's why reporter Ariel Cheung was so encouraged to learn that Divvy for Everyone (D4E) has blown past its first year goal since launching July 7. In just two months, the program had enlisted 800 low-income residents for its $5 bike-share memberships, writes Streetsblog Chicago. While D4E discounts are only valid for members during the first year, the city is looking into payment plans or cash payment options so residents can continue to receive access to the bikes.
Stop the Presses: The actor Martin Milner died over the weekend at age 83 and most of his obits focused in his star turns in the television shows Adam-12 and Route 66. But Milner also had the good fortune to have a small role in, by senior editor Andrew Herrmann's estimation, the greatest newspaper movie ever made: 1957's "Sweet Smell of Success." Milner's character makes the mistake of dating a ruthless columnist's sister and is smeared in print as a dope smoker and a communist. (Milner's Steve Dallas is a jazz musician, so, ya know, everybody believed it.) Roger Ebert would write an appreciation of the film 40 years after it was released, noting its dialogue "is as quotable as it is unlikely." Milner's character tells the columnist: "You've got more twists than a barrel of pretzels."
Martin Milner, left, argues with newspaper columnist J.J. Hunsecker, played by Burt Lancaster, in "Sweet Smell of Success."
Why David Simon's "Show Me A Hero" Is So Compelling: After the HBO docudrama "Show Me A Hero" aired its final episode, reporter Mina Bloom has been thinking about what makes David Simon's shows so good. The Washington Post sums up the appeal of his latest show quite nicely:
"The six-part series, which follows the most volatile years of the epic fight to desegregate the city of Yonkers through housing law, is rousing and captivating. But it’s also more hushed, less explosive than The Wire ever was. The hues might be similar, all the weedy sidewalks and faded brick, but there are very few gunshots or violent crimes—well, physically violent, anyway—to be found. Show Me a Hero is instead about the intricacies of local government, set in the drab rooms where policy is made. This is not broad, intangible nationwide legislation. It’s immediate, and personal, which makes its setbacks all the more frustrating, its victories the more heartening."
While some of the artistic choices are a little too on-the-nose — i.e. too many Bruce Springsteen songs — the show's narrow focus gives it power and makes it deeply human.
Oscar Issac starred as Yonkers, New York mayor Nick Wasicsko and Carla Quevdo as his wife Nay in HBO's "Show Me a Hero."
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