Cubs in the rear-view mirror, Halloween ahead of us, here's what we're reading on this cloudy Friday:
"Crazy" is Not a Halloween Costume: After outcries over a London brewery's "Mental Asylum" bash went viral, The Guardian's Dean Burnett wrote a scientific guide to dressing accurately as a "mental patient" this Halloween. "To dress like someone with serious depression, just wear your normal clothes. But you should take several hours to put them on due to a chronic low mood and almost complete lack of motivation," Burnett writes. "Try wearing a rucksack filled with anvils and bowling balls to get a sense of the effort required to do the most basic task."
Better yet, Burnett advises, "To best portray someone in the grips of severe depression, don’t go to a Halloween party." For tips on dressing like you are battling anxiety, addiction or schizophrenia, read on.
Big Brother With A Badge? With the biggest city network of cameras in the country, Chicago is testing out new abilities to live-stream security camera footage to police squad cars. Reporter Ariel Cheung is reading a Crain's Chicago article about the program, built by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Motorola Solutions. Motorola sees a potential $1 billion business, but watchdogs like the ACLU are concerned the immediate access to 25,000 cameras could violate people's privacy. The video network could also grow to stream body or dashboard cameras back to police headquarters.
Sign of the times: Like Chicago, billboard companies are seeking to add more digital signs in Los Angeles. The city council there has come up with plan to allow them to do so but reduce the overall clutter. Under the current proposal, according to the L.A.Times, for every square foot of new digital billboard erected, 10 times as much square footage of existing signs must be removed. The companies will also have to invest in "community benefits" such as widening and repaving sidewalks or installing public art. One complication: a number of existing billboards are without permits, and so are probably illegal to begin with.
T-O-D! Transit oriented development. If you haven't heard the term, you will be hearing about it with more frequency in the near future. Politico takes an in-depth look at Evanston's push to reinvent itself as a mini-city through zoning and planning regulations that push for dense development near public transit. The story looks at Chicago's recent use of the TOD, zoning that drops the parking requirement for developments, specifically the first TOD building in Chicago at 1611 W. Division St. The 99-unit building, located near the California Blue Line stop has no parking spots and has been called a success. There are at least nine TOD projects under way in the city right now. “We are behind in terms of progressive cities doing TOD,” Ald. Proco Joe Moreno (1st) told Politico.
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