This past Thursday should have been a beautiful day, a day to throw open the windows and putter in the garden, long-awaited relief from an oppressive heat wave. But because of the unhealthy air blowing down from Canada, we had to stay indoors with the windows closed.
I can’t remember when I’ve felt so sad. We know these wildfires are a symptom of climate change, and yet we can’t seem to take the problem seriously enough to solve it. I feel powerless as a left-of-center American with a Democratic Party in shambles, so I am begging my Republican friends and neighbors as sincerely as I know how: Would you please advocate with your leaders at the national level to take climate change seriously and help us solve this problem?
We have the tools to solve it; we just need our leaders to know that we all care about having clean air to breathe, not just Democrats.
— Karen Glennemeier, Wilmette
No one in charge?
As I read about the lack of on-duty leadership in Texas’ Hill Country on July 4, I am reminded of the debacle in Uvalde, Texas, a few years ago. I recall numerous law enforcement officers having guns drawn while surrounding the elementary school where a lone gunman was killing students and teachers. It appeared that no one was in charge that day, so there was a long delay in the school rescue.
Just like in Uvalde, no one appeared to be in charge in the early hours when the National Weather Service issued a strong warning of impending flooding on July 4. Texans have a saying: “Don’t mess with Texas.” They’re right. The state is making enough of mess on its own.
— Linda Morton, Harvard, Illinois
Ignoring migration
Letters published on Wednesday attacking the editorial on Texas tax cuts cite a lot of statistics as to why Illinois is a better place to live than Texas. They say more and higher taxes are a small price to pay for better schools, more doctors, better mental health support, abortion access, and on and on. But they fail to mention one small but significant statistic — the number of folks moving out of Illinois and the number moving to Texas.
You would think that with the impact of climate change, especially all those triple-digit feels-like temperatures, the migration would be in the other direction.
— Bill Adamson, Naperville
Pumping the brakes
Very good letters in response to the Texas tax cut editorial. Very good journalism. I really like how several perspectives were presented concerning an issue that not many people pay close enough attention to.
I’m personally of the opinion that spending cuts are vital to reduce budget deficits, but I can appreciate pumping the brakes on trying to copy everything about Texas.
— Kenny Zamor, Griffith, Indiana
Loss of COVID-19 aid
Why is it that many taxpayer-funded government entities are blaming budget shortages on federal pandemic aid ending? This includes Chicago, Illinois, the CTA, Chicago Public Schools and even grant-funded organizations. Wasn’t the objective of COVID-19 aid to help during an economic shutdown? Hasn’t the shutdown been over for quite a while?
May I suggest the Tribune conduct an investigation as to why these entities are having budget shortages in their 2025-26 fiscal years due to the expiration of pandemic aid? My hypothesis is that their operating budgets became bloated with funding that was supposed to be temporary. Consider all the hiring the past few years by these same entities.
But I will leave that to the investigation that I hope the Tribune will launch to help the hardworking, taxpaying people of this state to understand.
— Stan Stec, Orland Park
Succeeding in dance
A July 24 editorial (“Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet pirouettes to stability and growth”) rightly celebrates the Joffrey Ballet’s financial strength — a welcome story in a sector too often defined by scarcity. Chicago is home to another dance company rewriting the rules of dance through a very different, yet equally forward-looking, model — Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.
Of the roughly 30 dance companies in the U.S. with budgets over $5 million, 25 are ballet companies. Just five are contemporary or modern — and all but one of those are based in New York. By that measure, Hubbard Street is the only major contemporary dance company in the country not based in New York. And we’re the only dance company in Chicago that pays our dancers full-time, year-round salaries with benefits.
While ballet companies often achieve stability through beloved titles such as “The Nutcracker” or “Alice in Wonderland,” Hubbard Street pursues a different path. Under the leadership of artistic director Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, our work reflects a bold and wide-ranging aesthetic, guided by purpose and rooted in emotional immediacy. It’s a commitment to provoking thought, stirring feeling and exploring how dance can help us see the world — and ourselves — differently.
Our approach doesn’t rely on the tried and true but instead reflects an artistic vision unafraid to break conventions and share new perspectives — and it’s paying off. Last season, single ticket sales grew by 39%, exceeding prepandemic levels. Subscriptions continue to rise. Individual giving increased by 20%. Our success has been shaped by partnerships — with Steppenwolf, the Harris Theater, the Museum of Contemporary Art and now Water Tower Place, where we’re helping reimagine the Magnificent Mile. We’re doing it all on a budget a fraction the size of our peers’.
There’s a lot of talk about how the performing arts model is broken. The Joffrey shows that’s not always the case. So does Hubbard Street. We’re forging a model distinct from ballet — not better, not lesser, but different — and one that’s resonating with today’s audiences and built for where dance is headed.
— Steven Collens, chair, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Building sustainability
I was glad to see Edward Keegan’s column about Milwaukee’s mass timber high-rise on July 27 (“Milwaukee is building contemporary timber towers. What about Chicago?”), especially the question at the end: “Why hasn’t Chicago embraced this more sustainable way to build tall buildings yet?” Indeed, why not a greater embrace, and for all buildings?
Part of the reason is that most architects and critics don’t think and talk about the integral relationship between appearance and sustainability, as if it’s an optional add-on for whatever look the architect had in mind. For instance, while Keegan devotes column space to discussion of inset balconies and podium to tower expression, he doesn’t mention that Neutral’s building is pursuing Phius and Living Building Challenge Core certifications, truly remarkable achievements. Yes, the embodied carbon of wood versus steel and/or concrete is mentioned, but the operational energy of a Phius-certified building is equally newsworthy. I’m sure many of us, architects and nonarchitects alike, would have appreciated a better understanding of how the building achieves such performance.
Similar to our energy benchmarking in Chicago, our discourse on architecture should deepen understanding of our buildings’ climate and environmental impacts — mere fashion is no longer sufficient.
— Tom Bassett-Dilley, Tom Bassett-Dilley Architects, Oak Park
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