Why parts of Pedway a mess in the winter
Getting Around
It’s January, typically the coldest month in a Chicago winter and a great time to avoid the weather by taking the Pedway, the city’s underground network of tunnels and corridors.
Unfortunately, the passageway is poorly marked — making it hard to navigate for inexperienced travelers — and unevenly maintained. In recent months, it has become sometimes unpleasant in the area near the Macy’s department store, say regular users.
“It gets bad in the winter,” said Streetwise vendor Steve Garron, who has worked in the Pedway near Macy’s for six years.
Garron said that during cold weather, panhandlers congregate in the area, which lacks security until the store opens in midmorning. “They urinate, smoke and leave all their garbage,” said Garron.
“No stretch of the Pedway is more filthy than the one along the Macy’s basement,” said Hillel Levin, who uses the Pedway daily. He said in an email that he saw a pile of human waste linger for days in an alcove opposite the department store. Pedestrians sometimes can be seen holding scarves against their noses to block out the smell in the area, and walking carefully to avoid sticky spills on the cracked floors.
Asked about the problems, Macy’s spokeswoman Carolyn Ng Cohen said that the safety of customers and colleagues is a “top priority.”
It is easy to see why some people choose to shelter in the Pedway. Grant Palmer, 58, of Chicago, who was holding a sign that said “Need Money for a Hooker,” said he started using the space in the last year because it is warm and there is a lot of foot traffic. He said his sign is meant to be humorous.
And it is not necessarily homeless people who are making all the mess. Regardless of who is doing it, this part of the Pedway is not getting cleaned up in a timely way.
The conditions by Macy’s illustrate the problem with the Pedway as a whole, said Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, which has led efforts to improve the network. “It’s not a uniformly planned system,” he said. “It’s a system of publicly and privately owned spaces.”
The network of tunnels and corridors links more than 50 downtown buildings and CTA Red and Blue line stations, as well as the Metra station underneath Millennium Park.
Each building manages its own section of the Pedway, and the differences in maintenance show, Learner said. The area through the Block 37 complex, for example, is clean, bright and attractive, with kiosks and small restaurants. The space under the Cultural Center is also brightly lit, and has displays telling passers-by about art programs.
“I’m not going to defend the Macy’s section of it,” said Learner. “The Macy’s space, it’s fair to say, needs improvement.”
The city’s Streets and Sanitation Department cleans general areas of the Pedway, not spaces within businesses, said department spokeswoman Marjani Williams. The CTA handles its own sections, she said.
The city’s Department of Fleet and Facility Management handles minor repairs in public areas, which might involve fixing doors, according to city officials.
Garron said Macy’s used to have a security guard early in the morning who dispersed those who might be causing problems in the Pedway, but this has changed in the past year or so and no one seems to be looking after things until the store opens at 10 a.m.
Macy’s Ng Cohen said that improvements have been made throughout the store, including construction of a new workspace in the Pedway for the Chicago Fashion Incubator, which supports local designers. In the last month, holes in the Pedway floor have been repaired.
She said that Macy’s “remains committed to working with the city and its partners to secure and maintain the Pedway.”
The Environmental Law & Policy Center, Broadway in Chicago and the Chicago Loop Alliance put together a study in 2017 recommending plans to improve the Pedway, including better navigation signs.
“If you’re an occasional visitor, it can be baffling,” Learner said.
The coalition is working with the city and some building owners on an effort to improve and revitalize the Pedway, and is talking with both the city and the county about the possibility of federal and other funds for better signs and other navigation tools, said Learner. County funds would possibly be involved because the Pedway connects with a county building.
Other suggestions include better lighting in some sections, repairing water and structural damage in the corridor by Michigan Avenue and Randolph Street, and adding an accessible pathway between the Daley Center and the City/County buildings. But right now, there is no time line for when things will get done, or a budget to pay for it, Learner said.
Chicago Department of Transportation spokesman Michael Claffey said that the city applauds the Environmental Law & Policy Center’s efforts to help raise the Pedway’s profile and make the most of “this valuable asset.”
Chicago Loop Alliance Associate Director Laura Jones said it sends its own team or Chicago Police into the Pedway to deal with “quality of life issues” as they are reported. The alliance arranged for “popup” art and music exhibits over the holidays to liven up the space.
Aaron Gadiel, former manager of community development for Block 37, said that he brought musical and theater groups into the Pedway as a way to get commuters to linger, and draw them into stores.
“If you can disrupt and delight people as they walk through, people will say that’s a nice way to go,” said Gadiel, who runs the Gadiel Group, a real estate consulting firm.
Learner said there are legal agreements between the city and some building owners to manage the Pedway, but some may need to be renewed.
“Where the Pedway works, it works very well,” said Learner. “We need to provide better activation so it’s an interesting, fun, safe place with better wayfinding so it’s easier for people to get around and better coordination between the buildings.
There’s an opportunity to take an underutilized civic asset and make it work for people in Chicago.”
Transportation song quiz
The song for our last quiz was about a type of customized car, and uses a lot of cowbell. The song is “Low Rider,” by War. Inge Serpe, of Park Ridge, was first with the right answer.
This week’s song promises you can get from here to New York in 16 hours. Anything can happen. The lyrics are by a duo who also wrote the book for “On the Town.” What’s the song, and who wrote it? The first person with the right answer will get a Chicago Tribune bookmark, and glory.