Looking back and grading our staff’s 2002 predictions, our judges found that we were correct on only 43 percent of our guesses from the Dec. 26, 2001, edition.
After a thorough review by our panel of judges (Gov. George Ryan, Scott Fawell, Betty Loren Maltese and their future landlord—warden Dune Hardtyme) it appears that we got 18 of our 42 predictions correct. Pay no mind to the 24 guesses we got wrong but bear with us while we gloat over our correct picks.
We broke even on our sports picks correctly guessing the Blackhawks and Bears playoff efforts. We posed that attendance would continue to drop at Comiskey Park but that the Sox would finish in second place. Our prediction for a division-winning Cubs team was, well, slightly off the mark.
We also suggested record collections for the city on parking tickets and towing fees and we were indeed surprised by the “fine” effort given by Chicago’s “fine”est. They surpassed what we thought was an overly aggressive goal by over 20 percent! The new policy to sell or scrap cars not claimed by their owners within the new 30 second time limit was pure genius and opened valuable space for new vehicles in the city’s over-burdened tow lots.
We wrongly guessed that the Chicago Cubs and roof top owners would come to terms on a licensing agreement but correctly that some neighbors would continue to cry “foul” after being excluded from negotiations. The Residents Only Peeing Zones predicted for Wrigleyville-area alleys will have to wait for another year as well.
We suggested that incoming first lady Patti Blagojevich would be hesitant to move into the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield and that the calls for an expensive aviation expansion in Illinois would fade.
We also saw hope in straightening out the city’s chaotic zoning code and Mayor Daley’s task force has brought thoughtful zoning ideas forward, although the city’s copy of the U. S. Bill of Rights still seems to be lost in a file somewhere in City Hall.
Affordable housing was indeed a big issue and our prediction of a housing glut driving down rents has begun to materialize, thanks in large part to record low mortgage interest rates. Rents have softened and people are now buying homes and condos where once they rented.
Outside of a few North Side communities, developers continue to be courted by communities hot for gentrification of aging neighborhoods, as we suggested. |
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