By Katie Buitrago
The Tribune introduced its new beta platform for local blogs this week. Here at the Beachwood’s Chicago Blog Review desk, we’ll be taking a look at some of the new – and familiar – faces you can find there.
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Blog: CTA Tattler
Description: “Seen and Heard on the Chicago Transit Authority”
Substance: Kevin O’Neil has been chronicling stuff about the CTA for five years and, as of Tuesday, is now part of the Tribune’s stable of local blogs at Chicago Now (stay away from the Trib, man! It’s a sinking goddamned ship! The desk chairs, they are being rearranged!). The use of “chronicle” to describe his work is O’Neil’s own designation, and it is entirely, though not quite positively, apt. A handy search of Merriam-Webster defines “chronicle” as “an historical account of events arranged in order of time usually without analysis or interpretation.” O’Neil gathers CTA-related news and collects stories about wild and wacky sightings on our trains and buses, as well as posts service advisories and news updates from the CTA itself. It’s fun for its entertainment value, but usually I’ve already read all the news he references by the time he gets to it – sometimes days before. If you’re not a news junkie like me, it’s a useful place to read up on transportation news. But I’m disappointed that he linked to a CBS2 investigation of the CTA failing to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act that was published a full week after a ChicagoTalks investigation (posted partially on The Beachwood Reporter) of the exact same thing that, for some reason, didn’t merit a mention at all.
Posted on May 29, 2009