By Harold Henderson
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“Not one foot of track has been laid since the inception and demise of the [central area circulator] project, yet an astounding $59 million of tax dollars have been spent,” writes Dennis Constant in ITEF Comment (January 4). “According to published reports, $33 million was paid to project designers DeLeuw Cather & Co. and McDonough Associates. The project managers, Chicago Partners, a joint venture of politically-connected Stein & Co., U.S. Equities and ICF Kaiser Engineers, Inc., took $16 million for their trouble. Sasaki Associates, a Boston urban planner, took $2 million for designing the streetcar line’s stations. But it wasn’t all work and no play. Project Director Stephen E. Schlickman decided a tour of European cities was needed to check out similar trolley systems, claiming no such system was in operation in the U.S….Rather than one analyst visiting Denver, where a successful central area ‘low floor’ circulator system is in operation using buses, five persons flew to Amsterdam, Holland, Zurich, Switzerland and Grenoble, France.”
“There is a sense in which anyone wishing to make a successful adult career as a violinist or pianist has to start out as a child prodigy,” writes Robert Finn in the Chicago Symphonic Times (Winter). “He/she must, after all, train fingers, arms, and other body parts to do some highly unnatural things and assume some very unorthodox positions for long periods. This must be done when the muscles are young and easily trained. If you wait until you are 10 or 11 before starting this process, most performers will tell you, it is already too late if your goal is a solo career. Such a ‘late’ start is fine for someone who simply wants to play for his own enjoyment and for the love of music; but for those intent on serious careers, an earlier start is essential.”
Crossed wires in the school biz. Importance of parental involvement to educational success, according to 610 Illinois administrators, teachers, and school board members surveyed by the Illinois Tax Foundation (Tax Facts, November): “Great” (over 4 on a scale of 0 to 5). Number of the 610 who would make “parental involvement” their number one priority for use of an extra $1,000 per student: 2. (They’d rather buy computers.)
