The Babuk Report

Category: Community Organization

  • It’s Biggar than LinkedIn

    Suddenly, my interest in the abandoned railway roundhouse in Hanna, Alberta and electronic social media meet.  Kind of.

    I’m helping the effort to restore the Hanna Roundhouse by donating a slideshow exhibit production describing the history roundhouses.  It’s all being produced through a part of my practice called Babuk Presentations, or for the 21st Century, www.learnaboutchicago.com . This exhibit will be on display in the Hanna Public Library for the month of November.  Babuk Presentations / www.learnaboutchicago.com provides public speaking and presentations about architecture and railroad history (see Page 4 of this website).

    In researching this display presentation about Hanna railway roundhouse; I came across a 2008 news story about another railway roundhouse in Biggar, Saskatchewan that Heritage Canada placed on its “Endangered Buildings” list.  The story claimed that the roundhouse was slated to be demolished in 2009.

    Former Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Roundhouse, Biggar, Saskatchewan
    Former Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Roundhouse, Biggar, Saskatchewan

    Neither I, nor my client had heard about this roundhouse until now.  It too is claiming to be the last standing roundhouse in western Canada.

    “Biggar”, population 2341, is the town’s actual name.  Its motto is “New York is big, but we’re Biggar”!

    With the presentation being due this week, I needed an answer last weekend.   I had just come from a friend’s presentation, showing the features of networking electronically through “LinkedIn”.  In his third degree of contact, he had more than a million and a half contacts!  He assured me that I had at least that many as well!

    This being a Friday night, I dutifully tore through those LinkedIn contacts, going down to the third, or fourth degree – nothing!! 

    Municipal offices – even the town’s newspaper – were bound to be closed on Saturday.  I pondered if there might be a local drug store that I could call on Saturday, and simply ask the clerk who answered if their roundhouse was still standing.

    This called for a quick phone call to my brother in Calgary for help.  His wife is friends with a lady from Biggar.  I have an email message in to her.  So there…

    Apparently, the Biggar Roundhouse is still standing, having been vacated last year by some sort of turkey farming operation.  Roundhouses have been known to be put through all sorts of indignities during their life.

    An update on the Hanna Roundhouse:  not only has it made the cut to the second round of voting in the Aviva Community Fund contest, but apparently Nickelback has posted a message of support for restoring the Hanna Roundhouse on their Facebook Fan Club website.  Nickelback is from Hanna, and the roundhouse was featured prominently in their “Photograph” video.

  • The Abandoned Railway Roundhouse in Hanna, Alberta

    This blog has written at length about early industrial age buildings that go up and down, and turn round, and do all sorts of neat things.  One of those buildings from my youth is the abandoned railway roundhouse in Hanna, Alberta, Canada.

    Great Northern Railway Roundhouse, Hanna, Alberta
    Abandoned Railway Roundhouse, Hanna, Alberta, used as a set for Nickelback’s “Photograph” Video

    For years, this building sat empty.  A group of concerned townspeople are putting together a not-for-profit organization to raise funds and to restore this Roundhouse back to its glory.

    The Aviva Community Fund is holding a contest to award funding for community projects, the Hanna Roundhouse Project is one of those.  This is a note from Laurie Armstrong, Director of Economic Development and Tourism for the Town of Hanna, encourage people to vote for this project, with a link to vote for this project:

    VOTE FOR HANNA!

    A project has been submitted to the Aviva Community Fund in the hopes that it will receive $250,000.  There are three rounds of voting with only 4 days left in round one.  The projects with the most votes and comments make it to the semi finals.  Please vote and leave a comment for the Hanna Roundhouse Restoration Project!

    Don’t forget to go back and vote EVERY DAY!

    http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf2308

    This may be the last roundhouse left on the Canadian Prairies.  As they say in Chicago, “Vote Early and Vote Often” !

  • One Last Burnham Reception

    The Centennial of the Chicago Plan of 1909 – the Burnham Plan – provided for a season of great networking this year.  One of the last Burnham events – a reception to honour the entrants of the Burnham Memorial Competition was held last night at the Field Museum.  Nice group, but didn’t have the previous reception’s star power of Mayor Daley and Valerie Jarrett.

    It was an “Invitation Only” competition, though a handful of unsolicited entries were submitted.  One was submitted by an architect who interned under me in his previous life, Casimir Kujawa, and his intern, Mason Pritchett.  I wish that their entry would have been displayed; it was a tremendous design and a stunning presentation.

    Otherwise, the fundraising for construction portion of the competition program starts, and will be challenging in this market.

    The Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago, by Renzo Piano
    The Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago, by Renzo Piano

    On the way back to the train after the reception, I was able to stop by the Art Institute and retake a couple photos that didn’t take at all well last week during that Burnham Reception.  The Chicago Loop at night is exceptionally photogenic.  With a camera suitable for night photos, it’s impossible to take a bad photo.  These are the last few days for the Burnham Pavilions on display at Millennium Park, they were glowing profusely.  It will be sad to see the pavilion describing the earth, they sky, and the city that grew in between be taken down.

    The Zaha Hadid designed Burnham Pavilion
    The Zaha Hadid designed Burnham Pavilion

  • Burnham Plan of Chicago, and the Future of the American Metropolis

    This is the last week for the Burnham Pavilions on display at Millennium Park in Chicago.  They were meant as temporary exhibits and with the coming onslaught of a Chicago winter, it’s probably time.  The Burnham Pavilions (see previous posts) were constructed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Chicago Plan of 1909, sometimes referred to as the Burnham Plan, after one of its authors.

    One final event was held last Friday, a roundtable discussion between Mayor Daley and Valerie Jarrett – currently Senior Advisor on Domestic Issues to President Obama, but formerly Mayor Daley’s Chief of Staff and even a Chairman of the Chicago Transit Authority at one point.  About 800 people – mostly invited – packed the Rubloff Theater at the Art Institute of Chicago on a cold and dreary Friday afternoon in October.  Where else could one draw a crowd like that but in Chicago?

    Many of the attendees came from Chicago’s volunteer and charitable community – a setting unique for this city.  Chicago runs on volunteer help and organizations.

    While there was a fair bit said about high speed rail funding and public transit in Chicago; there wasn’t a lot said overall about “grand picture” programs for the metropolis overall as an American entity. While many European and Asian countries have cities, the United States has the Metropolis. I’d argue that the Metropolis is distinctly American (this coming from a Canadian), and in danger of fall from a variety of sources: downfall of manufacturing, suburban flight…. There was a fair bit of discussion about social programs, however.

    Upon exiting the reception afterwards, the sky was already dark, the Burnham Pavilions shone in their lighting, as did various buildings of the Chicago skyline that peeked out between the wings of the Art Institute.  I wish that my camera would focus in night time skies, Chicago truly showed itself off.  Chicago is the American Metropolis, located in the Midwest.

    A reception will be held this week for the display of the entries to the Burnham Memorial Competition.  An Architect who interned under me years ago, Casimir Kujawa, submitted an entry that will be on display.

  • A Change in the Weather…

    Last year at this time, the weather in Chicago seemed practically like summer.  It gave rise to theories of global warming. But it was absolutely beautiful weather.

    Parade Marshalls - and the Hilton - against a cold, grey sky
    Parade Marshalls – and the Hilton – against a cold, grey sky at noon

    This year, it has come to be very chilly, very suddenly.  No global warming this year.

    Take this year’s Columbus Day Parade – which actually celebrates Canadian Thanksgiving, but no one has caught on to that.  It was downright chilly.  At least it wasn’t windy.  It was a very grey, urbane looking day, with the kind of sky and sunlight that make Mies van der Rohe’s buildings sparkle.  And Chicago has a lot of Mies buildings.

    2009 Fiat 500, in white
    2009 Fiat 500, in white
    2009 Fiat 500, in black
    2009 Fiat 500, in black

    Through the marching bands, the floats, the people and whatnot, what caught my eye were two brand new Fiat 500’s, brought in from Detroit by Chrysler, now owned by Fiat.  They may have been shorter than my Mini – quite a feat!  Definitely higher, though.

    After the parade, as everyone from the Thistle and Heather Highland Dancers sought to collect their odds and ends out of the Mini, a parade of vintage Italian cars passed by.  They were the best! Low and behold, what happened to be in the middle of the Italian car parade but…  a vintage Fiat 500!

    Vintage Fiat 500, in yellow
    Vintage Fiat 500, in yellow

  • Another British Car Question

    During a recent Scottish Motor Club event, a visitor asked the question “what cars are there are still British made and British owned?” 

    2003 Lotus Exige
    2003 Lotus Elise

    We rattled off all sorts of British companies and marques with disappoint results.  MG isn’t.  Jaguar and Rover are both owned by the Indian company, TATA.  For the moment, Vauxhall is owned by General Motors, but part of the German company Opel, which is being courted by both Canadian and Russian concerns. MINI is part of BMW.  Aston Martin is Ford, but like Vauxhall, that will probably change.  It was all quite confusing, but made for a good conversation.

    The Ageless Bristol Blenheim
    The Ageless Bristol Blenheim

    The only two British made automobiles by British owned companies we could muster are both fairly exotic.

    Lotus – a company with race car heritage producing small, lightweight, fiberglass body speedsters with powerful engines that send one making an impression on their seatbacks whenever the accelerator is depressed, and;

    Bristol – a company that produced legendary fighter planes during the Second World War that retooled to produce motorcars that are luxurious, powerful and thrilling, all at once.

    The Lotus marque – though produced in limited numbers – is sold through a worldwide dealer network, while the Bristol is sold directly by the manufacturer, their only “showroom” of sorts is a storefront in London.  There is far more demand for Bristol cars than are cars manufactured; test drives are out of the question.

  • US / Canada Rail Infrastructure Luncheon

    Yesterday, I attended the US / Canada “Pay the Freight” Rail Infrastructure luncheon presentation, presented jointly by the Metropolitan Planning Council, the Consulate General of Canada and the Union League Club of Chicago, where the luncheon was held.

    The Union League is a tremendous venue for events like this – centrally located, spacious facilities and displaying the largest privately held art collection in the country.  Not to mention that its present clubhouse, opened in 1926, was the product of Chicago’s most prolific Canadian architect, William Bryce Mundie.  Mundie – born, schooled and articled in Hamilton, Ontario – was the successor to the “Father of the Skyscraper”, William LeBaron Jenney in his practice.  Mundie was also a well known member of the Union League; a bit confusing, since the Union League is a patriotic American organization tracing its roots back to the Union vs. Confederacy.  To this day, one needs to be American to join.  My account of how Mundie trained a young architect coming through the Jenney and Mundie office by the name of John Atchison, and how Atchison ended up in Winnipeg as the only local architect with the wherewithal to do “skyscraper” buildings during its pre First World War building boom caught the interest of the Assistant Deputy Minister of Transport Canada.

    While transportation and rail networks in North America have traditionally been oriented east to west, economic realities see more north to south linkages and railway networks are being reoriented to reflect this reality.

    The accounts of Canada’s Pacific, Central and Atlantic Gateways – all of which involve Chicago – are all very industrious.  I mentioned to a consular friend about my family’s Canadian Pacific Railway background, the response being that at one time, some 40% of Canadians worked for a railway.  That much of Canada’s economy depended on transportation. The gateway projects reflect this importance.

    A further presentation compared the amount of the US Gross Domestic Product spent on transportation now, and in 1979.  That amount has been cut in half over this period of time; directly attributable to more and more products being shipped by railroads rather than by trucks.  If just 10% of what currently is shipped by trucks were to be put on a train, the amount of greenhouse gas and energy reductions achieved would be quite astounding.  This reduced amounts of required transportation costs reflected by railway efficiencies become free to be channeled elsewhere in the economy.

    Not a bad deal…

    Otherwise, the luncheon was a great occasion to catch up on old acquaintances and create new ones.

  • The Illinois Saint Andrew Society Highland Games British Car Show

    The good hostess favours of rain ponchos the evening previous was an omen indeed.  Unprecedented 70 mph winds and heavy downpour rains swept through the area.  Upon checking email at 430 on Saturday morning, a note read “.. the Games will go on..”

    Just a wee bit of the 7000 pounds of this 1953 Bentley R-Series
    Just a wee bit of the 7000 pounds of this 1953 Bentley R-Series

    The Illinois Saint Andrew Society is the oldest and longest continually operating charity in the State; it’s like a Scottish benevolent society.  For the past twenty-three years, it has staged the Highland Games – heavy athletics, rugby, soccer, dancing competitions, shortbread baking contests, dog shows, sheep herding… For the past few years, the program has been expanded to include a British Car Show.  I am honoured to Chair the committee that organizes the car show within the overall Highland Games Committee.  The British Car Show Committee led to the formation of the Scottish Motor Club, an organization that can continually promote the Highland Games, the Illinois Saint Andrew Society, and offer moral support to anyone relatively new to Lucas Electronics.

    Looking down the Car Show Row, early in the morning
    Looking down the Car Show Row, early in the morning

    The Highland Games were held at the Oak Brook Polo Grounds. The grounds are being converted from polo accommodations to soccer; a seemingly insignificant though very major change is that soccer fields have longer cut grass that tends to retain water.  The thought that came to mind is that kilts are always preferable to trousers when marching through wetlands. The grounds were awfully soggy at 6AM. 

    Lotus Europa (left) Lotus Super Seven (Right)
    Lotus Europa (left) Lotus Super Seven (Right)

    Nightmarish thoughts of low-slung Lotuses (Lotii ? ) and 7000 pound Bentleys came to mind.  The Village of Oak Brook was quick to disallow cars on the main field; the car show had to quickly relocate.  After an impromptu committee meeting, a well drained site along the main walkway to the admission gates was chosen.  Though a bit tight in area, it had exceptional visibility and even offered shade.  The Highland Games are highland games first and a car show second, so cars are never a major bill.  This year however, despite overnight flooding and fallen trees leaving neighbourhoods in disrepair, some seventeen cars appeared.  None sank in the mud, as our site had no mud to sink into.

    Not a Sunbeam Imp, but rather a 1973 Land Rover Series III
    Not a Sunbeam Imp, but rather a 1973 Land Rover Series III

    The Arts & Culture Club of the Saint Andrew Society invited me to make a presentation describing Scottish cars.  There were Scottish Americans who formed automobile companies like Winton, Buick, then General Motors; and there was the Rootes Group who built a factory at Linwood, Renfrewshire, Scotland that manufactured Hillman Imps (mainly) with the occasional Sunbeam Alpine and Humber Scepter coming off the line.

    1963 Sunbeam Imp, photo from the 2008 Highland games British Car Show
    1963 Sunbeam Imp, photo from the 2008 Highland Games British Car Show

    Midway through the afternoon, a friend’s Sunbeam Imp (as badged in the US) appeared, making the display complete.

    Another friend contacted me earlier, I had asked if he could bring his 1929 Austin, as we didn’t have any pre-war British cars showing.  He returned the contact indicating that a friend of his was letting him use his racetrack to try out his McLaren F1.  This constitutes quite an acceptable reason for not attending the Highland Games British Car Show.

    Lotus Elise
    Lotus Elise

    Early in morning however, my daughter won First Place for dancing the Flora, and Second Place for the Sword Dance!

    A good time was had by all, with the Lotus Corps Chicago attempting to convince me that my next car should be a Lotus M100, while people from New Zealand approached me, actually recognizing my car as a Clubman Mini, and sharing stories.

  • Scottish Motor Club Oak Park Avenue British Car Show

    The Scottish Motor Club is comprised of Illinois Saint Andrew Society members who own classic British cars and look for excuses to get them out of the garage now again.  In doing so, we promote the Society, its goals and its programs.  I chair this group.  Our major event is the Highland Games British Car Show, held this year at the Oak Brook Polo Grounds.  We attend other events throughout the year, and this year, we decided to hold a ‘pre-event’ in a neighbouring community to promote the Saint Andrew Society and the Highland Games. The Oak Park Avenue Business Association is a group I know. I used to hold membership in this organization when my practice was located in Scoville Square in Oak Park. 

    DSC00213By using a few contacts I know on the Avenue; the Scottish Motor Club made a presentation to the Association to stage a car show with accompanying events.  Two other businesses on the Avenue, the K9 Cookie Company and The Irish Shop helped us on this presentation. The Magic Tree Bookstore lent support and their facilities, as did the management of Scoville Square. The Wednesday Journal newspaper gave publicity. With all approvals in place, and with an effort of heroic proportions mounted by the manager of Cucino Paradiso who secured a street closure permit, the show went on as planned.

    1967 MGB-GT
    1967 MGB-GT

    On the afternoon of July 14, like clockwork, Oak Park Avenue between Lake Street and North Boulevard was closed down, and about sixteen or so British cars and a motorcycle appeared, as did a client who drove his 1963 Lincoln Continental ( let’s see – this was the basis for the US presidential limousine, it saw a lot of international exposure: ok, we’ll let it in! ). 

    1957 MGA "hotrod"
    1957 MGA “hotrod”

    It was a great collection – an MGA and an MGB-GT, a couple Jaguar XKE’s and a classic Jaguar XK150, a Triumph TR3 and Spitfire, a bunch of Lotus Europa’s and assorted other cars. 

    Not even counting the 1967 Sunbeam Tiger that kept driving around but never stopping, we had fifteen or so cars appear – real cars, not counting the folded-paper model cars that were displayed through the Chameleon Clothing Company. 

    1973 Jaguar XKE 2+2
    1973 Jaguar XKE 2+2

    The K9 Cookie Company joined with the Oak Park Animal Care League to stage a dog show with an interactive exhibit identifying the thirteen breeds of dogs from Scotland, they both invited friends with dogs to bring them to the Avenue and parade them around.  The Thistle and Heather Highland Dancers made an appearance, then the City of Chicago Pipe Band ( who practice around the corner at Grace Episcopal Church ) marched onto the Avenue and played, eventually the highland dancers started dancing flings to the pipe band, and then sword dances – at one point, there were about 200 people watching.

    The Thistle and Heather Highland Dancers with the City of Chicago Pipe Band
    The Thistle and Heather Highland Dancers with the City of Chicago Pipe Band

    It was quite the afternoon of activities.  All was so successful that no one even noticed that this was an entirely volunteered event – no one was paid anything for their energies other than hearty gratitude and applause.

    Thank you!

  • Canada, as a Presentation and as a Networking Organization

    Friday, 5 June 2009

    A few weeks ago, I was approached by a relocation service to make a presentation describing Canadian history, government and culture to a family moving to Canada.  While I do many public speaking engagements throughout the year, this was the first time I had been invited to speak on this topic.  It took a bit of research outside of my typical sources, especially when one of the questions related to federal vs. provincial responsibilities described in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the historical basis for how this came to be.

    It seemed that a presentation like this required a learned academic; however, I had been recommended by a source who would know better.  I was quite flattered to have been asked, and to have delivered a presentation like this.  The presentation was held today, and it was most enjoyable.  The audience and client appreciated the talk as well.

    Afterwards, I had been invited to attend an organizational meeting of the US / Canada Business Council, for which I participated.  This group – to be part of the Canadian Club of Chicago – will work to foster networking and understanding between US and Canadian business communities.  A relevant concept with many possibilities, I’m happy to be part of its founding.  We threw around several ideas for organizational concepts and potential events, with the goal of a September inaugural event.  Things are slow for Chicago’s business networking community during summer.  More later.