So, I work up in the North Michigan area (first of several side notes: actually, Streeterville, neé the Deestrict of Lake Michigan. Oh, Captain Streeter, you so crazy) and we’ve certainly got our share of tall buildings and car traffic and foot traffic and tourists and so on — it feels plenty big city up here. Well, today I had to make one of my infrequent mid-day trips down to the Loop. (Side note 2: I was delighted with how friendly and efficient my visit to the Cook County Treasurer’s Office, Legal Department was. We’ll see how long it takes them to actually process the paperwork I was dropping off today. And I had to make the trip because it’s taken them over a year and a half to not divide my condo into individual tax units. But the actual human beings I dealt with today — nice folks.)

Where was I? The Loop! It’s freakin’ busy down there! I ducked through Block 37 just to see the tail end of the Sox rally and ducking back out almost ran into a gaggle of anti-smoking protesters with signs and coordinated shirts and there was the Festival Italiano taking place on Daley Plaza. But beyond all those things, walking around the county building, and then the Thompson Center, and even on the streets there was this palpable feeling that here was where the business of the city was taking place. From people like me trying to take care of their homes, and people waiting in line for their driver’s license, to clutches of middle-aged white men in suits who exuded Big Deals and Big Money. The City That Works, indeed.