Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 18

18 Section 1 Chicago Tribune, Sunday, June 18, 1978 ETWJ9 itate Street bids to be great again SE5 rTT i-LJ mnr Grand 1 tl 1 I 1 1 Madison Wacker F- J' (ft I il i 5 Grant Park a fc Madison jj I I LJJ 3 yirr I Continued from page one the Civil War, when a crafty entrepreneur named Totter Palmer quietly began buying up most of the land along the strip. Palmer had all the sharks torn down and the street widened. He then built a "marble palace" department store at State and Washington and a palacial hotel at the corner of Monroe. Marshall Field, no small thinker, soon joined in and State Street was on its way. Until the whole thing burned down in the Great Fire of 1871, that is.

BIT PALMER. FIELD, and others quickly rebuilt the street, bigger and better than ever, and Palmer embedded silver dollars in the floor of his new hotel's barber shop. Next came the Mandel brothers, the Boston Store, Peacock's, and Carson Pi-rie Scott among others. Some of the names have changed, but many of the pioneers are still in business. Great Street merchants long have spent big money to sustain the strip's excitement.

In 1926, they shelled out $100,000 for new street lights. When President Calvin Coolidge pressed a golden telegraph key in the White House, the lights came on in Chicago and made State Street the brightest thoroughfare in the world 1 J) State Street mm II ma I (under instruction) 1 1 i It I It will be quieter, despite the continued presence of bus lanes and the usual traffic on east-west cross streets. Some fear it will be too quiet and thus lose some of its happy bustle. Pedestrians will be safer and more comfortable. Bus trip time down the strip will be cut by up to three minutes.

Riders will wait under shelters. IN OTHER CITIES where malls have been built, retail sales have risen from 5 to 30 per cent and property values have climbed. This means State Street's sales volume may increase by at least $17 million a year and at that level generate an extra $830,000 in sales taxes. A rise of only 2 per cent in property value would bring in almost a year in fresh real estate taxes. All such speculation is based on the assumption that the mall will lure more spenders.

And surely it deserves to succeed. THE MA.IOR SURGERY comes at a time when the street is in a period of uneasy change. It has been almost untouched by the post-World War II building boom and even has a couple of vacant lots. The Loop Theater clossd recently and th mighty old Chicago Theater may be next. Porno stores still afflict the south end of the strip, where the new Loop College is supposed to go.

Nobody knows exactly how people will use the mall after it opens and unalterably changes the chemistry and mystique of the street. That's part of the suspense and the calculated risk. But the mall could be the start of the strip's biggest renaissance since the fire of 1871, particularly if the city and private investors move ahead with the almost colossus-scale North Loop renewal project. Chicago never has been a town where people walk around with their fingers crossed. An ace up the sleeve is more our style and the mall could be the Great Street's trump card.

Surgery planned 1 Harrison IK r'OIK 1 QTra Is Tribuna Mip Arrows indicate suggested detours for north-south traffic now that State Street is closed. At right is Ihe plan for one of the blocks in the mall. Downtown motorists can expect a mailing Hit- -v I Asm-- I 1- kt I. 41 i.r I I downtown Salt Lake City formerly neia honor I The merchants spent $500,000 in 1958 to junk the lights again and put in new ones that were four times as powerful. TALK ABOUT a mall began more than a decade ago at about the time suburban shopping centers and other factors began taking bites out of the street's multi-million-dollar grosses.

Planning finally jelled in 1975, and the merchants agreed to dig into their pockets once more. Federal highway and mass transit money will pay 80 per cent of the mall cost, but State Street property owners will be taxed to pay the rest. Construction logistics will be tricky because more than 2,600 daily bus movements down the street can't be interruptednor can access to stores and other buildings. PLANNERS ALSO have to accommodate as many as 33,000 pedestrians who pass any given point on the street during shopping hours. Underground work for sunken tree planters and drains, mostly will be ticklish.

Just below the surface of the street is a spaghetti-like maze of utility lines, and beneath that is the subway. Base Street will be rerouted onto Clark and Dearborn streets, to the west of State, and onto Michigan Avenue tn the east, he said. Motorists will be discouraged from using Wabash Avenue, the thoroughfare immediately east of State, because Wabash traffic already is congested by the elevated structure there, he said. East-west streets north of the Chicago River have been posted to encourage motorists to use them as "feeder" streets onto Clark, Dearborn, or Michigan for persons wishing to enter the Loop, he said. Even so, some confusion is expected for the first few weeks of construction as motorists seek the most convenient routes, he said.

Special traffic control workers, hired under the federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act program, will be on duty at Loop intersections help keep traffic moving during the By Robert Davis WHAT CAN THE Loop shopper or worker expect along State Street Monday morning? Confusion. That's conceded even by the city planners and officials involved in the first construction phases of the $17.4 million State Street Mall. The project officially began at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, when the street was closed to all private vehicles. Only Chicago Transit Authority buses and authorized emergency vehicles will be allowed to travel north and south on State between Wacker Driver and Congress Street during the approximately 16 months of construction and after the mall is completed.

East-west cross streets will remain open during and after the construction, according to Marshall Suloway, city public works director. TRAFFIC NORMALLY using State for Siamese twins SALT LAKE CITY UPI-A team of surgeons soon will put a "halter" between Siamese twins joined at the head in an effort to form separate skulls and reduce the size of the conjoined area in much the way braces put pressure on teeth. University of Utah Medical Center officials said Friday the entire procedure could take as long as 90 days, including the final surgery. The twins, Lisa and Elisa Hansen, were born Oct. 18 in Ogden, joined at the top of their skulls.

ments of buildings lining the street stick out beneath existing sidewalks. WHAT WILL THE Great Street be like when the mall is it is hoped finished just in time for the 1979 Christmas shopping season? Tribune pnoto 6y Walter Kele Manning giant mock air hammers their size perhaps symbolizing high hopes for the project Mayor Bilandic (left) and Arthur E. Osborne take part in Saturday's symbolic groundbreaking for the new State Street Mall. Osborne is chairman of the State Street Council and president, Chicago Division, of Marshall Field Co. State charges waste in job training fund SAVE 12 to 15 Petit Plume damask draperies ing checks on CETA funds for cash.

They were unable to explain how the money was spent, the auditors reported. In addition to irregularities on the part of community groups, the FBI also is looking into reports of irregularities on the part of the manpower office staff. Cronson's auditors found that one consultant to the manpower office was paid $32,527 to oversee the office's contract operations. A state official said this work took only six weeks. Subtle, delicate design in a rainbow of colors Continued from page one las! 30 months of the Demorralic administration of former Gov.

Walker and the first three months of Thompson's Re-puhlican administration. Murray was in charge of the manpower office during the last six weeks of the audit period. During the 33-month period, the manpower office received million under the federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act ICETAj. The money was distributed by the manpower office to community action groups throughout the state for on-the-job and classroom training of the unskilled summer job programs for lnw-income teen-agers; and public service jobs for the unemployed. 99 pair 10 Reg.

$12.99 50x84 in. pr. Dress-up a traditionally furnished room. Or add exciting accessories to a contemporary one! Petit Plume is a tiny, feathery design with an intricate look. And, these draperies are easy-care.

Just machine wash, tumble dry. They're made of cotton and polyester Perma-Prest fabric so no ironing is needed. With Thermalgard acrylic foam backing that helps insulate against heat and cold. $12.49 pair, 50x63-in 10.99 $36.99 pair, 100x84-in 31.99 $46.99 pair, 125x84-in 39.99 $15.99 pair, 50x90-in 13.99 $38.99 pair, 100x90-in 34.29 $48.99 pair, 125x90-in 42.99 THERE HAVE BEEN reports that during this period, the consultant visited several community action groups asking for contributions to support a statewide computer system to handle CETA grants. One community group was asked for $00,000 and when the leader said that amount of money was not available, the consultant reportedly offered to increase the group's CETA grant to cover the contribution.

The downstate group leader said he rejected the offer. Though the manpower office received $76.4 million in CETA funds during the 33-month audit period, the audit was based on a sampling of just under $30 million of those funds. Auditors found $442,153 in questionable expenditures, but contended that their work was seriously hindered by careless and incomplete record keeping. SOME INVESTIGATORS said that If the records had been complete, the auditors could have found hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional irregularities in the $30 million sampling. They said that an audit of the entire $76.4 million could turn up an additional $1 million in misused funds.

In criticizing the office's record keeping, the auditors said in a report: "We have been unable to confirm cash on hand balances with subgrantees I community groups. As a result, we believe that the manpower office has lacked adequate controls over subgrantees' financial accounting and reporting." THE AUDITORS said they found: Documents missing from files. No central filing system. Incomplete records of property jrfi If Spindrift, washable semi-sheer panels THE FBI INVESTIGATION reportedly involved irregularities detailed in the state audit plus information from other sources. Here are some of the irregularities reported by Cronson's auditors: Three days before a CETA grant expired, a Vermilion County citizens action group, apparently unable to spend all of the money it had received, gave $2,000 to a junior college in Danville to allow staff members to enroll in job related classes.

The auditors said such a payment was illegal. The same group was found to be paying public welfare recipients enrolled in job training programs between $84 and $92 a week when CETA regulations called for them to receive $30 a week. A Chicago college was given $935 in CETA money to pay the tuition of seven students reported to be taking a course in taxation. The auditors said they found no such course listed in the school's catalog and no records showing the students ever attended such a course. A Centralia-based community group used CETA funds to pay a $1,434 penalty levied by the Internal Revenue Service for late payment of income and Social Security taxes.

Another group used CETA emergency assistance funds intended for food and housing to pay $1,335 for two funerals. THE AUDITORS FOUND that hundreds throughout the state received jobs financed by CETA despite the fact that they were ineligible because their incomes exceeded the federally specified poverty level. Several groups were found to be writ- Reg. $3.99 40x81-in. panel qi9 93 each Softly filter light with these easy-care Dacron polyester batiste: Shir-on rod-pocket style.

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boimht with CETA funds. Of the manpower office, the auditors said: It cannot insure the financial integrity of ils own reports. It cannot insure that subgrantees I community groups! comply with federal regulations. Of the county groups, the auditors said: Written accounting procedures did not exist. Supporting documentation was missing from files.

Payments listed were not supported by documentation. Funds from different programs were cominglud. Open a ScarsCharge today! Nutrition Day STORESHVt I i oansinriwn uuoranura i I For quick tales service use these direct-dial home lashion department phone numhris, TMS I DIRECT OtAL I DEPARTMENTAL I Mot Scars lon opn pvrningt Monday through Friday. Sunday MA to 5 or lour Monty Back SHEETS rmowt STORK PREFIX 97- Sears Elgin Oalihrook Wnukegan Hawthorn 742-7400 6S4 2300 62.1500 367 1SOO Golf Mill Irving Park Lwrnce Ave. Harlm.

North 796-2211 685 2121 561 4800 K9-2600 Homan Ave. Ortanri Square Park Forest Soulhlake 26S-25O0 39 SOO0 747-8600 7365000 FURNITURE, BEDDING 4701 2O01 17n tmi 3101 7101 a 101 CUSTOM DRAPERIES 47 3124 2231 no 210 TI24 4224 CURTAtNS DRAPERIES 4fl7 2024 2274 024 2134 M14 4024 LAMPS ACCtSS 4711 J021 7721 021 2121 7222 4131 NPMONEx Stat Sim TWrh Sir eat Wanam Avanut Ft Vtltay W'mrfr aM Rr Oafet NortrtfertM 4TJ7 2017 7737 M37 2H7 TU7 4717 The third annual Senior Nutrition Tag Day will be in suburban Cook County June 23. Sponsored by the Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County, it will help provide nutritious meals for more than 1,500 older persons daily in 15 suburban centers. LAW. 0l' ft 0 Ci Whr America shop.