[yapc] Transportation From the Airport

[Walt Mankowski]

On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 03:19:25PM -0500, Andy Lester wrote:
> 
> On May 19, 2008, at 3:17 PM, Andrew Rodland wrote:
> 
> >> I'm thinking of flying in on Friday night (13 June), and the plane  
> >> should
> >> arrive at Midway after 10:30 pm.  I don't precisely recollect what  
> >> it takes
> >> to get to the dorms from Midway; is it possible the L or one of its
> >> transfer lines will run at that hour?
> >
> > Google suggests that the route would be Orange Line -> Roosevelt ->  
> > Green
> > Line -> IIT, and that the last train on that route is 1AM. After  
> > that it
> > gives 62 bus -> Roosevelt -> Red Line (runs all night, at least
> > occasionally) -> IIT.
> 
> 
> Please also recall that neither Midway nor IIT are very good  
> neighborhoods.

There was a lot of discussion about the safety of the area around IIT
two years ago.  To be honest, I didn't know what to expect.  The South
Side of Chicago has a certainly notoriety, after all.

But now after spending 4 days on the IIT campus, I can say I was
pleasantly surprised by the campus.  Whatever my prior image was of
the South Side (mostly from watching the Blues Brothers too many
times) that's not at all what IIT is like.  The campus has lots of
grass and trees and interesting modern architecture, crisscrossed by
broad avenues.  And the el stops right in the middle of campus.  I
never felt the least bit unsafe.  You probably don't want to be
wandering around the neighborhood at that hour of night with luggage
(true for any big city) but if you stick to campus you should be fine.

If you remember how to get to the dorms (MSV, not SSV) it's only a
block or two from the el stop.  However, if you don't remember how the
campus is laid out, or if you weren't there 2 years ago, you might at
least consider having someone meet you at IIT el stop.

Walt