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The List
(page 5 of 7)
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PARENTING
Ideas for inexpensive family fun or a cheap couple’s rendezvous romantique (sans enfants) are available at DancingMeatballs.com/Chicago. The site sends out a weekly newsletter with a unique and affordable activity (less than $20 a person) for each day of the week.
ChicagoKids.com pulls suggestions from child-friendly events listings and links to helpful resources, such as for party planning and shopping.
Parents tired of paying too much for special-occasion kids' clothes can visit Chicago-based Gagas.com, where they can rent them instead. There are more than 1,000 options for children from newborns to early teens, ranging from formal to classic to funky. Clothes are shipped in a few days (or overnight, if need be) and can be kept from three to six weeks. The other plus: no washing. Dirty clothes can be sent back in the prepaid package.
Find the perfect babysitter, pet sitter, nanny, or dog walker at SitterCity.com. Parents can conduct a four-step screening process and background check on sitters, who post a comprehensive profile and video interview findable by ZIP Code. SitterCity users review sitters they've hired.
Moms, unite! A collaborative group of more than 25 moms share their thoughts on pushing strollers on snowy sidewalks, whether girls learn better at girls-only schools, and traveling with kids, among other maternal topics, at SVMomBlog.Typepad.com/Chicago_Moms.
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POLITICS
Archpundit.com is Larry Handlin, a 30-something liberal blogger who grew up downstate in Normal and now lives in St. Louis. Even from Missouri, he still can't help but get steamed over issues related to Governor Blago and local U.S. House races, as well as national figures such as conservative columnist Robert Novak.
BlogNetNews.com/Illinois, created by former USA Today editorial writer Dave Mastio, lists the most often clicked, most often linked, most active, and most influential (by its own mathematical metric) blogs in Illinois.
Chicago-based RealClearPolitics.com pulls together links to the biggest national political stories of the day, along with opinion pieces and analysis from major media outlets. Insatiable politics wonks will feel at home here.
A left-leaning blog community with multiple items daily about Illinois politics, PrairieStateBlue.com allows regular users with something to say to write posts, not just comment.
The right-wing bloggers at IllinoisReview.Typepad.com post so often that you have to visit several times a week if you want to see everything before it gets bumped off the bottom of the page and into the archive. Unflinchingly conservative, this site covers state and national political news with subtle acidity.
REAL ESTATE
Zillow.com gives anyone buying or selling a house access to key information: comparative sales prices and estimates of the value of unsold property. The site also offers searchable listings with Q&A sections to discuss properties with sellers or agents and searchable maps to scour neighborhoods for deals.
If you sign up at CondoPerks.com, then shop at participating businesses through their Web portal, CondoPerks sends rebate checks for a percentage of each sale to your condo association.
The public-records site NewsChicago.org aggregates data on fires, code violations, tax sales, and housing court notices, among other things. You can also snoop into the public records of your neighbors, and your neighborhood as a whole.
YoChicago.com offers not only the standard video tours and search tools for homes for sale but also a blog covering new buildings, real estate-related news, and neighborhood photos.
The lifeblood of Chicago.BlockShopper.com is squibs on real-estate deals in Lincoln Park and Lake View: who bought, who sold, and how much, constructed from public data.
Almost every real-estate site these days lets visitors search property listings from the Multiple Listing Service. The search tool at BairdWarner.com is the best, with a nifty Google Maps mash-up and clear interface.
SCHOOLS
Public school report cards can be downloaded and viewed at ISBE.State.il.us. Click on "Report Card" in the list of links on the left-hand side.
The latest news and rumors about Chicago public schools appear in District 299: TheChicagoSchoolsBlog. Every weekday, freelance journalist Alexander Russo, who is a contributing editor at Catalyst magazine, posts news on school board doings, gang violence, testing, and teacher awards. (This link has been updated since we first published the story)
Basic data about area private schools and their neighborhoods is collected at PrivateSchoolReview.com/state_high_schools/stateid/IL. Enrollments, student-teacher ratios, and profiles appear in an easy-to-read design.
SERVICES
Viewpoints.com aggregates reviews on baby products, electronics, pet products, movies, autos, education, health, home and garden, travel, and more. Reviewers specify their backgrounds so you can judge if your style jibes with theirs.
AngiesList.com is a pay service ($8.75 a month plus a $15 sign-up fee) for finding home services, rated and selected by users, with recommendations on which contractors are great and which aren't.
Skokie-based Internet supermarket Peapod.com has a wide selection, an easy-to-use Web interface, and decent veggies. Make your choices and a Peapod truck delivers the next day. Don't expect to save any money, but it will free you from the time-suck that is visiting the local supermarket.
E-mail, online file storage, calendars, and more are free for residents and local businesses from the City of Chicago at SIMChicago.com. Services are accessible through a Web interface or downloadable Windows-only software.
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Reader Comments:
Congrats on the accolades! It's nice to be recognized for putting something together that has a good scope, relevant to the people around you, and features lots of cool links and pics to check out!
A great website that should go under Arts & Culture is the Chicago-based video magazine www.getfreshcut.com. They do interviews with up-and-coming artists, musicians and filmmakers and their blog covers all sorts of new media stories.
Another great Chicago-based website that didn't make the list is http://www.NeighborHuddle.com. This site connects Chicago area homeowner and condo associations internally and with eachother. Developers can also simplify the turnover of their projects to the associations using the website. It's great!
http://www.daviddalka.com/createvalue/ The best technology, search engine and advertising blog in Chicago
Another emerging startup out of Chicago is the corporate social networking website Offiscion (www.offiscion.com). Offiscion allows peers in organizations to connect, communicate, and collaborate with one another.
Great Chicago TV Museum site: www.FuzzyMemories.TV
If you ever make a list like this again, you need to include Hockeenight, which is the first place I go after a Blackhawks game.
www.csac.biz is a great Chicago resource for sports fans and collectors looking to meet their favotrie pro athletes.
I have just read your article on the 171 best websites in Chicago, and unfortunatly you listed rogersparkbench.blogspot.com as one of your picks under the neighborhoods category.
On that website today Tom Mannis writes about the News-Star and Booster being sold. There is nothing factual in his writing,NOTHING. None of the statements he makes there are true. The Readers article about it is true. Tom is just a bitter man because he was told his freelance services were no longer wanted at those papers. Unfortunately, this is the method of operation for his blog, flying of the handle "journalism", without checking facts he constantly finds himself with his foot in his mouth. You should have listed this site under "fictional entertainment" for it certainly is not news.
For intense details about corruption among government officials and their staff see:
http://illinoiscorruption.blogspot.com/
http://cookcountyjudges.wordpress.com/