KCM Desk

The KCM Desk is the research and editorial operation behind Keep Chicagoland Moving, a publication of TAK Marketing, LLC. It's a desk, not a person: coverage is produced through intensive Chicago-focused research across public data, agency documents, and local reporting, then reviewed and edited before it publishes. How we work, in detail: keepchicagolandmoving.com/methodology/

Joined: June 2, 2023
Articles: 178

City in Motion

Chicago’s Skyway Lease, From the Documents: $1.83 Billion Up Front in 2005, Two of Three Reserve Funds Drawn Near Zero by 2016, and $1.44 Billion Still Being Counted Through 2103

Elevated steel toll bridge carrying traffic over an industrial river channel on Chicago's Southeast Side

The Skyway lease from the city's posted documents and the owners' own filings: $1.83 billion up front in January 2005 for 99 years, $446.3 million of it refunding Skyway bonds; three reserve funds whose schedules show two drawn to $134,000 and $4,000 by 2016; $11,977,992 in deal fees; and $1,441,818,000 still unrecognized at the end of 2025, counted $18.5 million a year through 2103. Control of the concessionaire has changed twice; the city's record stops at 2016.

KCM Desk
August 21, 2026

City in Motion

Chicago’s 69,852 Water-in-Basement 311 Requests Since 2018 Follow the Storms: One Day in August 2025 Holds 5 Percent of Them, and Twenty Days Hold a Third

Rainwater pooled over a catch-basin grate on a Chicago bungalow block after a storm

Chicago's 311 file holds 69,852 Water in Basement requests since December 2018, and they arrive with the storms: one day in August 2025 holds 5.4 percent of them, the twenty busiest days a third, July and August half. Austin leads at 8,207. Requests, not verified floods - and a closing clock that records status, not findings.

KCM Desk
August 21, 2026

City in Motion

The 10 Biggest Department Totals in Chicago’s 2026 Budget — and No. 1 Is Not a Department

Classical columns of a civic building facade in downtown Chicago at dusk

The ten largest department labels in Chicago's 2026 Budget Ordinance file: Finance General - not an operating department - leads at $8.19 billion, 44 percent of the $18.67 billion total, ahead of police at $2.11 billion. Appropriations, not spending, summed by the file's own labels.

KCM Desk
August 20, 2026

City in Motion

The 8 Orders Chicago’s Building-Code Hearing Docket Issues Most, From 144,837 Cases

Wooden porch and exterior stairs on a Chicago brick three-flat, seen from the alley

The eight charges that appear on the most dockets in Chicago's administrative-hearings file, from 144,837 cases: inspection orders lead at 39,062, ahead of porch, wall, and stair repairs - counted at docket grain, with no fine sums, for reasons the parent analysis explains.

KCM Desk
August 20, 2026

City in Motion

Chicago’s Hearing-Docket File Holds 144,837 Ordinance Cases — Every One From the Buildings Department, and No Disposition Column

Wooden back porch under repair on a Chicago three-flat

Chicago's administrative-hearings violation file at honest grain: 841,271 charge-line rows describing 144,837 dockets, every one issued by the Buildings department despite the general name. Hearings collapsed in 2020 and 2025 was the busiest year since 2010; 44 percent of dockets carry a fine; the file records no disposition.

KCM Desk
August 20, 2026

City in Motion

Chicago’s 811 File Holds 14,508 Utility-Hit Reports Since 2015. Gas Leads — and 846 Reports Record What Was Hit as UNKNOWN.

Open utility trench with locate flags on a Chicago street

Chicago's 811 hit ledger, read at report grain: 62,897 notice rows describing 14,508 hit reports since 2015. Gas service leads the struck-facility mentions, Peoples Gas-owned facilities appear in 43 percent of reports - and 846 reports record what was hit as UNKNOWN. Reports, never verified strikes.

KCM Desk
August 20, 2026

City in Motion

More of Chicago’s Taxi License Records Sit at VIOLATION Than ACTIVE — 3,518 to 2,679, in the City’s Own Register

Taxi parked under an elevated track at dusk

Chicago's passenger-vehicle register, read whole: 16,329 records across nine types, fewer than half ACTIVE - and more taxi records at VIOLATION (3,518) than ACTIVE (2,679). Active liveries now outnumber active taxis; three types have no active record at all; 14 electrics citywide. Statuses reported exactly as recorded.

KCM Desk
August 20, 2026

City in Motion

The Chicago Community Areas With the Most Pothole Patch Jobs Since 2018

Asphalt truck and fresh patches on a Chicago side street

The Near West Side leads Chicago with 8,088 completed pothole patch jobs since 2018 - but by the file's own potholes-filled counts, Ashburn leads the whole city with 89,393. Both measures shown, with the completed-jobs boundary from the full patch-ledger analysis.

KCM Desk
August 20, 2026

City in Motion

Seven Habits of Chicago’s Own Data Files, From 130 Published Readings of the City’s Records

File folders and a spreadsheet screen on a desk at night

After 130 published readings of Chicago's own files, the files themselves became a subject: columns that never vary, units nobody states, outcomes the categories cannot record, sibling files never merged, names that drift, geography that fails its own coordinates, and words bigger than the file. Every instance linked and re-verified.

KCM Desk
August 20, 2026

City in Motion

West Nile Season Is Surging in Chicago’s Trap Ledger: 187 Positive Pools So Far, the Fourth-Most at This Point in Twenty Seasons

Still lagoon edge and tall grass at dusk in a Chicago park

Chicago's own mosquito-trap ledger, twenty seasons deep: 187 positive West Nile pools so far in 2026 - the fourth-most through week 32 in the file, behind 2012, 2016, and 2025 - with the weekly surge charted. Trap-pool tests, never human cases, and the boundary holds on every number.

KCM Desk
August 19, 2026