TOP STORY: Urban Explorer Caught Living in Chicago Subway
Chicago urban explorer "Derailer", also known as "Jeremy" and "Dr.
Chaos", was unmasked last week as Wisconsin man Joseph Daniel Konopka --
and arrested for living in Chicago Transit Authority subway tunnels with
more than his fair share of cyanide. Konopka, already wanted on an
outstanding warrant in Wisconsin for acts of damage to several public
utilities, was arrested with a 15-year-old boy on March 9 for breaking into
tunnels underneath a building at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In
his possession was a vial of cyanide, which the teenager told authorities
Konopka had more of in his underground dwelling. Konopka's hideout, one of
several disused closets and utility rooms along the CTA's Blue Line on
which he had replaced the locks, was found to contain a stash of cyanide
and other dangerous chemicals. Whether or not Konopka intended to use the
chemicals maliciously remains unknown. He told authorities, "I don't know
why I took it, I just took it."
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley responded to the security threat last week
by assuring citizens that steps would be taken to tighten the subway
system. He plans to have the system combed for "these little places they
built 70, 80, 90 years ago... why do you need them?". While taggers and
other transit trespassers have traditionally gotten off easily in Chicago,
those days are over. Police Commander Ed Gross of the CTA patrol unit said
beginning immediately, anyone caught trespassing in the subway system will
be arrested and given a complete background check.
Chicago Urban Exploration, a private club of urban adventurers with whom
Konopka had explored once or twice, was contacted by the FBI as part of the
investigation. The club has cooperated with the CTA's requests to remove
all "unauthorized photographs" from their website.
London Plans to Build Tall Building
The Sellar Property Group of London, England, has announced plans to
construct Europe's tallest tower near London Bridge. The tower will stand
at 1,365 feet tall and will be the world's fourth tallest building (after
the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur (1,483 feet), the Sears Tower in
Chicago (1,450 feet) and the Jin Mao building in Shanghai(1,381 feet)). The
tower, currently nicknamed the "London Bridge Tower", will include offices,
apartments, a hotel, shops and restaurants. The tower's 87 storeys will be
topped by a 325 foot telecommunications mast. Infilnews can only speculate
as to whether or not this building will be as phenomenal a success as the
Millennium Dome.
London's Sinking
As it turns out, it is a good idea that London is beginning to construct
especially tall buildings, because the city itself is gradually sinking.
Recent satellite findings indicate that an area of approximately 250 yards
by 2 1/2 miles along the London Underground's Jubilee Line extension have
sunk approximately an inch in the last five years. The tunnel is used both
as part of the London subway line and as an electrical conduit.
Glasgow Tower also Sinking
In another sad tale of architectural folly, Scotland's pricey millennial
milestone, the revolving tower at Glasgow's science centre, has been
discovered to be sinking as well. The tower, a 360-foot peculiarity that
revolves a full 360 degrees in the direction of the prevailing wind,
appears to be off two of its bearings. The structure has been closed
indefinitely while plans are made to actually jack up the tower and attempt
to sort it out from underneath. The tower's architect, Richard Horden,
claims no responsibility for the deficiency and insists his design "had
been compromised". The tower has previously been plagued by other design
flaws such as elevators too heavy for the structure to bear them.
Men Arrested for Lurking
Violating Minnesota's little-known law against "lurking", three
Minneapolis men were arrested earlier this month while walking along a
road. The men, who admitted they were looking for an entrance into the
University of Minnesota steam tunnels, were arrested for "lurking with
intent to commit a crime". One of the three men was cited for lurking and
jailed on an outstanding warrant, while the other two were cited for
lurking and released on their own recognaizance.
Man Infiltrates Garbage Chute
A Stockholm man had to be rescued by firefighters after infiltrating his
apartment building's garbage chute earlier this month. The man, whose name
is not known, was in pursuit of a favourite hand-knitted sweater that his
wife had finally thrown out. Rather than contacting building maintenance,
the man decided to retrieve the sweater himself by entering the building's
garbage chute. "It was not difficult at all, because I am quite small,"
said the man, who nevertheless got stuck after sliding down the chute only
one floor.
French Tunnels Ablaze
The same day France agreed to reopen the Mont Blanc Alpine Tunnel, in
which a horrific 1999 tunnel fire killed 39 people, another blaze broke out
in a motorway tunnel being built near Paris. The fire blew out of the
tunnel's entrance, trapping workers for six hours in the thick smoke. All
19 workers inside survived by taking shelter in a 200-metre-long tunneling
machine equipped with an airtight emergency chamber.
The Mont Blanc tunnel, which links France and Italy, did reopen last week
despite an unexplained explosion at its mouth a few hours prior to its
reopening.
WEBRING NEWS: Web Ring Healthy and Happy
The Urban Exploration Webring is finally recovering from Yahoo's messy
abandonment of the Webring system a few months ago. Everyone should be able
to cycle through all 83 member sites without hitting any non-existent pages
or broken webring links. New members and returning old members are welcome
-- visit http://www.infiltration.org/ and click on "Join Now" to apply.
Call for Infilnews Submissions
As always, Infilnews welcomes and encourages your contributions. Please
forward any articles of interest in the areas of exploration, construction,
infrastructure, infiltration, and so forth, to liz@infiltration.org.
Call for Zine Submissions
Upcoming issues of Infiltration's print publication include the "Where
are they now?" issue, which will take a look at past article subjects (e.g.
Scottish Rail Tunnels, Toronto's Royal York Hotel, the Chicago freight
tunnels) and examine what changes they have undergone. Anyone with who's
got a story about anything that's been previously covered in Infiltration is enthusiastically encouraged to submit it for inclusion.
We also need submissions for our "Secret Societies" and "Churches"
issues, so please step forward if you've got something.
Please send submissions to ninj@infiltration.org and/or liz@infiltration.org.
Print Zine
The latest issue (#17) of the print zine Infiltration, "Buildering", was
released in December 2001. You can get one by sending $2 (US/CDN) cash to
PO Box 13, Station E, Toronto, ON M6H 4E1, Canada.
Sign up for Infilnews by e-mail.
Ethics
Infilnews