Derek Eder

Column: The Corporation for Public Broadcast is ‘winding down.’ What does that mean for public radio and TV? The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced it is “wind-down” operations. What does this mean for public radio and TV?

I gave an in-depth interview with my hometown Chicago Tribune about what’s going to happen to NPR and PBS, and how cutting public media is part of a broader anti-democratic ideological project.

Where are Vacation Homes Located in the US? As of 2023, the US has around 142.3 million housing units: roughly one home for every 2.4 people in the country.

Where are Vacation Homes Located in the US?

Online: How the CTA is Fighting Ghost Buses - Chi Hack Night Hear from three CTA employees on technical improvements the Chicago Transit Authority has been working on.

Hope people will check out next Tuesday's (7/29) @chihacknight.org event, where some folks from the CTA will be presenting about how they try to combat ghost buses and improve data quality for riders!

chihacknight.org/events/2025/...

Illinois Solar Map See how and where solar projects have been installed by Census Tract, Place, County, and State Congressional Districts in the State of Illinois

Monthly update for ilsolarmap.com

Stats for solar development in Illinois for the past month:

+39 MW of solar energized
+247 MW of solar planned

Good to see the solar pipeline grow, even with the IRA tax incentives going away. Will we see a big rush before the end of the year when they expire?

Data Security — Unbreaking How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.

Since day one, the Trump administration has recklessly exploited Americans’ sensitive data in efforts to deport immigrants, restrict access to critical benefits and services, and gut the federal workforce. Here’s what we’ve learned so far: unbreaking.org/issues/data-...

Today Is the Original No Kings Day/Happy Bastille Day Yesterday I wrote, "The United States is being destroyed from within, and mainstream journalism isn't making that clear. It's when you assemble the whole picture that you have to raise the question if...

And today I wrote about the overthrow of tyrants.

The Republican budget is a climate horror Not content to ignore climate change, they decided to make it even worse.

New in PN: The Republican budget is a climate horror

"Republicans have gone from acknowledging climate change is real but insisting we should do nothing about it, to delivering all sorts of harm to the country so they can make it worse. You won’t find better evidence of how radical they've become."

The Trump administration is building a national citizenship data system The Department of Homeland Security, with help from DOGE, has rolled out a tool that purports to be able to check the citizenship status of almost all Americans.

Per @npr.org, the Department of Homeland Security, in partnership with the White House U.S. DOGE Service, has built a searchable national citizenship register with data from the Social Security Administration & immigration records— without public notice & comment.
Infrastructure for a police state.

Climate activist Derek Eder appointed to Oak Park Village Board Derek Eder, a climate activist and technologist, was unanimously approved by the board to replace Susan Buchanan, who resigned in May.

One week in to my new role as Village Trustee.

My first interview:

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/19/d...

Some rare good news on the environment at the federal level

Joining Local Government as an Oak Park Village Trustee On June 17 2025, I will be appointed to the Oak Park Village Board as a Trustee. I am assuming the seat that was recently vacated by Susan Buchanan and will fulfill the remainder of her term until 202...

My civic journey continues. I am joining local government as an Oak Park Village Trustee today!

derekeder.com/blog/oak-par...

Home | DataMade DataMade is a data and web consultancy for civic society. We support our partners in working toward democracy, justice, and equity.

check it out at datamade.us

Timeline cleanse: DataMade has a new website!

I've been thinking about maintenance and longevity of all the civic websites I've worked on over the years.

Very excited to make use of a free and open source library to extend the lives of two of my favorites for many years to come

40% transit cuts in Chicago next year are avoidable

Be part of fixing this issue; pledge on this website and you’ll be advised on what you can do.

savetransit.org

A project I wrote 10 years ago is on the home page of hacker news?

CSV to HTML Table: everything old is new again

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4405...

the conversion rate was low because these are pretty big projects that have real costs.

more people did stuff than I thought, actually!

yes, there were a few common groups
- some priced out the upgrades and didn't have the money to do it yet and were saving up
- some had started reaching out to contractors to get quotes
- some were just curious and wanted more info

Climate Coach Program - 1 Year Report — Oak Park Climate Action Network Our Climate Coach program is one year old! To celebrate this milestone and share our progress, we have compiled a report on our impact and recommended next steps, both for Oak Park Climate Action Netw...

The Climate Coach program is 1 year old!

Here’s the top line numbers after 1 year:
- 103 coach requests
- 88% got some or all of the help they sought
- 3 upgraded to heat pumps
- 3 installed an induction stove
- 2 added insulation
- others took smaller but notable action

opcan.org/updates/clim...

Chicago Sun-Times Prints AI-Generated Summer Reading List With Books That Don't Exist "I can't believe I missed it because it's so obvious. No excuses," the writer said. "I'm completely embarrassed."

I spoke to the person who AI-generated the Chicago Sun-Times reading list. Says he's very embarrassed. This was part of a generic package inserted into newspapers and other publications, so likely to run elsewhere. He didn't know it'd be in Chicago Sun-Times

www.404media.co/chicago-sun-...

Illinois Solar Map See how and where solar projects have been installed by Census Tract, Place, County, and State Congressional Districts in the State of Illinois

Oops, needed to make the place IDs stable. Here's the link to Chicago! ilsolarmap.com#/?geography=...

Since we launched this project two years ago, over 3 gigawatts of solar have come online in Illinois. To continue to make the map easy to read, I had to make the buckets for each color 10x larger to account for the larger numbers.

Data update - Illinois Solar Map As of May 8, 2025, an additional 327 megawatts (MW) of solar have been energized in the State of Illinois, bringing the total to 4,648 MW. 83,542 solar projects have been energized in our state.

IL Solar Map update!

327 megawatts (MW) of solar have been energized in the Illinois this month, bringing the total to 4,648 MW.

Also, you can now link directly to places for easier sharing. Here's the solar deployed in Chicago: ilsolarmap.com#/?geography=...

ilsolarmap.com/update/data-...

In-person and Online: Show and Tell (at i.c.stars) - Chi Hack Night Show and Tell is our low-pressure session to share what you're working on with the community.

Join us tonight in person at i.c.stars or virtually for a Show and Tell event! Hear six short talks from Chi Hack Night community members about work‑in‑progress projects, breakout‑group updates, and ideas they want to share with the group.

Get more info here: chihacknight.org/events/2025/...

Eve L. Ewing And Friends Unite To Buy South Side Cafe Build Coffee Author and scholar Eve L. Ewing, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist trina reynolds-tyler and media-based organizer Andrea Faye Hart will take over the shop in June. It is being rebranded to Build Coffe...

Great news! "Author and scholar Eve L. Ewing, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist trina reynolds-tyler and media-based organizer Andrea Faye Hart will take over the shop in June. It is being rebranded to Build Coffee and Books."

blockclubchicago.org/2025/05/05/e...

Unbreaking — How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us. Unbreaking — How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.

we're doing the thing unbreaking.org

Bridgeport is now the neighborhood with the greatest home price percent increase since 2000 (dethroning Logan Square and West Loop)

price-index.housingstudies.org

Context: housingstudies.org/releases/coo...

Thanks @baratunde.com for highlighting our community! Join us every Tuesday to build, share, and learn about civic tech! chihacknight.org

ComEd now offers 50% rates if you have electric heating — Oak Park Climate Action Network You may be paying double for your electricity. We at OPCAN can sound like a broken record when it comes to electrification, but it really is better for your home, the planet, your health, and your w...

If you have all-electric heat in Illinois, ComEd has to offer you their all-electric heating rate if you ask for it. Its literally half the cost, which means our electric conversion will pay for itself 5 years sooner! Here's how to get it:

opcan.org/updates/come...

2nd City Zoning - An interactive map of Chicago's zoning code An interactive map that lets you find out how your building is zoned, learn where to locate your business and explore zoning patterns throughout Chicago.

2nd City Zoning, the handy free interactive Chicago zoning map originally built by @derekeder.com and @jpv.switch.box back in 2013, just got an update [but it still has the option to play Sim City music and sound effects as you browse]