BY SANDRA GUY Staff Reporter September 10, 2014 10:32AM

Updated: September 10, 2014 1:06PM

A Chicago transportation official outlined plans Wednesday to improve Union Station by widening commuter platforms, providing CTA buses off-street parking and potentially use old underground tunnels to open up space that could eventually lead to direct-to-airport rail routes.

Even more imaginative are ideas for the Great Hall aerobics, yoga or tether ball, anyone?

The Metropolitan Planning Council invited people to submit ideas, and the winners included reinventing the Great Hall by putting down artificial turf and installing a hammock, space for tether ball and an area for yoga and aerobics classes.

The Planning Council wants to turn Union Station into a destination, rather than just a place where people pass through.

Another idea would be to use the Canal Street viaduct area for a steakhouse, and to open shops and restaurants in the station so people would want to stroll around or have business lunches there, a planning council spokeswoman said.

As for transit improvements, Jeffrey Sriver, director of transportation planning and programming for the Chicago Department of Transportation, told a public hearing at the station of these plans:

Installing enhanced bus lanes and larger bus stations starting up Canal Street and going east on Washington, then west on Madison and south on Clinton.

Creating a surface parking lot just south of the station for CTA buses the city is now in the process of buying the property to give more space to cars, cabs and pedestrians moving in and out.

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Major changes discussed to expand, renew Union Station

The message from Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin is loud and clear: He is counting on Hampden County voters to pull up the primary voting numbers today.

Primary voting is typically low in Massachusetts.

However, when there are important races in the election, voters tend to go to the polls.

In 2006, 900,000 people cast ballots in the Democratic primary when Deval Patrick won a hotly contested gubernatorial primary.

With four races in Hampden County to be decided by the primary including the critical office of district attorney we urge voters to get to the polls today.

There is far too much at stake to allow others to decide these races without input from each voter.

Even in counties, cities and regions where there are no contested races, there are statewide offices to weigh in on: governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer and attorney general.

The results of an election are far more meaningful when they reflect as much of the electorate as possible.

No politician can talk about a mandate of the people with a straight face when only a fraction of the electorate bothers to take part.

To find your polling place, check online at wheredoivotema.com

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Editorial: Voters must excercise their right today

Counsels to Governor Rauf Aregbesola and Senator Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday engaged in a fresh physical combat over an attempt to use video camera to record the inspection of election materials.

Our correspondent gathered that the inspection had hardly started when a camera man hired by Aregbesolas legal team started recording the proceedings but one of the counsels representing the PDP governorship candidate, Mr. Kehinde Adesiyan objected the move.

Adesiyan was said to to have argued that video recording of the proceedings was not part of the order given by Justice I. M Bako-led Election Petitions Tribunal.

However, it was gathered that Aregbesolas counsel, Mr. Dawood Akinloye, insisted that they had the liberty to record the inspection since it was not in any way tampering with it except the PDP had something to hide.

Akinloye at this point collected the camera from the camera man and started recording as PDP lawyers were inspecting the election material.

Hot argument ensued and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission stepped in to douse the tension.

An official of INEC reportedlysaid that the commission would record the inspection and give copies of the recordings to the two parties but Akinloye raised an objection to this, saying he could not rely on the INEC for their recording since his client had brought a camera for the same purpose.

Akinloyes refusal to stop recording the inspection was said to have resulted into a fight between him and Adesiyan.

Akinloye later told journalists in an interview that Adesiyanattacked him and held his neck while he was filming the happenings at the INEC office.

He said, We brought a camera man to record the inspection but they said no. They threatened to arrest him. I took the camera from the man and started recording but resisted me.

Read more:
Fresh fight stalls Osun election materials inspection