Freedom on the River
The Sun Times tells the charming story of the only river squatter in Chicago. Paul Buschauer has been living rent-free on his boat for the parts of the last fifteen years, tied up in various out-of-the way stretches of the North Branch of the Chicago River. Sadly the Department of Transportation forced him to move on yet again, and towed the boat away to a side channel near Chinatown. Once upon a time Chicago had numerous boat dwellers, but the river rat life is not common anymore and is even illegal in Chicago, sadly.