the Potomac, Washington, DC

the Pacific Ocean, Palisades del Rey, below the flight paths of Los Angeles International Airport

the Hudson, Ardsley-on-Hudson, NY. See message cast into the plate at the bottom of the photo.

but not directly to the Chicago River thanks to …

TARP Drop Shaft No. DS-M57

Fencing is labelled "Long Fence". I think that is a company name.

On 2012 Jun 29 Washington experienced a severe storm, classified as a derecho. See this news story. I assume these fallen branches are remnants of that storm.

I would save the Union.
My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery.
If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.
Lincoln's letter to Horace Greeley

These guys reminded me of some even more monumental ones that I had seen in Helsinki.

These boxes have the names of news agencies. I think they are perm­anent connection points for when inter­views are being recorded.

The fire hydrant appears to have a radio antenna on it.

Sphere No. 6 (Sphere within a Sphere), (1963-1965) by Arnaldo Pomodoro in the Hirschhorn Garden.

Sphere with Sphere (1982-83) by Arnaldo Pomodoro in the grounds of Trinity College, Dublin. See this page for two more Pomodoro links and the rest of our Ireland trip.

Note the curved sounding board over the ministers' gallery. Compare with Brooklyn.

Compare with "no dumping" photos in other parts of the USA. Historically Chicago probably had worse problems than other cities. They built the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to divert the sewage to the Mississippi instead of dumping it in Lake Michigan. It is still not fully cleaned up - see this 2016 article in the Chicago tribune.