NARC Survey

The National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) would like to hear about your organization’s experiences with stimulus funding and the ARRA. Fill out their brief online survey and share your success stories as well as challenges encountered. More information can be found on the NARC website.

 

Clean Cities Coalition Seeking Partners

The ARRA included a $300 million allocation to the Clean Cities program, which seeks to further domestic manufacture and use of energy-efficient advanced Transportation vehicles, alternative fuel vehicles, and alternative fuels. Prospective applicants include states, local governments, metropolitan Transportation authorities (or combinations of these) working with a Clean Cities coalition.  Click here for more information.

In response, the Chicago Area Clean Cities Coalition is seeking partners to strengthen a regional application. Funding from this grant can be used to cost-share projects (50/50) that expand the use of alternative fuels or advance vehicle technologies, including the installation of infrastructure.  Minimum grant awards are $5 million. The City of Chicago’s Department of the Environment is on board.  If interested in partnering with the Chicago Area Clean Cities Coalition, a pre-application must be submitted to them by Wednesday, May 13, 2009. Contact: Samantha Bingham samantha.bingham@cityofchicago.org, (312) 744-8096. 

 

TIP Amendments Approved

The CMAP Transportation Committee met on April 24, 2009, and the meeting included consideration of proposed TIP amendments related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  See a  map  and a  list , with details of the funding, location and work types of these projects, which the committee voted to approve. 

by Stephen Ostrander
4/27/09

Last week, I discussed the Community Design Workshops CMAP is holding across the region in support of its GO TO 2040 plan, focusing on my work with the Village of Streamwood. This community’s historical commercial hub, unattractive and underused, has seen better days. Through the Community Design Workshop, CMAP is working with Streamwood and a team of architects to visualize a better day, in 2040, for this site via three regional “scenarios” we are considering for the GO TO 2040 plan.

In the April 13th meeting with the team of architects, the Streamwood advisory committee was not shy in their assessment of the site under consideration. Two fundamental themes emerged: the need for an activity center for Streamwood’s teens, and the need for senior housing.

The committee believed that the site offered a great opportunity to create a center for activities for teens and young adults. While more than one older member of the committee prefaced their comments with “Well, I won’t be around in thirty years,” everyone seemed unanimous in their concern over the lack of things for young people to do in town—thirty years from now, and today.

In addition to suggestions of new aquatic facilities and a skatepark, recommendations included a coffeehouse where young people could gather and socialize. Actually, most of the adults around the table seemed interested in having a place within Streamwood to gather and socialize (it’s remarkable how unremarkable it is that, even in a community where most residents seem to know each other, such a place doesn’t already exist).

Another concern was the lack of housing options for Streamwood’s senior residents. In addition to attracting new residents, Streamwood is a community where residents generally choose to stay, which means that it would be wise to begin thinking creatively, now, about what would fulfill the needs—perhaps it would be more appropriate to say the expectations—of the next generations of senior residents, which are likely to be quite different from the needs, often unfulfilled, of today’s seniors.

Whether thinking of the needs of pre-driving teens and post-driving senior residents in 2040, or themselves today, everyone assembled agreed that the site has great potential. It’s well-located, at a crossroads in the center of Streamwood, with good access to the rest of the community, including immediately adjacent parks. And there appears to be little on the site which residents would want to preserve, permitting us a great deal of latitude to visualize a comprehensive resolution, via our scenarios, which begins to fulfill the site’s potential.

I’ll report back in the coming weeks with the results of the design team’s visualization of what this site in Streamwood might look like in 2040.
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by Stephen Ostrander
4/23/09

Last month I wrote about the GO TO 2040 Community Design Workshops that CMAP is conducting throughout the region, which will add a visual dimension to the development of the GO TO 2040 plan.

A crucial step in the development of the GO TO 2040 plan is choosing a preferred future scenario. “Scenarios” are combinations of actions (policies, strategies, and investments) that represent alternative paths that the region could take toward reaching its desired future, as expressed in the Regional Vision. Three regional scenarios we are considering have been suitably-titled “Preserve,” “Reinvest,” and “Innovate.” In the Community Design Workshops, we are taking these three scenarios and visualizing them at the local level. In about fifteen different communities around the region, we have chosen a specific site to which we will apply each scenario, visually, in essence asking: If we choose this path over the coming decades, what might this site in this community look like in 2040?

This month, a few of my colleagues and I have been leading meetings between small teams of architects, who will produce visualizations of the three scenarios, and local advisory committees (made up of planners, elected officials, and other members of the community), who are providing the design team with background information and context about the chosen site.

One of the communities that I am working with is the Village of Streamwood. Last week we held the primary meeting between the design team and the advisory committee representing this community of about 40,000. We evaluated the current problems, assets, and opportunities that exist in the chosen site, roughly a half-mile in diameter, which was once Streamwood’s commercial hub. Located smack dab in the middle of the community, the site has seen better days. It’s a fairly common story: commercial development has grown at Streamwood’s periphery over the past few decades, along wide arterial roads, while its pedestrian-accessible, smaller-scale commercial crossroads has declined. One of the site’s dilapidated strip malls, once home to Streamwood’s main supermarket, has been literally sinking over the years—an apt metaphor.

As the advisory committee helped the design team—and me—better understand the site, I realized that its decline occurred mostly over the past thirty years, which is, coincidentally, the same period of time that we were looking forward, as we imagine three different paths to its renaissance by 2040.

I was impressed by the members of the committee—which included the Village’s mayor, manager, parks planner, economic development commissioner, and engineer, joined by Village trustees, a police officer, a realtor, and one insightful resident. Why was I so impressed? In addition to being particularly well-organized, efficient, and perceptive, they exhibited a grounded optimism that acknowledged the site’s current problems while being imaginative and hopeful about its potential. Their pride in Streamwood is palpable, and the sad strip malls found on this site, while common to communities across the country, are out-of-sync with the community as a whole, which is healthy.

Many valuable observations and ideas were shared with the design team that evening.  Next week, I’ll discuss some of the key themes!

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Stimulus overview

Governor Quinn's office has released a  draft document  [updated 5/26/09] that provides an overview of the various federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) resources available to the State of Illinois.  It outlines the strict federal requirements the state must meet to obtain the funds, which fall into roughly two categories: "formula" and "competitive."  The former is distributed to recipients by existing federal formula, the latter refers to funds for which Illinois must compete with other states and entities.

DCEO draft amendment posted

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity has posted a draft of the Substantial Amendment to the 2008 Consolidate Annual Action Plan creating the Housing and Rapid Re-housing Program as part of ARRA. The draft document is available for public comment until Tuesday, May 4, 2009 at http://www.illinoisbiz.biz/dceo/. The Substantial Amendment  [PDF] covers how the State will administer and distribute the HPRP funds to service providers.

Original photo by Flickr user: JOE M500

Next Stop: 2010

by Shana Alford
4/20/09

A major announcement was made late last week that may be one of several regional transportation solutions to the issue of congestion in our region. Chicago Tribune announced the new express bus route that will use I-55 shoulders.

The new bus service will reach out to commuters in the southwest suburbs in Will County who commute to the Loop. This service will be operated by the suburban bus agency Pace, and is scheduled to begin no later than spring 2010. According to the RTA, there will be limited stops from the Bolingbrook area in Will County to a terminus in the City of Chicago. 

 

CMAP Congestion Visualization on I-55

This is exciting news for many commuters and for the entire region. It is anticipated that substantial time will be slashed from the 90 minutes it often takes during peak travel times for a bus rider using the existing Pace bus route No. 855/I-55 Flyer service. We anticipate that this travel time savings may make bus transit more attractive to commuters in the corridor, reducing auto trips and the Stevenson’s serious congestion problem (see the congestion scan to the right, showing average speed by time of day by milepost).

This new service will be the product of thoughtful planning by our regional partners, including IDOT, going back to the early 1990’s. An I-55 high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane was studied in the 1990’s, and has been partially completed as the expressway was reconstructed. This process likely saved substantial funds and disruption for travelers compared to building the lane now under a separate contract. While not complete at this time, the wide shoulder lane is set to facilitate faster trips for commuters in our southwest suburbs using this proposed bus service enhancement.

Increasing transportation options is a great way for the region to kick off a new decade!

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Original photo by Flickr user swanksalot

Edible Change is Enticing at 4th Annual Food Policy Summit

by Lynn Peemoeller, Co-Chair CFPAC
4/16/09

In its fourth year the summit Edible Change! Building Networks for Policy Action, hosted by the Chicago Food Policy Advisory Council (CFPAC) reached full capacity bringing together over 250 people from the Chicago area and around the region with amazing diversity of geography, ethnicity, and age to talk, learn, and share stories about food.  And who doesn’t like to talk about food?

The opening plenary started with a bang! An energetic delegation of young people from throughout the city marched in drumming on pots and pans and carrying signs endorsing local and healthy foods that they had put together during the previous one-day youth summit. That good energy led to the opening plenary. City Clerk, Miguel Del Valle spoke of the recently updated City Council website which makes a warehouse of city legislation available and will soon include up to the minute updates from City Council meetings. Mr. Del Valle’s enthusiasm for civic engagement was inspirational and set the stage for a day of policy advocacy around food issues.

A panel followed, sharing stories of success in food related policy over the past year- starting with Alderman Manny Flores of the 1^st Ward who talked about grocery retail initiatives, other issues covered were current federal legislation for the Child Reauthorization Act, the progress of the CMAP GO TO 2040 food systems project, an overview of statewide work through the Illinois Food Farm and Jobs Task Force, the Chicago Climate Change Action Plan, an update of the Food and Fitness Initiative, and a strategic planning update for the Chicago Food Policy Advisory Council.

The second part of the morning featured a panel on environmental, labor & social justice policy strategies addressing economic and health inequities in communities of color. Organized by Erika Allen Co-Chair of Growing Power and co-chair of the CFPAC, it was an interesting overview of work towards achieving equity and inclusion in the food policy movement.

The afternoon consisted of working groups on a wide range of specific issues from farmers markets to the farm to school movement, food access and grocery retail to institutional procurement strategies for local food purchasing, and the most popular group, urban agriculture. As a closing, we had an inspiring keynote address by celebrity chef Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill. He spoke about his passion for local food and how he established the Frontera Farmer Foundation to support local farmers. The most amazing part is that the Chicago Food Policy Summit is put together by an army of dedicated volunteers who believe that we can make a difference in the food system. There really is something for everyone at the Chicago Food Policy Summit. 

For more information about the Chicago Food Policy Advisory Council please visit http://www.chicagofoodpolicy.org  

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Stimulus projects in the news

Today's edition of the Eight Forty-Eight on WBEZ radio featured local officials -- including CMAP Board member Mayor Zenovia Evans of Riverdale and CMAP executive director Randy Blankenhorn -- describing how infrastructure funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are being spent.  Click here for streaming audio.

Earlier in the week, Crain's Chicago Business and the Chicago Tribune ran stories about the effects of local stimulus projects.  The Trib included a map summarizing ARRA highlights in the region.  As U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood told the paper, "You're going to see an enormous number of people building roads and bridges, starting as soon as the weather breaks."

CMAP funding dilemma:  How you can help

by Tom Garritano
4/10/09

As you may have heard, a portion of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) budget is in jeopardy because the Comprehensive Regional Planning Fund (CRPF) was zeroed out of Governor Quinn's proposed Fiscal Year 2010 budget. Annually, CMAP gets 70 percent of this overall $5 million statewide fund, which supports planning in metropolitan and rural regions alike.

With our partners, CMAP is seeking to address the shortfall by working with the Governor's office, the General Assembly, and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). Members of our Board will visit Springfield on May 6, 2009, in hopes of convincing the state's leaders to restore the fund. The Illinois Association of Regional Councils, the Illinois Metropolitan Planning Organization Advisory Council, and CMAP have prepared a report on the impacts of the CRPF.

The CRPF's $3.5 million to CMAP makes up less than one-third of our FY10 budget, but the loss of this funding could have profound effects. Without the necessary local match provided by the CRPF, metropolitan Chicago could lose close to $11 million in annual federal transportation planning funds. As if that's not bad enough, the loss of those funds would render CMAP unable to manage the regional Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), jeopardizing all of the region’s federal transportation dollars and projects. This would include all stimulus funds for roads and transit through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), as well as any new state capital bill intended to leverage federally appropriated dollars.

Also affected are CMAP’s non-transportation planning functions -- which include housing, water and other natural resources, economic and community development, among other quality-of-life issues -- for which the State of Illinois funds are crucial. We hope you agree this is certainly not the time to step away from the responsibility of comprehensive regional planning. Across our state and the U.S., citizens are demanding greater transparency and accountability during these challenging times. The Comprehensive Regional Planning Fund is a cost-effective way for Illinois to help assure the public that tax dollars are being spent wisely for roads, transit, wastewater treatment, and other essential infrastructure.

To help reverse this budget shortfall, please see our "call to action" fact sheet, sample letter, and list of contacts, which we've posted to help you make your feelings known to the Governor's office, leadership in the General Assembly, and appropriation chairs. We also encourage you to contact your local legislators or anyone else in a position to influence Springfield. The Illinois State Board of Elections can help you find out who represents your area.  For more information, contact CMAP chief of staff Jill Leary (312-386-8662 or jleary@cmap.illinois.gov). We sincerely appreciate your support. 

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by Megan Elberts
4/10/09

On February 20th, I attended , the Second Annual Fairchild Challenge Youth Symposium at The Field Museum. Ylda’s previous post discussed the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Fairchild Challenge and CMAP’s partnership. The H2Oh So important Youth Symposium invited groups of high school students from around the region to study the importance of fresh water.

In the morning, CMAP hosted an informational table where students were able to stop by and learn about GO TO 2040 and the Regional Water Supply Plan. We also held two classroom sessions in which we discussed the importance of integrating the two planning processes.  First, the students identified the source of their drinking water through the use of maps and other available information.

The main activity during the classroom session demonstrated the integration of water supply and land use. Each group of students had a fixed amount of water and a number of different colored sponges at their table. The sponges represented different sectors of water use, such as residential, commercial, institutional and outdoor water use. The students were asked to determine how to allot their fixed amount of water between the different sectors. I found it interesting to listen to the student’s ideas and how they thought water should be used efficiently.  For example, many of the students agreed that outdoor water use should be limited if not prohibited.

We finished the discussion by distributing water conservation wheels (right) courtesy of the Plumbing Council of Chicagoland.  The wheels described household water conservation methods and their effectiveness. As the session ended we asked the students to imagine what water conservation would mean in the future.  Below are videos of students presenting some of their ideas. You can also see them on our You Tube page. Do you have any ideas on what water conservation policies will look like in the future?

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Municipal Spotlight: Barrington Hills

by Lindsay Banks
4/9/09

Barrington Hills, a village located about 40 miles northwest of Chicago, has a population of just over 3,900 residents. In the summer of 2007, the police department launched a notification system that residents sign up to receive a phone call for important announcements, particularly security threats. The service allows civic leaders to deliver messages to all the numbers stored in their database—reaching thousands of families in a matter of minutes. Barrington Hills has been using the system to notify residents of severe weather, hazardous traffic or road conditions, or any incidents that could threaten their safety.

In the summer of 2007, Barrington Hills Police Department responded to a hit-and-run incident with a potentially armed driver. Using a map of the area, the Police Chief Michael Murphy pinpointed the location of the suspect and called all the homes in the vicinity of the police activity. This is a valuable resource because it involves speedy delivery of time-critical information to a specific audience. I know that if I had kids playing at the local park, I’d feel safe knowing that this type of service is out there. They can even send notices to cell phones!

There are lots of situations where this type of system could help a community, and it can save them money. By keeping people updated, the Village found that they greatly reduced the number of curious neighbors coming to crime scenes or calling asking for information after seeing police activity. The key to this system is keeping people informed about what is going on around them—sort of like how I feel about electronic notifications of train delays. When you know the train is going to arrive 10 minutes late, you are less likely to get upset when the train is late and you have no idea when and if it’s going to show up!

For more information on the Connect-CTY service in Barrington Hills, you can check out their FAQ page.

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The following items are among the information in a special CMAP weekly update about the regional response to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for April 7, 2009. Click here for the full entry.

• About these weekly mails
• LaHood remarks
• T&I report
• Transportation equity report
• Clean energy
• DCEO report
• HUD funds to Lake County
• Governor's office to release ARRA guide
• Workforce development event
• Council of Mayors
• News links

by Lindsay Banks
3/27/09

Original photos by Flickr user dane brian

This Saturday, March 28^th, 2009 at 8:30 pm, tens of millions of people around the world will turn out their lights for one hour – including the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Acropolis of Athens!  It’s , and it’s lots of fun—we might even be able to see some stars from downtown. 

A number of CMAP staff participated in Earth Hour 2008, which was described on the Earth Hour website as part of a global “campaign to encourage business, communities, and individuals to take simple steps needed to cut their emissions on an ongoing basis.”  Chicago is once again a flagship city in the US, and the World Wildlife Foundation has devoted resources to make sure that lights are actually turned out.  Our offices in the Sears Tower will be dark, along with many other buildings in the famous skyline. 

The Earth Hour website has a list of fun things to do in the dark – Scrabble by candlelight, anyone?  You can post Earth Hour photos to groups on Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube , and of course the Explore Northeastern Illinois photo pool.  There is also an interactive website for kids, with informative (but slow-loading) graphics and games.  The WWF has ways to reduce your own carbon footprint and lots of useful climate change information, from policy to polar bears.

I just registered and plan on cooking dinner by candlelight, and maybe playing some cards with friends.  What will you do for ? 

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Get Your Hands Dirty with a Garden

by Anne Holub
3/25/09

Tomatoes from my porch garden a couple of years ago.

With a series of rain showers blowing through the Chicago area this week, the ground starts to thaw and give off that muddy scent. One's mind turns to the soil, and perhaps growing a vegetable or two this year.

Everybody's getting into the spirit of grow-your-own vegetable patches recently. Even the First Family broke ground on the first White House lawn vegetable patch since Eleanor Roosevelt's. First Lady Michelle Obama lead a group of school kids out to where they are starting a garden that will not only produce food for the White House's kitchens, but surplus crops will be donated to Washington, D.C.-area soup kitchens as well. The Obamas plan to grow a wide variety of vegetables and herbs, including lettuces, peas, rosemary, mint and even edible flowers like marigolds and nasturtiums. Check out the garden's layout here (PDF).    

A variety of vegetables and herbs grown on my own porch a couple of years ago.

  

If you're not quite at the Obama's level of gardening, there are many ways for first-time gardeners to get their hands dirty (so-to-speak) -- even if it's a windowsill garden. Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich wrote today about the urban gardener getting great tips from trained gardeners like Ron Wolford at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences. Wolford also operates the University of Illinois Cook County Extension office's Master Gardener program. While the Master Gardener training is already underway for 2009, there are numerous volunteer opportunities around the area, as detailed on the Chicago Master Gardener blog which can give you some insight into the sheer number of garden plots in the area.

One interesting volunteer gardening opportunity open to the public involves the certified green rooftop garden at Chicago restaurant/music venue Uncommon Ground in Rogers Park. Today, tomorrow, and continuing in April, the restaurant is offering volunteers a chance to help them prepare their garden for planting. On March 25th and 26th, help them create cold frames for seeds, and on April 17th, you can learn how to build raised beds. You can also keep up on the garden's progress on this blog.

If you're a real urban dweller with zero available outdoor space, but you still want to grow what you can eat, perhaps try a windowsill garden! One option is to grow microgreens, like these, in recycled plastic takeout containers. Blogger You Grow Girl has some really neat ideas for not only growing interesting greens, but also making sure you're putting that plastic from the salad bar to good use. Here's even a CBS News story on the benefits of growing microgreens frm 2003!

Maybe you're just getting started thinking about a garden, or maybe you're past growing tomatoes on your porch and you're up for more of a challenge. Even though it's still a bit chilly here in the midwest, it's just about time to start thinking seeds, and dirt, and sunshine.

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Certification Letter

Governor Pat Quinn has signed a letter certifying the state's readiness to receive highway funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

 

The following items are among the information in a special CMAP weekly update about the regional response to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for March 24, 2009. Click here for the full entry.

• Brookings meeting
• T&I Reporting
• Issue area updates
• Transportation
• Housing
• Broadband
• Brownfields
• Energy
• Workforce Development
• News links

   

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