CMAP funding.  This week we've continued reaching out to officials in Springfield for help restoring the Comprehensive Regional Planning Fund (CRPF), which got zeroed out of the Governor's proposed budget.  We have a new brief summary of the issue, which includes a chart that shows how the CRPF's $3.5 million annually to CMAP leverages $11 million in federal transportation planning funds, which in turn leverages $2 billion in programmed transportation projects.  The Illinois Association of Regional Councils is helping to spread the word in their current newsletter, and we need your help, too.  On Wednesday, I'll be in Springfield to testify about the CRPF before the House Appropriations Committee.

GO TO 2040: Invent the Future.  We've posted a very short preview of the scenario-based public involvement that we'll be conducting throughout the summer.  Watch for more details soon about these activities, which will begin in late May and early June.  The whole idea is to get people thinking about the many specific trade-offs that our region will need to make in implementing the GO TO 2040 regional vision.

FLIP and Big Shoulders events.  Yesterday was an exciting day for anyone who likes seeing young people engaged in planning for the future.  Last night, CMAP's Future Leaders in Planning (FLIP) program hosted its first "commencement" event, at Adler Planetarium, where 38 high school students from across the region presented their views of the future to members of the CMAP Board and other dignitaries.  Click here for more information. Earlier in the day, the Burnham Plan Centennial partnered with the Big Shoulders Fund in an event where fifth-graders from 76 Catholic schools assembled a 30'x35' "artistic mixed media map" of Chicago made up of 77 smaller maps of historic neighborhoods. CMAP was proud to help by printing those maps, and we're looking forward to much more engagement like this throughout the summer across the region in partnership with our friends at the centennial.

UWP comment period. Today, CMAP's Transportation Committee released the FY 2010 Unified Work Program for public comment.  The Unified Work Program (UWP) lists the planning projects the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) and other agencies undertake each year to enhance transportation in northeastern Illinois and to fulfill federal planning regulations. The final UWP document includes the transportation planning activities to be carried out in the region, detailing each project's description, products, costs and source of funding.  Comments are due by Tuesday May 19.  Please see the draft document here.  Please submit all comments to Matt Maloney at 312-386-8615 or to mmaloney@cmap.illinois.gov

Draft Central Area Action Plan made public. The Chicago Tribune reported on the Chicago Central Area Action Plan, a $15.5 billion proposal by the city which outlines dozens of transportation and green space projects in and around downtown Chicago. The plan includes projects affecting the entire region, including improvements to Union Station, express trains to both Chicago airports, public transit accessibility, and open-space improvements. The City Council could approve the plan as early as next month. A web version of the draft plan is available online.

AMPO meeting.  AMPO's Transportation Management and Operations Working Group will be meeting next week at CMAP on Thursday afternoon, April 30, and Friday morning, May 1.  Staff representatives from several MPOs across the country will gather for informal presentations and to discuss their challenges and successes.  If you'd like to participate in this meeting, please contact Kermit Wies at kwies@cmap.illinois.gov.

Blog entries.  CMAP's Shana Alford wrote about the I-55 bus rapid transit initiative at our GO TO 2040 blog.  Stephen Ostrander of CMAP posted the first of two entries about our community design workshop activities in Streamwood.

GO TO 2040 Community Conversations. Please see http://www.goto2040.org/conversations.aspx for an updated list of Community Conversations that CMAP has scheduled for residents to discuss the GO TO 2040 campaign. Next week, we will host two community conversations at the Fossil Ridge Public Library (386 W. Kennedy Road, Braidwood) on Wednesday, April 29 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. and again from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. For more information, please contact Diana Torres at 312-386-8774 or dtorres@cmap.illinois.gov.