CMAP meetings.  This week a joint meeting was held with the CMAP Board and the MPO Policy Committee. The combined session let us hear from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) officials who were at CMAP this week for the quadrennial certification review to determine whether our planning process complies with the requirements of federal law and regulations. The joint meeting also allowed the federal officials to hear directly from the region's policy makers. The FHWA and FTA will issue their certification report in September. Also included on the Board and Policy Committee agenda was the election of the CMAP Board officers, approval by both the Board and the MPO of the major transportation capital project evaluation measures for the GO TO 2040 plan and the Fiscal Year 2010 Unified Work Program, an ARRA update on both transportation and non-transportation elements from the CMAP staff as well as the transportation implementers, and finally, a brief overview of the final presentation of the recommendations for GO TO 2040 presented by our FLIP students.

Developments of Regional Importance (DRI). Also at this week's meeting, the CMAP Board unanimously approved the proposed process to review DRIs for a two year trial basis. Staff will prepare the administrative procedures and necessary application materials to accompany the DRI process and make these available to the public by no later than August 1, 2009, with the pilot program officially running from September 1, 2009, to August 31, 2011. We would like to thank everyone who was involved in developing this process and hope that you will stay involved throughout the two-year trial period.

CMAP funding.  At this week's joint meeting of the CMAP Board and the MPO Policy Committee, our funding situation was a major topic of discussion. Unfortunately, at this time we still do not have enough information in terms of what direction the state is heading with regard to how the Comprehensive Regional Planning Fund will be funded. The Board moved to approve the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget & Work Plan as proposed. In the event that we need to adjust our budget, we will do so accordingly and present a revised budget either at a special meeting or at next month's meeting. We continue to urge our partners to contact members of the General Assembly, the Governor's office and IDOT to convey the importance of our funding. For more information, please click here.

Invent the Future workshops. Click here for our growing schedule of GO TO 2040 "Invent the Future" workshops.  We had two this past week, and you can click here to read about what participants had to say at our Vernon Hills workshop. Our next workshop will be co-hosted with the Village of Carol Stream and the Carol Stream Public Library on Thursday, June 18, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Carol Stream Public Library, 616 Hiawatha Drive.  Register online, email, or call 312-386-8814. If you need special accommodations or more information, please contact Joey-Lin Silberhorn at 312-386-8814 or jsilberhorn@cmap.illinois.gov.

Reinvest, Preserve, Innovate scenarios.  While we're asking residents across the region to create their own future scenarios, the CMAP staff has developed three specific examples that merit close inspection.  Visit our "Scenarios Examined" web pages to see what they're all about, rate your favorite aspects, and comment on how you think they would perform.  Based on this and other public input all summer, we will develop a preferred regional scenario for the CMAP Board's approval in December.  That scenario will be the basis for key investment and policy choices contained in the GO TO 2040 plan, a draft of which will be available one year from now.

Draft greenways and trails plan.  CMAP would like your input on the draft 2009 Update of the Northeastern Illinois Regional Greenways and Trails Plan. Originally completed in 1992 and updated in 1997, the plan envisions a network of continuous greenway and trail corridors, linked across jurisdictions, providing scenic beauty, natural habitat, and recreational and transportation opportunities for our communities.  The plan can be found at http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/bike-ped/greenways-and-trails.  Please submit your comments to Lori Heringa (312-386-8621 or lheringa@cmap.illinois.gov) by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, June 26.

FLIP application deadline:  June 26.  CMAP is still looking for civic-minded high school students for the second year of our Future Leaders in Planning (FLIP) program. Participants will learn about northeastern Illinois by participating in hands-on activities and field trips on issues that concern us all, including housing, transportation, the environment and government. FLIP youth also interact with key decision makers in the region.  Applications and letters of reference are due Friday, June 26, 2009. Please share this information with potentially interested students, parents, and school officials.  See /flip-future-leaders-in-planning for application materials and more.

Next American City.  Brendan Crain, founder of the Where blog, writes favorably (and quotes CMAP's Greg Sanders) about metropolitan Chicago's on-line planning activities, including CMAP, the Metropolitan Planning Council, and the Burnham Centennial.

Invent the Future in the news.  Our first few workshops in the new phase of GO TO 2040 have garnered coverage in the Chicago Tribune and Chi-Town Daily News, both of which described "Invent the Future" in general.  And the Oak Park-River Forest Journal covered our June 4 workshop in Oak Park, as did the Pioneer Press for our June 9 workshop in Vernon Hills. 

GO TO 2040 On the Road.  Tonight CMAP will staff a booth at the Chicago Bandits game in Elgin. The game starts at 7:05 p.m., and we'll be telling all the fans of professional fastpitch softball about how they can Invent the Future. Also this weekend, we'll be at the 27th Annual Matteson Festival at the Matteson Memorial Park. Keep an eye on our On the Road schedule for more opportunities to see us out and about the region this summer.

Hickory Creek.  The Southtown Star has a story about community efforts -- coordinated by CMAP with federal stimulus funds -- to restore and protect Hickory Creek.  The story quotes our Jesse Elam, and Frankfort assistant village administrator Howard Sloan has some very kind words about our role.  I think this is a fine example of villages working together for the greater good.

Burnham pavilions.  On June 19, the Burnham pavilions will have their public opening, which includes a free concert at Millennium Park, which starts at 6:30 p.m.  Drop by and see our GO TO 2040 kiosk while you're there.  By the way, former Tribune writer Pat Reardon is now blogging for the Burnham Centennial.

"Last four miles."  Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin blogged about Friends of the Parks' efforts to open roughly 13 percent of the lakefront that is presently not publicly accessible.

More blog rolling.  We've made a big effort to get local websites, bloggers, and social-networking types to let their readers know about how to "Invent the Future."  It's getting hard to keep up with all the mentions, in fact. Gapers Block and the Windy Citizen blog are two that gave us a nice mention, as did the DuPage Library System.  In the same vein, congratulations to the Urbanophile blog on being named one of the best local news sources in a report on the "New News" issued by our friends at The Chicago Community Trust. 

ILARC save-the-date.  The Illinois Association of Regional Councils' annual meeting will be September 9-10, 2009, at the Doubletree Hotel in Bloomington.  Contact 217-528-5331 or iacbm@msn.com

Legat.  I'd also like to thank Legat Architects for promoting GO TO 2040 and Invent the Future on their website.  Legat is among the firms who participated in our Community Design activities in partnership with municipalities across the region. 

CMAP on Facebook.  Hopefully you're already a fan of CMAP and GO TO 2040, but now you can show it on Facebook. Just go to our Facebook page and click to become a fan of GO TO 2040.

More kiosks.  Starting next week, thanks to the Regional Transportation Authority, our kiosk software will also be available on their existing kiosks across the region.  The locations are Union Station (210 South Canal St. in Chicago), Millennium Station (Michigan Ave. between South Water and Randolph St. in Chicago), the RTA Customer Service Center (165 N. Jefferson St. in Chicago), the CTA Customer Service Center (567 West Lake Street in Chicago), Pace headquarters (550 West Algonquin Road in Arlington Heights), North Bridge Mall (520 N. Michigan Ave. in Chicago), Midway Airport (5700 S Cicero Ave. in Chicago), and the Metropolitan Planning Council (140 South Dearborn St., Suite 1400, in Chicago).  Those are all in addition to the locations of our kiosks, which are currently at Blue Island Public Library (2433 York St., Blue Island, IL), Naperville City Hall (400 S. Eagle St., Naperville, IL), and Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) (224 S. Michigan Ave., #116, Chicago, IL). 

Event reminders.  Don't forget the following events that we described in preceding weeks:

• "Rethinking Growth: The Economic Benefits of Conservation-Based Development and Highway Corridor Redevelopment," Monday, June 22, 2009, 8:15 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Prairie Crossing near Grayslake, IL.  Click here for registration and other details.
• "Sustainable Streets for Chicagoland," Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at CMAP. RSVP to Divya Sundar (dsundar@cnt.org or 773-269-4004).  Click here for details.
• "Regional Health Care Safety Net Summit," Tuesday, June 23, 2009, at the University of Illinois at Chicago Student Center West.  Contact Janna Stansell (jstansell@hmprg.org) or visit http://www.hmprg.org.

Blog entries.  In the GO TO 2040 blog, CMAP's Erin Aleman describes our recent Invent the Future workshop at Oak Park.  CMAP's Diana Torres summarizes our Bold Ideas contest at Bolingbrook High School.  And our own Daniel H. Burnham V posted his first entry, about the Chicago Architecture Club's Union Station 2020 design competition.  There is no truth to the rumor that Daniel is related to Colonel Tribune, but he does have some impressive forebears.