Illinois Works public events. The bi-partisan coalition called Illinois Works is hosting frequent "listening sessions" across the state to build support for the proposed capital program. Locally, the next two are April 23in Naperville and April 28 in Geneva.The meetings to date have been attended by one or both of the coalition co-chairs, former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and SIU president Glenn Poshard. Just as the CMAP Board has said consistently, the Illinois Works coalition believes our current infrastructure requires crucial investment. Their goal is passage of a minimum $25 billion Illinois Works capital investment program in the 95th General Assembly. The listening sessions will help to document the extensive need for capital investment in Illinois and to build support throughout the state. See http://tinyurl.com/5jcfsh (opens 167KB PDF) for a related press release from Illinois Works.

Lincoln Institute on Full Circle. "Transforming Community Development With Land Information Systems" is a new glossy publication from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Authored by Sarah Treuhaft and G. Thomas Kingsley, it centers on five detailed case studies from Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, to show how community revitalization can be facilitated with the latest parcel-based GIS tools. The Chicago example is CMAP's own Full Circle project, which develops wireless web tools to help communities identify how land parcels are being used, and how they could be used more effectively through a coordinated local planning strategy. See http://www.lincolninst.edu/pubs/PubDetail.aspx?pubid=1356 for a PDF (free registration required) or to purchase printed copies of the 48-page report. We'll also make some reprints of just the Full Circle section available for visitors to CMAP.

Conference on water governance. A conference titled "Beyond Showerheads and Sprinklers: Water Governance Solutions for Illinois" will be held on Friday, May 16, 2008. Attendees are invited to help set the direction for water governance in Illinois, in the wake of a 2006 gubernatorial order that called for the creation of a statewide framework for regional water supply planning (of which CMAP's Regional Water Supply Planning Group is the northeastern Illinois component). Keynote speaker is Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and author of the biennial report "The World's Water."

The conference is geared to state and local officials, water authorities, conservation organizations, water companies and utilities, municipal water officials, agricultural and industrial water users, planners, and wastewater and stormwater management professionals. Sponsors include the Metropolitan Planning Council, Openlands and the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University, with support from the Joyce Foundation and Lumpkin Family Foundation. It runs from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Union League Club of Chicago, 65 West Jackson Blvd. An early registration fee of $45 (before April 15) covers food and beverage throughout the conference. After April 15, registration costs $50, andthe deadline to register is May 12. Register online at http://www.metroplanning.org/calendar.asp?objectID=4292. Contact Josh Ellis of MPC (312-863-6045 or jellis@metroplanning.org) or Lenore Beyer-Clow of Openlands (312-863-6264 or lbeyer-clow@openlands.org).