CALL TO ACTION for CMAP funding.  This week, Senator Harmon introduced Senate Bill 2455, and Representative Saviano introduced House Bill 4560, that will reinstate the Comprehensive Regional Planning Fund (CRPF) and appropriate the necessary funds to ensure dedicated funding for effective comprehensive planning throughout Illinois.  We are nearing the end of the legislative session and now is when we need your help more than ever to contact the General Assembly leadership and your local legislators and urge them to reinstate the CRPF by co-sponsoring and supporting Senate Bill 2455 and House Bill 4560.  Please see and use our "call to action" fact sheet, or a new one-page version, a revised sample letter, and list of contacts.  

CMAP meetings recap.  The Board met this past Wednesday and had a very full agenda.  They moved to table action on the process to review Developments of Regional Importance until their June meeting in order to allow all of the Board members enough time to review and discuss the recommended proposal as appropriate.  Under the State Legislative Update, the focus was on the CMAP funding situation and Board members recapped the previous week's trip to Springfield to discuss the situation with legislators and the Governor's office.  The Board voted to endorse a set of tax principles to help CMAP judge taxes, user fees, and other revenue generators at the State and local level and discussed briefing papers on the state income tax and the motor fuel tax that were presented to them.  

A draft Fiscal Year 2010 Budget and Work Plan was also presented for discussion, final approval will be requested at the June meeting.  Finally, in celebration of the Burnham Centennial, Dennis McClendon presented the highlights of his lecture on the Plan of Chicago.  The next CMAP Board meeting will be a joint meeting with the MPO Policy Committee on June 10, 2009 at 9:30 a.m.

Prior to the Board meeting, the Planning Coordinating Committee met.  The focus of their agenda was on major transportation capital measures.  Staff also updated the committee on the upcoming public engagement events for our GO TO 2040 "Invent the Future" phase, beginning at the end of this month.

2016 Olympics discussion.  Comcast's Political Update public affairs show recently focused on Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympics.  In his capacity as co-chair of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus 2016 Olympic Regional Coordinating Committee, CMAP board chairman Gerald Bennett participated in the discussion, along with Alderman Toni Preckwinkle and Patricia Hill of the Chicago Olympic Human Rights Project.  Click here to watch it on YouTube. 

Stimulus story.  Yesterday, WTTW's Chicago Tonight had an in-depth story by Elizabeth Brackett, who looked at how stimulus funding is helping to put people back to work and improve the region's infrastructure.  I make a brief appearance, but the star of the segment is Richard Burtner, who is among 400 construction workers on an $88 million CTA stimulus project.  Click here for yesterday's show, and the specific story is called "Stimulus Funds."

Bold Ideas in the news.  Last week's GO TO 2040 "Bold Ideas" event at Waukegan High School was covered in the Lake County News-Sun. 

Quarterly staff report.  The CMAP staff progress report for the previous quarter is now on our website.

Transport Chicago.  The 24^th Annual Transport Chicago Conference is being held on June 5, 2009.  The conference will include a Burnham Centennial Celebration during lunch and a keynote by Mr. Frank Busalacchi, Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and a member of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission.  Also, CMAP's Todd Schmidt will be presenting during the afternoon session titled "My Way is the Highway."  The early registration deadline is May 25, 2009 for a cost of $50 for general attendees and $25 for students.  After that date, the price increases by $10.

Housing event.  The Center for Housing Policy and the National Housing Conference are sponsoring Solutions for Working Families: 2009 Learning Conference on State and Local Housing Policy in Chicago, June 28-30. The conference is a forum for state and local leaders to share information on proven housing policies-foreclosure prevention, rental housing preservation, green building, workforce housing, and more. Registration is open until June 10.

CTA open houses.  The Chicago Transit Authority invites the public to a presentation of the preliminary locally preferred alternative for CTA's proposed Red Line Extension, resulting from consideration of transit technologies and alignments in a study area bordered by 95th Street on the north, Ashland Avenue on the west, Stony Island Avenue on the east, and the Cal-Sag Channel/Little Calumet River and 134th Street on the south. Open houses are scheduled as follows, and both facilities are accessible to people with disabilities:

Wednesday, June 3, 2009
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
(Presentation will begin at 6:15 p.m.)
Olive-Harvey College Cafeteria
10001 South Woodlawn
Chicago, IL

Thursday, June 4, 2009
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
(Presentation will begin at 6:15 p.m.)
Woodson Regional Chicago Public Library
9525 South Halsted Street
Chicago, IL

Certification review.  FHWA and FTA are in the process of jointly conducting a Planning Certification Review for the Chicago Transportation Management Area, which will include on-site discussions with planning and air quality partners on June 9-11 at the CMAP offices.  One of the opportunities for public involvement will occur on Tuesday, June 9, when a public meeting will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Metropolitan Planning Council's offices,140 S. Dearborn St. Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60603.

Health Summit.  The Regional Health Care Safety Net Summit, hosted by Health and Medicine Policy Research Group and the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, will be held on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at the University of Illinois at Chicago Student Center West.  CMAP supports this summit to strengthen the health care safety net for uninsured, Medicaid, and vulnerable residents in the region.  For more information and to sign-on in support of this effort, please contact Janna Stansell, Policy Analyst, at jstansell@hmprg.org or visit http://www.hmprg.org.

Transit workshop reminder.  The Federal Transit Administration and the National Council for Public- Private Partnerships are pleased to announce the development of a second series of transit PPP workshops for 2009.  The Chicago regional workshop is May 19-20, 2009 at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers.  Please see the flyer for more information. 

Green Festival.  This year's Green Festival will be held at Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Avenue, Chicago on Saturday, May 16 (10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.) and Sunday, May 17 (11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m).  Admission is $15 for two days, or $10 for seniors, students, and all who arrive by bicycle or public transit.  Admission is free for youth 18 and younger, Green America or Global Exchange members and volunteers, or those who bring three or more books to donate to BetterWorldBooks.  Click here for details.

Blog entries.  FLIP participant Lois Kanter gives a year-end review of the FLIP program.  And read about the new GO TO 2040 poster series.  Please contact Joey-Lin Silberhorn (312-386-8814 or jsilberhorn@cmap.illinois.gov) if your organization would like some posters to hang or hand out.