Note: This year-end
edition of MPC Media Tips offers updates on some of the top regional stories of
2004.
From Road to Rail, Region Needs Better Funding, Planning for Transportation
Last Thursday, the CTA board voted
to hold off on proposed service cuts until the summer, in order to allow state
legislators time to craft a solution to the region’s transit funding
shortfalls.
MPC President MarySue Barrett testified at the hearing,
sending a clear message on behalf of area employers that regional transit
agencies need not only increased funding, but also a strong coordinating agency
to improve regional transit planning and service delivery and streamline
transportation and land use decisions. Barrett’s full testimony is available on
MPC’s Web site, www.metroplanning.org.
For decades, the Council has
beaten the drum for improved coordination of regional transportation and land
use planning, beginning with our vision for a strong Northeastern Illinois
Planning Commission (NIPC), which we helped form in 1957. In April 2004, MPC
again laid out the benefits of merging NIPC and the Chicago Area Transportation
Study into a single body that would guide development and transportation
decisions.
“Reforming the way
our leaders make regional transportation investments to ensure that they are
balanced and coordinated with a plan for growth would have far-ranging benefits
for all communities, city of Chicago and suburbs alike,” commented MPC Board of
Governors Member John Baird, chairman of Baird & Warner, Inc., who also
served as NIPC commissioner from 1961 to 1973, and president from 1966 to 1970.
Contact: Natashia Holmes, Senior Transportation
Associate
312.863.6022 or nholmes@metroplanning.org
A+ Illinois Gears Up for Springfield ’05 After a Successful First Year
With
January 13 and the start of the 2005 legislative session less than a month away,
A+ Illinois is readying itself for a renewed push for comprehensive statewide
education funding and quality reforms and property tax relief.
State legislators and the Blagojevich administration can
be credited for raising the per-pupil funding level this year from $4,810 to
$4,964. However, this $154 per child increase only keeps up with the rate of
inflation and
does nothing to narrow
enormous disparities. Schools still receive nearly $1,000 less per student
than the minimum amount recommended by the state’s Education Funding Advisory Board (EFAB)
in 2002, when that recommendation is adjusted for inflation. On Dec. 2, A+ Illinois
called on Gov. Blagojevich to fulfill state law and reconvene EFAB
to recommend a new minimum per-pupil spending amount by January
2005. EFAB will be unable to meet that demand due to several vacancies
on its board, which must be filled through appointments by Gov. Blagojevich.
On the morning of Jan. 21, 2005, legislators, mayors,
business leaders, school officials, and community advocates will gather at The
Carlisle, 435 East Butterfield Road , Lombard , Ill. , to build consensus and
momentum to fix the state’s school funding crisis. HB 750, Senate amendments 1
and 2 – a promising approach that would provide school funding adequacy and
long-term stability – will be discussed, as well as other key ingredients for
school funding reform. Register by calling 312-863-6016 or at www.aplusillinois.org/calendar/calendar.asp
.
“A+ Illinois launched in
February 2004, and in just a few short months, we’ve established an incredible
base of supporters statewide who care deeply about enacting real solutions,”
says Bindu Batchu, manager, A+ Illinois. “We will marshal these supporters in
2005 to achieve lasting change.”
Contact: Bindu Batchu, Manager, A+ Illinois 312.863.6014
or
bbatchu@metroplanning.org
Campaign for Sensible Growth Advocates for Wise Use of Land, Water
On Dec. 16, Openlands Project and
MPC, in conjunction with the Campaign for Sensible Growth, released results of a
year-long study to examine relationships between development practices and water
quality and quantity management in 12 northeastern Illinois counties: Boone,
Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, McHenry,
and Will.
The Joyce-Foundation funded report, Changing Course:
Recommendations for Balancing Regional Growth and Water Resources in
Northeastern Illinois
, offers an overview of the state of the region’s
water resources and makes recommendations for improving state policies,
watershed planning, and local development practices and ordinances. If implemented,
these actions will
protect
Illinois’ high quality streams, rivers and
lakes from the ill effects of urbanization.
“It is critical for our local and state officials to
make sound development decisions that sustain our water resources,” said Scott
Goldstein , MPC’s vice president of policy & planning, and a project
principal of Changing Course
. “It can be done, and we
intend to put our strategy into action in the coming months and years, by
educating local officials, planners and developers on best practices for land
use and water conservation.”
Meanwhile, the Campaign continues to “tour” the region
with the popular Sensible Tools for Healthy Communities: A Decision Making
Workbook for Local Officials, Developers, and Community Leaders
. The workbook is intended to help local officials and developers
make informed land use decisions based on best practices for sustainable
development. At the request of local municipalities, Campaign officials host
interactive training sessions, featuring a role-playing game that brings out the
“inner showboat” in many local leaders. During the game, a hypothetical
development proposal is put before participants, who take on the roles of town
council and planning commission members, community residents and the media.
Their charge: determining whether or not the development proposal belongs in the
community.
Both Changing Course and Sensible Tools for Healthy
Communities – as well as other resources produced by the Campaign for
Sensible Growth – are available on the Campaign’s Web site, www.growingsensibly.org,
or by contacting Campaign Manager Ellen Shubart directly.
Contact: Ellen Shubart, Manager, Campaign for Sensible
Growth
312.863.6009 or eshubart@metroplanning.org
MPC Helps to Expand Affordable Housing, Shrink Jobs-Housing Mismatch
In
2004, MPC’s housing team did what it does best – and what MPC was founded on
more than 70 years ago: increasing housing options throughout the
Chicago
metropolitan
region.
To promote the success of the Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA) Plan
for Transformation – the 10-plus-year initiative to redevelop public housing
into mixed-income neighborhoods – MPC has spearheaded a number of initiatives.
In April MPC launched a new employer-assisted housing (EAH) program designed
to leverage private sector engagement in these new communities. Through
EAH, companies invest in housing solutions for their employees, usually through
down payment or rental assistance, and recoup their costs within a year, with
the help of an expert nonprofit housing counseling agency. The CHA-EAH plan
allows companies to provide incentives to employees who move into homes in the
new mixed-income communities. Already, three companies
around Park
Boulevard
(the
former
Stateway
Gardens) have committed to
offering this unique benefit.
By
year’s end, MPC’s housing staff will make available on the Council’s Web site a
year-end report on the progress of the CHA’s Plan. The focus of this analysis
will be the work of partners key to the success of these mixed-income
communities – school community members, partners in local economic development,
and managers of community space/facilities in the neighborhood surrounding the
new properties.
MPC
has found EAH to be a successful tool in expanding housing options throughout
the region. The Council has engaged new employers in EAH every year since the
first program launched in 2000. Since then, more than two dozen employers have
signed on, including large companies such as Allstate and Bank One, and smaller
ones, such as Robinson Engineering and Rosenthal Brothers. Participants include
both profit and nonprofit corporations and municipalities, and the program helps
promote affordability in expensive markets as well as reinvestment in
redeveloping communities.
Contact: Robin Snyderman, Housing Director
312.863.6007 or rsnyderman@metroplanning.org
MPC Helps Chicagoans Make the Most of Neighborhood Assets
When
Chicago’s new zoning code
debuted this summer, community leaders began examining how the tool would help
revitalize their neighborhoods by steering development and housing to the most
appropriate locations.
MPC has supported this historic zoning rewrite from the
beginning, helping shape the new code and preparing neighborhoods for remapping.
MPC designed a Zoning Change Strategy to help aldermen and residents identify
local assets and challenges. The strategy is simple, but effective: Community
leaders organize and recruit volunteers who learn about basic
zoning concepts from MPC experts,
then pound the pavement, observing and recording on camera the good, the
bad and the ugly in their neighborhoods. MPC analyzes the information
and provides recommendations that aldermen and community organizations can use during
the remapping phase.
“The process is meant to empower
and educate as much as it’s meant to encourage optimum application of the new
zoning code,” says Peter Skosey, MPC vice president of external relations.
“Targeting the right zoning category is critical to attracting market interest
in a transitioning area, such as a retail corridor that could be reborn as a
mixed-use and residential cluster.”
MPC has worked with
several neighborhoods,
including
Lawndale , Rogers
Park,
East
Village and an
industrial group
near
Grand
Avenue. Several other aldermen also have invited
MPC’s assistance.
MPC Contact: Peter Skosey, Vice President of External
Relations
312.863.6004 or pskosey@metroplanning.org