New MPC Web Series Connects Energy Costs to Development Patterns
With the price of gas topping record levels, many groups
have offered their own versions of “10 Tips for Reducing Your Energy
Consumption.” While individual efforts – and critical thinking in the ongoing
alternative fuels debate – are integral, communities also must plan creatively
to achieve the only sure method for curbing our oil addiction: cutting car
trips. Every other Thursday beginning May 25, the Metropolitan Planning Council
(MPC) will feature on its homepage, www.metroplanning.org,
a new installment in our examination of how the region
can continue to grow, while
reducing the need to drive, by employing innovative planning and development
tools.
“We must remove many hurdles in
our built environment to significantly reduce auto dependency.
Fortunately,
every time we build is a new opportunity to do just that,
”
said
MarySue Barrett
, MPC president.
“Imagine the possibilities if we started letting the market catch up to rising
consumer demand for pedestrian and bike-friendly communities near jobs, retail
and public transportation.”
MPC contact: MarySue Barrett, President, 312.863.6001, msbarrett@metroplanning.org
Public-Private Partnerships Up for Debate at Upcoming Legislative Hearings
The state Senate
Appropriations II Committee has scheduled four legislative hearings on the proposal that
the state sell or lease all or part of its tollway system to a private investor.
A representative of Business Leaders for Transportation – co-led by
the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC), Chicago Metropolis 2020, and
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce – will testify at the first hearing on Wednesday, May 31,
at 9:30 a.m., at
the
James
R.
Thompson
Center
in
Chicago.
“In addition to a
well-planned, adequately funded, and balanced state capital investment package,
public-private partnerships could help deliver quality multi-modal
transportation infrastructure statewide,
allowing
Illinois to keep business moving
forward,” said MPC Vice President of External
Relations
Peter
Skosey. “We urge state leaders to craft well-thought-out
legislation lifting the ban on public-private partnerships and guiding future
implementation, before getting swept up in the details of a particular project.”
Hearings on public-private partnerships also will take
place June 13 in Will County, Aug. 15 in Springfield, and Sept. 13 in Chicago.
MPC will testify at the Will County and Chicago hearings. For details, check
MPC’s Web calendar in coming weeks, www.metroplanning.org/calendar.asp. For information on
public-private partnerships, visit Business Leaders for Transportation’s Web
site, www.businessleadersfortransportation.org,
and download “Making the Case for Public-Private Partnerships in Illinois,” a
report and case study on the O’Hare Western bypass and access.
MPC contact: Peter Skosey, Vice President of External Relations,
312.863.6004, pskosey@metroplanning.org
Contact:
Thomas H. Morsch, Jr., Senior Vice President, Marsh, Inc.; Co-Chair, MPC
Transportation Committee; 312.627.6352, thomas.morsch@marsh.com
Try to picture a neighborhood without streets. It’s tough
to do, because streets do much more than move cars: they are places in and of
themselves, where commerce and recreation take place, and friends and neighbors
meet. From famous streets, such as State Street and the Magnificent Mile, to the
street where you rode your bike as a kid, streets have long defined our
neighborhoods. At a June 22 roundtable, the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC)
will explore how a planning innovation
called Context Sensitive Solutions may
help create streets we all want – in and out of cars.
At the MPC roundtable, speakers John Norquist, president
of the Congress for the New Urbanism; John LaPlante, vice president and chief
engineer for T.Y. Lin; and Cheri Heramb, acting commissioner of Chicago’s Dept.
of Transportation, will present their ideas, followed by a question-and-answer
session moderated by John Lynch, vice president of U.S. Equities and chair of
MPC’s efforts to assist the Ogden Avenue redesign. This roundtable, the first in
MPC’s Summer Roundtable Series, begins at noon and will take place over lunch at
the Union League Club, 65 W. Jackson, Chicago. Media may attend free of charge,
but a reservation is appreciated. The Union League Club requires business casual
attire. For more details, please visit www.metroplanning.org/calendar.asp
.
MPC contact: Peter Skosey, Vice President of External Relations,
312.863.6004, pskosey@metroplanning.org
MPC Announces Summer Technical Assistance Commitments in Chicagoland
The Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) and Campaign for Sensible Growth (Campaign) are gearing
up to kick off the 2006 “summer community technical assistance tour.” Over
the next few months, the two groups will partner with municipal
leaders and organizations such as Urban Land Institute Chicago (ULI Chicago) to
help communities across the region tackle specific development
and redevelopment
challenges.
Blue
Island,
Chicago Heights,
and
Archer
Avenue
in
Chicago’s
Bridgeport
neighborhood are slated stops in June and July.
Through its Community Building Initiative, MPC provides
technical assistance on housing, transportation, infill development, and zoning
solutions. As part of the initiative, MPC will be in Blue Island on June 23,
partnering with Blue Island elected officials and business leaders to examine
the city’s market potential, zoning code, and design guidelines with an eye
toward attracting new downtown development. For more about the Community
Building Initiative, visit www.metroplanning.org/ourwork/community.asp
.
In response to local requests, ULI Chicago and the
Campaign for Sensible Growth (of which MPC is a co-chair) coordinate Technical
Assistance Panels (TAPs) comprised of volunteer experts who commit two intense
days to helping a community overcome a specific development hurdle. On July 16
and 17 in Chicago Heights, TAP volunteers will work with local partner, New
First Community Development Corporation, to develop market-based strategies for
bringing new investments, including retail and housing, to the city’s Eastside
neighborhood. In late June, ULI Chicago and the Campaign will convene a TAP to
help the City of Chicago redevelop a long-neglected stretch of Archer Avenue in
Bridgeport by drawing on the area’s many strengths, including transit and market
demand for new investment. For “greatest hits” from earlier technical assistance
work, download “10 Ways Communities Can Be More Competitive,” at www.metroplanning.org/PDFs/tapLessons.pdf
.
Campaign for Sensible Growth contact: Michael Davidson, Campaign
Manager, Campaign for Sensible Growth, 312.863.6009, mdavidson@growingsensibly.org
MPC and ULI Chicago
contact: Scott Goldstein, Vice President of Policy & Planning,
312.863.6003, sgoldstein@metroplanning.org