Learn Why Hybrid Vehicles Won’t Save the Planet at Dec. 6 MPC Roundtable
Global warming has sent society’s conscientious
consumers scrambling for low-carbon fuels and hybrid vehicles – but will these
individual choices, however noble, add up to a more sustainable region? Not
likely, according to Growing Cooler
, a groundbreaking report recently published by the Urban Land
Institute that pegs the cause of our ever-growing fuel dependency not on the
type of car we drive or what we pump into it, but on development patterns
leaving people with little choice but to drive more every year.
Growing
Cooler author Reid Ewing ? a
former Arizona state legislator turned professor at the National Center for
Smart Growth at the University of Maryland — will present findings from his study
at an MPC roundtable on Thursday, Dec. 6, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at
Mayer Brown, 71 S. Wacker Dr., Chicago. He’ll explain why community planning
and design are critical to reducing the need to drive, and with it, carbon
fuel emissions, a key contributor to global warming; and he’ll address
how
metropolitan
Chicago
and
Illinois can do their part to halt our
climate crisis. Randy Blankenhorn, executive director of the Chicago Metropolitan
Agency for Planning, and Sadhu Johnston, chief environmental officer of the City
of
Chicago, will
respond to Reid’s findings and identify local
applications.
Guests are required to register
with
Pam Lee
at
plee@metroplanning.org
or 312-863-6011; or at MPC’s Web site, www.metroplanning.org. Cost is $15 for
MPC members, $30 for nonmembers, and includes lunch. A picture I.D. is required
to enter the building. Members of the media may attend at no cost and should
contact MPC Communications Associate
Mandy
Burrell
at
mburrell@metroplanning.org
or 312-863-6018.
Miracle on 138th Street: Riverdale Development Begins Long-Awaited
Renovation
If you believe
in miracles, this is your
season
– and this
may be your story: officials in Riverdale have broken ground on the the multi-million dollar
community redevelopment effort transforming one of the region’s poorest and most
crime-ridden communities into the new, mixed-income community Whistler’s
Crossing.
South suburban Riverdale – with an
estimated population of 14, 418 –has long been known for its well-maintained
single-family homes on tree-lined streets. Yet the 90 or so historic homes in a
neighborhood once known as Pacesetter have long been deteriorated. What’s more,
the entire community area north of
138
th
Street, south
of the rail
yards, east of
Lowe
Avenue
, and due west of
Eggleston Avenue
has
been a hotbed for crime and poverty in an otherwise stable village.
The first phase of the project
will consist of restoring the 90 homes and upgrading the wider community area.
Whistler’s Crossing will be a mixed-income haven where businesses, homeowners,
and renters can co-exist harmoniously. Riverdale Mayor Zenovia Evans – a former
resident of Pacesetter – has called the community’s revitalization “a dream come
true.”
To learn more about Whistler’s Crossing, contact MPC
Community Building Initiative Manager Joanna Trotter, 312-863-6008, or jtrotter@metroplanning.org
.
HB 2353 Adds Affordable Housing to Illinois ’ Capital Investment Strategy
As the number of victims of
mortgage foreclosures continues to rise, destabilizing renters as well as
homeowners, the State of
Illinois
is taking a major step forward to
combat the shortage of quality affordable housing options statewide. For the
first time in state history, HB 2353 authorizes the Illinois Housing Development
Authority to use state capital fund dollars to create and preserve affordable
homes in
Illinois
for low-income and very low-income
households.
“Ensuring every community
in Illinois has a well-balanced housing stock benefits all of us, from
businesses, hospitals and schools that rely on their employees being able to find homes
near work, to families that don’t want to have to move further out to find a
home they can afford,” said MPC Housing
Director
Robin
Snyderman. “By making affordable housing preservation and
development a key element in the state’s capital investment plan,
Illinois
has a tremendous
opportunity to more strategically link the development of affordable homes to
job centers and transportation options – hopefully reducing our congestion
headaches as well!”
The bill was approved by the General Assembly in
November and awaits the governor’s signature. Snyderman noted that the bill
provides yet another impetus for state legislators to approve a new state
capital plan to fund roads, bridges, transit, schools and, now, homes. The
state’s last capital plan expired in 2004. For more information, contact
Snyderman at 312-863-6007 or rsnyderman@metroplanning.org.
Meet the MPC Staff
Connect with MPC Reconnecting Neighborhoods Manager
Brandon Johnson
A native of Chicago ’s South Side, MPC’s Brandon Johnson is thrilled to be
making a difference in his community – and two others on the city’s West and
North sides – every day through his role as MPC project manager of Reconnecting
Neighborhoods. The project, which kicked off in early November, invites
residents of three mixed-income Chicago communities to participate in the
planning for their future. The project will result in recommendations for
enhanced transit services, retail, and improved public infrastructure in the
Near North, Near West and Mid-South neighborhoods.
“Growing up on the South Side, I
saw and encountered lots of problems related to housing, transportation, and
commerce, so to actually have a chance to be part of the solution is an amazing
opportunity,” said Johnson regarding his new role, which he began this July
after spending two years with the Illinois General Assembly.
With a bachelor’s degree in
political science from
Morehouse
College
and non-terminal studies in
political and cultural theory at the
University
of
Chicago
, Johnson is well suited to
coordinate Reconnecting Neighborhoods for MPC. The project is led by the City of
Chicago Dept. of Planning and Development, with support from the Regional
Transportation Authority and MPC. HNTB, a planning firm, will handle the
project’s technical work and research. Stay tuned in the coming months, when
each community’s Local Task Force will hold a series of meetings to weigh in on
community issues such as transportation, retail and job opportunities. Contact
Johnson at 312-863-6046 or
bjohnson@metroplanning.org
.
Learn more by contacting
Mandy Burrell
, MPC communications
associate, at
312-863-6018 or
mburrell@metroplanning.org
,
or by visiting
www.metroplanning.org
.