CNT lost a cherished colleague and co-conspirator for the Common Good, Jan Metzger, who died after a two year battle with cancer on February 22, 2010. Jan joined CNT in 1995, bringing to CNT her smarts, community activism, and ability to make change from the local to the national levels.
Jan was a committed, feisty, and strong woman who was a dedicated resident of Wicker Park – she was a long-time member of Association House board and recently retired as the President of Special Service Area #33. Under Jan’s leadership, the neighborhood developed a community plan that met the needs of new and old-time residents. Read more »
Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
CNT Research Director, Linda Young, at the Chicago press conference in Union Station.
March 11th marked Transportation Freedom Day for the Chicago area—the date on which a typical area household has earned enough income to cover its annual transportation costs. In the Chicago region, it takes the average household 70 days to make enough money to cover their transportation costs. That’s about $8,300 per year, though costs vary widely in the region. For example, in Chicago’s Roscoe Village, transportation costs are only about $7,000 annually, whereas in suburban West Dundee, costs increase to almost $11,800 annually. In contrast, residents of New York City only spend about $5,400 on transportation each year.
In transit-rich neighborhoods within walking distance to retail, schools and recreation such as Roscoe Village and the South Loop in Chicago, household transportation costs are lower, and residents spend 6-8 weeks of pay for annual transportation costs. In dispersed communities, far from jobs and with no access to transit, such as West Dundee and Sugar Grove, households spend up to 13 weeks of wages on annual transportation costs.
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Friday, March 5th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
"Chicago’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2000", copyright CNT, 2010.
When CNT set out to inventory Chicago’s greenhouse gas emissions, our goal was to give the Mayor’s Task Force on Climate Change the information it needed to better understand where Chicago’s emissions come from and to establish a baseline for comparison in future years. In addition to that, we created a portfolio of emissions reductions measures to better understand the scale and scope of actions that needed to be taken to meet the city’s emissions reduction targets.
Beyond the City-commissioned research, our broader goal is to make our climate change analysis transparent and available for cities around the world to take action on reducing their impact on climate change. Soon this research will be available in the Journal of Great Lakes Research and it is our belief that the valuable information in this peer-reviewed, scientific journal can serve as a useful tool for cities to use a model.
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Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 11:42 am
The Illinois Rain Garden Initiative grant program provides funds for the construction of a rain garden on public property. A rain garden is a depression, often near a downspout, that is planted with native wetland or aquatic vegetation. Rain gardens can be designed to flower throughout the summer and built to will hold stormwater runoff or snow melt, allowing the water to be absorbed slowly by the plants and the soil.
Rain gardens reduce stormwater runoff, improve water quality, allow for the recharge of groundwater supplies, increase wildlife habitat and often reduce the need for mowing and its associated costs and pollution. You’ll find the application forms at http://dnr.state.il.us/education/CLASSRM/RainGarden/applicationpage.htm. Teachers, not-for-profit organizations and community groups may apply. The maximum award is $1,000. Grant applications due by March 19, 2010. For more information, contact the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ (IDNR) Division of Education (dnr.teachkids@illinois.gov or 217-785-0973). The IDNR and Illinois Conservation Foundation administer this program. Funds are provided through a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
(Photo of St. Margaret Mary School and Church raingarden)
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 10:30 am
The Preservation Compact announced that CNT Energy’s innovative energy efficiency program, Cook County Energy Savers, is proving that residential energy retrofits can scale-up quickly, reaching thousands of residents and delivering cost-effective, large-scale benefits.
In just 18 months, Energy Savers has retrofitted 3,500 apartments and other rental units in Chicago and neighboring communities, typically cutting energy consumption by 30 percent. The program has more than 2,500 units in construction and is on track to complete more than 8,500 retrofits by the end of this year, making it one of the country’s largest and most successful programs for retrofitting existing multi-family, rental housing. Read more »
