Wednesday, March 13th, 2013 at 4:22 pm
35 Facts for CNT’s 35 Years: Each week we’ll expand on one fun fact. Enjoy!
#1 Scott Bernstein – Champion of Cities
Scott Bernstein started working in Chicago’s West Garfield Park neighborhood in the ‘70s and envisioned innovative strategies that could turn around this community. In 1978, he, along with Stan Hallett, co-founded the organization that would become CNT to stimulate creative solutions to neighborhood problems. CNT began with three projects: community greenhouses, opposition to the Deep Tunnel and the publication of The Neighborhood Works. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 35th Anniversary, Featured, General News | No Comments »
Friday, March 1st, 2013 at 5:37 pm
Photo credit: Anthony May Photography
At this year’s Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards, CNT board member Patricia Saldaña Natke and her firm UrbanWorks won the 2013 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Architectural Excellence in Community Design for La Casa Student Dormitory, located in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. Designed as a new innovative model in student housing, the project incorporates all of the benefits and resources of on-campus living while serving nearly all major colleges and universities in the Chicago area. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Featured, General News | No Comments »
Friday, March 1st, 2013 at 3:47 pm
Photo Credit: Steven Vance/Flickr Creative Commons License
With deficit reduction still the watchword in public policy and with federal spending on a downward slope, states and regions are exploring different ways to fund programs and public works like transportation infrastructure. Traditionally, highways and roads are mostly paid for through the Highway Trust Fund which was designed to draw on gas taxes paid by motorists. However, from time to time as the fund runs dry, the Congress tops it off with money from general revenue. Although some economists dispute this, deficit financed highway construction is generally considered to be less than optimal public policy.
As part of the Hamilton Project’s 15 Ways to Rethink the Federal Budget, Jack Basso and Tyler Duvall discuss the potential solution offered by ‘user fees’—in other words, charging road users directly for the use of certain highways. Sometimes called ‘congestion pricing’, the main advantage of this proposal is that it succeeds in both raising revenue to reduce the deficit and reducing traffic congestion and the negative effects associated with it. The pair estimates that a federal user fee could raise $312 billion over the next decade, money that could be used not just for deficit reduction but also to invest in smarter infrastructure projects like expanding and improving transit systems that would help mitigate congestion even further.
User fees are often politically unpopular, at least in the beginning. Motorists naturally resent being obliged to pay for something that they previously used ‘for free’. The truth of course is that building and maintaining highways has never been free and the congestion that plagues so much of the highway system costs motorists directly in wasted time and wasted fuel as well as harming the environment. Proponents of user fees argue that the cost of road use should be borne by road users and that if the cost was reflected by the price, many would reconsider whether and when to make their journey by car.
Basso and Duvall point to the example of Singapore, a city of 5 million that occupies only 250 square miles of land. Despite their population density, Singapore’s use of electronic road pricing has delivered both increased revenue and free flow speeds on its major roadways. As the traditional funding mechanism for surface transportation infrastructure becomes increasingly inadequate, perhaps user fees are the sort of innovative method that policy makers should consider to pay for transportation infrastructure.
Posted in Going Places, National, Staff Blog, Transit Funding | No Comments »
Friday, February 22nd, 2013 at 4:37 pm
When we talk about public transit, the discussion usually focuses on cost savings to users or the impact on carbon emissions. According to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health, taking public transit is not just good for our wallets and our planet, but for our bodies as well.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that adults do at least two and a half hours of moderate intensity aerobic activity every week. While the word “aerobic activity” generally conjures up images of treadmills and elliptical machines, moderate intensity aerobics are activities that are often already engrained in our daily lives. This includes things like tennis, gardening, bicycling (at speeds under 10 mph), and brisk walking. Without realizing it, regular public transit users may be getting their entire recommended amount of moderate intensity exercise while walking to and from their trains.
The study found that those who live in large cities with rail systems are 72 percent more likely to spend at least 30 minutes a day walking to and from public transit. When done every day, they will get the two and a half hours of weekly exercise that the CDC recommends. From 2001 to 2009, the number of people transit walking at least 30 minutes a day rose from 2.6 million to 3.4 million. With continued investment in rail systems, the number of people reaping the health benefits of transit walking will continue to grow.
These insights provide an important reminder of the connection between public transit and public health. Built urban environments can either facilitate or hinder physical activity, and the ability to safely walk to public transportation is an integral part of this. Not only must policymakers and city planners make effective public transit a priority, but they must also be sure to equip neighborhoods near rail stations with the infrastructure necessary to make them safe for pedestrians. As we plan to expand walkable public transit access in Chicago, it is likely that improved cardiovascular health and lower body weight will follow close behind.
Copies of the study can be downloaded here.>>
Posted in Chicago, Going Places, Staff Blog, Transit Policy | No Comments »
Friday, February 22nd, 2013 at 4:08 pm
Does your home or business suffer from a wet basement or flooded backyard? You’re not alone! Whether or live in Cook County IL, 
or somewhere else in the nation, we want to hear your story. We’re aiming to get 200 stories, along with data on the cost and stress it caused you, to help make the case for action at state and national level. Your information on costs of stormwater damage in your basement and backyard will also be used to help us design the nation’s first wet weather ‘Wetrofit’ service.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, Natural Resources | No Comments »
Friday, February 15th, 2013 at 4:03 pm
Photo credit: Patrick Putze
For nearly a century the Bloomingdale freight line has rolled across and above the City’s Northwest side. Today the tracks are aligned to transform the Bloomingdale into an elevated, mixed-use, linear park and trail running through the heart of Chicago, connecting neighborhoods, the river, and Chicago’s great park system. Since 2003, Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail have been advocating for this conversion of the rail line into Chicago’s next great park. Many community groups and public agencies have participated in a community charrette that led to the development a framework plan for this major endeavor.
CNT is pleased to be hosting, Reframing Ruin: A Prelude to the Bloomingdale Trail, a photography exhibition presented by Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail and The Trust for Public Land. The exhibit showcases the community’s documentation of the future trail, its relationship to the diverse neighborhoods it cuts through, and how we currently interact with this stretch of land through photography. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, Transportation and Community Development | No Comments »
Monday, February 11th, 2013 at 4:24 pm
CNT’s pioneering program, ‘Smart Water for Smart Regions’ and its practical focus on designing strategies to help communities alleviate costly water leakages and property damage from flooding, is attracting national attention. Our program staff have been appointed to national and state committees, and invited to speak at national events about this initiative. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, Natural Resources | No Comments »
