Spring Legislative Forum 2005
Workshop I: Transit Connectivity
Workshop II Regional Planning Reform
Workshop III: Safe Routes Walkabout
Workshop IV: Streets, Sprawl, Streams...What's the Connection?
Workshop V: Green Building Tour
Spring 2005 Report
Workshop I: Transit Connectivity
Speaker: John Delaurentiis, Deputy Executive Director, Regional Transportation Authority. Facilitator: Jacky Grimshaw, CNT
In this "reverse roundtable," participants were asked to introduce themselves and list their highest priority about transit connectivity. Their responses were grouped into the categories that the RTA has worked with since Rep. Hamos passed a resolution in 1998 that provided the RTA with $400,000 and a mandate to investigate the possibilities of better connectivity. These categories are: Physical Coordination, Service Coordination, Fare Coordination and Information Coordiation (a fifth category allowed comments on other issues).
Participants' concerns with Physical Coordination are: pedestrian access in suburbs, transit hubs, bike parking at transit stops, transit enabling sprawl, transit accessibility for pedestrians and transit connectivity.
A main concern raised with Service Coordination was the institutional barriers to agency coordination. For example, there is no real incentive for transit agencies to work together, especially if they are competing for funding.
Fare Coordination focused mostly on the universal fare card among all of the transit agencies and the obstacles in the way of making this happen.
Information Coordination priorities were with more wayfinding clarity in signage and itelligent transporation systems (ITS). An example given of ITS was the ability to receive information about the "next bus" on cell phones.
Although the focus was on funding, many wanted to discuss how transportation planning and the RTA fits within the larger infrastructure. In general, the most important priorities among participants were: paratransit, the transit funding formula, transit connectivity and ITS. Questions that came out of the two workshops were: the importance of land use planning in transit, who should advocate for the public interest, are there parties which should be paying their share of the transit bill but are not and what are the responsibilities of transit agencies -- who are the real beneficiaries?
Back to TopWorkshop II: Regional Planning Reforms
Speakers: Frank Beal, Executive Director, Chicago Metropolis 2020 and Kermit Weis, Acting Director of Planning, CATS. Moderator: Jan Metzger, CNT.
This workshop was apparently the most popular, with the most attendees at each session. Participants came with a genuine objective to learn and showed good humor about the complex and sometimes confusing regiaonl planning landscape.
Topics covered were: the potential CATS and NIPC merger and reforms that CATS is already introducing from within. Mr. Beal reported that CATS and NIPC began to hold talks about merging. Now the Illinois General Assembly is taking up the issue. The absence of funding to ensure an independent regional body is a challenge and will not provide all of the solutions. Legislation this spring may need to be followed up with additional adjustments. Another challenge is finding the time and resources to envision and plan creatively while keeping up with the day to day requests. Mr. Weis described steps CATS is taking to make financial reporting more transparent and to devleop a project scoring methodology for major project recommendations.
Kendall County has applied to join CATS as the seventh county. What does this mean for the other counties? Do the counties have equal representation?
What is the heart of the problem with the RTA? It appears to be the outdated funding formula and restructuring in 1983 that stripped powers from the RTA to obtain funds. Areas were the RTA can potentionally regain some of these powers were discussed.
Back to TopWorkshop III: Safe Routes Walkabout
Tour Guides: Melody Geraci, Director, Safe Routes to School, Chicagoland Bicycle Federation and Ben Helphand, CNT
When was the last time you put on an orange vest and walked to school? Significantly fewer school children walk or bike to school today than thirty years ago, and this is one cause of the skyrocketing numbers of obesity among today's children. One program, Safe Routes to School, encourages physical activity by making it safe and fun for kids to walk to school.
In this workshop, Melody and Ben led a "walking school bus" around Wicker Park to advocate for the Safe Routes to School program
to provide safe alternatives from the parent car drop offs to school. This program supports
physical street improvements, better transportation planning and walking school busses and bike trains
for kids. The theory behind Safe Routes is that kids are not walking to school due to safety
concerns. Both children and thier parents fear car traffic and crime. They relate these fears
to walking, but in reality, the dangers of car accidents are much greater than the
risk to a pedestrian or biker. The movement began in Denmark and made its way to the US through the Bronx
in the early 1990s.
During the tour, the "four E's" were introduced:
1. Encouragement: Kids need to be encouraged to join the walking school bus.
2. Engineering: Roads must be repaired and improved to represent the needs of
pedestrians, cars and bikes. The need for improvement of sidewalks and curbs was made
apparent by the conditions of the high two-step curb on North and Damen. Because of this
high curb, a person in an electric wheelchair had to ride through traffic
to cross the street and could not reach the sidewalk.
3. Enforcement: There are many ordinances in effect that protect pedestrian interests.
Stricter police enforcement of some traffic laws were pointed out.
4. Education: Teachers and parents must emphasize the importance of physical education
through walking.
Melody and Ben add a fifth "E" for evaluation. Surveying, study and mapping must be done to identify where improvements and repairs should be made.
Back to TopWorkshop IV: Streets, Sprawl, Streams...What's the Connection?
Guests: Bob Newport, Environmental Protection Specialist, USEPA Region V; Professor Martin Jaffe, University of Illinois at Chicago and Sheila Schultz, former Chair of SWANCC (Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County)
What is the connection? Non-point source pollution is the link. Point source pollution comes from a direct source, such as an industrial factory whereas non-point source pollution cannot be directly contributed to any one source. Streets act as a racetrack to carry water to water bodies. Sprawl introduces more impermeable surfaces to a watershed (in the form of more rooftops and driveways, and more demand for sewers, roads and utilities. Pollution is introduced into streams and affects water quality; streams are used for our drinking water and affect water quantity.
For the first time, CTAQC is addressing water quality and quantity issues in transportation and land use planning. We are listening to our constituents to learn what your concerns are.
Participants at the meeting were concerned that suburbs tap shallow aquifers when their water demands reach unsustainable levels, road salt is polluting our groundwater and rapid flowing run-off is increasing streambank erosion.
We should look harder at re-use options. Individuals can do this on a small scale by collecting rainwater to water plants and lawns with. Participants also wanted region-wide financial incentives to those that develop in ecologically friendly ways, similar to the solar panel program, or taxes for those who don't, such as a stormwater impact fee. A new perspective on the housing market was called for, by providing green affordable housing that addresses people's real needs (not just the city-condo/suburb-mcmansion dichotomy). Attendees were quick to note that not all growth is bad. It is how development is implemented that makes the difference. Water meter monitoring, using water ways as a mode of transportation and illustrating the real costs of living in the suburbs were all ways that participants suggested would educate consumers on the importance of our water resources. The audience wanted comprehensive transportation, land use and watershed maps. CNT's green infrastructure maps were made available, with data overlays for northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and eastern Indiana. (If you would like a map, please contact ctaqc@cnt.org.)Knowing that Chicagoland is overdue for a drought, Professor Jaffe suggested that a bill limited to the northeastern Illinois region (to avoid conflicts with downstate farmers) could be passed during the drought that would call for conservation style development and green infrastructure preservation. During the last drought, a State Water Act was passed, giving riparian rights on surface water to ground water, setting irrigation regulations on sandy soils and a state water survey review. Timing is everything, Professor Jaffe says, and we should be prepared.
Back to TopWorkshop V: Green Building Tour
Tour Guide: Sharon Feigon, Energy Cooperative CEO, CNT
Missed the Green Building Tour? Visit: http://building.cnt.org for the virtual version.
CNT bought the abandoned textile factory in 1987. We renovated the second and third floors according to Energy Star standards. When we decided to renovate the first floor, LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) standards were in place. However, at the time (2000), the score card was meant for new construction. As an existing building, we were unable to acquire some of the points, but we used our experience to help LEED define new requirements for renovated buildings to obtain certification. We are applying for Platinum status, the highest rating. Our goal is to prove that building green does not equal expensive structures. We have obtained LEED points on simple innovations such as second hand carpet, indoor plants (for air quality), native garden plants (for groundwater purification), a disconnected waterspout and homemade permeable pavement in our parking lot. We also have plenty of natural lighting, operable windows for ventilation control, bike parking and showers to encourage non-auto commutes to work and a compost bin. Some of our more expensive items we have in place are solar panels, green tags (energy investments in wind farms) and a unique air conditioning system where plastic water-filled balls are frozen in a tank of glycol overnight and cool the building during the day.
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