Moving Forward: Inspiring the Community
SPECIAL REPORT
ADDENDUM TO THE
Connecting Communities Summit
*
Inspiration Café is located at 4554 North Broadway in the heart of Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. Through the invitation of Grace
Yang, The Center for Neighborhood Technology was able to meet with an enthusiastic group of Café guests on June 13
th
, 2002.
The Inspiration Cafe
*
is a nonprofit organization that
provides supportive services designed to assist men and
women in exiting homelessness with dignity and respect.
The Café patrons desire a transportation system that works
efficiently and is responsive to the needs of people
transitioning out of homelessness. Their request is for a
system that supports the creation of local jobs and access to
those jobs while enriching the fabric of communities. The
four male and five female attendees, six of whom are African-
American, two bi-racial and one white, optimistically offered
suggestions to improve quality of life for all, especially those
who are reintroducing themselves to the community.
Walking is the most popular mode of moving around for the
meeting participants. The group is comprised of avid transit
users, who took an astounding 729 trips in the last month,
making transit the second most popular mode of
transportation. Solo car usage, car with others and biking
are the next most used methods of transportation. Everyone
in the group uses transit and all have a bus stop located near
their residences or their most regular shelter for the
homeless, with 71% of the group experiencing service more
than once per hour. Only two meeting attendees indicated
car ownership.
With heavy transit use and walking as the primary means of
getting around, the Inspiration Café meeting attendees are a
good measure of how well transit works in the Chicagoland
region. Participants focused their efforts first on improving
public transportation and secondly on how to strengthen its
relationship with community and economic development.
The most important local priority is the ability of
transportation decisions to directly influence economic
development. Scenarios that support local jobs and access
to those jobs were designated as the main priorities for the
region. The ability to travel safely via all modes of
transportation, pedestrians and car drivers, as well as the
option to use multiple modes to move freely, were significant
concerns for their community.
Inspiration Café members are very mobile and travel
throughout the Chicagoland region. Top destinations
include the Loop and lakefront for business and recreation
destinations such as the Art Institute, the lakefront and
Navy Pier. All travel to Chicago's Uptown neighborhood to
visit the Café on a regular basis from dispersed locations.
Visits to health care services in the downtown area require
an efficient public transit system. Many also visit locales
such as the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg and the Lincoln
Square neighborhood in Chicago. Grocery stores and public
government aid offices are also frequented destinations.
Meeting attendees rank public involvement as the number
one way to develop a public transportation system that
works effectively. Suggestions and scenarios developed by
participants stress access for all members of the community
but especially children, the disabled and others who express
need for extra assistance. CTA Red Line station
enhancements at Howard, Wilson and Lawrence, according
to meeting participants, are the first steps to aid everyone in
using Chicago's public transit system. The Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines offer suggestions on how
to best promote access for people with special needs.
Meeting attendees suggested following those regulations
when undertaking station enhancement projects. Other
station improvements include the addition of restrooms for
added convenience, comfort and sanitation. The
construction of benches and heating lamps at all bus and
train stops are also needed. The option to sit at waiting
areas is very important, especially for seniors, the disabled
and families. An overall improvement in station
maintenance, convenience and access assists everyone in
using public transportation. Cars that park at bus stops
should be towed away quickly. Seniors and those in
wheelchairs cannot access the bus because of parked
vehicles, forcing the bus to stop in busy intersections,
which make it difficult and hazardous to board the bus.
Wheelchair users are often unable to use the ramp on some
buses and trains, prohibiting them from taking advantage of
public transit in some situations.
All meeting attendees have easy access to bus stops.
However, bus routes are in need of improvement to
