| | by Anne Holub
2/25/10  | | Beautiful City. (Photo by John W. Sisson, Jr.) |
Thanks to a generous offer from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, we have two pairs of tickets to give away for the upcoming run of the play "Beautiful City" at the DCA Theatre. The play was written by George F. Walker, and will be directed by Rob Chambers and presented by Theatre Mir. From the DCA Theatre: "'This is the future' begins this darkly comic fable about urban developers, criminals, law enforcement, and even a witch, all fighting for the soul and vision of a city. Set in an urban landscape ripe for redevelopment, the parable blends off-kilter characters, fast-paced storytelling, and stinging social satire in a tale of greed, corruption, and civic responsibility. Theatre Mir's production marks the Chicago professional premiere of this work by George F. Walker, one of Canada’s most prolific and celebrated playwrights." The play opens on March 4 and runs every Thursday-Sunday through April 3, 2010. The performances will take place in the DCA Storefront Theatre at 77 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL. To win a pair of tickets to a "Beautiful City" performance of your choice, just email your answers to these five questions along with your name and daytime phone number to Anne Holub, at aholub@cmap.illinois.gov. We'll pick two winners at random from the pool of correct complete quizes. Good luck! QUIZ: 1. Who authored the 1909 Plan of Chicago?
2. What Asian city is known for its plan by the same author? 3. On March 4th, the day "Beautiful City" opens, Chicago will celebrate a birthday. How old will the city be? 4. In what year was the Sanitary and Ship Canal finished, reversing the direction of the Chicago River?
5. What GO TO 2040 document did the CMAP Board approve on January 13, 2010, as the last major interim product before the draft comprehensive regional plan is released for comment in June 2010?
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| | by Anne Holub
2/25/10 As a part of the new “Let’s Move” campaign, the White House has announced an ambitious plan: to eliminate all food deserts in the United States in just seven years. What is a food desert? Well, it’s any area with limited access to affordable and nutritious food. Access to nutritious food can be hindered by many factors including income, proximity to grocery stores, and access to transportation. Food deserts aren’t just located in urban areas but can also exist in rural communities as well, and more than 23 million Americans live in one. Chicago Magazine wrote about the issue last summer and estimated that the problem affects 600,000 Chicagoans (Time magazine also covered the issue last spring). CMAP’s Full Circle technical assistance program has examined the potential food deserts of Logan Square and East Humboldt Park. First Lady Michelle Obama spoke recently about the administration’s ambitious plan to eliminate such areas where nutritious food is difficult to obtain. It’s just one component of the “Let’s Move” campaign, which aims to improve nutrition, daily physical activity, and school lunches, as well as the problem with access to affordable, healthy food. permalink |
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| | Excerpts from Patrick T. Reardon’s Remarks for the January 21, 2010 CMAP Open House By Patrick T. Reardon
2/25/10
 If you look at a satellite view of this part of the globe, you can see the deep blue of Lake Michigan and the unbroken sweep of the landscape. It shows our region as a single fabric, closely woven, each thread linked to every other. It doesn’t show government boundaries. They are invisible because, in the natural world, they don’t exist. You probably live in one neighborhood or town and work in another and shop at a mall in a third and visit friends in a fourth. You don’t pay a lot of attention to invisible governmental boundaries as you go about your life. For you, it’s all one landscape, all one region. At this beginning of the 21st century, we need to recognize this fact…We are the people of a region. We share this section of the earth together. And we are at a turning point in our history. We have the opportunity today to begin to refashion our region. We can start to make it greener, healthier, economically stronger and more beautiful, and give ourselves and future generations richer lives. Now is the moment. In 2009, our region celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Plan of Chicago, called the Burnham Plan for its primary author Daniel Burnham. In more than 1,000 events over the course of the year, the people of the region gathered together to look at the amazing impact of that 164-page document -- and to think boldly about the future. The Burnham Plan reshaped Chicago and the suburbs and created the modern field of urban planning. Even more, it taught this region and the rest of the world a lesson: If you plan for the future, you can make it better. It's still true today: If we plan for the future, we can make it better. The Burnham Plan Centennial set the stage for the effort this year to create the first-ever comprehensive plan for the seven counties of northeastern Illinois. It’s called the GO TO 2040 plan and it’s being put together by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. This document will be the first to integrate planning and policies covering the use of land, the treatment of the environment, the movement of people and goods, the education of children, the fairness of decisions and the quality of life of the region’s eight million residents -- and the more than ten million expected to be living here three decades from now. But Illinois is a place where politics is a slash-throat, take-no-prisoners blood sport. And narrow-gauge, small-minded politics could doom this unprecedented effort to make our future better. We need to commit as a region -- as the people of a region -- to thinking broadly. We need to work together to improve the quality of our lives in the coming years. We need to support CMAP’s effort to create and implement the GO TO 2040 plan. For more than 30 years, Patrick T. Reardon was the urban affairs writer and a feature writer at the Chicago Tribune. He wrote articles exploring the interconnectedness of the region including topics like the urban underclass, public housing, the Chicago public schools, middle-class migration out of the city and the cultural and social aspects of urban sprawl. He has lectured on Chicago history for the Chicago History Museum and on journalism for Northwestern University, DePaul University and Roosevelt University. During 2009, He was the writer of the Burnham Blog at the Burnham Plan Centennial website. He is a scholar in residence at the Newberry Library and the author of three books.
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| | by Diana Torres
2/18/10 Get personally involved with the GO TO 2040 plan, the region’s long-range comprehensive planning process! CMAP is now seeking volunteers from the seven-county region to be interviewed for a new blog series titled “My 2040” to be conducted in person, by phone, or via email. We are looking for residents interested in participating in the GO TO 2040 blog by providing personal responses to questions relating to their communities and the regional plan. Volunteers will be asked to respond to a few questions to share thoughts, experiences and visions for his/her community and our region. This will be a chance for CMAP to profile some of our residents, leaders and stakeholders, describing their priorities for the region. You can read the Preferred Regional Scenario to learn more about these issues. Explore www.cmap.illinois.gov and www.goto2040.org for more information about the regional comprehensive planning process already underway. The “My 2040” project is a great opportunity to share personal visions for the region as we proceed with GO TO 2040. We expect to conduct up to 25 interviews and will spotlight one person a week starting late February and will continue through the release of the GO TO 2040 plan in October 2010. For more information, please contact Diana Torres, External Relations, at dtorres@cmap.illinois.gov or 312-386-8774. permalink |
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| | by Diana Torres
2/18/10  | Carlos Nelson and Hubert Newkirk share their insights with FLIP students at the CMAP offices. |
CMAP’s Future Leaders in Planning (FLIP) youth leadership development program recently hosted the “Expert Interview,” where students had an opportunity to learn more about specific issues throughout the our region. Several experts volunteered their time and responded to students’ questions in a small group environment. Since October 2009, the students have been exposed to in-depth information through classroom engagement, tours, activities and presentations—but they still have many questions as they finalize their group projects covering the following areas: Environment, Transportation, Economic Development, Human Services and Housing/Land Use. Each year, we coordinate a session to encourage the interaction between experts and the students to improve the students’ understanding of the issues at hand.
It also seems that the experts learned something from the FLIP students. Karen Yoder, a FLIP parent who volunteered to assist us at this session, spent time with several experts over lunch and shares some highlights from her conversations. Some of the comments she heard included: - “I’m delighted that this group of FLIP participants has so much enthusiasm and yearning of history.”
- “These bright students are gaining valuable interviewing skills and will be useful for future employment…from the looks of it, each and every student in this program have bright futures ahead of them.”
- “Everyone was well dressed. I know when I was in high school, I’d want to wear jeans every day and I’m so impressed with these participants who took the time to look professional.”
Each expert brought a specialized set of skills and topic area knowledge. We would like to thank the following volunteers who spent a Saturday with the FLIP program: Steve Coorlas and Dominick Peternel (Ghafari Associates); Sheri Cohen (Chicago Department of Public Health); Anne Evans (CNT Energy); David Galowich (Madison Realty Group); John Golden (CNA); Carlos Nelson and Hubert Newkirk (Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation); Larry Martinez (Oswego School District); Dawn Melchiorre (Voices for Illinois Children); Crispina Ojeda (Chicago Jobs Council); Dianne Palmer (Regional Transportation Authority/RTA); Heather Smith (Congress For New Urbanism); Shaan Trotter (Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center); David Wilson (Chicago Transit Authority/CTA); John Winzeler (Winzeler Gear). permalink |
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| | by Anne Holub
2/16/10 Our offices were closed yesterday in observance of the President's Day holiday, but here's a vibrant Flickr photo from our pool to brighten your week. This shot of vintage signs and neon on Milwaukee Avenue is a wonderful composition of light and texture, don't you think? It's by Flickr user "like, totally" from our Explore Northeastern Illinois Pool. permalink |
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| Beautiful photo! This one is by Heather Phillips, a local photographer.
Posted by: Anna B on 02/16/2010 |
| | by Lindsay Banks
2/11/10 Last Saturday, I decided to join some of the photographers that I have come to know in a virtual sense through our Explore Northeastern Illinois Flickr pool on an educational photo shoot at Millennium Park. The shoot was organized by ExploreChicago.org (the official tourism website of the City of Chicago), Millennium Park, and the Park Grill.
Dave Schalliol, the Managing Editor of Gapers Block known as metroblossom on Flickr, gave us some tips for getting great nighttime shots. I met photographers that came from as far away as Harvard in McHenry County. I would say that while my photos didn’t turn out great, I definitely learned some things that I will practice. The best part of the experience was meeting people from around Chcicagoland that share an interest in photography and capturing the beauty around us. We live in such a diverse, photogenic region with everything from world-famous buildings and architectural innovations to natural prairielands, with historic rail communities in between. Here is one of my images:  Maybe with enough practice (and a fisheye lens), I'll be able to take a photo like this: 
(Pavilion in Red by Flickr user TimLLowe)
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| beautiful pics
I love chicago
hugs from Cali, Colombia
Posted by: orlando on 02/11/2010 |
| | by Erin Aleman and Diana Torres
2/9/10  CMAP invites you to become a GO TO 2040 Partner and join in on future brownbag meetings to create a forum for dialogue and discussion as we continue inspiring and educating our residents to engage in the planning process. CMAP will be holding bi-weekly event planning sessions tackling various focus areas of GO TO 2040 beginning February 26th. Interested individuals and/or staff from organizations are welcome to attend. Please see our latest Partnership Schedule details on how to participate.
The GO TO 2040 Partnership program kicks off on Friday, February 26 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the CMAP Office (DuPage County Room). The discussionwill focus on the Regional Water Supply. This session will begin with a recap of the new Northeastern Illinois Water Supply/Demand Plan, which CMAP recently completed in conjunction with the Regional Water Supply Planning Group and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Looking to the year 2050, the plan addresses rapid population growth that, without improved conservation and resource management, could lead to water shortages in coming years. Following a brief presentation, participants will brainstorm about how organizations can get involved and help educate and inform people across the region about water – one of our region’s most precious resources.
Keep an eye here for more Brownbag events. Future focus areas include Youth (March 12), Parks and Open Space: Continuing the Green Legacy Projects (March 26), Food (April 23) and Library Programs and Events (May 7). Additional topics will be announced; please see our Partnership Schedule for meeting locations, times and descriptions. RSVP to one of our brownbag events to Joey-Lin Silberhorn at 312-386-8814 or jsilberhorn@cmap.illinois.gov. permalink |
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| |  | | Visitors enjoy the winning contest photos on display at Prairie Bread Kitchen. |
by Anne Holub
2/2/10Throughout the month of February, we'll have our dozen winning photos on display at Prairie Bread Kitchen in downtown Oak Park (more, here). This past weekend, we invited our winners and their friends and family out for an afternoon the day we opened the show. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and it was great to meet so many of our photographers and their beeming family members. Thanks to everyone who came out! Check out our Flickr set for some snapshots from the show (where I took the opportunity to capture our photographers on the other side of the camera). I hope you can visit the bakery as well this month to enjoy the photos (and grab a coffee and some delicious bread!). It's conveniently located just north (literally, just a few steps) from the Oak Park Metra stop and the Harlem Green Line stop on the CTA. It's also close to I-290 if you travel via car, or bikable if you prefer to go by two wheels. Thanks again to the Prairie Bread Kitchen for hosting us! The show ends February 28, 2010. permalink |
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| | by Lindsay Banks
2/1/10 I chose this particular photo today because it has a bicycle and has a melancholy mood that matches mine. Last week, someone stole 4 bicycles from my basement, two of which were mine, one of which was my roommate's, and the other belonged to the woman who left the door to the alley unlocked. It is a terrible thing to have a bike stolen, so I made fliers, talked to bicycle shop owners and mechanics, posted a message with local bicycle couriers and did all that I could think of to recover them, knowing that recovery is unlikely in a city like Chicago. Someone on the Chainlink forum suggested that I investigate the Swap-o-rama over the weekend. So I went down to look for bikes, and found a guy selling a bike that looked very much like my roommate's. We checked her description with the details on the bike and everything fit except for the frame size. We did not check the serial number because we were trying to be inconspicuous, and we thought that that would alert them to the fact that we knew it was stolen. Big mistake. My roommate had given us an incorrect frame size. If it had been the same number, we would have called the police, but we figured that it was a similar looking, but different bike. We called and left a message with her about the bike, but had to leave to attend an event in Oak Park. She went back the next day and the bike had been sold. It was her bike. I can't believe we found her bike and let it slip through our fingers. Terrible feeling in my gut. Perhaps it will turn up again, but what is the likelihood of getting a second chance? Our Monday Flickr Photos are chosen from the Explore Northeastern Illinois photo pool. Submit your photos! permalink |
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