Photo by Louise LeBourgeois, via Flickr

CMAP in the News

By Tom Garritano
1/30/09

The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) was in the news quite a bit this week.  While not every story explicitly mentions GO TO 2040, all the coverage is helping to build recognition that CMAP and its partners are changing how the region plans. 

The Business Ledger's "Going Green" section featured GO TO 2040 in a nice story based on remarks by CMAP's Jesse Elam at the recent DuPage Environmental Summit.  The Ledger has done an excellent job of keeping their readers informed about our comprehensive regional planning.

The highlight this week had to be the Wednesday Chicago Tribune cover story (opens 10MB PDF) about CMAP's congestion graphs showing exactly where and when many of the region's freeways and tollways see their worst traffic tie-ups.  (Click on the one at right for a larger image.)  These visualizations are an important tool for targeting capital investments, and they can also help residents plan their travel.  The Trib quotes CMAP's Tom Murtha, who oversaw excellent work by Todd Schmidt in developing these striking images (with some help from Adam Weiskind).  Tom and Todd even made a brief appearance on FOX-TV news. 

That story is reinforcing CMAP's efforts to help the region plan how to allocate the anticipated federal economic recovery funds for infrastructure.  Earlier this week, the Trib and Daily Herald had included CMAP in their stories on that topic.  CMAP is doing a special weekly update about the recovery funding, in addition to the original weekly mail from CMAP executive director Randy Blankenhorn.  You can subsribe to those by RSS feed, or contact info@cmap.illinois.gov to request the email versions.

Some of the coverage builds on the Tribune's January 11 magazine edition about the Burnham Centennial.  As the weather starts to warm up (hopefully!), we also hope you'll be hearing much more in the media about CMAP and GO TO 2040 as we approach the release of our alternative regional scenarios this spring.

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Sustaining Chicago as a City of Immigrants: The Argyle District (Part II)

by Stephen Ostrander
1/29/09

In my previous blog entry, I considered the counterintuitive reality of many of America’s cities, in which our “nation of immigrants” is not found within the city, but out in its sprawling suburbs. I noted that Chicago, by contrast, has both: while many of Chicagoland’s foreign-born residents choose to make their home out in the suburbs, the City of Chicago has remained a city of immigrants. The Argyle Street District, the heart of Chicago’s Vietnamese-American community (and home to a wide variety of Chinese and Southeast Asian residents and businesses), is a good example. But while Argyle has retained its identity within a somewhat challenging, highly-urban area, the current state of the district doesn’t match its extraordinary potential—which presents an opportunity that fueled the recent Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) led by the Urban Land Institute and the Metropolitan Planning Council.

Photo of Argyle Street Red Line station in Chicago, IL by Flickr user puroticorico.

After over a year of planning and surveying of local business owners, in mid-November the Argyle Technical Assistance Panel led two days of discussions about design, use, implementation, and financing, with the aim of answering several questions, such as "What are the market opportunities for the Argyle District" and "In the face of growing competition, how can district merchants harness a broader market to grow their businesses?"

The multidisciplinary team of experts came up with recommendations that explored “marketing opportunities, as well as infrastructure and streetscape issues,” which were unveiled in draft form at a community meeting on January 8th. The recommendations fell under three main goals:

Goal 1: Incorporate Argyle Street into a larger Asian destination. The panel believed that there was a great opportunity to expand the Argyle District to connect with the burgeoning entertainment district found near the intersection of Broadway and Lawrence, by developing a unifying visual concept to tie the two districts together and better establish the identify of the area. Beginning with simple banners and signage, the panel recommended an aesthetic approach that reflected a “broad-based, contemporary Asian style, and not the widely-used elements (e.g. dragons and pagodas) that are the hallmark of ‘Asian-themed’ locations.”

Goal 2: Create a community of sustainable businesses that engages and attracts area residents. To achieve this goal, the panel specified a number of more formal local business leadership structures that could help upgrade the appearance of the district, improve parking options, and generally make it more inviting. The team also offered a few creative ideas to attract area residents, including developing cooking classes at the district’s Asian markets to stimulate interest in local products, as well as “mitigate the intimidation some visitors may feel when shopping in an unfamiliar environment.”

Shi Lin Night Market in Taipei, Taiwan. Photo by Kyle Mullaney, (May, 2005.)

Goal 3: Create a landmark identify reflecting the area’s diversity and appealing to a broader market. This goal encompassed some of the most popular ideas of the panel. One was to re-brand the expanded district as “Asia on Argyle” to express the range of cultures represented in the district. But perhaps the most vivid idea was to establish a night market patterned off the night markets typically found in Asian (and a few Canadian) cities – where vendors sell food and other goods in an open-air market accompanied by music and other entertainment. This market, initiated on an annual basis during the summer (but possibly growing into a quarterly celebration), seemed to be a hit as it would raise awareness of the district in a festive manner, but occurring at a time when most of the businesses along the corridor are traditionally closed. I think that it might be challenging to replicate the spirit of surprise and joyful, unordered capitalism found in abundance in many night markets in Asia, given the food safety regulations we traditionally depend upon and, well, the general litigiousness of our society. But having enjoyed night markets in countries such as Vietnam, I personally think the idea is an inspired one.

Those are but a sampling of some of the ideas—the inspired, the promising, and the modestly sensible—presented on January 8th, in draft form, to a hopeful assortment of folks from the community. The ideas themselves were hopeful, fueled by a trust that transforming and reinvigorating the identity of the Argyle district will compel the area to change, and overcome the business and quality of life challenges it faces today. It’s understandable for business owners to focus on the immediate problem of parking for their customers (a problem that does not exist for their competitors in the suburbs). It is also reasonable for residents of Argyle’s retirement community to argue that safety and litter are the most pressing priorities. But having weathered what I would call America’s anti-urban era, the Argyle District is particularly well-positioned to benefit from the return to the city that we are beginning to see slowly emerge nationwide—if it can weather the current economic downturn while also investing, today, in its inherent strengths and future potential. 

Photo from 2008 ChineseLunar New Year parade on Argyle Street by Flickr user Giant Ginkgo.

You can explore the Argyle District in Chicago and enjoy this year's Chinese Lunar New Year festivities welcoming the Year of the Ox (lunar year 4706) on January 31, 2009 from noon until 1pm. There will be a parade including Kung Fu demonstrations, traditional dragon and lion dances, fireworks, and special discounts offered by area merchants.

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Sustaining Chicago as a City of Immigrants: The Argyle District (Part I)

by Stephen Ostrander
1/26/09

One of the pleasures of living in Chicago is being a part of its celebrated quilt of cultures, with roots stretching around the globe, within a world-class city. This is more unusual than you might realize. While cities have an historical association in our minds with immigrants, and ethnic and racial diversity, for decades now there has been a trend among many foreign-born residents—particularly those from east and south asian countries—to bypass the city, in favor of the American Dream and "better schools" found in the suburbs. But Chicago, along with a few other cities (New York—particularly its outer boroughs—comes to mind), has remained, in essence, a city of immigrants.

Growing up within the District of Columbia, I enjoyed the benefits of what you could call the transient, official diversity of the Nation’s Capital—with folks from every corner of the globe working in the city’s embassies or foreign press. But the District was really a sleepy southern city, composed mostly of African-Americans and whites, with very small communities of immigrants from Central America and East Africa. With the considerable growth of its Latino population, the city has become a bit more diverse, and projects an image of 21st century global diversity. An apt example is provided by the inventive signage requirements applied to D.C.’s “Chinatown,” that have led to a colorful sea of Chinese characters, but which belie a neighborhood dominated by businesses such as Ruby Tuesdays, Fuddruckers, Hooters—and that is home to an exceedingly small number of Chinese-American residents.

Photo of a Hooters restaurant in Washington D.C.'s Chinatown by Flickr user h-angele.

When I went to college in California, I was astounded by the robust communities arisen from the immigration of families from China, Korea, Vietnam, and—of course—Mexico. On visits back home to D.C., I came to realize that similar communities existed in the Greater Washington area. For one, the third largest population of Vietnamese-Americans is located just outside of the District, in Northern Virginia. At odds with stereotypes of diverse, immigrant cities and "lily-white" suburbs, Washington’s "nation of immigrants," like in much of the country, was to be found in the strip malls of its sprawling suburbs.

Chicago’s suburbs boast similar global diversity (H-Mart, anyone?) But I think it’s a healthy sign for our region that that the City has retained its identity as a city of immigrants, whether it is the evolutionary transfer of ethic enclaves from one group to another (Devon Avenue and Pilsen are each good examples), or urban corridors with staying power, such as Chinatown. 

Argyle Street, long considered the heart of Chicago’s—and even Chicagoland’s—Vietnamese-American community, seems to be at an interesting turning point. Its remarkable assemblage of Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants and bakeries, pho joints, Banh Mi shops, and Asian grocery stores have long competed with some of the more-challenging realities of the Uptown neighborhood, which include it being home to a large number of halfway houses, the densest concentration of social services in Chicago, relatively-high rates of crime, and very limited parking (a particularly important issue for Vietnamese-Americans from the suburbs who wish to do their weekend shopping in the urban neighborhood). But the Argyle District is very conveniently located, with its own (albeit disheveled) El stop, and stands to benefit from the steadily-increasing interest in Vietnamese cuisine and shopping at Asian markets. 

With great timing, the Urban Land Institute and the Metropolitan Planning Council decided it was time to organize a Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) of experts for the Argyle Street District, in order “to begin formulating a plan to protect and grow its many assets.” I will detail the draft recommendations it shared with the public at a recent community meeting in my next blog entry.

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FLIP Participant Interviews Chicago Education Leader

By Lynda Lopez, FLIP Participant
1/16/09

The following was written by Lynda Lopez, a participant in CMAP's Future Leaders in Planning (FLIP) program. Lynda attends Prosser Career Academy High School in Chicago. Below, she describes her opportunity via FLIP to interview Josh Edelman, the Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools Office of New Schools.

This is an example of how the FLIP program can enhance students’ understanding of complex planning issues and to provide students with information about our region, including human services such as education. At CMAP, we firmly believe that students like Lynda will be the ones who lead our region as we "GO TO 2040."

Renaissance 2010  

What’s that, I wondered. The first time I ever encountered this term was in my art class when my friend brought it up during one of our conversations.

"Lynda, what do you think about Ren2010?

"Um, what’s that?

That one moment of confusion sent me on a ride towards understanding this complex idea that revolves around Ren2010. I soon began to conduct research on the subject on my spare time. I went on websites and read countless research studies. I gained a vast array of knowledge just by doing so, but now I had even more questions. Why do some schools close while others do not? Why is Ren2010 seen as the possible solution to the educational problem? My mind swirled with questions, but that only motivated me to pursue this topic even further.

I soon was given a chance to write an article for the Chicago Tribune about Ren 2010 and its implications and that gave me further chance to delve deeper into the topic. I interviewed John Meyers from the magazine Catalyst Chicago and a couple of other experts on the topic, including one of CMAP’s very own.

My article was soon published and I was happy that it received such a great response from the teachers at my school. The topic directly affects them so they had ardent opinions on the topic. After the publication, I wondered where do I go from here? I felt that not enough students cared about the topic so I was a bit discouraged. That is when my friend, Mrs. Diana Torres and the FLIP program offered me an opportunity of a lifetime; the chance to meet the director of this controversial program, Mr. Josh Edelman.

The day of the interview with Mr. Edelman soon came and I was jittery with nerves. What if he doesn’t take me seriously? What I run out of questions? What if I get tongue tied? So many questions clouded my mind but I was determined to make a good impression and to get the answers I needed from him.

As the interview began, I quickly began to listen to Mr. Edelman and what he had to offer in regards to the program. He seemed to believe adamantly in the belief that each school should have a mission and a unique curriculum to its students. He felt that charter schools were ultimately more successful because of the close-knit community feel that they have to offer, and Noble Street Charter School was one of his examples as a shining charter school. "I would be proud to send me children to Noble," Edelman said. The studies denouncing Ren2010 swirled through my mind. Well, of course he is going to want to me believe in this program, but others have shared the negative aspects of Ren 2010, including that some students have suffered from the relocation of schools. In the end, I realized that are always two sides to every issue.

As the interview drew to a close, I felt that it had been a success and I decided to lighten the mood just a bit by poking fun at Mr. Edelman. I asked him about the rumor of him being a bookworm and he started laughing and explained the value of reading. The interview closed with a nice and cheerful ending.

I can honestly say that I learned a good deal about the educational standards and what people are expected and not expected to help our children with. This interview was hopefully only the continuation of my study of education with a focus on Renaissance 2010.

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The Burnham Plan Centennial

By Randy Blankenhorn
1/12/09

As you may have seen, yesterday's Chicago Tribune Magazine cover feature is about "The Future of Chicago," 100 years after Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago.  For much of the region, this is probably their first notice that the Burnham Centennial year has arrived. 

The edition actually has several articles, starting with "Burnham's Gift," about the plan's ability to keep inspiring our region.  The story "Going Forward" addresses today's efforts to build on the Burnham legacy.  A significant portion of it deals with CMAP and our GO TO 2040 comprehensive regional planning campaign.  The Trib's Blair Kamin makes a number of worthwhile points, including the leadership role that CMAP can play to ensure that regional priorities are reflected in infrastructure investments -- including the anticipated federal economic recovery package that President-elect Obama and Congress have made their highest priority.

In "Three Visions," featuring interviews with several architecture and design specialists:  Elva Rubio of Bruce Mau Design, Philip Ehnquist of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, and Doug Farr of Farr Associates. 

In "A Legacy of Olympic Proportions," Chicago 2016 chairman and CEO Patrick Ryan talks about Burnham's relevance to the bid.

Other articles include a timeline of the Burnham plan, and links to some on-line resources about it.

Finally, there is a short video summarizing the special magazine edition.  The best place to find the video is at Kamin's The Skyline Blog. He had assistance in the project from Tribune staff writers Charles Leroux and Patrick T. Reardon. 

I hope you'll take time to read and view these materials -- they're an important part of the regional discussion about how to build a better future.

And congratulations to the Burnham Plan Centennial on their big media splash.

Donate Your Christmas Tree to the Fishes

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Bike the Drive - Register Now!

by Lindsay Banks
1.9.09

If you register now for Bank of America's Bike the Drive along Lake Shore Drive, you can save $7 on the registration fee.  This discount is available through January 25th.

The bike ride is on May 24th and benefits the Active Transportation Alliance (formerly the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation). 

The image to the right is me from last year, probably right before my friend hit a pothole and broke his wrist!  Luckily, I'm told that the re-paving has vastly improved road conditions.  And don't forget to read our Bicycling Strategy Report, to see ideas for improving bicycling conditions across the region and what the impacts on transportation and health would be! 

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CTA and I-GO Collaboration

by Lindsay Banks
1.8.09

The car-sharing organization I-GO has recently teamed up with the Chicago Transit Authority to create a card that can be used on all CTA buses and trains and can be used for entry to I-GO cars.  Less bulk in the wallet!

My only complaint - this is for new I-GO members only (as far as I can tell).

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Posted by: Administrator on 01/08/2009