Approximately $49 million will go to bicycle projects, which is the largest pool of money ever awarded to improve bicycling in Illinois through ITEP. The Chicago region alone will receive approximately $45 million for active transportation improvements.

“Everyone wins with this funding announcement,” said Ron Burke, executive director of the Active Transportation Alliance. “We’re very excited that important projects like the Burnham Greenway, Veterans Memorial Trail and a cycle track pilot project on Chicago’s South Side will receive money.”

Burke explained that a cycle track is a type of bikeway, common in many other countries, that separates bikes and cars. Burke said the Chicago Department of Transportation is taking a bold step in building the first cycle track in the region on Stony Island Avenue.

“Large and small projects around Chicagoland now have financial backing to improve opportunities and safety for bicyclists and pedestrians,” said Burke.

Among the projects Active Trans supported, the Calumet-Sag Trail will receive $2.8 million to fund its final engineering phase and its construction costs.

“This is a big leap toward completing the 26-mile Calumet-Sag Trail,” said Steve Buchtel, Southland coordinator for the Active Transportation Alliance. When completed in 2012, the trail will connect 14 communities and a handful of regional trail systems, said Buchtel.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Congress asked the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to rescind almost $80 million in transportation projects. After a request from Active Trans, IDOT carried out full funding for this round of ITEP money.

In addition to pushing for two Calumet-Sag Trail projects, Active Trans worked closely with successful ITEP awardees in Skokie, Wheeling and Lincolnwood. The organization also partnered with the Will County Forest Preserve District to ensure funding for the Veterans Memorial Trail.

See Governor Quinn’s news release for the full list of projects to be funded.

The Active Transportation Alliance is a non-profit, member-based advocacy organization that works to make bicycling, walking and public transit. It  is North America’s largest transportation advocacy organization, supported by nearly 6,000 members, 1,000 volunteers and 35 full-time staff. For more information on the Active Transportation Alliance, visit www.activetrans.org or call 312.427.3325.

Related articles

• Interview with Ron Burke, the new executive director of Active Transportation Alliance (timeoutny.com)

FOTP photo of the playground

The construction of a new playground in Grand Crossing Park on Chicago’s South Side is the site of the first community building project in a decade, and no one could be happier about it than Friends of the Parks’ Director of neighborhood parks and community relations Maria Stone.

“This project took about a year to put together,” said Stone, a 34-year-old Pennsylvania native. “Friends of the Parks worked with Kohl’s department stores and Children’s Memorial Hospital along with local legislators to secure $250,000 to build this park. We also coordinated with the Grand Crossing Park Advisory Council to get community volunteers to help construct the new playground.”

CeCe Edwards, Grand Crossing Park Advisory Council president, said Stone’s office worked with them and the Chicago Park District to make this project a reality.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C8hM_ZLdgk[/youtube]

“We need programs, we need mentors and volunteers; we need a lot of things the community people are not up on yet because the park was off the radar screen and now we got it back thanks to Friends of the Park,” said Edwards.

“One of the things my office does is help communities establish park advisory councils. I meet with concerned citizens in the neighborhood and help educate them on how to be an advocate for their parks,” said Stone. “Once a council is registered with the Chicago Park District and they start having board meetings, issues in the park such as broken swings, broken water fountains or vandalism are addressed and brought to Friends of the Parks’ attention. We, as the middleman, bring it to the Park District’s attention and make sure they do something about it.”

Stone, an impressive and energetic lady who holds a master’s degree in public administration from DePaul University, didn’t know a lot about Chicago’s rich park history before joining Friends of the Park.

“When I interned for the Chicago Park District’s Forests Initiative Program, there was a program where we served as a watchdog for the Cook County Forest Preserve,” said Stone. “We saved parcels of land from being taken and influenced the purchase of land so the Forest Preserve could increase the acreage of land they had.”

Taking on the responsibility of helping others make a difference in their communities has been a passion of Stone’s all her life.

“When I was younger, my mother would encourage my sister and me to volunteer on Thanksgiving, feed the homeless in Philadelphia. Those experiences helped guide us into realizing there’s a bigger world out there and we need to do something to help,” said Stone. “I am Ukrainian and growing up I was a member of a Ukrainian youth group where we were always doing things to help others, like doing clean ups in the park or raising money for Ukrainian projects. When I graduated and thought about a career path, I decided I wanted to do something where I could help people.”

“This job is a natural progression of how she lives her life,” said Kandy Christensen, Stone’s close friend and fellow Zumba, flamenco and ballet enthusiast. “Maria has a passion for leaving a positive footprint in the world. She’s always working on gardens, supporting local organic industries. She cares a lot about others and always tries to think of ways to incorporate fun stuff, such as kickball and sports programs, into the parks.”

“My job at Friends of the Park is so interesting. Everyday there’s something new,” said Stone. “Yesterday, I met with parks people from Milwaukee and learning about their Friends of the Park organization. Next week, I have a community meeting with Dvorak Park residents (a neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side) to help them start a park advisory council. It feels good to end my day knowing I did something to help somebody and make the parks better at the same time.”

Residents and community volunteers at Grand Crossing Park playground rehabilitation project appreciate the work Stone does on behalf of Friends of the Parks.

“A lot of community volunteers helped with the mulching and installation of new slides and swings. They’re excited to receive something so great with the help of Friends of the Parks,” said Datia Williams, a volunteer who grew up in the area. “Having something new in the community shows there is someone who cares about you. I think the good work being done here today will help the people in the community going forward.”

The biggest fans and advocates of community building projects like this are the children in the neighborhood who play in the parks.

“I used to hate it when other people say ‘You have a messed up, jacked up park. Your park is horrible.’ But now, we can finally say our park looks better than yours and we did it ourselves,” said Aaron Reese, 14, Henry Tanner Elementary School student and park patron.

And Stone likes the sound of that.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C8hM_ZLdgk[/youtube]

Panelists Reuben Keller, David Lodge, Duane Chapman, Bill Boden, Josh Ellis and David Uldrich shared disturbing details at the April 6 event, describing damage that has been done by Asian carp in other rivers — damage that could be done in the Great Lakes, too, if strict measures aren’t taken to prevent a full-fledged invasion.

The carp have been present in the Midwest since the 1970s, when they were brought to Arkansas for use as “cleaning agents” on fish farms. The fish escaped those farms and ventured up the Mississippi River and into Chicago’s waterways, growing in size and quantity along the way.

Lodge, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame, reiterates that the Asian carp aren’t just statewide threats, but also can become infamous in the entire region’s water systems.

“This canal connects two of the greatest waterways (and) river basins of North America,” Lodge said, “one being the Mississippi river water basin … and the other, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. The Chicago area canal connects those two.”

This possible catastrophe has driven the Great Lakes states of Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and New York to take Illinois to the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to force them to close the locks that are in Chicago’s waterways leading to Lake Michigan.

The states claim that if the carp reach the lake, the ecological devastation would be great and would damage all these states’ economic and environmental health.

Lodge also stressed that there are other invasive species threatening the waterways.

Methods to prevent the continuous spread of carp have ranged from biological to mechanical means. Some have shown upsides in the containment and extermination of the invasive species, but haven’t completely eradicated the problem.

“Engineering will not be the only solution to biological control,” said Boden. “It’s got to be a multi-tier approach. Management options. USGS (United States Geological Survey). Engineering solutions. It’s going to require all the tricks we have in our tool kit.”

Boden also reiterated that “it’s the entire Great Lakes’ problem. There is an interconnecting body of water within each of the states.”

Ellis, an expert on the operation and effects of the Chicago waterway system, explained that the system has a huge impact on the surrounding areas.

“The city of Chicago itself has 4,200 miles of pipes that move Lake Michigan water around. That’s just drinking water … that’s an immense system.”

Ellis also made the audience ponder the idea of re-reversing the Chicago River, improving the treatment of Chicago’s sewage and discharging it back into Lake Michigan.

“What if we first improve our waste water treatment to Great Lakes standards so that water could go back to the lakes?” he said. “There’s lots of chemical opportunities, biological opportunities. Allow treated effluent to go back into the lake.”

Ellis suggested thinking “about all of our 21st century goals for the waterway system and not just the carp and not just the freight and not just the tour boats. If we work with our regional harbors, if we work with the Army Corps, if we work with the other states, we can make a difference.”

Uldrich demonstrated the ferocity of the species, showing a picture of how his work studying “invasive species can be a very up-front and personal activity.

He showed a picture of his initiation into the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, which entailed hanging an eel-like sea lamprey off his arm. The picture, which received loud gasps from the onlookers, was a blunt statement that cures to all the waterway’s problems need to be implemented as soon as possible.

The Illinois EPA proposed the bill to correct any contamination problems before they become a larger issue, said John Cross, the agency’s legislative liaison.

“Problems with these chemicals precipitated the concern,” said Cross. “We’re trying to get to the worst of the worst of carcinogens, the nasty of the nasty.”

Senate Bill 3070 would require that when carcinogens, or cancer-causing chemicals, are detected in the public water supply, suppliers, which are generally municipalities, would have to address the problem when it is at 50 percent of the unsafe level rather than waiting until the water is in violation and hits the maximum contaminant level.

It would be up to the regulated water supplier to be responsible for providing safe drinking water testing, and towns would have 45 days to come up with a corrective plan before a fine was issued.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Pamela Althoff (R-Crystal Lake) said she thought it would be a “wise situation” if a municipality could be aware of a potential problem and could notify the EPA so the agency could let residents know a plan is in place.

“The EPA has answers and can assure that the municipality is aware and they’re working together,” said Althoff. “Most residents assume that collaboration is in place. We’re putting in something that says it must be.”

Currently, Illinois law states that notification is not needed until the maximum contaminant level is exceeded, said Althoff.

“It’s beneficial to the community,” she said of the bill. “On record there has to be some sort of plan to remove those carcinogens.”

The impetus for SB3070, Althoff said, was the situation in Crestwood, Ill., where during a routine EPA inspection it was discovered that officials had been diluting Lake Michigan water with well-water contaminated with vinyl chloride, a known human carcinogen unsafe at any level.

There is one other municipality in the state, Sauk Village, that currently has a vinyl chloride issue; the EPA is working with the attorney general’s office to devise an action plan. Cross said once a water supplier is in violation, they not only violate EPA standards but also the Federal Clean Water Act, which the EPA enforces. The violator then is sent a violation notice and has to come up with corrective action to reduce carcinogens.

“Everybody is required to meet these limits,” Cross said. “Rather than wait for a violation or worse, let’s address it preemptively. You want to get to it before you have the bigger problem of human health and safety, plus a bigger expense as it gets worse.”

Althoff said she anticipates SB3070 will go to a full Senate vote by the end of March. She said she’s working on the bill’s language with the Illinois Municipal League, who had concerns that if municipalities spent time and money on a plan, the EPA might make them change it.

“It’s still a work in progress,” said Althoff. “But everyone knows the global intent.”

Joe Schatteman, research information service coordinator with the Illinois Municipal League, which reports to municipalities throughout the state on all issues, said his group’s concern was that the EPA could rewrite an entire plan and the municipality would have to comply with it, no matter what the cost.

“That cost would trickle down to taxpayers,” said Schatteman, adding that he is working with Althoff and the EPA on a compromise.

Earth Hour Map & Information

For three years, Chicagoland residents have made a bold statement of concern about climate change by doing something quite simple — turning off their lights for one hour. This year, Earth Hour will be held from 8:30 – 9:30 p.m. Saturday, March 27.

Last year, more than 200 downtown buildings and 1,400 local landmarks, businesses, schools and churches participated in the Earth Hour movement, showing that by working together, in cooperation with cities and nations around the world, we can find solutions. People need to remember to turn the lights off on pollution and climate change and create a cleaner, safer, more secure future.

Led by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour has grown from a city-wide effort in 2007 to a global phenomenon that has captured the world’s attention. Each year, individuals, organizations, businesses and state and local governments show their support by turning off lights in homes, the workplace and at iconic landmarks such as the Empire State Building, Las Vegas Strip and Sydney’s Opera House. In 2009 alone, hundreds of millions of people turned out for Earth Hour — spanning 4,100 cities in 87 countries on seven continents.

Columbia College Chicago is proud to be an official supporter of Earth Hour. We encourage you to join with us and millions of Americans in making Earth Hour 2010 the biggest yet. Getting involved is easy.

1. Sign up at EarthHour.org. Show your support, get counted, and learn what you can do to help protect the environment.

2. Spread the Word. Invite your friends and family to join the movement.

3. Turn off non-essential lighting in your home and workplace at 8:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, March 27. Even better, remember to turn off non-essential lighting each and every day of the year.

“It’s like somebody sticking a pillow over you and you’re trying to breathe through it,” said Buckley, who lives on the North Side of Chicago. “Treatments at the hospital are the only thing that helps.”

For years, Buckley and other Cook County residents have been breathing some of the worst air in the nation. That could change with a new regulation set last month by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency strengthening air quality standards for nitrogen dioxide, a main offender of urban air pollution.

Currently, Cook County is the only county nationwide failing to meet the new regulation. But others could join the county when revised monitoring requirements lead to a greater number of sites being monitored.

“I suspect once the monitors are up and running, there will be more areas than Cook County,” said Doug Aburano, environmental engineer with the U.S. EPA’s downtown office.

Nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, is a pollutant from cars, trucks, and burning coal, oil or natural gas, as well as power plants and boilers. It can trigger asthma and bronchitis attacks, and elevated NO2 levels are associated with increased airway reactivity, worsened asthma and increases in respiratory illnesses and symptoms. The agency says the new rule will protect public health, including those with asthma, children and the elderly.

Aburano said the older standard is not protective of human health for those with and without breathing problems. Yet some clean air advocates say the new standard still is not tight enough.

“U.S. EPA was looking at a range of options for setting the NO2 standard, and unfortunately they picked the absolute weakest option,” said Brian Urbaszewski, director of environmental health programs for the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago.

Chicago is an “asthma epicenter” with an asthma hospitalization rate nearly double the national average, Urbaszewski said. He said some new medical research on NO2 was not considered in the EPA decision, and research published two months ago indicated breathing nitrogen dioxide NO2 diminishes the effectiveness of medicine in asthma inhalers, rendering rescue inhalers less able to counter effects of an asthma attack. Higher NO2 levels were also correlated to more senior citizens developing pneumonia in another recent study.

“Changing the air quality standard is not going to make air pollution better or worse, it’s only changing the yardstick we use to measure whether air pollution levels are unhealthy,” Urbaszewski said. “If it’s set too low, or we fail to measure air pollution where we know it’s highly concentrated—near major roads—then people aren’t going to get accurate information they can use to protect themselves.”

If in violation of the new standards, a state will have to develop a plan to reduce emissions so the level in the environment will be below standards. This means coming up with enough emission reductions so that it no longer exceeds that air pollution number. This can be done by setting up new programs, enacting new industrial rules and requiring new pollution controls on big polluters, Urbaszewski said.

Meanwhile, Buckley said she’ll take a wait-and-see attitude to see if the tighter regulation makes a difference in the way she breathes.

“We’ll see how it works out,” she said. “But it’s definitely a good start.”

Over 12,000 people this winter visited the ice rink, which was located for the first time this winter on the northwest parking lot of Wrigley Field, according to Chicago Park District spokeswoman Monique Lehman.

“Compared to last winter’s 10,623 patrons (who visited) Midway Plaisance Ice Rink on 59th Street and Woodlawn Avenue, the Wrigley ice rink was competitive,” Lehman said.

But, Lehman said, the Wrigley rink did not produce as much money as hoped for the park district, returning only about $72,000 of a $300,000 investment by funders. This leaves organizers unsure whether the rink will return next winter.

If the rink had generated excess revenue , it would be used to fund its reopening. But the rink did not meet that mark, said Max Bever, community outreach director for Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), who is also a funder for the rink.

“The rink was an experiment,” said Bever. “It’s possible that it may open up next year, but its depends on funds.”

Using outside funders is not unusual for the park district; most district projects rely on state funds, aldermen’s menu money and/or private sponsors, Lehman said.

Other rink sponsors included the Ricketts family, the Chicago Cubs, the city of Chicago, Westrec Marinas, the Blackhawks, McDonald’s, Harey Carey’s and the Central Lakeview Merchants Association.

Sponsors and organizers met on Nov. 9 to lay out plans for the rink. Their money, along with funds from the park district, covered the expenses. Westrec Marinas built the rink, which opened Dec. 19.

Kevin Jericho’s family of three visited the rink around five times this winter, but he thought it was pricey.

“I thought it was expensive.” said the Lakeview resident. “So we brought our own skates and season passes.”

Admission to the rink was $10 for adults and $6 for children, plus an additional fee for skate rentals. All proceeds helped offset the city’s costs — about $100,000, said Lehman.

Whether the rink will reopen next winter depends largely on the community’s response and support. To voice your opinion, contact Ald. Tunney’s office at 773-525-6034 or via email at [email protected], Bever said.

“The park (district’s) efforts alone wouldn’t make it happen again, ” said Lehman. “It would require community effort.”

A proposal to “Adopt the Public Way”

The Rogers Park Garden Group (RPGG) is delighted to make available a limited number of public gardening grants up to $1,000 for the improvement of spaces in our neighborhood’s public way. From Juneway Terrace on the north, south to Devon Avenue and from the lake west to Ridge Avenue, spaces in the public way such as parkways, parks, playlots, sidewalk gardens and building frontage potentially qualify.

In addition to funding, the RPGG can also make available garden advice and resources. For more information and a grant application, visit http://www.rogersparkgardengroup.org. The deadline for applications is Feb. 15. The applications can be downloaded from The Rogers Park Garden Group.

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• Today’s Weather: Excavation (chicagoist.com)

“It’s my job to clean up our water and keep pollution out of Lake Michigan,” says MWRD president Terrence O’Brien in the first TV ad of his campaign for County Board president (watch it on youtube). “It’s time to clean up Cook County.”

In fact, as Newstips reported last April, under O’Brien the MWRD (Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago) has resisted calls to disinfect wastewater for nearly a decade. In a letter to the Tribune last February, O’Brien claimed it would cost $2 billion; Newstips reported the US EPA’s estimate that it would cost at most $650 million, and perhaps as little as $250 million, over 20 years.

“Environmental groups believe MWRD is exaggerating the cost of disinfection as part of a strategy of delaying action,” we wrote, citing John Quail of Friends of the Chicago River.

Ann Alexander of the Natural Resources Defense Council pointed out that MWRD is spending millions of dollars on lawyers and experts in its effort to prevent the Illinois Pollution Control Board from implementing a recommendation by the Illinois EPA (endorsed by the city) to require MWRD to disinfect.

As far as “keeping pollution out of Lake Michigan,” here’s what we reported in August of 2003:

“During ‘extreme storm events,’ locks are opened and river system water is released into Lake Michigan. ‘There is undoubtedly bacteria from the waterways system getting into the lake,’ said [Laurel] O’Sullivan [of the Lake Michigan Federation].

“‘The overall quality of the water sent out to the lake would be much higher if they disinfected.’”

UPDATE: Last year we reported a ruling was expected by the end of the year. Alexander now says she has no idea when a ruling will occur, noting this “has set the record for the length of a rulemaking proceeding.”

The delay results from MWRD’s effort “to contest the obvious,” she said.

“They’ve presented multiple purported experts before the pollution control board to defend the proposition that pathogens in the water aren’t really bad for you.” That’s forced NRDC to spend time and resources “to prove that in fact they are.”

It’s a remarkable story that to date has gone virtually untold. Will O’Brien’s candidacy give it any currency?

November 25, 2009

By Jean-Virgile Tasse-Themens

A dozen residents of the West Loop protested at a Town Hall meeting last week about the constant presence of dog feces on sidewalks and in parks. Residents are upset about owners not cleaning up after their dogs in those public spaces.

John Finnegan, a resident of the West Loop since 1996, told Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) and Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) about authorities’ slow reaction to find new ways to educate the dogs’ owners and reduce the quantity of feces.

“We just spent a lot of money to fence the parks and installed signs, and still people go inside with dogs, let them [DEFECATE] everywhere,” he said.

Finnegan told the aldermen that his kids come back with dog feces on their shoes after playing in Skinner Park or when coming home after school.

“It is very embarrassing every time I call the police, and nothing is done,” he said.

The Chicago Police Department commander for the 12th district, Denis Keane, said it is a difficult situation to control.

“The officers have to view the infraction and when the police arrive on the site after a call, it is sometimes too late, and the people are already gone,” he said.

The Chicago Municipal Code says that dogs owners, except for a blind person, have to remove the excrement.

Any person who violates the regulation shall be fined not less than $50.00 nor more than $500.00 for each offense.

Keane said that when residents call 9-1-1 regarding the problem, the dispatchers have to give priority to emergencies. Keane also said police do not record the numbers of complaints received about this problem.

Burnett said he doesn’t get a lot of complaints at his office, but when he walks in the parks of his ward, people want to speak with him about dogs and clean-up problems.

Burnett said the plastic bags in Lincoln Park was a pilot project from the Streets and Sanitation Department, but the local alderman there had to refill containers because the department didn’t provide extra bags.

He said that in the 27th ward, he looks to develop long-term solutions.

Burnett said the city installed signs that show the regulation regarding dogs feces in green spaces because kids have classes outside.

He said the principal of Skinner Elementary School, despite the signage, told him people don’t respect the regulation and the result is that classes can’t go outside.

Robert Hoban, president of the Skinner Local School Council, complained vigorously about that problem. At the last CAPS meeting, he told the police officer that the Local School Council is concerned regarding the children’s safety.

He said the district has a new charter school, but the city is unable to give the public services that come with.

Burnett said newly designated spaces, called dog-friendly areas, should provide cleaner spaces for residents and their children.

Burnett said dogs’ feces attract germs. “It has some chemical reactions that make the rat poison not work,” he said. “With a designated area, it will be easier to control the proliferation.”

Mary Claire Maxwell, a supporter of the new dog-friendly area at Skinner Park, said she has been working on the project for eight years.

Maxwell said she doesn’t think the new dog-friendly area will resolve all problems. She said the presence of dog feces on sidewalks and in parks is due to a lack of education and awareness.

“I couldn’t figure out what it was,” said Jackson. “All of the sudden it looked like a slum. Then I realized trees were gone. It was like, ‘What, they took the trees?’

“That was a rude awakening for me,” Jackson said. “I didn’t understand why they needed to take down trees. I’m just sickened by the whole thing.”

Jackson isn’t alone. Others, too, can’t comprehend why more than 100 trees–and that’s a conservative figure–were uprooted from the site, even before Chicago lost its bid for the 2016 Olympic games to Rio de Janeiro. That’s in addition to the removal of flower beds, shrubs, sculptures and plaques.

“They’re all gone,” said Grahm Balkany, director of Gropius in Chicago Coalition, an advocacy group working to preserve historical buildings and landscaping on the site. “We cannot identify a good reason why Chicago acted in this fashion. It was always our contention that the ruining of the campus’s landscapes would hurt the property’s value and would be considered by residents as a great detriment to the community.”

Originally designed to aid in the healing of Michael Reese patients, Balkany said the 37-acre site’s landscapes and parks were designed by renowned architect Walter Gropius and highly-noted landscape architects Lester Collins and Hideo Sasaki, who were associated with Harvard University.

“These parks were a beloved part of the Bronzeville community,” said Balkany.

Molly Sullivan, director of communications for the city’s Department of Community Development, said trees were removed to facilitate work being done, as the site had become “very overgrown.” The exact number of felled trees was “too detailed for me to know,” Sullivan said.

She said as part of the site’s redevelopment, the city expects to create a new community.
“Trees will be planted as part of the new work to be done there,” said Sullivan.

The Department of Streets and Sanitation’s Bureau of Forestry plants approximately 4,000 trees annually throughout the city, said spokesman Matt Smith. Included among trees’ many benefits are the reduction of smog and the heat island effect, noise abatement, increased psychological well-being and increased property values.

In the case of the Michael Reese property, Smith said the Bureau of Forestry surveyed surrounding parkway trees and found approximately 23 trees in poor condition needing removal regardless of any site plans. Unlike trees on a parkway, the bureau does not restrict the removal of trees that are out of the public way and on a development site. But given the large amount of trees on that site, foresters helped identify trees on that property that those handling any development might consider saving, Smith said.

Smith said shortly after the mayor entered office in 1989, he introduced limits to the numbers of trees aldermen could request to have removed.

“There is a very tough landscape ordinance in place to protect our urban forest,” said Smith.

Preservation Chicago executive director Jonathan Fine is suspicious trees were cut in the midst of a battle with preservationists over the Michael Reese campus. Fine said the landscape tear-up was “a total F-you” to preservationists.

“If this is Chicago trying to be a first-class city and this is how they express themselves, they’ll never be anything but a second city,” said Fine. “Trees grow back. Reputations don’t.”

Yet Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) said the ward is not hurting for green space. She said because the community runs along the lakefront, there’s plenty of green and a variety of park developments.

“We’re in great shape,” said Preckwinkle.

Balkany said destroying all of the vegetation, particularly when it could have been incorporated into a “truly sensitive, visionary program” for the Reese campus, was an act of “extreme negligence.”

“It flies in the face of Chicago’s claim that it is turning a ‘new leaf’ as a green city,” he said.

Communities around the region are taking part in Chicagoland Car-Free Day with events and special offers, including Break the Gridlock’s One Million Less Cars rally at Daley Plaza at 5:30 p.m. and I-Go Car Sharing’s special discount.

“You will be amazed at the sights and sounds you can experience without a car,” said Rob Sadowsky, executive director at the Active Transportation Alliance. “You will feel re-energized by your new routine while cutting down on carbon.”

Resources like RTA’s trip planner, www.goroo.com, bike commuting tips and www.PaceRideShare.com will help commuters every step of the way.

“The RTA is pleased to partner with the Active Transportation Alliance on Chicagoland’s inaugural Car-Free Day,” said Steve Schlickman, Executive Director of the RTA. “This is a great opportunity for the transit agencies to collaborate and remind commuters that our region has an all-access transit system that’s easily accessible, saves time and money.”

Organizations and communities can still partner with Chicagoland Car-Free Day. Contact Ethan Spotts at [email protected] or 312.427.3325 x 287 to learn more.

Chicagoland Car-Free Day Sept. 22 coincides with similar events around the world that encourages people to go sans auto for one day.

Find out more about Chicagoland Car-Free Day at www.chicagolandcarfree.org

Contacts for further information are:
Margo O’Hara, Active Transportation Alliance
312.427.3325 x 224
[email protected]

Diane Palmer, Director of Communications, RTA
Office: 312-913-3282
Cell: 312-907-6902
[email protected]

ABOUT METRA
Metra provides more

Image via Wikipedia

than 80 million rides annually on 11 rail lines serving more than 100 communities at 239 rail stations in the six-county metropolitan area. For complete schedule information, customers may contact Metra Passenger Services, 312-322-6777, during business hours, visit www.metrarail.com, or call the RTA Travel Information Center at 836-7000 (city or suburbs).

ABOUT ACTIVE TRANS
The Active Transportation Alliance is a non-profit, member-based advocacy organization that works to make bicycling, walking and public transit so safe, convenient and fun that we will achieve a significant shift from environmentally harmful, sedentary travel to clean, active travel. The organization builds a movement around active transportation, encourages physical activity, increases safety and builds a world-class transportation network. Formerly the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, the Active Transportation Alliance is North America’s largest transportation advocacy organization, supported by more than 6,000 members, 1,000 volunteers and 35 full-time staff. For more information on the Active Transportation Alliance, visit www.activetrans.org or call 312.427.3325.

ABOUT RTA
The RTA provides financial oversight, funding and regional planning for the three public transit operations in Northeastern Illinois: The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus and train, Metra commuter rail and Pace suburban bus and paratransit. For more information, visit www.rtachicago.com and www.MovingBeyondCongestion.org.

ABOUT CTA
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) operates the nation’s second largest public transportation system providing both bus and rail service. On an average weekday, 1.7 million rides are taken on CTA. The CTA is a regional transit system that serves 40 suburbs, in addition to the City of Chicago, and provides 81 percent of the public transit trips in the six-county Chicago Metropolitan-area region either with direct service or connecting service to Metra and Pace.

ABOUT PACE
Pace, the suburban bus division of the RTA, provides fixed route bus, ADA paratransit, dial-a-ride and ridesharing services throughout northeastern Illinois. Pace has the seventh-largest bus fleet in North America, one of the largest vanpool programs in the United States, and its regional ADA Paratransit service is estimated to be the largest such operation in the world. In 2008, total ridership on Pace service was more than 40.5 million, its second largest total in the agency’s 25 year history.”

The amendment to the city’s Air Pollution Control Ordinance calls for—among other things— a 200-yard buffer zone between burns and residences and also prohibits all brush-pile fires.

The ordinance, which was already deferred once by the council on July 29, will go back to the city’s Committee on Energy, Environmental Protection and Public Utilities, where any issues will be hashed out, said Norine Hughes, coordinator for the committee’s chairman, Ald. Virginia Rugai (19th). Hughes said there will be a committee hearing before the Oct. 7 City Council meeting solely to discuss the burning issue, while the rest of this ordinance should pass at the October council meeting.

Although some aldermen gave the thumbs-up to ordinance as it was written, three others—Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), Ald. Helen Shiller (46th) and Ald. Eugene Schulter (47th) — “didn’t like one part of it,” Hughes said. The trio disagreed with the provisions of the ordinance regarding open burns in forest preserves, she said.

“Why they zoomed in on four paragraphs is beyond me,” said Hughes. “It’s a good ordinance.”

The burn legislation, proposed by Northwest Side Ald. Brian Doherty (41st), is part of a 32-page amendment updating the city’s Air Pollution Control Ordinance, which covers pollution issues from demolition to motor vehicle exhaust. The provisions of the ordinance in question would limit ecological burning in the city’s natural areas.

Bennett Lawson, deputy alderman of the 44th ward, said Tunney was contacted by a number of advocates concerned that the 200-yard restriction would be damaging to natural areas that benefit from these controlled, permitted burns in the city. The alderman, Lawson said, was concerned the ordinance might cause burns to end in some areas.

“The burns are a good thing,” said Lawson. “They keep natural areas healthy.”

Lawson said the full City Council was expected to consider the ordinance on Sept. 9, “but there are still issues with burn provisions.”

One group contacting Tunney was Friends of the Parks, which supports, “controlled, carefully planned, permitted burns done respectfully and with good communication with the neighborhood,” said Rebecca Blazer, director of the organization’s forest preserve initiatives.

Yet Blazer said the updated code severely limits controlled burns within the city limits and in parks and forest preserves.

“It’s unacceptable to a whole lot of conservation folks,” she said. “Ecological burns are incredibly important to our natural areas, not just for cute, fuzzy critters, but so that we can have healthy, functioning ecosystems.”

Not all environmental groups, however, support ecological burns. Bathsheba Birman, director of the Urban Wildlife Coalition, said a burn gone awry March 17 took out 320 acres of land in Orland Park. She said burns not only remove the last urban forests but also pose serious health risks. Community groups on the Northwest Side concluded there is no ecological or historical basis for burns, Birman said.

“We’d like to see a full ban,” said Birman.

“This is about access to the lakefront, which is an asset that’s owned by all the citizens of Chicago,” said Ald. Tom Allen (38^th), who along with Ald. Richard Mell (33^rd) called for a special meeting Aug. 18 of the Chicago City Council’s Committee on Parks and Recreation.

The aldermen said the parking fee, set to begin within four to six weeks, contradicts Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Chicago Plan of open access to parks and will strain the budgets of low-income families hungry for recreation during hard times.

“I do think that we’re nickel and diming people in the city of Chicago, and we need to stop,” said Ald. Pat Dowell (3^rd).

But Chicago Park District Superintendent Timothy Mitchell, facing a $12 million deficit this year, defended the plan. He argued that charging for lakefront parking is a better solution than raising property taxes.

“There are seniors who don’t go down to the beach at all, and I’m not going to raise their property taxes,” Mitchell said. “I believe people who are using the beaches and creating those expenses should pay $1 an hour.”

An estimated 4,425 parking spaces along the lake will be subject to the new pay-and-display boxes, in which drivers must pre-pay for parking and leave a receipt visible in their windows. The boxes will likely be installed in the next four to six weeks, said Park District spokeswoman Jessica Maxey-Faulkner.

Money collected at the boxes will feed $700,000 into parks coffers in the last quarter of this year; revenue is expected to jump to $2 million per year after that, according to Park District estimates. Chicago-based Standard Parking will maintain the boxes for roughly $85,000 per year, under a three-year contract that is expected to be signed in six weeks, Maxey-Faulkner said.

The park district spends about $400 million per year on its 570 parks, Mitchell said. Sixty-five percent of that money comes from property taxes.

Tuesday’s committee meeting gave aldermen a chance to vent over the done deal; the Park District Board of Commissioners approved the parking plan as part of its budget process last December, and the city council has no jurisdiction over the decision.

Several aldermen on Tuesday did suggest other funding sources, such as charging $1 admission to the city’s Air and Water show, eliminating the park district’s public relations department and approaching the Chicago Blackhawks for sponsorship.

Parks advocate Charlotte Newfeld, one of four speakers to address the committee, said she hopes the fee will reduce the number of cars parked near the lakefront, but Newfeld added that she would prefer a system of parking lots and shuttle buses to transport beach goers.

“We need every inch of green space for people, just to feel like they’re not all surrounded by concrete,” Newfeld said.

Additional stories:

The Independent Voters of Illinios-Indpendent Precinct Organization has filed a lawsuit to void the city of Chicago’s parking meter contract with Chicago Parking Meters LLC claiming the deal violates state law.  You can read the lawsuit at IVIIPO.org.

For more reporting on the parking meter lawsuit, you can listen and read WBEZ’s report at chicagopublicradio.org.

For the second year, Open Streets closed streets in the North Lawndale, Garfield Park, Logan Square and Humboldt Park neighborhoods for residents of all ages looking to ride, walk, dance or rollerblade

The event brought residents from across the city to enjoy everything from biking and knitting to dancing and face painting. The sounds of everyone from the O’Jays, to Mary J. Blige and  Coldplay served as a soundtrack for bikers as they wound their way through the neighborhoods.

Open Spaces was hosted by Active Transportation Alliance, a non-profit, member-based advocacy organization

Spencer rounds the corner at Independence and Jackson Ave. with his mobile sound system blasting the sounds of the O'Jays

that works to make bicycling, walking and public transit safe, convenient and fun.

Additional support was provided Local Initiatives Support Corporation and Chicago Community Trust.

Theo the clown creates animal balloons for children in Garfield Park, near Independence Ave. and Douglas Blvd. Photo by Jennifer T. Lacey

A boy gets his face painted. Photo by Jennifer T. Lacey

A biker rests along the route. Photo by Jennifer T. Lacey

El Stitch y Bitch group members host a knitting circle in Doublas Park while working on a knitted pinata for an upcoming art festival. The group gathers in Pilsen to share stories and knitting techniques. Photo by Jennifer T. Lacey

Nahui Ollin (4 movements) a dance troupe perform a ritual dance of thanksgiving and celebrating life. The group is located in Pilsen/Little Village. Photo by Jennifer T. Lacey

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Be good to Mother Nature without leaving city limits. Friends of the Parks (FOTP) is asking for volunteers to Spicebush Woods on Saturday, August 1 at 9 a.m. to help with the second cleanup of the summer. Rebecca Blazer, Director, Forest Preserve Initiative, at FOTP said the aim of the clean up is to tackle some of the landscaping debris that’s been getting dumped along the maintenance road.

The debris includes old Christmas trees, old lumber, etc. Don’t worry if you can’t help this time with the cleanup.  If you just want a tour of the site, stop by for the nature walk from 11 a.m to noon.

It is your chance to be a “swallowtail sleuths.” This kind of detective combs through the thickest patch of spicebush, peeking inside leaves that have been folded and stuck together. Inside these, there may be a few caterpillars of the spicebush swallowtail butterfly. Blazer says no one has reported finding any of these caterpillars in these woods before, so willing swallowtail sleuths may make a pioneering discovery.

What is a spicebush swallowtail?

Spicebush Woods is part of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County’s (FPDCC) in Northwest Chicago.  It’s a triangle of woods cut off from Edgebrook Woods by the Metra railroad tracks. It is bounded by the tracks to the east, Caldwell Ave. to the Northeast and the Billy Caldwell Golf Course to the Southeast. FPDCC volunteers informally refer to this site as “Spicebush Woods” because it is home to an astonishingly large population of spicebush (Lindera benzoin), a relatively rare native woodland understory shrub that is found in only a handful of sites in all of Cook County.

Spicebush Woods is a  oak-hickory flatwoods that is often very wet. It is full of giant red & white oaks, many hard-to- find native wildflowers and grasses and wildlife such as owls, chipmunks and deer.

WHAT TO WEAR/BRING: Wear long pants, long sleeves and sturdy shoes as we might run into mosquitoes and/or poison ivy. You might want to bring water and bug spray.

WHERE TO MEET: We’ll meet at the maintenance road to the golf course (turns south off of Caldwell about halfway between the Billy Caldwell Golf Course & the intersection of Central and Caldwell). Please R.S.V.P. to Rebecca Blazer at Friends of the Parks at 312-857-2757,  x17 or [email protected] if you think you might attend so we can bring enough trash bags and gloves.

Another work and walk day is scheduled for a Sunday afternoon, so that some of the folks who can’t make it on Saturdays can join us then. It will be Sunday, October 4, 1-4 p.m.

What are the next steps for working at Spicebush?  Blazer says  tackling the buckthorn this winter would be a good start, but we’re going to need to strategize a bit about how to persuade the Forest Preserve District to let us cut and burn a brushpile. The buckthorn debris needs to be burned to make sure it does not come back. Up to now, there is not an extensive “buckthorn desert” like those that have taken over other sites. Young buckthorn coming up could reach a tipping point pretty soon. When that happens, the woods starts losing native species, leaving the ground bare and open to erosion and other invasive plants because the buckthorn kills the native plants with its aggressive growth.

If you have any questions about the workday or other issues, please email [email protected].

Related articles by Zemanta

• Preservationists Say Doherty Amendment Would Harm Forest Preserve Ecology (chicagotalks.org)

Last year at Open Streets (Photo by Kate Tully)

We can’t cover eight miles alone, so help us “crowdsource” everything that is going on.

Have Fun and Be a Reporter for Chicagotalks on Saturday

There is no event registration, and participants can join the fun anywhere along the route.

If you take advantage of Open Streets, we’d like you to call in a story from your cellphone. Just dial 312 436-1820 and leave a voice mail update for us (example at the end of this post.)

You can also upload pictures and tell us where you are, what you are doing, who you see, etc. This is such a unique event and we’d like to show it from different points of view.

So, become a citizen journalist. Just register with our Web site, and put your photos, video or story on Chicagotalks.

Follow the boulevards from Logan Square to Little Village, passing through Humboldt Park, North Lawndale and Garfield Park along the way.

See www.openstreetschicago.org for a full map.

A special VIP event with local aldermen and Open Streets funders will take place at 9 a.m. at the Garfield Park Conservatory. Can you take some photos for us and tell us who’s in the photo. The mayor is a fan of bicycling. I wonder if he’ll be there with his bike?

Open Streets is brought to you by Active Transportation Alliance with major funding provided by the Chicago Community Trust. It’s also supported by Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

Active Transportation Alliance is a non-profit, member-based advocacy organization that works to make bicycling, walking and public transit safe, convenient and fun. For more information on the Active Transportation Alliance, visit www.activetrans.org or call 312.427.3325.

If you have questions about reporting for Chicagotalks.org, you can , Barbara Iverson.

Hear a sample cellphone update.

The first boat over the finish line in the 101st Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac was Dogdayz with a finish time at 07:50:04,  and an elapsed time of 64:40:04. However, that isn’t the only news about this year’s race. Architect Helmut Jahn‘s contrarian strategy may pay off for his Farr40, Flash Gordon 5. Winds are light on the east side of Lake Michigan where most of the boats are sailing. Jahn set a different course, and while that usually isn’t effective, this year it may be a winning idea.

Boats in the Mac race are grouped by size and class because sailboats have speed limitations based on their hull size and the amount of sail they can carry. Boats within each class are very similar.

Flash Gordon 5 sails on a different tack

Weather and water conditions are generally similar for boats sailing near one another, so performance differences in a long race like the Mac race, come down to equipment, sail trim, boat handling and strategy decisions by the skipper and crew. Normally, boats in any class end up in a cluster around each other because they all react so similarly to wind, sea, and weather conditions.

This year, Helmut Jahn’s, Farr40, Flash Gordon 5, is far ahead of all the other boats in its class because of a bold decision to set out on different tack than the rest of the fleet.

Helmut Jahn's Flash Gordon 5 on its bold course

Instead of going up the Michigan (east) side of the lake, the Flash Gordon 5 sailed up the Wisconsin (west) side. This tactic has been taken in other races, but often it doesn’t pan out, and the main part of the fleet arrives long before any outliers.

The rest of the boats in Section 02

This year, the Wisconsin tack may pay off. As of noon, Flash Gordon 5 is 51.6 nautical miles from Mackinaw and the finish line. The rest of this class, the Section 02 boats, are about 80 nautical miles out.

See all descriptions of all the boats, or check out the GPS powered iboattracker site to track the fleet, a class of boats, and your favorites.

It is summer in the city. Don’t just walk those streets, see them. Here Clay Enos, a veteran photographer demonstrates how to talk to strangers, use your camera, and natural light to get some interesting faces.

In a letter to Jack Spicer,  the garden coordinator, the University of Chicago’s Vice President of Community Affairs, Sonya Malunda, said the university would be taking over the land at the end of the gardening season, and using it as a construction staging site.

“The story on it is so ridiculous,” said Alan Davinovitz, a University of Chicago student with one of the garden plots. The seminary used to be in a central location on the University of Chicago’s campus, on University Avenue at 58th Street, but the university purchased the building from the seminary “to move in, of all things the Milton Friedman Center for Economics,” said Davinovitz.

Along with paying the seminary for the existing building,  the university agreed to “construct and furnish new facilities to the seminary’s specifications,” according to the seminary Web site. The planned building will be a “green” building, meaning it will be certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design as a sustainable design.

“They’re going to build over the community garden with a ‘green’ building, it’s so absurd,” Davinovitz scoffed.

According to the seminary, the purchase of the original building and the construction of a new one will cost the university $44 million.

The planned Chicago Theological Seminary will not be built on the current site of the garden, it will be on the southeast corner of South Dorchester and East 60th Street, one block north of the garden.  However,  construction crews will need the garden space for equipment and materials for the building, Malunda said.

In her letter Malunda said that the university was “willing to move the topsoil from the current garden to a new location.” She said that would allow people “to start gardening in 2010 with little-to no-delay.”

However,  community gardeners and activists said moving the garden would be disastrous and that moving the topsoil will not be enough to preserve the richness of the soil.

Malunda could not be reached for comment and the university’s spokesman Steve Klohen did not return phone calls.

“Just saying you’re going to move the topsoil would not be sufficient,” said Kitty Conklin, a gardening consultant at the Farmers Market Garden Center. Conklin is not affiliated with the 61st Street Garden, but she said it sounds like “the university is trying to get away with doing less than the minimum.”

According to Conklin and community gardeners, the success of the plan to move the topsoil depends on the new site they are planning for the garden, but the university hasn’t said where it plans to relocate it.

Spicer said that he did not believe the university was serious about moving the topsoil. “That was something they mentioned in the beginning, but I haven’t heard them talk about it since,” he said. He also questioned the practicality of moving the soil.

“It’s not easy, it’s not like a carpet you can roll up and take with you.”

Aaliyah, a woman who goes by  a single name, is a Woodlawn resident who has been gardening in the community garden for five years. She tends a small plot of land that allows her to provide food to the senior center her mom lives in.

“Other than my family I feed about five other families,” Aaliyah said. She does not believe that moving the topsoil will be sufficient to save the community garden, and is certain there is a better option for the university.

“If they’re building over there and using this as a staging area, then that means that once they’re done building this land is gone, it’s no good, it’s no use to us. They’re talking about taking the topsoil, yeah you can take the topsoil, but depending on where you put it, its going to be at least a couple more years before we can even garden again. You don’t have another community garden of this magnitude [on the South Side].”

The university, which the Chicago Tribune has called one of the South Side’s biggest landlords, owns several plots of land of similar size in Woodlawn near the community garden, Aaliyah and others are encouraging the university to use those pieces of land before disrupting their garden.

Jamie Kalven, a member of the 61st Street Garden has been active in defending the garden, he says that there is enough empty space on the plot on which they are building the seminary to use for staging. According to Kalven, after the new building is built the garden may be permanently converted into a parking lot.

“If you were properly valuing the garden and the things and people its associated with it would change [the plans],” he said.

“You think about 129 families,” Aaliyah said. “This is not a hobby, this is our food this is our substance supply, and for them to just stage out of here. You’re taking away food from people at a time when they need food.”

May 6, 2009 – Though many feel Chicago architect Daniel Burnham should have more recognition for his urban planning on the city, some oppose the site where the city plans to commemorate him.

The vast and beautiful parks on the brim of the city’s lakefront, as Burnham once said, “belong to the people.” The city already has two ventures dedicated to Burnham, Burnham Harbor and Burnham Park, both overlooking the lakefront. Now the city is deciding whether to create another entity for the late urban planning genius -  a memorial on the north lawn of the Field Museum.

Bob O’Neill, president of the Grant Park Conservancy, admires the idea of having a memorial for Burnham, but is skeptical about the proposed location.

With the city planning the memorial on the great lawn, it  may violate Burnham’s vision of Chicago. The more structures there are overlooking the lakefront, the less open space there is for people to enjoy; something Burnham wanted for the people of Chicago.

“I think there would be a better location for it,” O’Neill said. “I know there are a lot of different organizations that want it there.”

The Great Lawn of the Field Museum is wide open, and some people in the city have pushed to get some sort of attraction there for the area. But O’Neill finds that the Burnham memorial would be beneficial elsewhere in the city. The south end of the lakefront, near 31St Street, in his mind, is the best possible location, he said.

“The north lakefront has so much more attractions and traffic and heavily utilized, while the south end of the lakefront really has none,” O’Neill said. “Bringing the memorial there would be better so the south end of the lakefront would have additional people and attractions.”

The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation is behind the memorial to honor the architect in the centennial year of his urban plan for Chicago. The foundation is putting up close to $150,000 for a contest winner to design the memorial and other funding.

Chicago Park District spokeswoman Jessica Faulkner said that the park district does not back the proposed location of the memorial and that public meetings could determine whether or not the memorial would be on the Great Lawn of the museum.

Friends of the Parks President Erma Tranter said that there probably would not be much of a problem with having the memorial there, explaining that a landscape is being built and not a building.

“We oppose having buildings built above ground at Grant Park, such as the Children’s Museum,” she said. “But it’s just a landscape.”

Burnham was considered to be Chicago’s architectural genius that designed the city after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. It was his exposition during the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago that gained him great recognition. His outright goal was to make the city like the next Rome.

O’Neill believes that the memorial is a great idea to honor Burnham in the centennial. But it’s really just about where he should be honored. And the lawn of the Field Museum is not one of them, he said.

Story by: Lisa Wardle

May 5, 2009 – A public garden thrives in what was once a vacant lot on the south end of Hyde Park. But looming plans to develop the area may transplant the garden into a new location or result in other changes to the cultivated community.

The University of Chicago, which owns the garden’s property, plans to use the land as a staging area for construction of the future Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) building, which will be one block north of where the garden currently stands.

The university has allowed it to be used as a public space for the past 10 years. Now that the school has purchased the current CTS building, 1164 E. 58th St., at the center of its campus, part of the deal was to build the seminary a new facility at 60th Street and Dorchester Avenue.

“When we were in initial conversations with [the University of Chicago], we understood that our new building would not affect the garden,” said Alice Hunt, president of CTS. “Then the university said they needed to use the garden’s land as a staging area for the new building because there wasn’t other vacant space they could use.”

Garden coordinator Jack Spicer and community activist Jamie Kalven said there appears to be other available spaces for staging on the same block, and they are skeptical that the university really needs so much land for staging construction.

“I don’t know what type of building [CTS] is going to be, whether it’s steel or concrete,” said Spicer, who has spoken to an engineer about the situation. “But since the 1880s we’ve been building skyscrapers without even blocking a sidewalk.”

Spicer and Kalven said they also recently learned the university plans to use the area as a parking lot once the seminary is constructed, though Steven Kloehn, news director for the University of Chicago, said no long-term plans have been set for the space.

The 61st Street community garden sits on the corner of 61st Street and Dorchester Avenue, an intersection also home to a steam-driven power plant, a community venue called the Experimental Station, Backstory Café, Andrew Carnegie Elementary School and the 61st Street farmers market. The garden brings residents of Woodlawn and Hyde Park, as well as University of Chicago students and faculty, together on a daily basis to garden and develop personal connections with their neighbors.

Spicer and Kalven would like to see the block used as a “sustainability quadrangle” and want to involve people who frequent the various institutions on the block in a conversation about the garden’s future.

While Spicer would like to see the garden remain in its current location, he recognizes that there may also be benefits to use as a staging area or parking lot.

Neither CTS nor the university wants to see the community garden disappear, according to spokesmen from both schools.

“We’re looking to build on what has been, for many years, undeveloped land,” said Bob Rosenberg, associate vice president for news communications at the University of Chicago.

He said last year construction on the same block on the South Campus Chiller Plant, which chills and pumps water for air conditioning, resulted in damage to the garden. That experience, he thinks, indicates why the garden should be moved.

“A new location is in the best near-term and long-term interest of the garden and the gardeners,” Rosenberg said.

CTS faculty and students have been actively involved with the design process of their new building and have tried to steer away from affecting the garden with their move.

“There are ongoing discussions with [garden] leaders, as well as gardeners, about relocating,” said Rosenberg. “Gardeners need to agree on a specific location. We’re just part of the process; we’re not leading the process. Hopefully, by fall we’ll have identified a site and be ready to move [the garden].”

The university has offered to move the topsoil—which has benefited from years of cultivation and become rich in nutrients—to a new location, but that may not be enough for some gardeners.

“The garden has expanded the idea of what is a safe space,” said gardener Shula Bien, who is also a University of Chicago graduate student. “It’s becoming a more happening corner. When I was an undergrad, there was a sense of not going past 60th Street, past the Midway. A lot of students would act like [the campus] was a fishbowl.”

Running Etiquette

* Don’t take up the whole sidewalk or path. The Lake Shore path can be gridlock this time of year. Be mindful that faster people may be attempting to pass you.

* Don’t run more than two wide on the Lake Shore path (or any sidewalk). If it’s busy, single-file it!

* If you are running in the street (not recommended), run against traffic.

* Don’t litter. For the most part in Chicago there are trash cans every block.

* If you are running with a group, agree to meet at a certain place after the run should you become split up.

* If you are running with someone who is a little slower than you, don’t pressure them to speed up. Either allow them to set the pace or meet up later after separate workouts, perhaps for a cool down.

* Don’t complain about the workout to your partner or group.

* Look around before your spit.

* If running with someone else, try to work things out beforehand so you won’t have to make unnecessary stops – double knot your shoes, get dressed or undressed, go to the bathroom.

via Running Etiquette 101: mind your manners | In It for The Long Run: A Chicago running resource for everyone in Chicago.

“No Games Chicago” Rallies to Shut Down 2016 Olympic Bid

The International Olympic Committee will be in town from April 2nd to April 8th to evaluate Chicago’s potential as a Host City for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Join with “No Games Chicago” if you think that Chicago 2016 does not speak for the people of Chicago.

Chicago needs better hospitals, housing, schools, and trains — Not Olympic Games.

For more information email [email protected] or call 312.235.2873
On the web: nogameschicago.com
NO GAMES: Chicago on Facebook

Come to the RALLY. Say ‘NO’ to the Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid
Thursday, April 2, 2009 5pm
Federal Plaza (50 W. Adams)

WILL THE OLYMPICS PRODUCE JOBS AND HELP THE ECONOMY?

Based on the 13 Summer Games between 1964 in Tokyo and London in 2012, the overall costs have exceeded a billion dollars ten times, with a net profit only once.
Source: Chris Shaw. Five Ring Circus: Myths and Realities of the Olympic Games

Bid Books Lie. They overstate the benefits of the games and understate their costs. The result is huge coasts and debt for the tax payers of the host city.” “The most important piece of advice that a local government can take regarding mega-events, however, is simply to view with caution any economic impact estimates provided by entities with an incentive to provide inflated benefit figures. While most sports boosters claim that mega-events provide cities with
large economic returns, these same boosters present these figures as justification for receiving substantial subsidies for hosting the games. The vast majority of independent academic studies of mega-events show that the benefits to be a fraction of those claimed by event organizers.”
Source: Prof. Victor Matheson, “Mega Events: The effect of the world’s biggest sporting events on local, regional and national economies”

‘Long-term unemployed and workless communities were largely unaffected by the staging of the Games in each of the [last four host] cities. Much of the employment was temporary, and there was also little evidence that volunteer skills transferred to the post-Games economy,’ says the report co-authored by Dr Iain MacRury. ‘Greece actually lost 70,000 jobs in the three months following the [2004] Games, mostly in the construction industry.’
Source: www.london.gov.uk/assembly/index.jsp

A report by Roger G. Noll and Andrew Zimbalist of Stanford University found that a new sports facility has an extremely small (perhaps even negative) effect on overall economic activity and employment. Stadia rarely earn anything approaching a reasonable return on investment and sports facilities attract neither tourists nor new industry.
Source: “Sports, Jobs, and Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums”

WHAT ABOUT HOUSING AND DISPLACEMENT?
Approximately 30,000 poor residents were displaced from their homes in Atlanta by gentrification, the demolition of public housing, rental speculation, and urban renewal projects associated with the Olympics. Approximately 2,000 public housing units were demolished and nearly 6,000 residents displaced. African-Americans were disproportionately affected by displacements, housing unaffordability, and harassment and arrests of the homeless. The criminalization of homelessness was a key feature of the 1996 Atlanta Games: 9,000 arrest citations were issued to homeless people in Atlanta in 1995 and 1996 as part of the Olympic Games ‘clean up’.
Source: Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions

The Olympic Games have displaced more than two million people in the last 20 years, disproportionately affection minorities such as the homeless, the poor, Roma and African-Americans, according to … “Fair Play for Housing Right: Mega Events, Olympic Games and Housing Rights”.
Source: Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions

Story By Matthew Hendrickson

March 25, 2009 – For a half-century, cars and trucks used leaded gasoline, spewing potentially toxic pollution into the air. Leaded gas was banned in the 1970s, but a troubling question lingers: Has pollution from leaded gas tainted our soil, especially near major highways?

To test our theory, we collected soil samples from playgrounds in three parks in Oak Park, a Chicago suburb. Cutting through Oak Park is U.S. 290, also known as the Eisenhower Expressway, one of the nation’s busiest roads.

One soil sample was from Barrie Park, which overlooks the highway. Another was from Longfellow School Park, a quarter-mile away; a third from Grove Park, about one mile away.

We then sent the samples to the city of Chicago’s childhood lead-prevention program for testing. The results: All were positive, though under levels authorities say should cause concern.

The highest reading – 200 parts per million – was from the sample found at the park overlooking the expressway. The sample furthest from the highway had the lowest lead level.

While the findings seem to lend support to the theory that decades-old highway exhaust is still affecting neighborhoods, the lead found could have also come from lead paint or other sources.

Tony Amato, supervisor of the lead-prevention program and the official who oversaw our testing, said all three test results were low. He said lead levels need to be at least 400 ppm at playgrounds and 1,000 ppm elsewhere to sound alarms.

But he acknowledged there is no safe level of lead in soil, and that in Chicago, inspectors rarely test soil for lead – only a few times a year.

Moreover, he said, little can be done if troubling amounts are found.

“Unless we are prepared to scrape off the top layer of the earth, we won’t get rid of (lead),” he said.

Still, for many parents of children who play in these parks, any positive result can be worrisome.

Story by Leo Moskal

As Welles Park in the Lincoln Square neighborhood creeps towards its 100-year anniversary, a group of local residents want to restructure the park’s playground.

The Friends of Welles Park Play Lot is raising money for the rejuvenation project and hopes to have the necessary funds by the end of the year. The group, formed in 2006, hopes to raise an additional $330,000, combining it with $470, 000 from the Chicago Park District.

The playground, created in the 1980s, is lined with wood chips and has to be closed down after rainy days and the equipment continues to rust. The new look will be comprised of a rubberized play surface, age- appropriate equipment, new fencing, and new landscaping and benches. The new lot will be located on Sunnyside and Western, just west of the fieldhouse.

“It’s getting to the point where the play lot isn’t that safe,” says Susan Ryan, a photojournalist who lives in Lincoln Square with her husband and two children who offered $99 portrait sessions last month for the play lot fund. “I want to be able to take my kids to the park and not have to worry about them getting hurt on the outdated equipment. I also think it just looks kind of crappy.”

The play lot organization has partnered with the Chicago Park District, Welles Park Advisory Council, Ald. Gene Schulter (47th) and Ravenswood Bank

Emmet Manning has lived in the area his whole life and goes to Welles Park to play football on Sundays. Although Manning has no children, he recognizes the play lot’s inadequacies. “I used to play there as a kid, and it looks pretty old. I could see how parents think it’s unsafe because everything is rusted,” he says.

Ald. Schulter says, “We hope the play lot will be fully redone by next summer. The Friends of Welles Park Play Lot has been very consistent in their efforts, and I think they will be rewarded.”

Those interested in contributing have the option of buying bricks with their names inscribed on them. The bricks cost from $120 to $1,000 depending on the size. For more information contact, Friends of Welles Park Play Lot.

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A coalition including Food and Water Watch, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, and the Council of Canadians is concerned that while the compact bans large-scale diversions of Great Lakes water, it provides exceptions for bottled water and for water labelled as “product.”

The compact, ratified by eight states with a parallel agreement backed by two Canadian provinces, would prohibit large diversions and set uniform standards for water use in the Great Lakes basin. It was approved by the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent on August 1, but House approval was postponed after U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) issued requests for comments from federal trade agencies.

Stupak questioned whether allowing diversions of Great Lakes water as “product” would subject the agreement to international trade law. In recent years corporations have used trade agreements to overturn local environmental protections.

In a letter (pdf) to the U.S. trade representative, Stupak cited his concern “that ratifying the compact could allow Great Lakes water to no longer be held within the public trust, but instead be defined as a product for commercial use.”

The coalition has met with members of Congress to press for an amendment to legislation approving the compact which would remove the bottled water exception and establish that the Great Lakes are held in public trust, said Sam Finkelstein, a Chicago organizer for Food and Water Watch.

While it may be too late for an amendment, he said, the coalition has found support for an effort to insert language of congressional intent affirming its goals into the bill’s conference report, perhaps followed by an amendment to the Water Resources Development Act.

The Alliance for the Great Lakes, which worked with Great Lakes governors in negotiations over the compact, argues for prompt ratification, said Joel Brammeier.

“The Great Lakes Compact is the product of many years of negotiation and reflects the consensus of the Great Lakes basin on how to product and conserve these resources,” he said. “This isn’t the time to be arguing finer points.”

He added: “States have every right and authority to regulate the use of their waters for bottling within their own boundary.”

Finkelstein said “the exception was added because of pressure from companies like Nestles and Coke.”

“The fact is the Great Lakes are a shared resource,” he said, and while “it’s true states have the power to enact legislation on bottled water, the purpose of the compact is to create standards across the board.”

Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation has battled a Nestles Ice Mountain bottling plant in Mecosta County originally projected to use over 200 million gallons of water a year. Efforts by MCWC and others including Clean Water Action and the Sierra Club to include more stringent rules on water exports in state legislation ratifying the compact were unsuccessful. Last month Michigan became the final state to ratify the compact.

The U.S. House is expected to consider approval of the compact in September.

“We’re just trying to cross the t’s and dot the i’s,” said an employee at the Geneva Kayak Center. He said the new store would offer the same services as the flagship store, including training courses, rentals, tours and adventure trips in addition to selling kayaks and accessories. The store will occupy the ground unit at 7301 N. Sheridan Road, between an Internet café and a small grocery store.

Elliot Morgan, 19, lives in Rogers Park and has been kayaking for several years. She said she would be thrilled to see the store open because of its location. Typically, she says she has to travel north to Skokie or Evanston or south to the University of Chicago to take lessons.

“It will bring a very good business to our community,” Ald. Joe Moore (49th) told members of the Chicago City Council Committee on Zoning, which approved changes needed to open the store.

The Chicago area has a number of businesses that cater to kayakers, from clubs to rental shacks to classes.

The Chicago Kayak Club, founded in 2002, began as a no-name collective of friends and has grown to over 300 members, ages 8 to 76. Women make up more than 60 percent of the club, said founder Cynthia Gilbert, who also founded an all-women organization of kayakers called Miss Guided Adventures .

“I realized that allowing people to get out on the water was the only real way to escape the crowds in this busy city,” said Gilbert. “The idea was to give people who lived in the city an inexpensive and easy way to access the local waterways around Chicago.”

“Urban kayaking through the architectural canyons of the Chicago River is by far the best way to see the city,” said Dave Olsen, owner of Kayak Chicago and former Columbia College student. “We have had people kayak to work or even to other states via the river.”

Olsen says the best thing about kayaking is that anyone can do it. Kayak Chicago has the largest adaptive kayaking program in the Midwest, he said, which teaches children and adults with physical and mental disabilities how to kayak.

According to its Web site, the Geneva Kayak Center is proud to be the only BCU endorsed coaching center in the Midwest, as well as an ACA Pro School , and it offers a range of instruction from beginning to advanced courses.