Chicago + BRT

Chicago has a great opportunity before it: The city stands to draw in $153 million in federal money to establish Bus Rapid Transit routes on 4 key corridors. If done right - and this is the key - this could be the beginning of great things. At less than 1/100th the cost of extending subway lines, BRT has helped increase bus usage in cities worldwide, often speeding up bus lines and drawing in new riders who leave cars behind. Definitions of BRT vary, but plans usually include: bus-dedicated lanes, curbside fare collection, (sometimes) stations available only to passengers who've paid, (sometimes) double or triple extended buses, etc. BRT projects are often branded with catchy names (the Speedy One, Viva, etc) to stand out from what are perceived as slow, clunky bus systems. Curitiba, Brazil, is the granddaddy of BRT but many cities like L.A. and Bogota are putting effective systems into place.

Will Chicago go with a pure enough BRT plan to make a big enough dent in travel times and really make a splash? If the CTA sticks with curbside stations (rather than creating a median), allows cash-paying passengers to pay on board, starts out with relatively short dedicated lanes that then mix with normal traffic, and only gives a first stab at peak hours... will the dividends pay off? That and a large investment in TSP raise doubts. But there's a committed team putting the plan together and they're now starting to roll out community meetings and are open to suggestions...

To see the presentation that CTA has put together on the corridors it will focus on initially - Halsted, 79th, Jeffery, Chicago - go here.

Friedman on a Green Bailout

Let's look at the opportunity in the financial bailout: See it not just as survival but as the path to a 'thriving' future. See Thomas Friedman's piece here.

The Ins and Outs of Deconstruction

The New York Times has a piece by Jon Mooallem exploring the challenges and economics of painstaking 'deconstruction' - versus demolition - of homes. Focuses on Cleveland, where the city and the Cleveland Foundation are leading pilot projects exploring the economics of deconstruction. Challenges? One informal study showed that pulling nails can take up to 1/3 of the labor involved. Interesting factoids:
* 250,000 homes are demolished in the U.S. annually
* This 'liberates' some 1.2 billion board feet of reusable lumber alone
* Remodeling generates 1.5 times the debris every year as demolishing homes does
* The U.S. generates 160 million tons of demo and construction debris each year, 60 percent of which is landfilled
* As few as 300 homes in the entire U.S. were fully deconstructed last year
* On average, it can take a day to demolish a home and several weeks to deconstruct it
* However, the added cost can be more than recuperated when owners donate salvageable material to one of the more than 900 nonprofit, secondhand building-supply stores nationally (deducting the value from taxes)

See the full story at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/magazine/28house-t.html?scp=1&sq=deconstruction&st=cse

Greenest Chicagoan

It's sort of an absurd notion for a story, but fun nonetheless. Who has the 'greenest' lifestyle in Chicago? The answer, almost not surprisingly, is Ken Dunn. The founder and director of the Resource Center rides his bike year-round, eats veggies he grows in his own backyard and heats his home with a wood-burning furnace. Sounds vaguely familiar... like a fairly traditional lifestyle, right? "Much of our country had a very frugal attitude in the late '40s, when I was first aware of household practices, and I've been trying to stay true to that," he told the Trib. To see the story, go here.

MacArthur Grows Green Geniuses

"Will Allen is an urban farmer who is transforming the cultivation, production, and delivery of healthy foods to underserved, urban populations. In 1995, while assisting neighborhood children with a gardening project, Allen began developing the farming methods and educational programs that are now the hallmark of the non-profit organization Growing Power, which he directs and co-founded..." To see more on Will Allen and the other MacGeniuses click here.

Buying Organic

Nice story in the Chicago Reporter this month on how hard it can be to find organic food in some Chicago neighborhoods - particularly if you're black. Kelly Virella does some solid, industrious reporting on the low number of stores in black neighborhoods that carry organic foods, as well as some effective myth-busting along the way. For example? A higher percentage of black people buy organic food than white people - 54 percent of black people surveyed said they had bought organic food in the past year, compared to 50 percent of whites. And black people are more willing than white people to pay a premium for organic food. The kicker? There's a probable link between adult exposure to pesticides and diabetes, cancer, birth defects, premature births and certain neurological diseases. See the story here.

Audio Slideshow of Hood Canal

Just finished and posted online a 5-minute audio slideshow of Hood Canal. It can be viewed at http://www.webng.com/gabilondo/Hood%20Canal.

Recycling Banquet Leftovers (& more)

Nice piece from the Tribune on a business that finds a new home for event leftovers - food, candles, table settings etc. We've talked with colleagues about whether there was an 'easy' way to handle the excesses left over from events - now at least one entrepreneur has begun to tackle the issue. Bravo.

To see the story, click here.

Seattle's Hood Canal

We're just back from a 10-day stay in Hood Canal, just outside of Belfair, Wash. (a 35-minute ferry ride from Seattle and then short drive from Bremerton). This view is from one of the paths in the Theler nature center at the south end of Belfair. The area is extremely lush and green and on a typical day you can see seals in the canal, bald eagles, heron, etc.