Two Critical Takes on 'Greening' of Chicago

Several interesting and quite different pieces question the city's dedication to a sustainable future.
Tribune environmental reporter Michael Hawthorne has a piece in this morning's paper looking at the commitment by City Hall back in 2001 to reduce dependence on traditional energy, and the little progress made since. See it at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-daley-green-power-bd22-mar22,0,6177898.story.

"But more than two years after the deadline he set, the city continues to get nearly all of its power from coal, natural gas and nuclear plants, according to records obtained by the Tribune."

And Chitown Daily News has an interview with urban historian Harold Platt of Loyola University Chicago.

"On biodiversity, Daley is doing pretty good, but then take something like transportation ... With the air pollution from cars and congestion, I think it’s a miserable failure. Where has Daley been in terms of promoting public transportation? Even the Olympic committee said that’s been one of the city’s worst failings, public transit. So it’s not just lefty green tree-huggers, even outside, the world committee has been looking at Rio, Madrid, and we don’t measure up."

To see Chitown's interview, go to http://www.chitowndailynews.org/Chicago_news/A_green_city_skeptic,23953

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.

Is Walking (to work) Hard?

Harold Henderson's blog at the Chicago Reader has an interesting item on walking to work. Turns out that the 3 top towns in the U.S. of more than 5,000 people where over 1/2 the population walks to work are... military bases. See the posting here. The web site this is drawn from has lots of data to mine - http://www.city-data.com.

CTA Tightens Management

CTA Tattler reports on a very interesting (and largely unreported) development. In today's posting, Tattler reports the agency has worked with the Civic Consulting Alliance to benefit from more than $2 million in pro bono consulting to improve agency management. For example, working with Booz Allen Hamilton, CTA chief Ron Huberman has led a "Performance Initiative" that has helped the agency enforce accountability of its managers in terms of cleanliness, safety, courtesy, etc. Sounds like smart management.

Finally... A Rally for CTA Funding

This coming Monday, Nov. 5th, there will be a rally in downtown Chicago to support funding for CTA. Finally - but isn't it a day too late?! See this link for more on our funding scenario in Illinois and the need for reform.