Center for Neighborhood Technology

Leaders Unite to Preserve the Chicago Region’s Affordable Rental Housing

Affordable housing, especially in the Chicago region, is increasingly difficult to acquire and is a threat to the economic future of the region. Today, area leaders in government, non-profit and the business sectors unveiled a program to reverse these dramatic losses in the affordable rental housing stock. Created in 2005, The Preservation Compact is a project of the Urban Land Institute and is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

The program is the nation’s most comprehensive approach to a problem that challenges communities everywhere—turning around the significant loss of rental housing that is affordable to moderate and low wage workers. A series of initiatives to save at least 75,000 existing homes in Cook County by the year 2020 is planned.

At the center of the program is a new Preservation Fund, an umbrella for a suite of financial products. The fund will provide acquisition and bridge financing to nonprofit and for-profit developers, making it possible for them to obtain as much as a half a million dollars to support the long-term preservation of rental housing in Cook County.

Equally important are a series of partnerships between local organizations, each charged with responsibility for solving a different aspect of the affordable rental housing problem.

CNT is partnering with other organizations to work in the area of reducing operating costs in multifamily rental properties. The organizations have created Cook County Energy Savers, a one-stop energy efficiency program that will provide technical assistance and loans for energy-efficiency improvements.

More information on the Cook County Energy Savers program and CNT’s participation here. You can also read more about the strategy to preserve affordable housing in Cook County at the Urban Land Institute’s site here.

Open House Brings in Crowd Interested in Tools for Sustainable Communities

The first Open House to showcase analytical and hands-on tools created by CNT staff was a resounding success. Almost 150 people filled CNT’s first floor on Thursday, May 10. A variety of activities kept the guests busy, including booths with the 19 existing tools on display, mini-workshops on stormwater management and the Housing + Transportation Affordability Index, and the ever-popular tours of CNT’s LEED-certified Platinum-rated green building.

CNT’s library of 19 sustainability tools serve two of CNT’s core values: 1) People who have good information in a comprehensible format make good decisions; and 2) Built communities have hidden assets that can be quantified in reliable cost/benefit analyses. If you missed the Open House, you can still get a glimpse of the tools here.

The Open House couldn’t have been so successful without the help of many people and organizations outside of CNT. Volunteer assistant, Beth Sholtis, contributed to the organization and promotion of the event from start to finish. And we are especially indebted to our co-sponsors: the Chicago Department of Environment, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Chicago Rehab Network and the Voorhees Center of UIC.

Photo courtesy of John Paige, 2007

Transit Future Update, May 1

Transit Future is announcing three upcoming events, where your participation is critical to ensuring a successful outcome of the looming transit crisis. Read on to get details about each of our events, and also to hear about transit updates in Springfield and the news. Please plan on joining us for at least one of the three events. The more support you show by attending, the stronger our message to the General Assembly and Governor will be!

Contents
Get Involved! Important Upcoming Events
Recap of House Mass Transit Workgroup on RTA Reform Meeting 4/25
Recent Articles on Transit

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GET INVOLVED! Important Upcoming Events

Rally in Support of Transit
Monday, May 7, 10 a.m.
State of Illinois Building (Thompson Center), 100 W. Randolph (Randolph and Clark)

The Transit Future Campaign is co-sponsoring a rally in support of mass transit with Concerned Commuters of Northeast Illinois. Together we will send a message to Gov. Rod Blagojevich that transit funding and reform need to be priorities now! The more people in attendance, the stronger our message will be, so show your support of transit by attending this event. Come to the rally and have your voice heard!

RSVP to David LeBreton at dlebreton@cnt.org or (773) 269-4043.

Lobby Day in Springfield
Thursday, May 10

The Transit Future staff members are heading down to Springfield on Thursday, May 10 to talk to our state representatives face-to-face about the importance of funding for mass transit in Northeastern Illinois. If you want to let your legislator know why you believe mass transit is critical for our region, contact Emily Metz for more information at emily@cnt.org or (773) 269-4070. We want as many coalition-members as possible with us on the Amtrak going down, so come and impact the General Assembly’s decisions about the funding and reform of mass transit!

Meeting with State Representative Julie Hamos
Saturday, May 12, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
The Center for Neighborhood Technology
2125 W. North Ave.

The Transit Future Campaign is coordinating an event for our members to hear about the political lay of the land down in Springfield from the Head of the Mass Transit Committee, Rep. Julie Hamos. Come hear about the transit funding crisis that is taking place right now, and what we can all do to get involved and help influence the General Assembly to address the issue. Do not miss this opportunity to talk directly with one of the most widely respected advocates for transit in the Illinois Legislature!

RSVP to David LeBreton at dlebreton@cnt.org or (773) 269-4043.

Recap of House Mass Transit Workgroup on RTA Reform Meeting 4/25

Members of the transit community met Wednesday morning in Springfield to discuss changes to the 1983 RTA Act. The session focused on the RTA’s role in securing federal funds for existing and future New Starts Project and setting performance measures for each of the service boards. State Representatives Bassi, Colvin, Mathias, Fortner, Ryg, Arroyo, and Hamos were joined by representative from RTA, CTA and Pace, along with transit advocates from the entire six-county region. Overall, those present were in agreement on increasing RTA’s role in evaluating and prioritizing New Start Projects among Metra, Pace and CTA. Increasing RTA’s role in the expansion and enhancement of transit in Northeastern Illinois would allow for improved regional planning and more effective allocation of state and federal funds.

The discussion of House Bills 520 and 1841 centered on the RTA’s ability to set performance measures for all three service boards. While there was general agreement on the need for performance measures, there was no consensus on whether they would be set by statute or by a stronger RTA. Regardless of the means by which performance measures are set, there must be a means by which all three service boards’ efficiency and effectiveness are evaluated and compared.

With recent progress among the service boards towards creating universal fare media, those present discussed RTA’s ability to set a universal fare structure across all three service boards to promote greater intersystem transfers. Once again, while there was consensus around the concept whether it would be accomplished by a stronger RTA or law was unclear. The experiences of other mass transit agencies have shown that ridership increases when reduced transfers between transit systems are implemented. In order for this to take place, RTA must have the authority to mediate between service boards.

The next meeting will cover RTA governance and funding.

Recent Articles on Transit

Read some of the extensive press coverage about the regional transit crisis by going to the “Transit in the News” page of our website, or http://transitfuture.cnt.org/news/.

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For more information or comments, please contact David LeBreton at dlebreton@cnt.org or 773.269.4043.

To unsubscribe to this listserv, send a blank email to transitfuture-unsubscribe@cnt.org

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The Center for Neighborhood Technology has launched the Transit Future campaign in response to the Chicago region’s transit crisis.

CNT’s mission is to promote the development of more livable and sustainable communities. We strive to recognize, preserve and enhance the value of hidden assets and undervalued resources inherent in our urban environment to make households, neighborhoods and regions more efficient, more economically viable, and more equitable.

We recognize that Chicago’s mass transit system is an undervalued asset and the Transit Future campaign will work to promote a system that benefits all residents of Northeastern Illinois.

CNT Native Garden Comes to Life

The Virginia Bluebells were the first to spring to life this season in CNT’s native garden. And it won’t be long until tall beauties like Wild Columbine and Golden Alexander and ground-dwellers like Blood Root and Wild Ginger follow. The garden serves as a habitat for monarch butterflies, milkweed bugs, downy woodpeckers, and even a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

CNT’s native garden is not only a sanctuary for wildlife; it’s functional too. The garden captures the buildings stormwater runoff. Plants soak up and use the stormwater so it does not runoff the property, keeping our bodies of water cleaner, and also take in carbon dioxide and let out oxygen, reducing the heat-island effect around the building and contributing to cleaner air.

The garden is low-maintenance, not requiring any more watering than what it gets from rainwater. The soil is maintained by a compost of organic material like banana peels and coffee grounds from staff. The garden was created when CNT renovated the building in 2000 and was an integral part of it achieving LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum status.

To take a tour contact annette@cnt.org.