No Small Plans: Celebrating GO TO 2040, ’s first major regional blueprint since Burnham | Newcity

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Oct No Small Plans: Celebrating GO TO 2040, Chicago’s first Newcity Sites 19 major regional blueprint since Burnham Best of Chicago Chicago History, Media, Politics Add comments Booze Muse Boutiqueville It’s pouring, but that doesn’t dampen the spirits of a thousand sharply-dressed politicians, urban planners and Chicago Weekly other civic leaders crammed into a tent on top of Newcity Art ’s Harris Theater. They’re here to launch Newcity Film GO TO 2040, a blueprint for making tough development Newcity Lit and spending choices in the Chicago area’s 284 communities, for the next few decades and beyond. Newcity Music Newcity Resto The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) will Newcity Stage lead the implementation process, and stakes are high. As Newcity Summer the region’s population balloons from its current 8.6 million to an estimated 11 million by 2040, the decisions we make now will determine whether the Chicago area becomes Categories more prosperous, green and equitable or devolves into a -Neighborhood/Suburb (106) depressed, grid-locked, smog-choked dystopia. Andersonville (2) Austin (1) The plan, developed by CMAP and its partner organizations Avondale (1) over three years and drawing on feedback from more than Beverly (1) 35,000 residents, includes the four themes of Livable Communities, Human Capital, Efficient Governance and Regional Mobility. It makes detailed recommendations for facing challenges like job Bridgeport (2) creation, preserving the environment, housing and transportation. Brighton Park (1) Bronzeville (2) Banners at the launch party feature GO TO 2040’s cover image, an Aurora-centric aerial view of the Bucktown (4) region, with expressways and transit lines radiating from Chicago like bolts of lightning. Considering Chinatown (3) that this is a plan for future generations, affecting people from all walks of life, it’s odd that almost Edgewater (1)

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everyone on the stage is an older white male in a dark suit. Elmhurst (1) CMAP board chairman Gerry Bennett, mayor of Palos Hills, kicks off the proceedings by comparing the Garfield Park (1) occasion to the 1909 release of ’s “Plan of Chicago,” which helped create a city with Hermosa (1) plentiful parks and preserved the lakefront for public recreation. “When Burnham proclaimed ‘Make Highland Park (1) no little plans,’ he asserted that as a great metropolis we have the ability to reach for the Humboldt Park (1) unreachable,” Bennett says. Hyde Park (6) Kenwood (1) Senator Dick Durbin highlights the importance of local leaders working together to improve the Lakeview (5) region, and he warns the crowd that implementing GO TO 2040’s strategies during the current financial woes is going to take grit and perseverance. “We have one thing on our side,” he says. “A (7) president who loves Chicagoland as much as we do.” Lincoln Square (4) Logan Square (10) WTTW’s Geoffrey Baer moderates a panel discussion on the urgency of long-range planning and the Loop (20) economy that includes a fired-up Mayor Daley, wearing his trademark scowl. Daley says Chicagoans, Lower West Side (1) and Americans in general, need to be more optimistic about our future. “Until we get our confidence North Center (1) back other countries will look at us as whiners.” Northwest Side (2) Michael Moskow from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs argues higher road tolls and parking fees Oak Park (3) are needed to reduce car dependency. “As you raise the cost of driving and make transit more Pilsen (4) attractive, more people will make the shift.” But George Ranney, head of the pro-business River North (4) organization Metropolis 2020, scoffs, “Some of my friend’s radical ideas are not actually in the plan.” Rogers Park (3) Roseland (1) Baer closes the discussion by recalling the words of businessman Charles Wacker upon the publication Sauganash (1) of the Plan of Chicago: “This will be remembered 80 years later as the day that gave Chicago the most beautiful lakefront in the world.” Today’s launch of GO TO 2040 is a similar occasion, Baer South Loop (6) says. “Many of the people here today won’t live to see the results, but we can hope for them.” (John South Shore (1) Greenfield) Sugar Grove (1) Uptown (2) ShareThis Washington Park (1) West Loop (5) Leave a Reply Wicker Park (8) Wrigleyville (1) You must be logged in to post a comment. City Life (26) Education/Training (10) Food & Drink (14) Holidays (4) Lit (31) Literary Venues (14) Love & Sex (31) Museums (13) News etc. (369) Architecture (6) Bicycling (19) Chicago History (8) Chicago Hype Exchange (80) Essays & Commentary (22) Events (85) Free Will Astrology (91) Green (18)

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