UTC Event: Transit Accessibility & Etiquette for People with Disabilities
Navigating Chicago can be a challenge for anyone; however, people with disabilities face even greater challenges when on sidewalks and public transit. Learn accepted ways to assist and more about laws enacted by the City of Chicago by attending “Transit Accessibility & Etiquette for People with Disabilities” – the first in a series of Fall 2014 Diversity Brown Bag presentations hosted by the Urban Transportation Center at UIC. The event will take place Thursday October 9 from noon to 1 p.m. in the Great Cities Institute Conference Room, Suite 400, CUPPA Hall. Visit the UTC Events page for more information.
Disruption Apps + the City
Gillian Wu, Courier Community Manager, Postmates Delivery Service
Ameya Pawar, 47th Ward Alderman, Creator of Chicago Works App
Respondent: Brenda Parker, Assistant Professor, Urban Planning & Policy
Wednesday
October 8, 2014
4th Floor CUPPA Hall
412 South Peoria Street, Chicago, IL 60607
12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Lunch provided.
For disability accommodations, please contact Christiana Kinder, (312) 996-8700, christia@uic.edu
Chicagoans actually care about each other: According to IPCE report
The Chicago Sun-Times reported on a study by the Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs. The study analyzed participation and response to “On the Table,” a May event held by the Chicago Community Trust to engage Chicago-area residents to talk about local issues.
Well, those 11,000 conversations spread out across seven counties and including some 17 million digital mentions didn’t go to waste. The University of Illinois at Chicago’s Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement on Tuesday released a study that shared some insight about the Chicago Community Trust’s “On the Table” event.
One: People liked it.
Two: People from every ZIP code in Chicago participated, making it one of those rare community talks that involves the community.
Three: Six ideas will be explored in greater detail for 2015. (For more on those particular ideas, scroll all the way to the end of this post.)
Four: It was diverse. In race, religion, ethnicity, gender identification, age and region.
Five: The overarching themes of importance centered upon education and inclusion. There also were conversations about social justice and eliminating racist policies and attitudes in the city.
“The Great Recession’s Impact on the City of Chicago” cited in DNA Info
In a story on Chicago neighborhoods’ recovery from the real estate downturn, DNA Info quotes Rebecca Hendrick, professor of public administration and former GCI scholar, on likely reasons for the slow recovery and cites her 2010 report, “The Great Recession’s Impact on the City of Chicago.” This research was supported by a scholar award from GCI.
One drag on the bounce-back, according to the University of Illinois at Chicago study “The Great Recession’s Impact on the City of Chicago,” is the state’s dependence on property taxes to fund essential public services like education. That study specifically blames Mayor Richard M. Daley’s “broader policy agenda that focuses on public safety, neighborhood investment and avoiding property-tax increases” over the 22 years before Emanuel took office.
“That’s more of an indirect effect,” said UIC Professor Rebecca Hendrick, lead author of the study.
That study cites Daley’s privatization lease agreements on parking meters and the Skyway, with the money going to fill budget deficits during the recession and defray increases in the property taxes. More recently, the Board of Education has authorized maximum increases in its tax levy, and Emanuel has warned of what he’s called a “$600 million pension cliff,” again resulting from pension payments put off under the Daley administration.
Street Jobs + the Informal Economy
T.C. O’Rourke, Chicago Pedicab Association
Elizabeth Kregor, Director, Institute for Justice – Clinic on Entrepreneurship, University of Chicago
Respondent: Kathleen Dunn, Assistant Professor, Loyola University Chicago
Wednesday
September 24, 2014
4th Floor CUPPA Hall
412 South Peoria Street, Chicago, IL 60607
12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Lunch provided.
For disability accommodations, please contact Christiana Kinder, (312) 996-8700, christia@uic.edu
Director’s Blog: People’s Climate March and the Importance of Activism
Photo by: Christine Irvine
Dear GCI followers,
Attention to issues related to global climate change received a boost yesterday with estimates of 400,000 people marching alongside New York City’s Central Park. Democracy Now was there to provide a live-streaming broadcast of the event. Coming from all over the United States and various parts of the world, individuals and families gathered to express their love for Mother Earth and their concern for the long-term viability of humans to inhabit this planet.
Among the participants in the march was Sting, who Amy Goodman interviewed. Standing behind Sting is Great Cities Institute friend Michael Leon Guerrero, Executive Director, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, which was one of the hundred plus organizations that helped organize the march. Among our many friends who attended was one of our staff, Margaret Catania. By all accounts, the march was inspiring and energizing.
The point was to call attention to the seriousness and the likely disastrous consequences of continued disruption of ecological systems brought on by the over use of fossil fuels. In March of 2014, The United Nations issued a report from The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which it emphatically states, “severe and pervasive impacts” will be “felt everywhere.”
The primary question now is how do we affect the cultural and political climate to force the changes that need to be made. The Montreal Protocol, which tackled the ozone layer, gave us a model that we can use to seek international cooperation to decrease the use of fossil fuels.
The Divestment Movement of the 1980s was successful in putting pressure on South Africa to stop apartheid and is now being used as a strategy by various student groups. The Rockefeller Foundation announced today that it would divest its holdings from companies that are tied to fossil fuels. This could be the start of something big. It will certainly call attention to what needs to be an international debate and action that comes from not only the U.S. but as well, other large and increasing users of fossil fuels.
This is an important issue of our day. Having so many young people express concern for their future may be the clarion call needed.
Sincerely,
Teresa Córdova
Director
Photo by: Javier Benavidez
Friday Forum – Planning for the Just City
2014 UIC Urban Forum
The Return of the Neighborhood as an Urban Strategy
Metropolitan regions are a complex web of activities, systems and networks, of people, businesses, and capital, and of commercial, industrial and residential areas. The strength, value, welfare and resilience of cities and metropolitan regions reflect their core building blocks, namely, their neighborhoods. Sustainable capital and societal investments in people and firms at the neighborhood level-from micro-enterprises to factories, from social spaces for collective and social action to private facilities, from affordable housing and safety to gated communities, from accessible jobs and transportation to opportunities for growth and development, from public education in the neighborhood to cooperative, charter and private education-reflect contested and diffuse paths to enhancing the quality of life for individuals, households and neighborhoods. The 2014 UIC Urban Forum will engage policymakers, researchers, public intellectuals and citizens in a dynamic discussion and debate about the broad issues surrounding the role neighborhoods can and do play in building strong, livable urban regions.
What’s in it for me? The Power of Residential Energy Choices
Interested in installing solar in your home, but think it’s too expensive? Have you ever thought about ways to reduce your home electricity bill? What do new energy technologies mean for the future job market? Learn how Chicagoland residents have the power to help eliminate their dependence on fossil fuels and protect their environment, all the while reducing their energy costs! Industry experts will talk about their current initiatives, but will also open the floor for some interactive Q&A!
Participants:
The UIC Energy Initiative: Energy Initiative at UIC, programming curriculums, article writing, organizing the Summer Institute on Sustainability and Energy (SISE)
Elevate Energy: Smart metering, energy efficiency, increasing home values, reducing carbon emissions
Solar Chicago: solar electricity for homeowners, Juhl Renewable Energy Systems and Microgrid Solar, 25% discount off the average price of going solar when homeowners group together
Citizens Utility Board (CUB Energy Saver): CUB Energy Saver program, competition to help residents save energy in their home
WindFree, Wind & Solar Energy Design: Wind energy