Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about Peter Skosey

CMAP Board Members Will Try to Boot Illiana Boondoggle From Regional Plan

By Steven Vance | Sep 18, 2014 | 11 Comments

After appointees loyal to Governor Pat Quinn muscled the Illiana tollway onto the project list for Chicagoland’s regional plan, it looked like nothing could stop this risky highway boondoggle from getting funded and built. The Illiana may still happen, but not without a fight. Last week, the board of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning […]

Ready For Snow Yet? CDOT Wasn’t, But Is Planning Ahead

By Steven Vance | Aug 8, 2014 | 13 Comments

It may only be August, but snow’s already on the minds of the Mayor’s Pedestrian Advisory Council. At this week’s meeting, the Chicago Department of Transportation owned up to their shortcomings in providing clear pedestrian routes through the city during last winter’s polar vortex conditions. Luann Hamilton, deputy commissioner of project development at CDOT, said […]

Regional Transit Needs New Funding to Meet $20 Billion Backlog

By Steven Vance | Apr 2, 2014 | 3 Comments

Transit systems in Northeastern Illinois face a $20 billion maintenance backlog. Now the question is how to pay for it. Governor Pat Quinn’s Northeastern Illinois transit task force has shown some of the possibilities at the region’s disposal, but hasn’t staked out a position on how to secure the necessary revenue to keep Chicagoland’s track, […]

MPC’s TOD Tool Advises Developers About Train Station Bonuses

By Steven Vance | Mar 27, 2014 | 13 Comments

Many developers haven’t yet investigated how last year’s transit oriented development ordinance, passed to encourage development near transit, can make their work easier and possibly more lucrative. Under the TOD ordinance, developers can build bonus density — more floors, taller buildings, smaller units – and fewer parking spaces on sites near Chicago Transit Authority and […]

To Grow Transit Ridership, Chicagoland Needs to Build Near Transit

By John Greenfield | Mar 4, 2014 | 26 Comments

Testifying before the Northeastern Illinois Public Transit Task Force Friday, the Metropolitan Planning Council’s Peter Skosey argued that the region could significantly increase transit ridership by encouraging jobs and development near existing stations. Governor Pat Quinn created the 15-member task force last summer in the wake of the controversial ouster of Metra CEO Alex Clifford. […]

Correcting Cardenas: Better Buses Will Mean Better Access to Ashland

By John Greenfield | Jan 8, 2014 | 22 Comments

Appearing on Chicago Tonight last month, 12th Ward Alderman George Cardenas made a number of ill-informed statements about the plan to create fast, reliable transit on Ashland Avenue. Most egregiously, he painted BRT as an “expressway” where “no one’s going to stop,” when in fact the project is going to help more people access Ashland Avenue. During […]

Saving Time and Money Through Transportation Demand Management

By Kristen Maddox | Dec 9, 2013 | 4 Comments

Traffic jams cost Chicagoland residents more than $7.3 billion every year in wasted time and fuel, according to the Metropolitan Planning Council’s 2008 report “Moving at the Speed of Congestion.” And we’re not headed in the right direction: The share of drive-alone commuters in the region increased from 46 percent to 51 percent from 1990 […]

How Can Chicagoland Fix Its Regional Transit System?

By John Greenfield | Dec 5, 2013 | 56 Comments

In the wake of the recent Metra patronage scandal, the Regional Transit Authority has come under intense scrutiny. Many journalists, elected officials and policy experts have argued that the current system of separate boards for the CTA, Metra and Pace, overseen by the RTA, lends itself to interagency competition and corruption that gets in the […]

Evaluating Gabe Klein’s Chicago Legacy

By John Greenfield | Nov 5, 2013 | 17 Comments

Not long after Gabe Klein reported for work as commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation on May 16, 2011, there was speculation that he wouldn’t stick around long. Klein’s wife was remaining in Washington, D.C., where he had previously run the DOT. As an ambitious guy who had worked in several different fields, including […]

Measuring BRT’s Potential to Spur Transit-Oriented Development

By John Greenfield | Sep 11, 2013 | 21 Comments

Today’s roundtable at the Metropolitan Planning Council, “BRT: Moving People, Driving Development” looked at the potential of fast, reliable bus rapid transit to draw investment to urban corridors, and the benefits of transit-oriented development in general. The panel featured CEO Walter Hook and U.S. and Africa Director Annie Weinstock from the New York-based Institute for […]

How Parking Requirements Get in the Way of New Chicago Businesses

By Steven Vance | Aug 6, 2013 | 32 Comments

A proposal to legalize transit-oriented development would make it easier to build walkable and bikeable neighborhoods, in part by halving the car parking requirement for residences and eliminating it for non-residential uses near train stations. The ordinance is set to go before aldermen at the zoning committee’s next meeting in September. Right now, without the ordinance, […]

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