Promoted

The Southland Development Authority describes itself as "a non-profit business organization designed to grow the economy of the south suburbs." It helps the 45 cities and villages the area with a range of initiatives, including workforce development, building development, and business promotion. One of its projects is semi-regular bus tours that give residents, stakeholders, and elected officials an overview of SDA's work. Streetsblog Chicago sat down with SDA CEO Bo Kemp to discuss tours, what the organization has learned from these trips, and which initiatives he’s currently excited about. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

On November 7, a week after the "Halloween Miracle" of the Illinois General Assembly passing a robust transit reform/funding bill in the wee hours of October 31, SBC had a fun conversation with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

On the other hand, IPI's LyLena Estabine wrote a very solid piece on the transit bill's "People Over Parking" measure.

Better Streets Chicago's third annual fundraiser, which took place earlier this month, was one of the major celebrations of passing Illinois' transit reform/funding bill. As such, it was a joyful event.

Earlier this month, two of Chicago's Black-led sustainable transportation groups joined forces for one last event to mark the end of the warm-weather cycling season. The sixth annual Chicago Bike Collective Ride was cohosted by the mobility justice nonprofit Equiticity and SouthSide Critical Mass, the south-of-Madison-Street sibling of the monthly Daley Plaza event.

Tragically, it appears a male pedestrian was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver last Saturday night in Roseland.

Got a fun photo of Kathy Schubert at a bike ride or advocacy event that you'd like to share? Please send it to me a jgreenfield[at]streetsblog[dot]org and I may add it to this post, and/or create a gallery of images that I'll link to here.

The general reporting on the meeting is by Igor Studenkov, and the commentary on the Grand Avenue project is by John Greenfield.

In a recent post, SBC contributor Richard Day argued that it's time to move past rejoicing in the passage of the robust transit reform and funding bill that will save local bus and train service, and start getting to work on optimizing the win. "This is the last, best chance we have to deliver the sort of transformative transit system the region deserves," he noted. "We can’t afford to waste it."