Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about transit-oriented development

New County Policy Supports Active Transportation, Lacks Specific Goals

By Steven Vance | Jul 19, 2016

Cook County’s new “Long Range Transportation Plan,” released last week, is the first such document published since 1940 and is a policy platform that will guide decisions about transportation spending for the next 24 years. To the credit of county officials, the plan voices strong support for improving walking, biking, and transit, which represents a […]

More Thoughts on the TOD Debate as the Boom Moves Into Its Next Phase

By John Greenfield | May 25, 2016 | 13 Comments

One thing’s for sure: As the current transit-oriented development boom unfolds along Milwaukee Avenue it’s bringing major changes to the affected neighborhoods. Many people agree that adding dense, low-parking development near Blue Line stations is a good strategy for reducing car dependency. But there’s been debate about whether the new wave of high-end TOD buildings […]

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KC Conspiracy Theorists: Walkable Development Will “Devastate” Auto Giants

By Angie Schmitt | May 24, 2016

Now that Kansas City has its streetcar up and running, the city is taking the logical step of updating its zoning code to allow for walkable development along the transit route. And according to some local Agenda 21 believers, anyone who works for the automotive industry should be very afraid. Up for a vote this Thursday at […]

MCZ’s Car-Centric West Loop Project Thumbs Its Nose at the TOD Ordinance

By John Greenfield | May 16, 2016 | 20 Comments

Talk about a missed opportunity. It’s good news that a parking lot located at the southeast corner of Lake and Aberdeen in the burgeoning Fulton Market District will soon be replaced by a mix of residences, office space and retail. But it’s a crying shame that the developer MCZ Development is also building a glut […]

CNT: There’s Only One Parked Car for Every Three Units at Local Buildings

By John Greenfield | Mar 28, 2016 | 2 Comments

A new report from the Center for Neighborhood Technology quantifies something that we already suspected to be true: Apartment buildings in the Chicago area tend to have way too much off-street car parking. The report, titled Stalled Out: How Empty Parking Spaces Diminish Neighborhood Affordability, points out that, since parking spots are surprisingly expensive to […]

CNT Study of D.C. Parking Could Pave the Way for Better Chicago Policies

By John Greenfield | Jan 20, 2016

Chicago’s City Council recently passed a beefed-up transit-oriented development ordinance that eliminates parking minimums for new residential buildings near transit. However, new development outside of the TOD zones still are still generally required to provide a parking space for every unit. A report co-authored by Chicago’s Center for Neighborhood Technology provides more evidence that this […]

2015 Was a Great Year for Chicago Transportation and Public Spaces

By John Greenfield | Dec 28, 2015

[The Chicago Reader recently launched a new weekly transportation column written by Streetsblog Chicago editor John Greenfield. This partnership will allow Streetsblog to extend the reach of our livable streets advocacy. We’ll be syndicating a portion of the column on the day it comes out online; you can read the remainder on the Reader’s website […]

Sorry Reilly, 71 Units Plus 128 Parking Spaces Does Not Equal TOD

By John Greenfield | Dec 3, 2015 | 12 Comments

As Steven Vance wrote last month, downtown alderman Brendan Reilly has a good record when it comes to promoting residential building projects with sensible amounts of car parking, and he’s made smart comments about this issue in the past. For example, he recently got the developer of an apartment tower at Kinzie and Desplaines to […]

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3 Bright Prospects for a Better Transportation Bill

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 3, 2015

Yesterday we reported on some of the terrible amendments that might get tacked on to the House transportation bill this week. But there are also some good ideas with bipartisan support among the hundreds of amendments submitted by members of the House. Here are three amendments that have the potential to improve transportation policy in the U.S. — should legislators give […]

Dense Thinking: CNT Staffers Discuss the TOD Reform Ordinance

By John Greenfield | Aug 24, 2015 | 2 Comments

[This piece also appears in Checkerboard City, John’s column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets on Wednesday evenings.] Believe it or not, back in the early nineties, ex-mayor Richard M. Daley was planning to tear out an entire branch of the El system. “The Lake Street branch of what’s now the Green Line had terrible slow […]

How the New TOD Ordinance Could Save a Rejected Jeff Park Development

By Michael Podgers and John Greenfield | Aug 19, 2015 | 10 Comments

Last Tuesday, the city’s Community Development Commission put the brakes on Mega Realty’s plan to build a housing and retail development on two vacant lots located a five-minute walk from the Jefferson Park Transit Center. One of the parcels is city-owned, and the commission voted against a proposal to give the land, valued at $530,000, to the developer […]

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