Memorandum To: From: Re: Date: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot Antonia Ornelas, Senior Director Energy and Sustainability City of Chicago Environment Objectives April 15, 2019 Thank you for the opportunity to serve on your Environment Transition Committee. I am excited about the positive environmental changes this administration will bring to Chicago and its 77 community areas. To ensure that the land, water, and air are safe and clean in our neighborhoods, I encourage you to commit to the following: transform every Chicagoan’s home, school, workplace, and neighborhood to be healthy and carbon free. Guiding Values Healthy, zero carbon homes and communities can be achieved within these frameworks: equity (i.e., design solutions with the input and needs of most vulnerable communities first); transparency (i.e., open and accessible data and processes) 1; accountability (i.e., systems to ensure that goals and principles are met); diversity and inclusion (ensuring Environmental Justice communities, communities of color, and others meaningfully participate); and, transformation (i.e., proposing bold solutions to the climate crisis). What Is Working Well The City of Chicago has set ambitious climate goals and has received funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies to meet them. The City is accelerating energy code compliance and city workforce training, expanding bike-sharing and transit ridership, creating an electric vehicle and solar readiness framework, and expanding implementation of renewable energy. Just last week, the Chicago City Council voted to commit to 100% renewable energy by 2035 and to develop a citywide transition plan for 100% clean energy by December 2020. The resolution also calls for complete electrification of the Chicago Transportation Authority’s (CTA’s) bus fleet by 2040. These initiatives are working well and should be expanded upon. Other successful initiatives that can be expanded upon include: • • • • • • • • 1 Focus the Retrofit Chicago partnership to promote Healthy Zero Carbon Buildings, especially for lower-income renters, seniors, and other vulnerable populations. Ensure that Renewable 2035 is implemented equitably. Include a specific goal of new onsite generation and ensure it is not a Renewable Energy Credit (REC)-based only approach. Implement CTA’s 2040 electrification in communities with the largest health and air quality disparities. Leverage the Chicago Energy Benchmarking Ordinance to engage buildings in energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements with the lowest performing buildings first. Build on the Smart Street Light program to effectively implement smart features across the city. Continue updating City building codes to enable and test advanced energy and home construction technologies (such as pre-fabricated components) that deliver affordable, healthy and resilient homes. Build off existing workforce development infrastructure to expand training and jobs in economically disadvantaged communities. Work with state and federal agencies to leverage existing programs to lessen the cost of energy improvements for lowerincome households. Leverage public and private funding to create a revolving loan fund for health and safety improvements in residential buildings. Minneapolis clean energy process posts meetings and minutes here: https://mplscleanenergypartnership.org/meeting-calendar/ What to Implement in the First 100 Days • • • • • • • • Set a goal to decarbonize all Chicago buildings by 2050. 2 Set a goal to reduce energy use in existing homes by 30% by 2030 and redirect community development block grant (CDBG) funds to pay for low-income residences. Commit to a strategy to make sure environmental and climate conversations are multigenerational and accessible using processes and language to meet people where they are. Streamline the permitting process for renewable energy projects. Set energy storage goals and work with key stakeholders to develop a streamlined permitting and interconnection process to facilitate implementation. 3 Revamp the current recycling program, including reestablishing yard waste pick-up and instituting food composting while exploring dual benefits that support community gardening and other public spaces. Enact a moratorium on water disconnections and stop using water arrearages to deny residents City services. Ban partial lead service line replacements and begin fully replacing lead service lines in conjunction with the City’s massive water main replacement project. Longer-Term Implementation • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2 Develop a climate action and adaptation plan that is data-driven, is developed with an equity lens, and with focused objectives on prioritizing vulnerable communities. Conduct a community climate risk assessment and identify strategies that consist of a portfolio of solutions including energy efficiency, renewables, energy storage, combined heat and power, and electricity pricing programs. Develop a comprehensive inclusive economic growth plan to make Chicago’s status as a climate refugee receiver city into a way to develop thriving communities without displacement. Establish a stakeholder process to ensure a just clean energy transition by ensuring frontline communities are integrally involved in the development and implementation of an equity framework for environmental initiatives. Engage clean energy developers, implementers, utilities, and workforce development partners in a data and metricdriven plan to create clean energy projects and jobs in Chicago’s economically disadvantaged communities. Prioritize community solar development on City land and in Environmental Justice communities. Develop a plan to replace 100% of lead service lines by 2040. Ensure residents know whether they have a lead service line connected to their home by posting an inventory online. Incentivize lead service line replacement by waiving or reducing permit fees or by offering homeowners a credit for replacement. Provide residents with point-of-use filters that are NSF-53 certified during water main replacement projects. Develop and launch a customer assistance or water efficiency program for low-income customers struggling to pay their water bills. Engage the real estate, lending, and clean energy industries to ensure that investment in energy efficiency and renewables is appropriately valued in residential real estate transactions across the city as part of wealth-building initiatives. Require all projects receiving public funds (from small CDBGs to massive TIF-funded redevelopments) incorporate lowand zero-carbon strategies. 4 Dedicate health and safety funding to improve the effectiveness of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, and increase lower income residents' access to these improvements. Conduct data-driven analysis and community engagement on energy and water insecurity concerns with particular focus on neighborhoods where costs are high and incomes are low. Reestablish a Chicago Department of Environment that operates in accordance with the Mayor’s guiding values of diversity and inclusion, equity, transparency, accountability and transformation, and designate an independent executive staffer to ensure integration of the values across City departments and sister agencies. https://carbonneutralcities.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Thermal-Decarbonization-Study-Executive-Summary-FINAL.pdf https://www.ny-engineers.com/blog/new-york-to-establish-a-statewide-energy-storage-target. 4 City of Carlsbad example (http://www.carlsbadca.gov/services/depts/pw/environment/cap/waterheat.asp) 3 Environment Transition Committee Memo To: Mayor-Elect Lightfoot From: Anton Seals Jr (Co-Chair) – Lead Steward Grow Greater Englewood (Including input from over over 12-15 community based organization throughout Chicago) Ensure Chicago residents have access to clean safe water Embed Environmental action in the City’s Economic and Community development Protect and Improve the Health of our Air, Land and Water Increase Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy • • • • The Lightfoot administration must follow community leadership in economic transformation, by investing in and building up the resilient systems that our communities design to sustain life. All policies to shape a livable future must internalize, at the core, the brilliance of communities who survive crises great and small everyday. Poor people survive climate chaos by sheer ingenuity, because for many, after disasters strike, charitable investments are too late. The restoration of economic power in the most ecologically vulnerable communities must happen well in advance of dire need. Divest from models that allow larger non-profits to subsume and direct the resources that should go into building the capacity of frontline organizations, especially by supporting individual gardens and farms. Detailed description including rationale: 1. Productive City Landscapes –Open Space Actions and Plan / Placed-based Investments in activating space Activate community-based and lead projects in under invested neighborhoods to create multipurpose spaces responsive to the needs and values of Black/Brown communities, through participatory design and budgeting. Productive landscapes include multi-purposes including food production, composting, native habitat, recreation, culture, stormwater management, green energy, among others. The City of Chicago has over 32,000 vacant lots. Most of these lots can be found on the south and west sides of the city. Barriers to resources have prevented many potential urban farmers from utilizing this open space to start farming businesses in their communities. Additionally, access to land for community members can be blocked by aldermen and the City can make the process opaque and very slow, while outside developers are handed the “key” to the community. Local land use decisions and processes are lacking meaningful and accountable community participation and input. High feasibility (3-6 months)-100 days 2. Community Ownership of Land a. b. c. d. 3. Advance Community Ownership and Management of Public Spaces- Productive Land usage for the City of Chicago via Community Land Trust and Community Cooperatives (places to incubate and support seed funding for projects- operational funding for 36 months and Technical Assistance from Allies) Fund community-run programs that create pathways to land ownership and business ownership for farmworkers, regardless of legal status; Invest public resources into worker-owned co-operatives and community land trusts, centering and incentivizing those that lead in sustainable ecological practices Medium (1-2 years) Partner to create regional “Justice, Liberty and Restoration” Hubs to build community based selfdetermined, sustainable economic power (One Stop place for Environmental Justice, but also could be a where community police trainings and restorative justice workshops are held, and new a. Invest in technical assistance for food and agriculture businesses navigating the licensing process Medium (1-2 years) 4. Lead screenings and remediation of across Chicago a. b. 5. Create uniform distribution of renewable water filters to capture contaminants to every incoming pipeline of city water into a building built prior to 1980. Get out ahead of the potential impending crisis, by taking advantage of state and federal resources for replacing lead service lines. High (100 days) Center the most ecologically vulnerable communities in Chicago The Lightfoot can empower and incentivize community groups (PACs, CBOs, FOTP, etc) and city/env. agencies (DCASE; Park District Culture, Arts and Nature; TNC; FM; etc.) to partner on the design and programming of city parks and natural areas. (High 100 days) th 6. th- Creation of Environment Fellows Program (8 -16 13-22yrs old?) Youth Led- Community Based- Culturally relevant Urban Nature Conservation Corps- an expansion of GreenCorp (Medium) 7. Create Organics Recycling and Composting Policy for the City of Chicago Food waste is not only an egregious source of carbon emissions, but also an untapped source for healthy meals, regenerative soil production, and alternative energy. Unlike other major cities across the U.S and globally, the City of Chicago has done little to reduce, recover, and redirect wasted food. For example, there is no city-wide commercial composting system, and the City has yet to establish comprehensive regulations on responsible composting businesses. Establish Compost Use Requirements for City Projects 1. 2. Any City project must request a separate bid for locally produced compost-amended soil for that project. This will create a new sector of long-term and sustainable local jobs drive local economic activity and position Chicago as a local and regional leader on climate change (Medium-Low)- 2 years+ 8. 9. Create Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) for Chicago- (Low-2-4 years) Develop an equitable policy framework for Cannabis and Hemp (Medium/High) a. Creation of Zones- In particular how Hemp can be grown to help remediate brownfields, b. Licenses c. Revenues d. Enforcement 10. Equity and Justice Office with leads on Mobility, Cannabis, and Resiliency ( As opposed to a Department of Environment) – The city of Chicago is already primed to have a Chief Mobility officer, Their needs to be one for Cannabis and the Continuation of the Chief Resiliency Officer embedded in this office. (Medium) 11. Prioritize the Good Food Purchasing Policy in collaboration with Cook County and other State and private institutions including higher education, health care, judicial facilities, cultural institutions, and stadiums. (High) In 2017, the City of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Park District passed the Good Food Purchasing Program. The Good Food Purchasing Program is a framework that requires large institutions to direct their buying power toward five core values: local economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare, and nutrition. Currently, four agencies and five city departments have begun to implement the program, which covers nearly $300 million in food spending annually. 12. Direct Public Campaign on Environmental Justice issues targeted in African-American and Latino communities. (Medium) 13. Increase support for farmers markets to improve access to healthy foods, incubate emerging businesses, support business corridors, and build community. Farmers markets not only increase access to fresh produce and provide vibrant public spaces, but also serve as an entrepreneurial vehicle with the potential to grow businesses from cottage food operations to viable commercial enterprises. (High) 14. Close the OSIF (Open Space Impact Fee Loop Hole) Open Space Impact Fee Funds as a target for the transition. It’s wonderful program that helps fund many things we like in the environment. But it’s got giant loopholes that are abused. If it isn’t public you don’t get credit. Also an equity issue in that money is collected by community area and must be spent in that area. This leaves the west loop flush with cash and communities like Englewood and Woodlawn cash starved. (High) 445 N. SACRAMENTO BLVD, SUITE 204, CHICAGO, IL 60612 773–826–3240 WWW.NEIGHBOR-SPACE.ORG BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT Gia Biagi Studio Gang Architects VICE PRESIDENT Wyllys Mann Baird and Warner SECRETA RY Cathy Breitenbach TO: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot FROM: Ben Helphand, Executive Director, NeighborSpace and Gia Biagi, NeighborSpace Board President and Principal of Urbanism and Civic Impact at Studio Gang Our initiative: Creating and enhancing community gardens, neighborhood farms and natural areas, especially in underserved corners of the city, to drive environmental and neighborhood resiliency. Chicago Park District TREASURER ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cynthia A. Bergman Freeborn & Peters, LLC Walter Burnett, Jr. Alderman 27th Ward Commissioner Dennis Deer Forest Preserve District of Cook County Dr. Shemuel Israel North Lawndale Greening Committee Michael Kelly Chicago Park District Cynthia Moreno Forest Preserve District of Cook County Commissioner Julie Morita, M.D. Chicago Department of Public Health Arnold Randall Forest Preserve District of Cook County Christy Webber Christy Webber Landscapes Every global city from London to Paris to New York, puts green spaces at the center of communities and urban life. Chicago plays and competes on that world stage with its magnificent parks, preserves, community gardens and other open spaces. These spaces play a crucial role in making Chicago livable for all providing ecosystem services as well as a critical platform for community health and violence reduction. Within this universe of open space, we believe that the community-managed open spaces found across the city are key to Chicago’s future: the vegetable and flower gardens, natural areas, play gardens, and neighborhood farms created and maintained by and for communities. These places often fill gaps not filled by the tradition park and preserve systems. They are conceived of and led by neighbors, block clubs, churches and small nonprofits. In every neighborhood communitymanaged open spaces, led by a diverse local leadership, are uniquely positioned to provide block-based platforms for neighbors to contribute to environmental solutions while simultaneously growing community wellbeing. We propose that Chicago capture the full benefit of these communitymanaged spaces by creating and enhancing community gardens, neighborhood farms and natural areas, especially in underserved corners of the city, as tools for environmental and neighborhood resiliency. This will include stormwater retention and habitat preservation as well as violence reduction, community cohesion, increased nutrition and mental health, and job readiness. To achieve this neighborhood vision and unlock the potential of community-based environmental leadership we encourage the City to continue to invest in successful programs such as: ●   The not-for-profit urban land trust, NeighborSpace, created to support community groups across all neighborhoods in the city who adopt vacant city and private lots. ●   The Chicago Park District’s Gardens in the Parks program, which allows communities to organize vegetable and ornamental gardens. 445 N. SACRAMENTO BLVD, SUITE 204, CHICAGO, IL 60612 773–826–3240 WWW.NEIGHBOR-SPACE.ORG BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT Gia Biagi Studio Gang Architects VICE PRESIDENT Wyllys Mann Baird and Warner SECRETA RY Cathy Breitenbach Chicago Park District TREASURER Cynthia A. Bergman Freeborn & Peters, LLC Walter Burnett, Jr. Alderman 27th Ward Commissioner Dennis Deer Forest Preserve District of Cook County Dr. Shemuel Israel North Lawndale Greening Committee Michael Kelly Chicago Park District Cynthia Moreno Forest Preserve District of Cook County Commissioner Julie Morita, M.D. Chicago Department of Public Health Arnold Randall Forest Preserve District of Cook County Christy Webber Christy Webber Landscapes ●   Through CDOT neighbors can adopt streetscapes for beautification. NeighborSpace (NBSP) supports community spaces through property ownership, insurance, and access to water; educational, fundraising, and technical services. We support, community groups focus on gardening and building their vision of community, including producing food; creating nature, play, and art spaces; and safeguarding safe, healthy, and beautiful neighborhood environments. NBSP was founded in 1996 by a consortium that included the City of Chicago, Chicago Park District, Forest Preserve District of Cook County, and Openlands. We have grown steadily, 3-7 gardens/year, into a network of 115 protected spaces across the city, totaling nearly 27 acres. We recommend that the City of Chicago continue to invest in NBSP by extending for another 20 years the Intergovernmental Agreement which created the partnership. This will ensure long-term stability for more community spaces. Currently, the IGA expires in 2020. In the first 100 days of your administration, you can deliver immediate results by taking these specific actions on community open spaces: ●   Expanding the use of community managed open spaces as hubs for public health and safety: a) Encourage the Chicago Police Department to hold CAPS meetings at gardens b) Facilitate links between gardens and Chicago Public Schools service learning c) Forge deeper connections between gardens and health providers. ●   Providing limited and targeted material support to community gardens: a) Resume the practice of Streets and Sanitation delivering mulch to registered community gardens b) Provide greater clarity on how to access city water hydrants. ●   Increasing communication between community garden support organizations such as NBSP and the Chicago Community Garden Association and city inspectors in order to reduce onerous citations. In the first 1-2 years of your administration Chicago could dramatically increase the amount of permanent community open spaces in underserved neighborhoods by: ●   Finishing neighborhood farms, gardens and nature play spaces already underway in Back of the Yards, West Pullman, South Chicago and Austin. ●   Identifying and developing plans for 10-20 new projects from Hermosa to the East Side focusing on isolated communities not always identified in the usual openspace analysis. 445 N. SACRAMENTO BLVD, SUITE 204, CHICAGO, IL 60612 773–826–3240 WWW.NEIGHBOR-SPACE.ORG BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT Gia Biagi Studio Gang Architects VICE PRESIDENT Wyllys Mann Baird and Warner SECRETA RY Cathy Breitenbach Chicago Park District TREASURER Cynthia A. Bergman Freeborn & Peters, LLC Walter Burnett, Jr. As these projects unfold, Chicago should deepen and expand innovative partnerships in order to maximize environmental benefits: ●   EcoOrchard in Garfield Park: Both a stormwater landscape and community orchard created by the City, MWRD, NBSP and the Garfield Park Community Council. ●   The El Paseo Community Garden: Community-based stewardship of an urban trail and habitat corridor led by DPD, NBSP, CDOT and the El Paseo Community Garden. ●   The Englewood Village Farms: A project that has brought together the City, NBSP and Grow Greater Englewood to clean up and return a series of contaminated sites to full public benefit as a network of local urban farms. Alderman 27th Ward Commissioner Dennis Deer Forest Preserve District of Cook County Dr. Shemuel Israel North Lawndale Greening Committee Michael Kelly Chicago Park District Cynthia Moreno Forest Preserve District of Cook County Commissioner Julie Morita, M.D. Chicago Department of Public Health Arnold Randall Forest Preserve District of Cook County Christy Webber Christy Webber Landscapes In the next 2-4 years Chicago could take more steps to localize maintenance of public lands to create a deeper sense of place and, in some instances, increase neighborhood-based jobs. To achieve this vision the City should: ●   Reduce barriers (fees and permits) at multiple land holding agencies and departments to encourage community activation of unused public land. ●   Invest in local garden leadership, creating youth summer garden programs to build and maintain community managed spaces. ●   Develop permanent funding mechanisms for the neighborhood-based maintenance of community spaces. We are excited to work with your administration to deliver on your vision of putting communities first to build a healthier, greener, and more liveable Chicago. We firmly believe that investing in community open spaces will drive the neighborhood and environmental resiliency communities across Chicago need and deserve. To: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot and Environment Transition Committee From: Charles Matthews, President and CEO, Peoples Gas Dear Mayor-Elect Lightfoot, Thank you for the opportunity to submit this memo to you and your administration. We are firmly committed to supporting your administration’s objective to infuse our shared values of equity, transparency, accountability, diversity and inclusion, and transformation in our work. To that end, we hope this memo serves as a starting point as to how we can contribute to ensuring the long-term health and safety of Chicago’s resident’s, infrastructure, and environment. The Environmental and Economic Impact of Our System Modernization Program (SMP) At Peoples Gas, we have been on a multi-decade journey to replace and modernize Chicago’s natural gas infrastructure. The Peoples Gas SMP is an accelerated, comprehensive program to replace 2,000 miles of 100 year-old, deteriorating cast or ductile iron pipe and upgrade our low pressure natural gas delivery system to a medium pressure system. The city’s rusting cast and ductile iron pipes aren’t just old; they pose a risk. Gas explosions across the country – most recently outside Boston – highlight the threat of aging low-pressure gas distribution systems in cities like Chicago. We take many steps to mitigate these risks, but the only way to eliminate the exposure is to replace a technology from the 1800s. Since 2015, Peoples Gas’ new management has worked with the city of Chicago and organized labor to ensure program dollars are properly spent and the citizens of Chicago receive excellent customer service during the upgrade process. Since the program began, Peoples Gas has completed a quarter of the work touching every area of the city. Based on the company’s plan, the work will be completed between 2035 and 2040. Methane Reduction While many familiar with our SMP work know about its critical safety features, the facts surrounding the program’s significant environmental impact are lesser known. The EPA estimates older iron pipes leak at a rate 24 times higher than polyethylene pipes, so replacing them can significantly reduce methane emissions, which is 20 times as potent as CO2. Our modernization program deploys new state of the art methane detection equipment. By replacing deteriorating cast-iron pipe, which leaks heat trapping methane into the atmosphere, we will reduce methane emissions by over 200,000 metric tons over the course of the program. Economic Benefits of the System Modernization Program In addition to environmental and safety benefits, the SMP positively benefits the Illinois economy in many ways: • Jobs: The SMP provides nearly two thousand (2,000) family-sustaining jobs annually and is supported by several key labor organizations such as the Chicago Federation of Labor, Operating Engineers Local 150, the Chicago Laborers District Council, Pipefitters Local 597, the Teamsters and the Utility Workers Union of America – Gas Workers Union Local 18007 to name a few. • Supplier diversity: The SMP has resulted in over $297.8 million spent with diverseowned businesses in Illinois. • Utility Workers Military Assistance Program: As a result of the long-term work created by the SMP, Peoples Gas has placed more almost 400 military veterans into familysupporting careers as utility workers thanks to a training partnership with the Utility Workers Union of America Power 4 America Training Trust, the Utility Workers Local 18007, City Colleges of Chicago, and other local and state organizations. Training is provided through the Dawson Technical Institute – a satellite of Kennedy-King College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago. • Chicago Public Schools Utility Training Program: Introductions to careers in the utility industry open to 11th and 12th graders. This collaboration includes 4 CPS Schools, engaging students in site visits, career guidance, hands on training and an opportunity to participate in paid internships. Collaboration Going Forward The partnership between the City of Chicago and Peoples Gas supports the continuation of the SMP. In order to accomplish the goal of completing the upgrade of Chicago’s natural gas infrastructure, close coordination between the Chicago Department of Transportation, Department of Water Management, other infrastructure departments, and Peoples Gas must continue. We believe in the vision of improving Chicago’s infrastructure in a way that supports the values we share. Focus on Climate Urgency While Improving Environmental Health The following are ten recommendations to Mayor-elect Lightfoot’s Environment Transition Committee that will help mitigate climate change and enhance the livelihoods of Chicagoans. These recommendations express the Mayor-elect’s values of equity, transparency, accountability, diversity and inclusion, and transformation. • Follow through on campaign commitment to establish a Department of Environment. This new department must have buy-in from senior staff, a clearly articulated mandate—particularly around the enforcement of environmental protections—and dedicated resources. Related, formal training of the Mayor’s staff, the City Council and their staff, and appropriate city departments and agencies on civil rights and other applicable laws that impact the air, water, and land quality of Chicago and its region helps ensure that environmental considerations are understood and acted upon by the entire City of Chicago government. The department’s creation provides an ideal opportunity to set a new, inclusive approach to obtaining resident input on community projects and citywide initiatives. • Provide clear expectations that environmental considerations will be part of decision-making and budgeting at the Chicago Departments of Planning and Development, Transportation, and Water. Explicit, formal screens for population vulnerability, existing pollution burden, and impacts of proposed uses on air, water, and land quality should become standard practice. This information should be made accessible to the public. • Develop a comprehensive inventory of lead service lines and a plan that will identify and replace 100 percent of lead service lines by 2040 (if not sooner), prioritizing communities that are at high risk of lead exposure. A key challenge will be paying for these improvements. Among municipalities across the state and country, Chicago is not alone in trying to improve and maintain its water systems. The solution likely requires involvement by the State of Illinois (e.g., a revolving loan fund) and the Federal Government (e.g., tax credits) to ensure these improvements happen in a timely manner for all City of Chicago residents. • Publicly display dashboards with real-time air quality information online, in City Hall, and in community locations. Property from City or Sister Agencies, mobile technology, and youth can all play helpful roles in raising our awareness about air quality and what we can do to improve it. Similarly, and related to the recommendation above, more extensive testing and sharing publicly of water quality information is necessary. • Provide residents the ability to report and enforce odor and pollution violations via 311 City Services. This requires a novel engagement between the City of Chicago and its residents in the monitoring of community-level environmental quality and hazards. This can provide a new approach to raising resident and business community awareness of environmental issues, their associated costs, and ways to address them. • Designate a clear leader within the Administration to advance community solar projects across Chicago with an emphasis on prioritizing projects serving low-income ratepayers and hiring minority-owned firms. Community solar represents a new market for local developers, an opportunity to help residents build wealth, and an additional measure to improve the City’s resiliency. This initiative expands on the City of Chicago’s increasingly ambitious commitments recently adopted by the City Council to utilize clean energy sources for its own operations and buildings and helps broaden the benefits of solar energy to a more diverse set of communities. • Electrify the Chicago Transit Authority’s buses and system as soon as possible. This represents a helpful urban climate mitigation strategy and, as importantly, a way to directly improve the air quality and health outcomes of residents from lower bus emissions. With a strong equity analysis in its planning, CTA could prioritize electrifying first the routes where there is the highest incidence of asthma among residents. To minimize infrastructure improvement costs the City of Chicago should work closely with Regional Transit Authority, especially the Pace Suburban Bus and Pace Americans with Disability Act Paratransit. • Reinvigorate partnerships with Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, Chicago Park District, and Cook County government to implement an integrated water management strategy across city departments to reduce flooding and combined sewer overflows. The City of Chicago should prioritize using green infrastructure to meet stormwater management needs and take a leadership role in maintaining the region’s tree canopy. • Continue with the Greencorps Chicago program and expand partnerships with local universities, research institutions, and businesses to provide a broader range of employment opportunities and experiences. • Chicago has a global responsibility to be a good steward of the Great Lakes—one of the largest concentrations of freshwater in the world—and, therefore, the broader hydrological system that surrounds them. From preventing Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan to lowering nutrient run off in Lake Erie, among other critical issues, the City of Chicago stands to benefit immensely from leading locally, regionally, and globally by having the respective governments of the Great Lakes adopt and enforce the highest environmental standards to protect this increasingly overtaxed natural resource. The new Administration can consider an added role for World Business Chicago and new initiatives with business interests (e.g., restaurant and hospitality) to help adopt and implement higher standards and practices that improve Chicagoland’s air, water, and land quality. 2019 OPENLANDS ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY PLATFORM FOR CHICAGO Nature is vital to all people where they live. We know that parks, preserves, gardens, and tree-lined streets should be near to where we live, and no neighborhood should be left without them. The proof is abundant; we flood less, have cleaner air, suffer less from heat, have lower crime, children learn and play better. It’s what unites communities and makes them stronger and more resilient. The City’s environmental promise is the foundation for social and environmental justice in every community. It is woven through everything. The following recommendations are opportunities that bring to life what it is to be a “City in a Garden.” We will achieve this through programs that we know are successful (keepers), can be ramped up and inspire activity in neighborhoods across the city (one-year goals), and can “go viral” and light up the city and region through leadership, commitment, and innovation (longer-term). COMPREHENSIVE RECOMMENDATIONS. Regional leadership. Amplify the City’s role as a regional and global leader with strong integrated planning and holistic strategies by pursuing triple bottom line solutions that ensure social, economic and environmental benefits. Embrace the goal that a successful Chicago also means a successful region and vice versa. Work with adjacent counties and suburban municipalities to drive regional economies and resilience. (First year and on) One Chicago. The application of environmental equity should be seamless across the city. This can be done through implementing sustainable and nature-based practices that unite our city rather than divide it. Chicago’s rivers are a compelling metaphor if we think how they weave their way through our neighborhoods providing opportunities for local identity while maintaining city-wide (and federal) standards. (First year and on) SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS. (K = Keep; Y = Within First Year; and L = Long Term) 1. Establish a Department of the Environment. Y The head of the DOE should be a Cabinet-level position. L DOE should lead robust programs and enforcement to protect all Chicago residents from pollution, so they can breathe clean air, drink and recreate in clean water, and have fair access to our City’s resources. Y DOE staff should be integrated into and collaborate with all city departments, and tightly coordinate with other leading agencies, such as the Cook County Forest Preserves and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, to effectuate strong environmental policies, holistic approaches and systemsbased strategies across the board in all functions and operations. Y Reinstate Greencorps within DOE; create an inter-agency task force on maintaining green infrastructure. 2. Address Climate Change. Y Increase Chicago’s presence as a regional and global leader on climate change. L Climate change will affect all Chicagoans, but not equally. Update and energize strategies that unite the city, while allowing for neighborhoods to infuse their own identity into their selected approaches so that people maintain resilient systems well into the future. Y Design infrastructure and development to complement natural resources and agriculture and withstand climate change impacts. Implement climate-wise infrastructure of all types that are well sited, planned and constructed using the latest codes, standards, and practices for a resilient city and region. Y Review, and update if necessary, the “Chicago Climate Action Plan.” 3. Planning. Y Unleash the Department of Planning and Development to proactively and boldly plan. Y Reduce the reliance on developer-driven planning of public spaces and “privately owned public parks.” They lack city-wide vision and neighborhood sensitivity. Y All planning, at a minimum, should address issues of social and environmental justice, equity, resource allocation, healthy ecology, public access to sufficient open space, and ecosystem services. 4. Chicago Area Waterway System. K Adopt Mayor Emanuel’s Executive Order establishing the River Ecology Governance Task Force to unite agencies behind a common vision and implementation strategy for Chicago’s riverfronts to be clean, inviting, and accessible throughout the City. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. K Support the fact that the health, wellness, and operation of the Chicago Area Waterways is critical to the City, our region, and the world. Y Elevate Chicago’s rivers as a source of neighborhood identity and pride. Water Quality. L Partner with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, United States EPA and Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and non-profits on both smaller system-wide “retrofits” (such as fish hotels) and larger scale remediation and restoration initiatives to improve water quality and wildlife habitat throughout the Chicago Area Waterways so that our City’s waters are ultimately “fishable and swimmable.” Y Adopt a zero-tolerance policy to combined sewer overflows, integrating strong measures into its permit K Address lead contamination in drinking water. Y Systemize the use and common maintenance of green infrastructure (such as Space to Grow and expanding our urban tree canopy) to relieve chronic neighborhood flooding, reduce combined sewer overflows, and address water quality. Space To Grow. K Space to Grow engages residents, students, and school staff to reinvent schoolyards to reduce flooding and water pollution, improve how children learn, and provide vibrant neighborhood-driven park space. 15 Chicago public elementary schools are complete and are on-schedule to complete 34 by 2023. K Openlands in partnership with Healthy Schools Campaign lead the school-community planning with the MWRD, City Department of Water Management, and Chicago Public Schools as capital partners. Y Commit to taking Space to Grow city-wide. Support $250 million in the upcoming capital bill to renovate over a hundred neighborhood schools in flood prone areas throughout Chicago. L Continue work with the U.S. EPA to extend the reach of the program as a national model and collaborate with a growing number of global cities to replicate its approach. Trees and the Urban Forest. Y Place a moratorium on live tree cutting on City parkways (except hazardous trees). Y Establish an Urban Forestry Advisory Board by ordinance, with representatives from neighborhoods, organizations, and agencies concerned with and related to the health of Chicago’s urban forest. Y Maintain the moratorium on tree cutting until the Board adopts protective standards and practices. K Partner with organizations to plant more native trees. Y Ensure policies and actions support Chicago’s urban forest, recognizing that trees are critical to healthy beautiful neighborhoods, improving air quality and wildlife habitat, and reducing flooding, urban temperature and energy demands. K Participate in and provide leadership to the Chicago Region Trees Initiative. Y Establish a tree mitigation fund; create a heritage tree program; and add a Chief Forester to DOE. Green Jobs. Y Recognize and pursue both skilled and unskilled labor markets in respect to green jobs. L Green jobs are often seen as low skilled, low paying work. While this is an important component of workforce development, climate change solutions and mitigation will require training and development in a host of careers that require higher skill and education. L Green Jobs should focus on the community scale, neighborhood needs and promote local climate change mitigation and resilience initiatives. (Imagine a Greencorps Chicago team in every community!) Y Green jobs should focus on green infrastructure planning, design, implementation, and maintenance. Y Create an inter-agency taskforce to oversee maintenance needs and preservation of public green infrastructure—and, specifically, green schoolyards—that use green infrastructure elements. Parks & Public Lands. K Continue to follow the Park District Master Plan to accelerate placement of parks in community areas. Y Increase collaboration with the Chicago Park District, Forest Preserves of Cook County and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to expand and maintain parks and preserves throughout the City. K Work with non-profits to expedite and assist in land acquisition, restoration and trails work. As a land trust, Openlands has a long history of working with the City and Park District on land acquisition for parks, community gardens and other open space initiatives. It also managed the restoration of over 1,200 acres of natural lands as successful Army Corps “O’Hare Modernization and Mitigation” projects. K Continue the Mayor’s Nature and Wildlife Committee. (312) 454-1340 MEETS 1st THURSDAY NIGHT OF EACH MONTH FAX (312) 454-1528 international nf {Elntriml markers LOCAL NUMBER 134 2722 SOUTH DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DRIVE From: Donald Finn IBEW 134 Chicago To: Environment Transition Committee Date: April 15, 2019 Objective: Increase energy efficiency and use of renewable energy source Potential Initiative To provide Chicago with the most innovative environmental legislation and initiatives by inserting and implementing our visionary ideas onto paper and into practice. Equity, Transparency, Accountability, Diversity 8: Inclusion, Transformation To build capacity in every community, Chicago Environment should embrace the concept of environmental justice, the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people?regardless of race, ethnicity, and income or education level? in environmental decision-making. The ultimate goal is to ensure that the places where we live, play, learn and work are safe and healthy, and we want Chicago citizens to be active participants in making that goal a reality. Education will be the key to engaging people in the Chicago communities. Chicago Environment should invest in a broad school education program, offering free field trips, assemblies, classroom presentations, and teaching materials to all City schools. In addition, promote and encourage regional renewable energy manufacturing which would result good paying careers and employment opportunities for Chicago communities. What is happening today that we need to keep Implementation of City of Chicago R2019-1S7 resolution Support for Implementation of Clean Energy Transition Plan. This resolution aligns itself with Illinois Clean Energy Act (which will put the state on a path toward 100 percent clean energy by 2050) by committing to run Chicago on 100 percent renewable energy by the year 2040. This resolution: 0 Develop a transition plan by December 2020; 0 Chicago will power all of its buildings with renewable energy by 2035; CTA plan to convert its 1,850 buses to electric power by the year 2040 Plan will address issues which includes providing benefits for residents who switch to clean energy providers; Engaging communities and community leaders to make sure the residents' needs and concerns are heard; Making sure environmental and public health policies recognize communities of color and low-income communities; and promoting eco-friendly and accessible forms of transportation. Implement in next 100 days To identify and put forth committees to promote environmental policy and potential legislation on the following environmental topics: Energy renewable energy; energy storage and energy efficiency Transportation Zero waste Toxics and health Buildings and environments Education Climate change Plan for longer-term implementation Development and implementation of a centralized City of Chicago Municipal Environment Code, which would outline required environmental codes that will make Chicago a cleaner and safer place to live into one document. This Environmental Code would address such topics as listed below and this is not an all-inclusive list: Pertinent code definitions Permitting and plan review process Energy efficiency Renewable energy Energy storage Electric vehicles and other transportation types LEED Certification Water conservation Potential Challenges Engaging with and the participation of Chicago businesses and residents Education on all levels Financial costs In closing, IBEW 134 is honored to be included on Mayor-Elect Lightfoot?s Environment Transition Committee. The electrical trade plays a crucial role in education and training of energy efficiency and use of renewable energy and energy storage. IBEW 134 have a vision and game plan on these issues and will be able to contribute greatly. We look forward to this opportunity and working closely with Mayor-Elect Lightfoot on this matter. Donald Finn A r; [la/?LL, Business Manager/Financial Secretary Local 134 memorandum to: from: mayor elect lori lightfoot danielle k. perry environment transition committee subject: recommendations date: April 15, 2019 CC: environment transition committee Chicago can and should be a global leader in urban sustainability. I believe it is very important to consider plans that address arts and culture, business, economic and neighborhood development, education, environment, public health, public safety and police accountability, housing, transportation and infrastructure, good governance, and youth. However, the most effective way to accomplish transformation change in these areas is to create an overarching sustainability plan. A sustainability plan will establish goals to make Chicago one of the greenest and most livable cities in America. This plan would include the promotion of progressive legislation around the environment, transportation, waste, food and water that will improve the overall economy, public health, and climate. An overarching sustainability plan will also help to promote our values of equity, transparency, accountability, diversity and inclusion and transformation. Other cities such as New York City and Washington, DC have sustainability plans that have made them leaders nationally. The best example of the need for a sustainability planning is where the food in our city is grown and purchased. Food in some places in this city can be hard to find. You can drive miles in the South and West side of Chicago without finding a grocery store or place to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. Like most cities around this country, food is transported into the city. Further, there are serious implications of climate change for food security and impacts of climate change on crop and livestock production. Considering all these factors, the price of food will likely increase overtime as the demand increases and the supply decreases. Therefore, we should embrace urban agriculture and the promotion of innovative land uses immediately. Promoting the production of food in Chicago will help to lower the emissions from the reduction of transporting food into Chicago and the emerging green economy provides opportunities for food to be produced in food insecure communities, the creation of green jobs/careers, and energy saving from the cost of refrigeration. Currently, Chicago’s urban agriculture policies are quite restrictive. In the short term, focus on creating policies that allow for innovative uses of land and the ability to sell any produce created on that land. Other major cities have urban land lease programs that encourage the free lease of land by the city for multiple years to be used for the growing and/or selling of produce. Additionally, consider expanding the policies around the rules for community gardens and urban farms to allow for an increase in production and selling. Finally, longer-term, support the elimination of major challenges to urban agriculture such as land access, community education and engagement, and barriers to production. To: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot From: Doug Widener Issue: Increase energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources Date: April 15, 2019 ____________________________________________________________________________________ To advance this initiative: To date, the City of Chicago has developed and implemented several policies and plans that address energy efficiency and renewable energy. In identifying additional initiatives related to energy efficiency for the new administration to address and advance, a recommended first step is a comprehensive assessment of current initiatives to determine implementation status and a quantification of current outcomes to date. From this lens, the City will be able to identify action areas that are working or delivering intended results, those that are working but that need expanded, and, importantly, action areas that aren’t being addressed that need further attention as well as communities that need further focus in order to benefit from the policy/initiative. In addition, several of these existing energy efficiency/renewable energy policies are ripe for expansion to increase their impact and benefit to the City and its residents, either by extending the existing program to a wider demographic or audience or replicating it in other communities or settings. Some of Chicago’s existing policies and plans that are ripe for such analysis and potential expansion include: Energy benchmarking ordinance - A program to identify energy usage in commercial buildings and assign scores and ratings based on efficiency. Scores are due annually and are disclosed in the building publicly and upon intention of building sale or lease. Recommended Analysis – Upon submission of 2019 building data (due June 1, 2019), analyze and publish impact data and energy scores as appropriate. Determine percentage of buildings that achieved improved efficiency over past years and baselines, and how these efficiencies were achieved. Analyze results and impacts by building type, owner type, square footage, location, and other necessary variables to determine which building types, owner types, locations, etc. are improving energy efficiency (and how) and which aren’t. This will allow for the identification of gaps for further programs and resources to address certain building sectors or areas of the City in need of more attention, while also identifying sectors or owner types with replicable models that can be reproduced and scaled to other locations or building types. Potential Expansion – Develop deeper connections between energy efficiency financing programs and educational resources (including building and efficiency professionals) and building owners/managers to facilitate greater percentage of buildings engaging in efficiency upgrades and/or tenant engagement programs to increase efficiency. Provide more assistance to certain building types and neighborhoods that lack the resources or training to implement comprehensive efficiency upgrades (e.g. expand Illinois Green Alliance/AIA Chicago, ASHRAE Chicago benchmark mentorship program). Utilize mentorship and train-the-trainer models to transfer necessary skills to more persons and communities. Sustainable development policy and checklist - A checklist (Green Matrix) of sustainable development priorities that developers must achieve for City-assisted projects, new planned developments and amendments, and site plan approvals and amendments. Recommended Analysis – Determine the number of projects that have achieved energy efficiency related checklist items and correlate to actual efficiencies once built. Determine the percentage of total projects that pursue these check list items and how. Analyze and increase incentivization to encourage more projects to include energy related check-list items. Disseminate best practices from successful projects so that more adopt their successful strategies. Potential Expansion – Apply this checklist approach more broadly to all new building projects over a certain sq. ft. minimum or project/building type (e.g. commercial, mixed-use, etc.). LEED (or similar) green building certification commitment - Currently the City of Chicago builds (or renovates) all city buildings to LEED Silver standards and incentivizes the public sector to develop to LEED (or similar) standards through the Green (expedited) Permit Program and the City’s sustainable develop policy and related Green Matrix (see above). Recommended Analysis – The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) provides all LEED certified projects access to online analysis tools through its ARC data platform. Through this tool, analyze existing LEED projects to determine the number of City and private LEED projects in Chicago that have achieved high levels of LEED energy-related credits to better understand how many projects in the city are pursuing these credits versus other credit areas; correlate these projects to those that are reporting energy data through the energy benchmarking ordinance to determine connection between project certification and performance; and analyze performance related to level of LEED certification/number of LEED energy credits achieved. Potential Expansion – Further incentivize projects pursuing LEED certification to prioritize energyefficiency related credits. In addition to Green Permit and Green Matrix, require LEED certification (or similar) for all new private sector construction projects over a certain square footage or of a specific type (e.g. commercial, mixed use). Existing Buildings: Utilize the LEED for Existing Buildings rating system on currently LEED certified City buildings to gain full advantage of ongoing performance benefits of LEED certification. Incentivize LEED for Existing Buildings certification in the private sector as a part of the Energy Benchmarking program’s tracking and performance requirements. BauerLatoza S T U DI O ARCHITECTURE + PLANNING April 15, 2019 TO: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot FROM: Edward I. Torrez, AIA, LEED AP Committee Member RE: Environmental Transition Committee Initiatives I am honored to have been asked to join your Transition Committee along with other experts and qualified professionals related to improving our environment. I selected to respond to the initiative that involves increasing our efficiencies in energy use while expanding our renewable energy resources. Due to my profession working on the built environment, mainly buildings, which tends to be the largest consumer of energy use. As an architect who deals with a lot building renovations, I see firsthand how improving the performance of existing systems and the addition of renewable resources, can make a difference in improving efficiency. Initiative: Increase the energy efficiency and conservation measures while expanding renewable energy resources to all properties & buildings in the City of Chicago. How can Lighfoot’s administration infuse the transformation in this initiative? Current Program & Policy: The City of Chicago is one of the global leaders in the implementation of green roofs on buildings and the number of LEED certified projects. There more than 500 green roofs installed in the city totaling to almost 6 million square feet of roof area. There are also over 500 projects that are LEED certified totaling over 180 million square feet of developed properties. These accomplishments are due to policies developed by the city such at the Chicago Sustainable Development Policy which was updated a couple of years ago by a group of energy experts and public input. The updated policy now allows developers to choose from a variety of strategies and approaches tailored to projects with specific circumstances and needs. The strategies are based on a point system with required goals for each anticipated level. LEED certified projects are geared to have a holistic approach to sustainability which leads to more of a comprehensive view on various aspects of proposed projects. The city currently has two paths for developers to choose from with strategies related to points listed on a menu. I believe the City should keep and maintain these type of initiatives for projects involving redevelopment, new development, planned development and site plans. 100-Day Goal: We need to implement within the next 100 days to review how these and other sustainable policies sync up with the new Energy Code and the recent Modernized Municipal Code that was recently adopted by City Council. I served on the Existing Buildings Committee for the Chicago Building Code Modernization program and aware of possible elements of the code that may affect the current Sustain Sustainable Development Policy (revised in 2017). Since the Modernized Code has been completed and adopted, it may be possible to review and confirm its implication on the Policy in a quick manner through the use of previous networks utilized by the city for the modernization of the building code. Long-term Goal: Existing buildings are still the highest consumption of energy use. A suggested long-term goal for implementation could be focusing more on the metrics of energy efficiencies and conservation. The LEED certification program works well in determining the whole aspect of sustainable design and programs. However, a introducing a program specifically focused on increasing Energy Conservation Measures (ECM’s) in existing buildings would increase the reduction of energy use (and waste) by monitoring operations and consumption of existing systems. The result of this initiative could be reducing the existing consumption of energy used by our buildings. The cost of this program could be offset by a net costs savings of building owners. This program would need time to develop to utilize its full potential. Challenges: Short-term (100 days) goal would require recruiting a group of professionals to volunteer to review the modernized municipal code against the sustainable policies and programs the city offers. This would need to be volunteers (perhaps some of the same group from the Code Modernization program) who would be able to do it in a short amount of time. Long-term challenges would include how the program is implemented and paid for. How does the City create incentives for building owners to invest in this program with no guarantees that reduction of energy costs can be achieved? This will be a challenge as I believe funding for this type of program would need to be created. The above proposed initiatives could begin to assist you, Mayor-elect Lightfoot, to increase energy efficiencies in many buildings in the city of Chicago. We can continue to be the global leader in sustainability practices and implementation. We could be the leader with enhanced policies and programs that reduce energy consumption and expand our use sustainable energy resources! Sincerely, Edward I. Torrez, AIA, LEED AP Bauer Latoza Studio BauerLatoza S T U DI O TO: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot FROM: Ernest C. Wong, site design group, ltd., Environment Transition Committee Member Water is Chicago’s greatest asset, and probably the thing we take most for granted. Others envy our city's proximity to Lake Michigan and numerous other waterways, yet our system of delivering water, managing our stormwater, and sewage control are antiquated or mismanaged. The system suffers from a lack of funding and a strategic plan to address these issues. From the big picture of our natural resources and access to them, Lake Michigan should be accessible to all Chicagoans. For the most part, this is true, with the exceptions of areas to the north (e.g. Rogers Park) and south (e.g. South Shore). The new bridges across Lake Shore Drive have helped, but more should be done. The revetment plan developed by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers about ten years ago has helped with direct access to the lake edge, as have some of the recent harbor improvement projects (but they certainly divide boaters from non-boaters). The Chicago Park District continues to plan for more access, and they should be supported in their efforts. The Chicago River is another story. With the successes of the Downtown Riverwalk and continued efforts to clean the river, recent attention has been driven by The 78 and Lincoln Yards projects. Both of these developments have the potential to formulate efforts for both access and improved edges along the Chicago River. The recent update of the Chicago River Guidelines by the Department of Planning and Development will assist efforts moving forward, but for the Chicago River to realize its full potential, it will take years of funding and education. Groups like the Friends of the Chicago River continue to make a difference, but need more bandwidth to grow their efforts. There is also a relationship between the Chicago River and some of Chicago’s homeless population, therefore finding a solution that can benefit two critical issues facing the city would be instrumental. The recently formulated River Ecology and Governance Task Force, along with the Metropolitan Planning Council’s Great Rivers Initiative, has potential to generate data to move improvements forward, and a more significant Strategic Plan for the entire river system could prioritize improvement efforts. Stormwater Management in Chicago has been improving since the onset of the Stormwater Ordinance in 2009. The 2004 Chicago Sustainable Development Policy was updated in 2017, adding to the rigor of the city’s policies. The Space to Grow program, led by the Healthy Schools Campaign and Openlands in collaboration with Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the Chicago Department of Water Management (DWM), and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), has been instrumental in transforming asphalt schoolyards into healthy open spaces that reduce neighborhood flooding. This program has received national acclaim and should not only continue, but also expand across the city. With the anticipation of more frequent and larger rain/snow events due to climate change, Chicago needs to brace for more severe weather. How we deal with these increased events will depend on the agility and responsiveness of city’s departments, such as Streets and Sanitation, the Department of Human Services, and even nonprofit partners who are prepared to react to these events. The efficiency of these city agencies should be scrutinized for their effectiveness, staffing, and controls, alongside smart technology to quickly provide data for resourceful decision-making. One immediate action going into the 2019-2020 winter season is to STOP SALTING our streets and sidewalks. The use of salt as a de-icer for our streets and sidewalks kills all plant life within proximity, pollutes our waterways, rusts our cars, destroys our pavements, and hurts our four-legged pets. Even Alaska is going towards a sand solution for keeping their roads safe. Understanding the city’s utility system, from water mains to sewer lines, electrical, gas, and even cable is essential to providing a strategic plan for updating and improving the city’s underground infrastructure. The Office of Underground Coordination (OUC) is the key to creating a systematic plan to strengthen the city’s utilities. This is an opportunity for “smart infrastructure” that provides for the future. From an energy-efficient position as well as quality of life and health concerns, the city should continue the switch from metal-halide lighting to LED systems. There is also a growing concern about the lack of independent testing of the radiation levels from the new 5G towers. I have always advocated for more walkable and pedestrian-oriented streets, such as shared streets (e.g. Argyle Avenue and Prairie Avenue at McCormick Square), and incentive programs for walking or biking (e.g., discounts on utility bills based on miles logged per month). It’s not quite Pokemon Go, but it sure would get folks out and about on foot. In terms of the recycling agenda, the hallmark of success is the ability to educate the public on policies, agendas, and ideas. One of the biggest failures in recycling has been the lack of education for the general public (including myself) on what and how to recycle. Putting out blue recycling containers does not clearly tell people what is recyclable and what is not. If we’re going to make recycling a priority, we need to better educate our citizens on what to recycle and how. The best messaging, though expensive, is through commercials. We spent enough on the electoral campaign; we should also spend some on the recycling agenda. Equity, transparency, accountability, diversity, and inclusion start from outreach. There are community leaders on the south and west sides that are promoting environmental responsibility as a means of improving their neighborhoods, but jobs and opportunity must arise from these efforts as well. With groups such as Green Corps, the Student Conservation Association, and others providing conservation leadership training, various opportunities partnering with local youth groups can make environmental stewardship “a thing” that is compelling. Like anything else, it’s all about money and time. Positioning Chicago as a leader in sustainability and climate change will require tremendous effort in both government and the private sector. Reinstating the Department of Environment (DOE) is a huge step in this effort. As many from the prior DOE have gone on to stardom in other cities (e.g., Sadhu Johnston, City Manager of Vancouver, Sam Assefa, Director of Planning with the City of Seattle, etc.), the stars we still have here have enough institutional knowledge to capture the lessons learned and provide advice for the future (e.g., Commissioner David Reynolds – 2FM and former Commissioner Suzanne Malec-McKenna). Certainly, leadership in this arena requires metrics and goals, but the aspiration for greatness can lead to Chicago being the model for other cities globally. Ernest C. Wong, fASLA, APA Founding Principal, site Focus on Climate Urgency While Improving Environmental Health The following are ten recommendations to Mayor-elect Lightfoot’s Environment Transition Committee that will help mitigate climate change and enhance the livelihoods of Chicagoans. These recommendations express the Mayor-elect’s values of equity, transparency, accountability, diversity and inclusion, and transformation. • Follow through on campaign commitment to establish a Department of Environment. This new department must have buy-in from senior staff, a clearly articulated mandate—particularly around the enforcement of environmental protections—and dedicated resources. Related, formal training of the Mayor’s staff, the City Council and their staff, and appropriate city departments and agencies on civil rights and other applicable laws that impact the air, water, and land quality of Chicago and its region helps ensure that environmental considerations are understood and acted upon by the entire City of Chicago government. The department’s creation provides an ideal opportunity to set a new, inclusive approach to obtaining resident input on community projects and citywide initiatives. • Provide clear expectations that environmental considerations will be part of decision-making and budgeting at the Chicago Departments of Planning and Development, Transportation, and Water. Explicit, formal screens for population vulnerability, existing pollution burden, and impacts of proposed uses on air, water, and land quality should become standard practice. This information should be made accessible to the public. • Develop a comprehensive inventory of lead service lines and a plan that will identify and replace 100 percent of lead service lines by 2040 (if not sooner), prioritizing communities that are at high risk of lead exposure. A key challenge will be paying for these improvements. Among municipalities across the state and country, Chicago is not alone in trying to improve and maintain its water systems. The solution likely requires involvement by the State of Illinois (e.g., a revolving loan fund) and the Federal Government (e.g., tax credits) to ensure these improvements happen in a timely manner for all City of Chicago residents. • Publicly display dashboards with real-time air quality information online, in City Hall, and in community locations. Property from City or Sister Agencies, mobile technology, and youth can all play helpful roles in raising our awareness about air quality and what we can do to improve it. Similarly, and related to the recommendation above, more extensive testing and sharing publicly of water quality information is necessary. • Provide residents the ability to report and enforce odor and pollution violations via 311 City Services. This requires a novel engagement between the City of Chicago and its residents in the monitoring of community-level environmental quality and hazards. This can provide a new approach to raising resident and business community awareness of environmental issues, their associated costs, and ways to address them. • Designate a clear leader within the Administration to advance community solar projects across Chicago with an emphasis on prioritizing projects serving low-income ratepayers and hiring minority-owned firms. Community solar represents a new market for local developers, an opportunity to help residents build wealth, and an additional measure to improve the City’s resiliency. This initiative expands on the City of Chicago’s increasingly ambitious commitments recently adopted by the City Council to utilize clean energy sources for its own operations and buildings and helps broaden the benefits of solar energy to a more diverse set of communities. • Electrify the Chicago Transit Authority’s buses and system as soon as possible. This represents a helpful urban climate mitigation strategy and, as importantly, a way to directly improve the air quality and health outcomes of residents from lower bus emissions. With a strong equity analysis in its planning, CTA could prioritize electrifying first the routes where there is the highest incidence of asthma among residents. To minimize infrastructure improvement costs the City of Chicago should work closely with Regional Transit Authority, especially the Pace Suburban Bus and Pace Americans with Disability Act Paratransit. • Reinvigorate partnerships with Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, Chicago Park District, and Cook County government to implement an integrated water management strategy across city departments to reduce flooding and combined sewer overflows. The City of Chicago should prioritize using green infrastructure to meet stormwater management needs and take a leadership role in maintaining the region’s tree canopy. • Continue with the Greencorps Chicago program and expand partnerships with local universities, research institutions, and businesses to provide a broader range of employment opportunities and experiences. • Chicago has a global responsibility to be a good steward of the Great Lakes—one of the largest concentrations of freshwater in the world—and, therefore, the broader hydrological system that surrounds them. From preventing Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan to lowering nutrient run off in Lake Erie, among other critical issues, the City of Chicago stands to benefit immensely from leading locally, regionally, and globally by having the respective governments of the Great Lakes adopt and enforce the highest environmental standards to protect this increasingly overtaxed natural resource. The new Administration can consider an added role for World Business Chicago and new initiatives with business interests (e.g., restaurant and hospitality) to help adopt and implement higher standards and practices that improve Chicagoland’s air, water, and land quality. MEMORANDUM TO: FROM: DATE: RE: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot Grace Troccolo Rink, LEED AP BD+C President and CEO, Quercus Consulting April 15, 2019 Transition Committee on the Environment Your commitment to environmental responsibility and action is inspiring, and it is an honor to contribute to the transition team. Your values of equity, transparency, accountability, diversity and inclusion, and transformation are crucial to progress on environmental issues. The actions and initiatives described herein would materialize these values for all Chicagoans. Global climate change demands global behavior change, the greatest challenge to a sustainable future. Data-driven and fact-based policies, brought to life through engaging programs and dynamic communications, should form the foundation of the City’s renewed focus on the environment. Immediate Actions  Locate the new Department of Environment office in an environmental justice community.  Increase inspections and make enforcement “Job 1” of the new department, and simplify the process for residents to report concerns.  Expand Greencorps Chicago to train more job seekers in a wider variety of green careers, and promote hiring of job training program graduates through City contract requirements.  Facilitate the development of more community gardens, urban agriculture sites, green infrastructure, and opportunities for natural areas stewardship.  Revive the Mayor’s Landscape Awards and create other recognition programs to celebrate the individuals, organizations, and businesses who contribute to environmental sustainability. Initiative 1: Protect Lake Michigan water quality and ensure access to clean, safe water What is happening today that we need to keep Despite the growing concern about lead in water, the public generally trusts the municipal supply. Additionally, the Dept. of Planning & Development’s Resilient Corridors project is an excellent example of a community-supported response to increased storm impacts. What we need to implement in the next 100 days Water Access: The Dept. of Water Management (DWM) should consider mandating the installation of meters on all buildings, which reduces consumption, and confirm that construction projects are being billed accurately for their water use, including City projects and, if not, remedy the situation within six months. Blanket subsidies, whether purposeful (exempting non-profits), or by omission (under-charging construction projects), increase costs for all paying customers and should be reviewed. Other account management errors that have been exposed by the media should be addressed immediately and before any customers are shut off or threatened with collection notices. DWM’s current billing structure couples this essential, life-giving resource to payment of the City’s pension debt. New policies should lead to a debt forgiveness program and a rate structure that allows vulnerable households to pay only for their water/sewer use, not taxes unrelated to water consumption. MEASURE. INNOVATE. GROW. QUERCUS CONSULTING WWW.QUERCUSCONSULT.COM (312) 622-6265 INFO@QUERCUSCONSULT.COM Water Quality: Lead test results are available on DWM’s website, but the interface is not searchable or mapped. Interactive maps of test results, including at schools and construction sites, should be available on the web, and the City should increase outreach in neighborhoods with low testing rates. Results of these studies should drive policy and may lead to the development of a fund to assist owners to obtain filtration systems, or to line or replace corroded pipes on their property. Protect Lake Michigan: Our water supply is vulnerable to climate change and the City’s leadership is crucial to its protection. Agricultural activities, invasive species, and lax federal oversight of polluting industries degrade lake water quality, while water-stressed areas nationwide clamor for access to the Great Lakes basin. The City should assert an active role in the Alliance for the Great Lakes, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Cities Initiative and other regional collaborations, and advocate for enforcement of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and the Clean Water Act. What we can plan for longer-term implementation and challenges we might encounter This region is accustomed to water that is abundant and inexpensive, therefore convincing the private sector and the general public to support conservation efforts will require consistency and creativity. Raising awareness of issues facing our water supply while implementing policies and offering programs that help consumers will result in a more protective and resilient city. Initiative 2: Increase access to energy efficiency funding for residents and small business What is happening today that we need to keep Reporting through the City’s Energy Benchmarking Ordinance appears to show a significant reduction in energy use by the large buildings required to report. What we need to implement in the next 100 days The greatest challenge facing energy reduction is making it affordable for residents, small businesses, and neighborhood institutions. The utilities collect millions of dollars from customers to fund energy efficiency programs, but most ratepayers receive no direct benefit from their payments. Replacing appliances and heating/cooling equipment costs thousands of dollars, but current rebates cover barely 10 percent of the equipment cost alone, without installation, therefore only high income households and large corporations can afford to participate. In the first 100 days, the Mayor should call for greater transparency from the utilities to demonstrate how and where the incentive funding is being spent, and to offer incentives that make energy reduction projects affordable to more customers. Increasing the City’s engagement with these programs could be very beneficial for all Chicagoans. What we can plan for longer-term implementation and challenges we might encounter State regulations governing the utility incentive programs grant complete control over program design to the utilities and do not require equitable distribution. Transparency is a request, not a requirement. The City also should assert region-wide leadership to renegotiate the franchise agreements which depress the incentive to increase efficiency in many municipal facilities. To further reduce energy costs, the City should promote community solar subscriptions, possibly joining the Solarize Chicagoland program or developing its own group-buying program to make solar energy affordable to residents and small business. The Ground Mount Solar procurement effort should be completed as soon as possible, and the City should consider securing a Power Purchase Agreement or Solar Service Agreement for distributed generation solar on its facilities. Lake County, Illinois recently issued such a bid which could serve as a model. 2 TO: Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot FROM: Joel Brammeier, President & CEO OBJECTIVE: Ensure everyone has access to clean, safe water and that our rivers and lakes are sustained for future generations. RECOMMENDATION: The ​Clean Water For Chicagoans ​initiative will implement integrated water management through an equity lens to ensure all Chicagoans have clean and safe water for drinking & recreation, and are protected from flooding and basement backups of sewage. This will express the mayor’s values of: ​Transparency: ​Shares and discusses publicly all available data on the water stresses being experienced by Chicagoans, which has been obscured by prior administrations. ​Equity: Water rates address the needs of people at widely varying income/wealth levels. Planning, zoning and implementation decisions take into account population vulnerability and existing pollution burdens. Accountability: ​City departments align behind the Mayor’s vision of clean water for all Chicagoans with clear authority from Mayor’s staff; city department leaders listen and report directly to residents on water data. Diversity and Inclusion: ​Stakeholder technical experts and neighborhood voices are fully included in interagency planning and implementation. Chicago pursues an inclusive workforce effort and departments are accountable to the Mayor’s office. ​Transformation: ​Chicago moves to the cutting edge of water management in the Great Lakes region and aligns with transformative efforts in Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia. Summary: ​Mayor Lightfoot should 1) ensure Chicagoans are receiving clear and equitable benefits, and efficient services, for dollars spent on water; 2) protect the quality of Lake Michigan and Chicago’s rivers; 3) position Chicago as a regional leader in taking on the massive water infrastructure challenge facing Great Lakes cities; and 4) demonstrate to potential investors and residents that the city’s water is secure, affordable and attractive. Keep Mayor Lightfoot should commit to realizing the ​Great Rivers Chicago vision​. Voice support to Governor Pritzker for ​construction at Brandon Road Lock and Dam​ of protections against the movement of Asian carp into Chicago’s rivers and Lake Michigan. Maintain the Health In All Policies (HIAP) task force. First 100 Days Reconstitute the Department of Environment focused on regulatory and zoning enforcement, natural resource management and advancing the city’s transition to 100% clean energy. Create a new position in the Mayor’s office empowered to lead coordination of all water planning and implementation activities. This person will 150 N. Michigan Ave. • Suite 700 • Chicago, Illinois 60601 • (312) 939-0838 • alliance@greatlakes.org • www.greatlakes.org Buffalo • Chicago • Cleveland • Detroit • Milwaukee convene sessions with the departments of Transportation, Streets and Sanitation, Planning, Environment, Water, Public Health, and community stakeholders, to produce a strategy and metrics for integrating water infrastructure construction and maintenance across all departments. This includes identifying a home agency for the Green Infrastructure (GI) Strategy. To create space for planning, place a moratorium on non-essential water infrastructure work for the first 100 days and immediately stop paving over previously installed GI projects. Create a plan for releasing all existing city-owned data on basement backups of sewage, flood risk, combined sewer overflows (CSOs), and lead service line (LSL) locations to the people of Chicago. Research and report on 1) water services affordability options including assistance and equitable rate structures; 2) integrating city construction practices using a “dig once” approach; 3) evaluating population vulnerability to pollution; and 4) inclusive and diversified workforce policies, following models developed in ​Buffalo​ and Columbus. To assure immediate pollution prevention and water equity gains, place a moratorium on the approval process of river industrial corridor modernization plans, avoid grandfathering of existing polluting facilities and place a moratorium on drinking water service shutoffs. Create a Chicago Environmental Justice working group, and improve the HIAP task force by expanding the community engagement capacity of DPH. Revitalize Chicago’s leadership in the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, starting with personally attending its June 4-6, 2019 conference in Sheboygan, WI. Use this network to create a powerful advocacy platform for new federal investment in water infrastructure via loans, construction grants, water affordability assistance programs and incentives for private investment in sustainable clean water infrastructure. Communicate Mayor Lightfoot’s support for the Brandon Road Lock and Dam project to her fellow mayors. First Year and First Term In 2019, the interagency collaborative should host a series of public listening sessions in Chicago neighborhoods affected by water stress with department directors present. Use these meetings to share data on basement backups, LSL presence, flood risk and CSO locations. Inventory LSL presence citywide.​ ​Create a plan for equitable water rates, following recommendations from research during first 100 days, in such a way that is sufficient to pay for the long-term integrity of the water system and protect low-income residents. Commit to eliminate use of water bills to pay for any other city service or debt/pension obligation after the 2017-20 tax expires. The city must simply comply with current CSO permit requirements and review/revise the existing GI Strategy to directly address CSO reduction obligations and long-term GI maintenance needs at a citywide scale. This should be done jointly with MWRD via a transparent MOU. The Mayor should create and begin implementing a LSL replacement plan to eliminate LSLs by 2040 and prioritize neighborhoods with the highest level of lead exposure. To equitably advance river industrial corridor modernization plans, use zoning overlays that include environmental justice indicators such as ​those developed by the Tishman Center and NRDC​. Mayor Lightfoot should lead and advance advocacy for federal water infrastructure investment throughout her term. Likely Challenges As with any large-scale infrastructure effort, bringing safe and clean water to all Chicagoans will not be inexpensive: both costs and benefits will unfold over years and decades. The strategy relies on leadership and collaboration from multiple city departments and allies such as MWRD collaborating to realize the Mayor’s vision, and this will be a management challenge. Public release of city data on water stresses and liabilities may engender criticism on why these problems were not addressed head-on earlier, and may raise concerns over property values. However, a strong commitment to the mayor’s values and transparent communication with stakeholders will support a transformative effort to establish Chicago as a clean water leader for all residents. TO: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot via FR: Joyce Coffee, president, Climate Resilience Consulting RE: Position Chicago as a local and regional leader on climate change – Environment Transition Committee DT: April 15, 2019 What is happening today that we need to keep: We have no time to waste on decreasing greenhouse gas emissions to save lives and improve livelihoods, thus increasing the efficacy of our climate resilience actions. For assets the City of Chicago owns, one of the swiftest, most efficient ways to decrease our carbon footprint is to purchase renewable energy credits in the near-term while planning for mid-term investment in renewable energy developments that foster jobs, air quality improvement, resiliency and economic vitality. The City should fulfill its commitment to power public buildings with 100% renewable energy by 2025 and meet demands of the Renewable Chicago city/stakeholder working group. Its intent is to create a renewable energy transition that centrally positions social equity and environmental justice within cost-conscious energy supply arrangements to provide maximum benefit to Chicagoans. Illustrative immediate next steps: - Continued development of a robust database of City facilities including energy consumption and cost data to facilitate maximum monitoring and planning for energy efficiency and renewable energy investments at City-owned assets (carbon footprint related). - Continued exploration of innovative energy procurement strategies through the active RFI for Municipal Electricity Supply and the Chicago Solar Ground Mount Project that is underway and will inform a fiveyear renewable energy transition plan. - Negotiating emergent partnerships, such as the Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge, toward arrangements that direct philanthropic resources to areas of need. - Finalizing the multiyear and multipronged clean energy transition plan, including the initial City renewable energy credits’ purchase as a first step in the transition. Expected Outcomes:1 - Chicago’s strong contribution to slowing the rate of global climate change at levels that meet or exceed the Paris Climate Agreement. - Improved stewardship of City assets and taxpayer dollars through expanded energy management and recognition (e.g., ENERGY STAR, Better Buildings Challenge). - Recognition of Chicago as a global clean energy transition leader with particular innovation in bringing opportunity to communities most affected by industrial pollution. 1 Expected Outputs: -City facility and energy database that allows effective planning and transparent tracking of progress towards 100% renewable energy through efficiency, renewable development, and enhanced energy procurement - RFP for energy supply services in 2020 and beyond that incorporates innovative approaches to renewable energy development that brings job creation and other benefits to the neighborhoods most affected by climate change and industrial pollution - Visible City-facilitated solar developments in a diverse set of Chicago neighborhoods, including vacant and brownfield sites - Foundation resourcing and partnerships that augment the planning and capacity of City personnel and contractors - REC ownership that demonstrates achievement of an early milestone in Chicago’s 100% renewable energy transition https://www.climateresilienceconsulting.com/ What we need to implement immediately; or within the next year: As a global city, Chicago is impacted by global finance trends, including at least four of which relate to climate resilience:2 1. Credit rating agencies evaluate the physical impacts of climate change on municipal, utility and corporate ability to pay back debt. 2. Big data informs investors about the costs of exposure to predicted future climate change. 3. Case and constitutional law includes liability for climate change risk, since predicted scenarios are now readily available and force majeur is no longer a viable natural disaster plea. 4. The Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosure has issued guidelines describing the requirement to assess investment portfolios’ risks from climate change’s physical impacts, influencing trillions of dollars of assets under management. Fortunately for Chicago, this all equals good news. Although lower-resourced Chicagoans especially suffer from needless exposure to many environmental hazards, Chicago’s climate change hazards are significantly less than our sea coastal, drought-prone and wildfire interface neighbors elsewhere in the country. Thus, when considering the above four points’ effects on other U.S. cities, our credit ratings will not be negatively impacted by climate change; our 10-30 year infrastructure cost/benefit analysis needs will be less; we will incur less climate changerelated liability; and investors in both public and private assets will have fewer physical risks to account for. The bottom line: In terms of climate change resilience, we can develop a mindset shift and brand ourselves a city more attractive to assets under management wishing to avoid risks. Therefore, we can fund resilience improvements that benefit the lives and livelihoods of Chicagoans (and, see below, our new neighbors). Illustrative immediate next steps for the City and its collaborations with sister agencies and districts: - Increase resilience project bankability/investability through changes to utility rate structures based on social equity considerations and more reflective of service delivery’s true costs. - Increase cross-department resilience project pipeline identification, as well as collaborative implementation, to further collateral benefits generated by rate-based department budgets. - Consider issuing green revenue bonds for resilience investments.3 to attract new investors to the City of Chicago, free up more GO and other City assets for social safety net priorities, and further the City’s brand as a more climate resilient place. - Investigate evolving risk transfer options (including parametric insurance and cat bonds), using brokers to model risks and secure the best deals, ensuring the right cover for the right price and building requirement for resilience, based on risk, into insurance contracts.4 Expected outcomes: - Stable municipal credit ratings. - More City money available to serve constituents. 2 Illustrative references: https://www.spglobal.com/_assets/documents/corporate/ratingsdirect_pluggingtheclimateadaptationgapwithhighresiliencebenefitin.._.pdf; https://www.spglobal.com/_assets/documents/corporate/ratingsdirect_pluggingtheclimateadaptationgapwithhighresiliencebenefitin.._.pdf; https://www.clf.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/GRC_CLF_Report_R8.pdf https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/ 3 https://www.climatebonds.net/adaptation-and-resilience 4 https://www.willistowerswatson.com/en-ID/Home/Services/Services/catastrophe-bond-consulting https://www.climateresilienceconsulting.com/ - Less City revenue, livelihoods and lives lost from shock (e.g., extreme precipitation) and stress (e.g., extreme heat) events. - More resilience mainstreamed in City’s essential/critical infrastructure. - More interdepartmental project collaboration to increase value of city services for Chicagoans. - Fewer Chicagoans suffering from flooding and extreme heat, more Chicagoans benefitting from better, water, transit, public health services. What we can plan for longer-term implementation: Compared to other major American cities, Chicago in coming decades will be distinctly positioned to receive our neighbors forced from their communities by rising sea levels, more extreme coastal storms and more wildfires. If we create a resilient city for our current residents, Chicago will be a fantastic receiving community for the next great migration – an estimated 13.1 million people on the move by 21005 from America’s vulnerable sea coasts and hot spots. The transformation required to create this amazing place for our new neighbors should bring elements of restorative justice to our lower resourced (nonwhite, recent immigrants, non-English speakers, poor, chronically ill, female-headed households and renters) communities, providing quantifiable benefits to our current residents. https://resilient.chicago.gov/ is a good guide for programs, partnerships and policies that will greatly contribute to lives and livelihoods of Chicagoans. In addition, recommendations from other transition committee policy areas will create resilience (e.g., Business, Economic and Neighborhood Development; Public Health; Education; Public Safety and Accountability; Housing; Transportation and Infrastructure; Good Governance; Arts and Culture and Youth). The key is to act on the knowledge that lower resourced communities suffer most from climate and weather hazards,6 experiencing more damage and possessing less political clout to advocate for fixes.7 Immediate Next Steps: - Provide each department with a map of Chicago’s poverty by neighborhood and ask department heads to identify their plans to create social equity in their budgets, provisioning best-in-class public services in lower resourced communities. Expected Outputs: - Social equity based budgets and work plans for Chicago’s departments (and sister agencies). Expected Outcomes: - Chicago neighborhoods offer safety, security, stability and joy to residents and welcome all, including lower resourced Americans, who have lost their family wealth due to climate change impacts. Disclosure: Because of my commitment to climate change resilience, I work with institutions that focus on actions recommended in this memo. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3271 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-storms-hit-cities-poor-areas-suffer-most/?fbclid=IwAR0N-Ouo0hrtHPnR-QlpcbYYwA0yc6NV4vWcPprQ_QoeQ-OVG0krrlO5Rg 7 https://www.nap.edu/read/25381/chapter/6 - 54 and https://anthropocenealliance.org/higherground 5 6 https://www.climateresilienceconsulting.com/ April 15, 2019 TO: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot FROM: Josh Ellis, Vice-President, Metropolitan Planning Council Prioritize equitable planning, project implementation, stewardship, and governance of Chicago’s rivers and its riverfront to ensure our rivers and lakes are sustained for future generations Chicago is fortunate to have three very different rivers—the Des Plaines, Calumet and the Chicago. All three rivers are located within city boundaries and, if treated as an asset, have the potential to bring recreational, economic and ecological benefits. The rivers run through 20 of Chicago’s 50 wards, and more than 394,000 people (15 percent of the city’s population) live within half a mile of one of the rivers. The Our Great Rivers vision, cocreated by the Metropolitan Planning Council, Friends of the Chicago River, and the City of Chicago outlines goals through 2040 to make the rivers more inviting, productive, and living. This vision represents the desires of more than 6,000 individuals who participated in surveys, town-hall style meetings, and experiential outings to give feedback. Many of the goals in Our Great Rivers are underway due to the hard work of various city and regional agencies, civic and community organizations, foundations, and private developers. Continued progress on these goals—including using inclusive and transparent decision-making to prioritize riverfront investments beyond downtown—needs support and coordination led by the Mayor and city government. Calumet River The south side has been historically neglected when it comes to focusing on environmental issues related to waterway and land contamination. The next administration has the opportunity to make the Calumet River a community and city asset.  The city should actively include representatives from the Calumet River system (including the Little Calumet River, Grand Calumet River, Calumet River, and Lake Calumet) and adjacent parcels in its conversations about project implementation, stewardship and maintenance.  DPD should create updated Calumet River Design Guidelines, similar to what was created for the Chicago River in 2019, to ensure new development benefits the community. River Ecology and Governance Group Projects and actions occurring along Chicago’s rivers are not nearly as coordinated as they could and should be to achieve the larger vision described in Our Great Rivers. Implementing larger scale planning projects and frameworks—and doing so in an equitable way—will require the active participation and collaboration of multiple agencies and increased decision-making for community groups The Great Rivers Chicago Implementation Committee—formed in 2016 and coordinated by the Metropolitan Planning Council—has been a good first step toward bringing agencies and stakeholders to the table to collaborate on executing project and planning work. The Executive Order launching the Chicago River Ecology and Governance Group provides a platform on which to develop a more comprehensive coordination body, but it needs to be structured in a way that is equitable and sustainable.  The City should move forward with creating the River Ecology and Governance Group. Participating city and regional agencies should establish memoranda of understanding to ensure that they are required to cooperate with each other to move projects forward collaboratively. The group should be structured to include local implementation advisory committees, established to be stewards of the Our Great Rivers vision, as well as spokespeople for local concerns. Community stakeholders should represent perspectives concerning economic development, affordable housing, health and environmental justice. Our Great Rivers Our Great Rivers was a collaborative effort amongst the government, civic stakeholders, and the larger community, that created a shared vision with goals and action steps to guide the beginning of project implementation across the river system. There has been great initial success in gaining momentum and traction on improvements, such as revising the city’s river edge design guidelines and implementing local projects, such as riverfront art and programming, which make a difference in the way that neighborhoods engage with their rivers. Existing and future projects will need the support of the new mayoral administration to continue and grow.  The city should energetically support and engage in projects and planning efforts that have momentum and are aligned with the Our Great Rivers vision document. The city should work on a master trail plan, remediate land along the rivers, reduce combined sewer overflow events, coordinate and support local community projects, ensure that new development adheres to the Chicago River Design Guidelines, and participate in Illinois Port District Planning. First 100 Day Actions  Declaration stating that the Mayor is supportive of work to enhance the Chicago river system and will continue to support improvement efforts.  Working group structures and provides organization to the function of the River Governance Group  MOUs and agreements put in place for agencies and departments to collaborate  Industrial Corridor Plans involving portions of the Chicago river system should include projects and goals aligned with Our Great Rivers (e.g. the Little Village Industrial Corridor Framework Plan) First Year Actions and Goals  River Governance Group is structured to include local stakeholders and government agencies.  River Governance Group working groups begin coordination of projects that align with principles of Our Great Rivers  3 to 5 initial projects are agreed upon and begin moving to implementation  City’s trail planning gap analysis is used to develop a strategic framework for riverfront trails and secondary connections  Review financial tools such as the Riverfront Improvement Fund and Open Space Impact Fees to make it easier to fund riverfront improvements  Champion and actively engage in the master plan for the Illinois International Port District First Term Goals  Calumet River Design Guidelines have been completed and approved  Strategic framework for riverfront trails and secondary connections is 50 percent complete    Water quality plans are developed for all stretches of the river system 3-5 projects (vetted by the Governance Group) have been completed and have plans for continued support. These projects have broad community support and are equitably located across neighborhood areas. All goals defined in Our Great Rivers for 2020 have been achieved. April 15, 2019 TO: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot FROM: Josh Ellis, Vice President, Metropolitan Planning Council Recommendations to address Chicago’s most pressing drinking water issues: lead and affordability. Lead in Drinking Water There is no known level of lead exposure that is considered safe. Recent water testing results within the City of Chicago have raised significant public concern, particularly because Chicago has more lead service lines than any other city and actually required them by law until 1986, when U.S. Congress finally banned the use of this toxic material in service lines and other plumbing. However, remediation of this toxic material was not required, so lead pipes, fixtures and solder will remain a public health concern so long as this legacy material remains in use. To address this critical public health issue and demonstrate national leadership in 21st Century water management, the City of Chicago must:  Inventory its legacy lead service line infrastructure to understand the scale of the problem.  Create and implement a lead service line replacement plan and program.  Proactively structure the program to account for disparities in ability to pay, solutions for rental and affordable housing tenants, language barriers, and more.  Support State of Illinois efforts to address the lead problem. o SB1532 (Steans, D – Chicago), which requires every utility in the State to develop a lead service line inventory and remediation plan. It also establishes a low income assistance program, which includes lead pipe remediation. o HB2128 (D’Amico, D – Chicago), which creates a tax credit to incentivize replacement of lead service lines. o Capital Bill. Work with the State to ensure the capital bill includes money to remediate lead in drinking water. Water Service Affordability + Shutoffs According to a recent American Public Media story, the cost of water for an average family of four in Chicago nearly tripled between 2007 and 2018—from $178 per year to $576. While rates in Chicago have gone up for often justified reasons—such as replacing century old pipes and water service infrastructure—our existing water rates are regressive in nature, and have impacted lower-income residents the most. American Public Media reported that water service shut-offs have disproportionately impacted lower-income and majority black and Latino neighborhoods. The city’s policies on shutoffs are draconian and lack transparency, flexibility or protection for our residents. As water rates continue to increase in order to repair and replace our old, crumbling infrastructure (including lead pipes), policies and programs that support all Chicagoans in a more equitable manner must be enacted. To address this growing affordability and equity issue, Chicago should:    Support State Bills SB1724/HB2759 (Harris, D – Harvey/Ford, D – Chicago), which create a plan, program, and funding to study water rate setting in the Lake Michigan service area. Undertake a study to determine a fairer water rate structure. Rework the city’s current water shut-off policies and available affordability programs. First 100 Day Actions  Lead in Drinking Water o Convene a lead in drinking water summit with local experts, relevant City departments, and select aldermen. Determine what is known about the lead pipe issue, what needs to be known, and how to close the gap between them. o Establish a Lead in Drinking Water Advisory Group to develop a lead remediation plan and program. This group should include community groups, water industry professionals, public health experts, and civic organizations. o Create a lead service line remediation plan and program that includes producing an inventory, providing robust public education and implementing a variety of funding/financing strategies. o Put the City’s weight behind SB1532 and HB2128, to ensure they are signed into law this legislative session.  Water Service Affordability o Put the City’s weight behind SB1724/HB2759, to ensure one of them is signed into law this session. o Develop a study to determine an improved rate setting approach that helps alleviate regressive issues related to paying for water service. For example, this study should include exploring tiered water rates by usage. o Establish an Advisory Group that includes community groups, water industry professionals, public health and utility pricing experts, and civic organizations to help guide the above study on improved, equitable approaches to water rate setting. First Year Actions and Goals  Lead in Drinking Water o Prioritize coordination across city departments (including DWM, DPD, DPH and Department of Finance) to identify areas of particular risk to lead exposure e.g., older housing stock; lowincome neighborhoods; homes with young children and elderly, etc. o Examine ways to reduce the cost of a lead service line replacement such as waiving city permitting fees and bundling contracting for this type of construction, implementing nonregressive revenue streams, and utilizing the State Revolving Fund (SRF) to help fund lead service line replacement. o Adopt a more transparent approach to addressing the concerns of citizens and providing helpful educational materials and discounted (or free) water filters.  Water Service Affordability o Complete water rate study and announce next steps for rolling out a new water rate structure. o Prioritize coordination across city departments (including DWM, DPH and Department of Finance) to identify improved programs and policies to avoid water service shut-offs that work in true partnership with customers rather than against them. First Term Goals  Lead in Drinking Water o  Achieve rollout of, and measurable progress on the City of Chicago’s lead service line remediation plan and program. Water Service Affordability o Implement new water rate structure that is no longer regressive. o Implement new water shut-off policies and available affordability programs in order to avoid expensive service termination (which is costly for both the customer and the city), and support residents in a more humane and transparent approach. April 15, 2019 TO: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot FROM: Josh Ellis, Vice President, Metropolitan Planning Council Build Chicago’s resilience to chronic stresses (like racial inequity, violence and neighborhood disparities) as well as acute shocks (like heat waves and severe flooding). Initiative: Implement the Resilient Chicago plan for inclusive growth and a connected city in order to advance racial, social and economic equity, as well as bold climate action. Resilient Chicago was released on February 14, 2019 as an outgrowth of Chicago’s participation in the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities initiative. Developed by City staff and a diverse Steering Committee comprising neighborhood, civic, private, and philanthropic partners, it is a solid foundation to build upon to advance inclusive growth and a more connected and prepared city. Resilient Chicago sets forth 50 actions that city departments and agencies and/or civic organizations are leading that focus on building stronger, equitable neighborhoods, robust infrastructure, and prepared communities. Continue Advancing Chicago’s Climate Leadership and Alignment with Resilient Chicago: The City of Chicago, greater metro Chicago region, and the State of Illinois have committed to policies, programs, and platforms that require aggressive actions on climate resilience. Some of these include transitioning the city’s buildings to 100% renewable energy by 2025, capitalizing on Chicago’s acceptance into the Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge (a two-year acceleration program that will provide new resources and access to support to accelerate emissions reductions), and Governor J.B. Pritzker signing an executive order for Illinois to join the U.S. Climate Alliance, agreeing to advance the goals of the Paris Agreement. The Lightfoot administration has an opportunity to position the City of Chicago as a regional, national and global leader in climate change by prioritizing alignment with these climate change commitments and carving out a bold path forward for the City’s role in inclusive planning and implementation. Chicago residents, businesses, investors as well as urban cities across the nation will be looking to the City of Chicago for bold leadership in the work ahead. This is the opportune time for Chicago’s new administration to seize this momentum and demonstrate action that places equity at the forefront by embracing Resilient Chicago. Coordination, Transparency, and Inclusivity Required: Successfully implementing Resilient Chicago will take a deeper awareness and understanding of urban resilience in the City. City departments and agencies are leading many actions, and will be a critical partner in multiple other actions led by civic organizations and community stakeholders. Mayoral staff and departments will need to forge partnerships with civic, resident and business stakeholders across the city and surrounding municipalities for successful implementation. One emerging network to investigate is working with the new Science for Climate Action Network (SCAN) seeking to partner with local governments spearheaded by Deerfield native climate scientist Richard Moss. 100 Day Actions: - Determine City staffing needs and designate a City point person who will oversee revisiting, reshaping and implementing Resilient Chicago providing coordination within and across city departments/agencies. - Issue an Executive Order requiring relevant City of Chicago departments to commit to Resilient Chicago implementation. - Expand the Resilient Chicago Steering Committee to include leaders from environmental justice, urban agriculture, small business, and public health, as well as suburban municipal voices. Solicit and respond to concerns and constructive criticism on the Resilient Chicago process and final product. - Convene the new Steering Committee as an “Implementation Committee” charged with prioritizing near-term actions, flagship initiatives, and drafting implementation work plans in coordination with City staff. - Reengage with the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and work toward collaborative solutions advancing the Greenest Region Compact, as well as coordination action driving Chicago and 10 suburban Cook municipalities’ commitments to the Chicago Climate Charter. First Year Actions and Goals: - Establish a social media campaign to raise awareness of activities being undertaken in Resilient Chicago and to enhance understanding of Chicago’s shocks and stresses. - Execute a deeper public engagement process to raise awareness, enhance understanding of Chicago’s shocks and stresses, and gather input and commitments to implement Resilient Chicago. - Advance substantive progress on Resilient Chicago “flagship” initiatives, estimate implementation costs, and determine timeline of milestones. - Develop a public dashboard to track Resilient Chicago implementation progress and other climaterelated outputs/outcomes, and release a 1-year Anniversary scorecard celebrating successes. - Determine allocations of $70 million from Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge and investigate new locally controlled funding sources to support additional resilience-related activities in Resilient Chicago. - Issue a Year 3 report in 2020 on implementation of the Chicago Climate Charter and outstanding work ahead - Convene a regional climate change forum with the 10 Chicago Climate Charter neighboring cosignatories, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and other regional actors to share best practices and determine regional coordination to scale up climate change mitigation and adaptation actions. First Term Goals: - All of the prioritized near-term actions in Resilient Chicago should be fully implemented. Examine and secure new city, state and philanthropic funding for Resilient Chicago implementation, and help partner entities secure funding for implementation. Issue updated status report and/or Resilient Chicago strategy document (and accompanying implementation work plans) reflecting leadership and direction of new Mayor. Hold the 2nd North American Climate Summit, and develop implementation actions and metrics in partnership with Chicago Climate Charter suburban co-signatories. April 15, 2019 To: Mayor-Elect Lightfoot From: Josh Ellis, Metropolitan Planning Council Invest in grey and green infrastructure—both new infrastructure, as well as maintaining what we already have—to address urban flooding, especially in the region’s poorest neighborhoods. Much of the city’s stormwater infrastructure was built decades ago and is already insufficient for today’s rain levels, let alone future storms. Chicago is expected to receive more intense and more frequent storms due to climate change. In the Resilient Chicago strategy, storms, severe flooding, and infrastructure failure are the top threats to the city’s ability to function. Many communities in Chicago, especially those on the South and West Sides, flood repeatedly. The city is accountable to all residents, and yet flooding disproportionately affects minority and low-income neighborhoods. Many of the zip codes with the highest amount of damages correspond with census tracts identified by CMAP as economically disconnected, with higher concentrations of low-income, minority and/or limited English proficiency populations. Across the city, a single severe rainstorm in 2013 caused 2,500 “water in basement” and 800 “water on street” complaints, damages to businesses, and flooding at train stations and bus stops across the city. Additionally, the city’s drinking water source, Lake Michigan, is increasingly at risk of pollution from sewage and stormwater overflows. To address urban flooding and the related threats to water quality, the city should be transformed through new equitable investments in grey and green infrastructure and equitable re-investment in maintenance and upkeep of existing infrastructure. Continuing Urban Flooding Mitigation Momentum: First created in 2014, the city’s Green Stormwater Infrastructure Strategy was developed but not fully implemented. Accelerating green stormwater infrastructure investments that use natural features and parkland (or retrofitted vacant lots) to hold and manage stormwater minimizes flood damages while realizing a number of co-benefits from cleaner air and water, to mitigating urban heat island, to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving liability conditions and access to green space. The new administration’s leadership is required to support the updating and implementing of a new Green Stormwater Infrastructure Strategy 2.0. The Resilient Chicago strategy released in February 2019 to advance urban resilience—including to storms and floods—calls for heightened actions to address stormwater management. Similarly, the city has a Stormwater Ordinance, but this has not been updated to stricter requirements, with forward-looking precipitation assumptions. The Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) has just published an update to ISWS Bulletin 70, originally written in 1989, which calculates expected precipitation for Illinois. New rain tables predict almost one additional inch of rain for a 24-hour, 100-year event in the Chicago region. This increase in expected rainfall will significantly impact the design of grey and green infrastructure projects to provide a new level of protection. The city’s Stormwater Ordinance should require projects seeking permits to utilize the updated Bulletin 70 data. Additionally, the Stormwater Ordinance should be updated to accommodate new options for accelerating grey and green infrastructure, such as stormwater credit trading, which the Metropolitan Planning Council has been investigating since 2017. The Lightfoot administration should prioritize partnering with this and other su current efforts, while also heightening coordination with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, other surrounding municipalities, and metro Chicago regional planning, water, technology and environmental entities to continue the momentum to mitigate urban flooding for all of Chicago’s residents and businesses. First 100 Day Actions  Convene relevant city departments and agencies to coordinate implementation of the original Green Stormwater Infrastructure Strategy. Conduct preliminary research, detailed modeling and analyses to update the Strategy.  Task relevant city departments to develop a report detailing new infrastructure and ongoing maintenance of the city’s sewers and stormwater systems on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis, comparing known flooding risks, climate projections, etc.  Commit the city to actions and investments to bring all areas of Chicago to at least a 20-year storm event level of protection.  Update the city’s Stormwater Ordinance with a new provision to indicate 2019 Bulletin 70 data be required for permits received on or after January 1, 2020.  Recommit the city to active participation in the Calumet Stormwater Collaborative. First Year Actions and Goals  Partner with MPC and The Nature Conservancy on StormStore™, a stormwater credit trading program for the City of Chicago, including relevant changes/updates to the city’s Stormwater Ordinance.  Expand the city’s Resilient Corridor effort and Space to Grow partnership.  Set forth a process to develop a City of Chicago Stormwater Master Plan that documents priority areas for grey and green infrastructure installation and/or maintenance to inform future city efforts for maintenance, new investments, as well as those actions by partners and regional funders. First Term Actions and Goals:  Conduct research and determine next steps in viable options for securing sustainable, dedicated revenue (e.g., stormwater utility fees).  Enhance maintenance and monitoring of grey and green infrastructure throughout the city, especially focusing on previously underserved neighborhoods, as well as past city investments, such as Space to Grow and Resilient Corridor sites.  Demonstrate progress towards implementing the updates Green Stormwater Infrastructure Strategy and City of Chicago Stormwater Master Plan. Coordination, Transparency and Innovative Problem-Solving Required: Increasing green and grey infrastructure, bolstering maintenance, and innovative new solutions like stormwater credit trading will take heightened coordination, funding and transparency, and forward-thinking vision from city staff, in particular the Department of Water Management. City departments and agencies must coordinate with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago as well as across city functions, specifically Department of Planning and Development, Department of Transportation and Department of Water Management, as all three are involved in different scales in stormwater projects. Consistent budget allocation is required alongside exploring options for dedicated sustainable revenue for stormwater management. Innovative approaches, like stormwater credit trading, should be explored as alternative methods for leveraging private investment in stormwater controls in underserved communities. Information about processes, commissions, or specific projects should be more clear, accessible and understandable for both practitioners and the general public. Engaging residents in stormwater solutions will be paramount, identifying workforce development and job opportunities tied to green infrastructure maintenance. These new approaches require creativity, partnerships and innovative leadership from the City. TO: Mayor‐elect Lightfoot   FR: Josh Mogerman, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)  DA: 1/17/2019  RE: Transition Environmental Priorities  Thank you for including NRDC amongst the voices solicited by the environmental transition committee.  We are pleased that transparency will stand as a core value of your administration, as many of the  issues vexing Chicago relate to problems that the City does not fully acknowledge its role in creating or  responsibility in fixing, sometimes for understandable legal reasons. It is difficult to help solve problems  around flooding, drinking water contamination, pollution in our neighborhoods, Chicago River reversals  and water quality while the City is not clear about its involvement through land use and infrastructure  management and inspections. Many of the issues we highlight below would be helped significantly by an  aggressive approach to transparency, allowing more direct public engagement towards generating new  solutions and sharing of data that inform them. Following are areas of significant concern and  opportunity which we think the Lightfoot Administration should examine:  Land Use Reform:  NRDC has been working with community groups across Chicago to look at land use, planning and zoning  policies that have left many in our city unfairly and disproportionately fighting pollution issues near their  homes, schools and parks. Whether it is diesel fumes or open piles of petcoke and manganese, our City’s  land use planning and oversight has opened the door to unacceptable situations in many of our  communities of color, and City inspectors have not put a halt to them until community groups have  raised the alarm. As such, we 100% support and echo LVEJO’s and SETF’s excellent letters to this body.  Continue: Chicago Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) evaluation and expansion of its environmental  compliance and enforcement activities, as well as its integration of environmental health and equity into  the City’s health‐in‐all‐policies platform. In addition, CDPH’s development of regulations for metals  recycling and construction and demolition waste processing and handling, as well as the department’s  work to address soil contamination on the SE Side.   In the first 100 days: Formally acknowledge and commit to addressing the harms of environmental  injustice in Chicago, including (a) issuing a directive to all city agencies to enact environmental justice  policies that protect the health and well‐being of impacted communities across the city, and (b) creating  an environmental justice advisory committee/working group that includes agency representatives,  members/representatives of impacted communities, and other relevant stakeholders. In addition, issue  a policy directing all agencies to increase public participation for environmental, zoning and land use  actions in and around EJ communities; while also increasing city inspection and enforcement of  environmental violations in the same Chicago communities.   As evidenced by the petcoke and manganese problems on the SE Side, more needs to be done to  address bulk storage and handling facilities in the city. The new administration should adopt a ban on  the handling of manganese, as well as a moratorium on permitting of new or expanded sources in the  City’s industrial corridors and Planned Manufacturing Districts until the city has developed  comprehensive reform measures to address cumulative impacts to health and welfare from sources in  such zones. Similarly, diesel emissions are a huge issue throughout the city. The new administration  should commit to completing a comprehensive study of heavy‐duty trucks in the city that includes an  equity analysis of trucking across the city, with a focus on assessment of trucking impacts on  environmental justice communities.   Over her first term: In close collaboration with community members and representatives, develop and  implement comprehensive land use and zoning reforms that address environmental justice issues while  bringing clean‐energy and climate‐resiliency resources to communities that bear the greatest cumulative  environmental burdens.     Water Infrastructure:  We remain reliant upon aging infrastructure that will be ever‐more burdened by the increasing impact  of climate change and, down the line, climate refugees. The combined sewer system which floods and  pollutes the River, Lake and people’s homes, as well as the over‐abundance of lead service lines which  the EPA has warned is contaminating Chicagoans’ drinking water with neurotoxins require attention.  In the first 100 days: Announce an exploratory team drafted to investigate tools to finance replacement  of all lead service lines and begin developing an aggressive replacement plan that prioritizes high risk  neighborhoods. Augment CPS resources to test and address lead contamination in schools.  Over her first term: Address inadequate National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits for the  City’s combined sewer outfalls. Work with MWRD on a regional decombination plan for sewers. Share  modeling with public on citywide flooding with an eye to equity and commit to addressing flooding in  disadvantaged communities. Evaluate pilot flooding prevention programs for use in broader swath of  city with a heavy reliance on green infrastructure.    Climate Champion:  Chicago has often positioned itself as a leader in the fight against climate change. We are uniquely  positioned to continue to push for meaningful state and federal action on clean energy, climate  resilience and adaptation, energy efficiency and for equitable tools that share the benefits of these  solutions, particularly in communities that have not seen the benefits while suffering disproportionate  climate burdens and threats.  Continue: participation in the American Cities Climate Challenge, moving forward with key  transportation, efficiency and clean energy efforts… Retrofit Chicago programs to incentivize efficiency  in commercial buildings, homes and municipal facilities…  In the first 100 days: Voice support for the Clean Energy Jobs Act in Springfield… Embrace expansion of  energy efficiency within Chicago’s affordable multifamily housing stock including subsidized, natural  occurring, and public housing buildings – as a critical way to preserve Chicago’s affordable housing  stock…. Ensure housing loan programs administered by the city are encouraging energy and water  efficiency in affordable multifamily housing... Support expansion of home, municipal and commercial  renewable energy deployment…  ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL RECOMMENDATIONS TO MAYOR-ELECT LIGHTFOOT Submitted by Jen Walling, executive director, Illinois Environmental Council KEY RECOMMENDATIONS • Climate Action Strategy. Develop and enact an equitable, city-wide climate action strategy that includes emission reduction targets, a zero waste commitment, sustainability measures, increased investment in energy efficiency, reduced energy costs, a plan to transition to clean renewable energy and emissionsfree transportation, and significant increases in tree canopy and natural open space. • Environmental representation. Re-establish the Department of Environment and ensure adequate levels of funding and staffing to effectively implement and enforce environmental programs and compliance and develop strong environmental policies. Appoint qualified department heads to all agencies and ensure cross-departmental and sister agency coordination and leveraging of resources to advance environmental objectives. Increased coordination with County, MWRD, and State to advance environmental goals. • Equitable and Transparent process and outcomes. Operate in a manner that seeks equitable outcomes and is transparent to the public with open data policies and a clear and accountable process. Increase city inspection and enforcement training and staffing capacity for environmental violations in Chicago, including fully staffing inspectors authorized in Department of Public Health budget. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE DEVELOPMENT & PLANNING/ZONING • Reform zoning and planning processes for industrial areas to require evaluation of public health and environmental impacts for sites and community plans employing a cumulative impacts approach. Seek robust opportunities for public input into decisions at the Department of Planning and the Plan Commission early and often. For example, implement a community input process for Fisk and Crawford redevelopments. • Ensure any clean energy transition focuses on frontline communities, incorporating equity measures as well as job training and placement. • Implement a plan to remove the cumulative threats of petcoke, manganese, diesel exhaust, and other toxins from environmental justice communities, including comprehensive air monitoring deployment throughout areas with the worst air quality. CLEAN ENERGY • Plan for 100% renewable energy by 2035 for residential and commercial electric sectors through an inclusive and equitable process that seeks input from all communities. Incorporates equity measures to focus on frontline communities, job training and placement. Utilize FEJA programs, potential CEJA programs, and PACE funding. • Adopt a zero net energy code for City, Park District and new buildings with EV and solar-ready construction standards. Ensure enforcement of existing codes. • Support expansion of energy efficiency programs such as the successful energy benchmarking program for buildings, comprehensive natural gas system planning – including yearly cost-benefit analyses of electrification - and other efforts to address rising gas bills among City residents, specifically for lowincome households/buildings. TRANSPORTATION • Provide dedicated and sustainable funding for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure through the establishment of a Chicago Safe Streets Fund. • Upgrade Chicago’s rail and bus network to ensure high-quality, reliable, and equitable service. • Develop and implement a plan for achieving a zero-emissions CTA and city vehicle fleets and equipment (including CPS bus fleet) by 2030. Plan for EV infrastructure. CLEAN WATER & INFRASTRUCTURE • • • Improve Chicago’s water resources and reduce stormwater impacts across communities to eliminate combined sewer overflows, basement backups, and flooding by developing a regional green infrastructure plan, addressing aquatic litter, increasing water conservation and reuse, and confronting issues with nutrients, chlorides, dissolved oxygen, pharmaceuticals, PFAS, and plastics. Ensure everyone has access to clean, affordable and safe water. • Set a moratorium on water shut offs, establish city-wide equitable and affordable water rates, advance water efficiency, and address legacy contamination of waterways in environmental justice communities • Reduce leakage and improve the accuracy of metering data. • Develop a comprehensive inventory and plan to replace 100% of lead service lines by 2040, prioritizing high-risk communities and funding for low-income users. Support implementation of the Army Corps’ Brandon Road project to stop upstream movement of Asian Carp and work with other Great Lakes states to study, fund and construct additional controls in the Chicago Area Waterways system. ZERO WASTE • Establish a City of Chicago Zero Waste plan that sets measurable targets and advances commercial composting, reduction of waste, repair, effective recycling programs, city procurement, and public education. Audit current programs. • Take action on plastic pollution by developing a policy to reduce single-use plastics beginning with reducing use at City facilities and expanding restrictions on use throughout the city. LOCAL FOOD • Develop a comprehensive and cross-department and agency plan for a healthy, vibrant, sustainable, and fair food system while supporting the implementation of the Good Food Purchasing Program. • Ensure urban farmers have affordable, reliable access to water through an agricultural water rate policy and program. • Adopt a business license for urban farm enterprises to locate and sell across the city. OPEN SPACE, WILDLIFE AND NATURAL AREAS • Support the Chicago Region Trees Initiative (CRTI) by expanding tree planting and protection throughout the city. Ensure dedicated funding for trees. • Expand equitable access to parks for all Chicago residents. Ensure every Community Area has at least 2 acres of parkland per 1,000 people and all Chicagoans live within a 10-minute walk of a park. Continue the Chicago Park District’s investment in natural and recreational development of the Lake Calumet region. • Support the development of an interconnected network of natural, open spaces that supports the movement of people and wildlife. Support the bird-friendly design ordinance. Update Chicago's Nature & Wildlife Plan and prioritize Nature Areas identified in the new plan for protection, restoration, and public access. Prioritize increased open space and natural infrastructure within development and commit to increase Open Space and Natural Areas zoned areas. • Continue Chicago's commitment to a continuous Chicago River System trail that provides a blue/green corridor for people and wildlife and increase protected natural areas. Commit to the goals of the River Ecology and Governance Group to protect and enhance the river as a living, natural resource. Date: To: From: Purpose: April 15, 2019 Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot’s Environment Transition Committee Shedd Aquarium (designee) City of Chicago Environment Policy Memo OVERVIEW Shedd thanks the Mayor-Elect for her foresight to quickly assembly the Environment Transition Committee. The MayorElect Lightfoot’s ongoing leadership is critical to ensuring continued progress for the Great Lakes, our rivers and local waters in the City of Chicago. Shedd Aquarium invests in impactful science-based research, advances innovative conservation strategies and meaningful policy to ensure healthy and vibrant aquatic resources for generations to come. We are dedicated to enhancing the health of the Great Lakes and local ecosystems, economies, and communities. We spark in our supporters and partners compassion and curiosity for the aquatic world transforming this inspiration into action. We have a strong bench of experts from scientists to conservationists to educators that can add to the mayor-elect’s cabinet of credible resources and advisors. Our team serves as a neutral convener where ideas and thought leadership can take place on critical issues. In addition, Shedd serves as a respected source of information, educating the public on topics from nature, habitat, and wildlife. Our capacity to amplify our conservation messaging reaches not only our approximately two million guests each year but to supporters across the region. Shedd Aquarium has identified key city policy priorities for 2019 that can have an immediate positive impact not only on the aquatic wildlife that lives in the Great Lakes, river, local waters but if done with a lens of equity can enhance the quality of life for all residents of Chicago. We can transform our city through innovation, science and evidence-based decision making for all its residents. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS Protecting Ecosystems At Shedd, we believe that wildlife and wild places are worth protecting and saving. We urge support for freshwater priorities that advance partnerships to, restore fish and wildlife habitat, combat invasive species, and clean up toxic hot spots. Freshwater and coastal restoration investments are producing results. Protecting and restoring our Great Lakes and local waters is a non-partisan and can enhance the lives of people across the City of Chicago. • Ensuring Healthy and Vibrant Aquatic Habitat • Chicago Parkland: Expand equitable access to parks for all Chicago residents. Continue the Chicago Park District’s investment in natural and recreational development of the Lake Calumet region. • Bring Chicago Closer to Nature: Support the development of an interconnected network of natural, open space that supports the movement of people and wildlife. Update Chicago's Nature & Wildlife Plan, prioritize Nature Areas and Open Space through an equity lens to identify resource allocation for new and existing areas for protection, restoration, and public access. • Chicago Rivers and Streams: Advance the River Ecology and Governance Commitment supporting a Chicago River System trail on all branches that provides a blue/green corridor for people and wildlife and increases protected natural areas along the river as a living natural resource. • Investing in Healthy Green and Clean Blue Infrastructure • Preventing, reducing, and monitoring impact of aquatic pollution: Expanding investments in blue and green infrastructure will help river, coastal communities and ecosystems prepare for and recover from extreme weather events producing combined sewer overflows, basement backups, and flooding. Water infrastructure investments can restore rivers, wetlands and coastal resources while enhancing fish and wildlife habitat. Encourage the creation of a permanent integrated water management initiative, and largescale green infrastructure. This presents an opportunity to create training and employment opportunities for communities who have seen a disinvestment of resources. • Preventing and managing invasive species: Encourage the City of Chicago to work closely with State, Federal agencies to implement a two-way solution that stops all aquatic invasive species from moving between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins. Plastic Pollution More than 22 million pounds of plastic pollution end up in the Great Lakes and local waters every year. Plastic pollution large and small can have enormous impacts on aquatic ecosystems and wildlife, namely through ingestion and entanglement. We urge the City of Chicago to adopt smart policy solutions to reduce plastic pollution decreasing the negative impact of plastic pollution on aquatic wildlife. • Educate the public and reduce purchasing and use of single-use plastic • Purchasing: City of Chicago agencies end reliance on single-use plastic. Following the actions of the Mayor of New York City, we urge an executive order directing city agencies to end buying single-use plastic and replace with alternatives. Advancing sustainable government procurement practices including the adoption of green purchasing guidelines in Chicago parks, schools, and offices. Create opportunities to develop MWBE’s to engage in green products or services. • Increasing Access to Clean Water • Ensure everyone has access to clean, affordable and safe water. Encouraging re-use and increasing access to clean, affordable and accessible drinking water through expanded drinking stations across the city including school, city buildings, and community center. • Advance Chicago-wide public education effort with civic leaders, museums, sports teams to encourage everyone to make sustainable choices and recognize the sustainable choices people make for reasons other than the environment. • Investing in innovative solutions to reduce single-use plastic and packaging • Funding demonstration grants to support sustainable manufacturing and advance next-gen technology to solve growing plastic pollution challenge. At the same time grants should strongly encourage grant recipients to link their solutions to expanding employment opportunities for the underemployed. Building a Sustainable Future • Investments in Innovation Solutions • Establish City of Chicago Zero Waste plan: Establishing a comprehensive plan to minimize waste generation, identify solutions to divert waste away from capacity-nearing landfills • Advance Carbon Neutral Energy and Transportation Solutions: Funding to support integrated solutions including carbon-neutral buses and micro-grid demonstration grants. Such demonstration projects would advance carbon reduction efforts to reduce the impacts of carbon on our climate and communities. Consideration should be given those communities who have had the greatest negative impact of poor air quality. Investing in Chicago’s Future Support conservation education and restoration • Environmental education, restoration, and citizen science funding to support connecting community members with their water by getting eye to eye with nature, sparking curiosity and interest in the aquatic world right in their neighborhoods, City, schools, and places of worship while restoring habitat and advancing citizen science initiatives. Levering Knowledge Resources and Impact: • Intergovernmental Partnerships: Encourage deepening partnerships with MWRD, Cook County, State of Illinois and Federal partners to best leverage resources, share skills and foster innovative and impactful solutions. Re-Establishing Department of the Environment • A strong investment in the City of Chicago Department of the Environment is essential for maintaining the foundation of freshwater ways and wildlife. Encourage the creation of an Environmental Advisory board composed on content experts and community leaders. Empower the department to work across agencies toward effective and equitable policies. TO: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot FROM: Katie McClain, Environment Committee SUBJECT: Chicago Climatech Challenge Initiative Statement: Create a city-wide competition, the Chicago Climatech Challenge (Challenge), that calls on the tech industry and Chicago students to showcase solutions to help the city reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the areas of renewable energy, energy efficiency and transportation. How the new administration can infuse the values of equity, transparency, accountability, diversity and inclusion, and transformation in this initiative The new resolution to commit to 100% renewable energy by 2035 passed on April 10th 2019 opens up an opportunity to create a plan for the City of Chicago that will decrease greenhouse gas emissions and create opportunities across the City of Chicago. The commitment has been made, now the hard work begins to identify how the city is going to achieve the goal. The Chicago Climatech Challenge will bring together experts from around the country to showcase new technologies available today to help Chicago meet the goals set out in the newly passed resolution. To infuse the value of equity and engage citizens and companies across the city the challenge will have different parallel initiatives for different groups. One will be a national competition for startup companies and the solutions they propose must have commercial traction to prove feasibility. Another segment will focus on colleges, universities and community colleges in Chicago. The final competition will be for high school students across Chicago. For transparency, the challenge will be a public event where all aspects of the Challenge are posted or open to the public. To ensure accountability the new administration will play a leadership role in the creation and announcement of the Challenge. Identifying the right departments and staffing of the Challenge in addition to partners outside of the city will be important to ensure accountability. There are several ways to incorporate diversity and inclusion in this initiative. The Challenge will be open to participants across the city and can engage different groups and neighborhoods by identifying an issue specific to a neighborhood (in addition to other, more city-wide issues). To make this Challenge transformative and ensure quality solutions and companies’ participation, the City of Chicago will commit to signing a contract with the Challenge winners. Bringing in sister agencies, utilities, building owners and other climate impactors as part of program should incentivize strong participation from the startup community. o What is happening today that we need to keep Significant progress has been made on the clean energy front in recent years at both the state and local level. Illinois utilities are now required to procure 25% renewable energy by 2025 and the City of Chicago passed a resolution committing to 100% renewable energy in addition to the complete electrification of the CTA’s bus fleet by 2040. What is needed now is the how – how are the City and ComEd going to meet these aggressive goals? The Chicago Climatech Challenge will focus on finding solutions to help the City meet these goals. The City has a robust start up and investment community through the work of 1871 and the Clean Energy Trust (CET). Every year CET hosts Co_Invest Cleantech, the Midwest’s premier showcase for sustainable technology startups and our community of stakeholders invested in the future. CET would be an experienced partner the City could work with to create the Chicago Climatech Challenge. The American Cities Climate Challenge was announced earlier this year to provide cities tools, resources and technical assistance to help meet their renewable energy goals. There is significant activity and many organizations working on climate solutions for cities. It will be important to learn from and leverage their work. o What we need to implement in the next 100 days In the first 100 days the new administration should publicly commit to the Chicago Climatech Challenge. It will be important to pull together a task force of business and civic leaders to provide guidance in the creation of Chicago Climatech Challenge. The task force will need to identify the top issues for the challenge participants to solve in the areas of transitioning to 100% clean energy, increasing energy efficiency and transportation. The window of the first 100 days is an incredible opportunity to set the bold vision of this new administration as well as building the foundation for who is accountable and how they will begin the transformation. o What we can plan for longer-term implementation For longer term implementation the administration will need to publicize the event around the country and the city to ensure strong participation and best in class solutions. The City will need to show a strong commitment and support of the winners for this event. o What challenges we might encounter in executing on this initiative There is already quite a bit of noise and activity in the climate and cities area, one challenge will be to ensure that the Chicago Climatech Challenge stands out and attracts the best and the brightest. Another challenge will be identifying the right incentives for companies to participate, startups are under a tremendous amount of pressure to build their companies and must avoid distractions. A contract with the City of Chicago and one with ComEd would be a valuable component of the Challenge. The participants will need to be supported throughout the process and then also once the competition is completed to ensure they are able to implement the winning solution. Name: Kari K. Steele, President of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (“MWRD”). Transition Committee: Environment Transition Committee Objective: Ensure that everyone in Chicago has access to clean, safe water and that our rivers and lakes are sustained for future generations. Potential Initiative: Develop a plan for selective separation of combined sewer outfalls and routine maintenance of storm sewers to eliminate the potential of wastewater and other pollutants entering the Chicago River during rain events. How the new administration can infuse the values of equity, transparency, accountability, diversity and inclusion, and transformation in this initiative: The Chicago River system is a lifeline for the City. It provides transportation and recreation for our residents, and sustainable habitat for wildlife. It does not discriminate between communities and ethnicities – it serves all of Chicago. Improving the quality of the river system would be truly transformative for the City of Chicago, essentially creating a second lakefront for our residents. This initiative would also involve a strong, transparent public relations component, actively engaging residents of the City to recognize the importance of keeping the river clean, and engaging their assistance in protecting the river from pollutants. What is happening today that we need to keep: Chicago has a combined sewer system where stormwater and wastewater use the same infrastructure to end up in an MWRD intercepting sewer that brings the water to one of our seven treatment plants. When the volume is too great, due to severe storms or inefficient infrastructure, the Chicago sewer system backs up before getting to MWRD interceptor sewers. When this happens, the backup flows directly into the Chicago River through an outfall. These are called Combined Sewer Overflows (“CSOs”). The majority of these outfalls are owned by the City. MWRD has already begun the work to eliminate CSOs. With the first phase of the McCook reservoir already online and capable of holding 3.5 billion gallons of water, the number of CSOs along the Chicago River have drastically decreased. When Phase 2 is completed, the reservoir will hold a combined 10 billion gallons, making it the largest in the world. The City also has several storm relief sewers that empty directly into the river. These sewers are directly connected to the river and do not carry sanitary waste. They are only designed to carry stormwater from streets directly into the river. During dry weather periods, these sewers also collect a lot of debris from traffic and pedestrians, as well as stagnant water that can become septic. These pollutants sit in the sewers until a rain storm comes, washing all of the pollution into the river. What we need to implement in the next 100 days: Within the next 100 days, announce that the City Department of Water Management is going to study all of the City outfalls, both combined sewer and stormwater, to develop a plan consisting of selective separation of City outfalls and routine maintenance of storm relief sewers that will eliminate pollutants from entering the river, thus putting us on the right track to a clean, healthy river for future generations. The City can also begin the public relations campaign by promoting the importance of Overflow Action Days. This public service announcement reminds residents to limit their use of water during times of heavy rains when the sewers are already at capacity. This can be done through social media and electronic billboards, among other media outlets. What we can plan for longer-term implementation: For longer term implementation, the City can consult with and utilize the resources of MWRD to look at how selective separation and routine maintenance has worked (or hasn’t worked) in other communities in Cook County. The District partners with all of the 125 municipalities on wastewater and stormwater initiatives and has the benefit of this experience to be able to provide data on various options to pursue. Long term solutions could also include utilizing MWRD skimmer boats to help perform the routine maintenance of the City storm sewers that outfall into the river. These boats are already patrolling the river daily to remove trash and debris, and may be able to assist in removal before these pollutants enter the river. Optimally, capturing this water before it enters into our sewer system would be most beneficial for not only our river, but homeowners that experience basement flooding on a regular basis. Green Infrastructure is an extremely effective way to achieve this. One program that has been very popular is Space to Grow. Space to Grow is an ongoing partnership between the MWRD, the City of Chicago’s Water Management Department, CPS and Openlands that transforms playgrounds in the Chicago Public School System into environmentally friendly and safe playgrounds while educating our students on the value of water while keeping storm water out of basements. Currently Space to Grow chooses 5 schools annually to convert. Expanding this program to 10 schools starting in 2020 would increase our potential for capturing stormwater on the front end. But more importantly, it would expand our message to more communities and allow us to reach more students, the future stewards of our great City. What challenges we might encounter in executing on this initiative: The challenges, as with any infrastructure improvements and maintenance, are financial. A total and complete solution to wastewater entering the river would be a complete separation project of all sanitary and stormwater sewers in the City. Such a project, however, would cost billions of dollars, disrupt transportation, and take years to complete. This would be a huge undertaking for the City. And while selective separation is miniscule in comparison to total separation, there will be funding needed and disruption due to underground construction. However, utilizing data from the MWRD, and implementing a comprehensive public relations campaign to educate residents on the benefits of a clean river for future generations will help make this a successful initiative. TO: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot FROM: Sierra Club Chicago Group OBJECTIVE IN REVIEW: Increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources PROPOSAL: A just, equitable, and inclusive transition to 100% clean energy Our globe’s changing climate is directly impacting Chicago, be it extreme weather events, poor air quality conditions stressing vulnerable populations, or increased strains on city infrastructure. The incoming administration’s duty is to strengthen our city to withstand the chronic and acute shocks we are beginning to witness and those that will come. ​Chicago should take steps to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources to help achieve the goal of an equitable transition to 100% clean renewable energy throughout the city. ​This will require leveraging the city’s purchasing power of clean renewable energy sources and investment in new and existing energy efficiency programs across residential, commercial, and industrial spaces. The recent passage of Resolution 2019-157 serves as the strongest, existing initiative to advance Chicago’s clean energy economy transition. In addition to setting a goal of 100% clean energy, the resolution calls the City to work with community partners to develop a community-informed transition strategy. An intentional and coordinated planning and implementation strategy can exemplify a strong commitment to the values of equity, transparency, accountability, diversity and inclusion, and community transformation. We recommend the following priorities in developing a 100% clean energy transition plan: Ensure that developments, investments, processes, legislation, administrative actions, and other operations preserve and fortify the health and socioeconomic stability of communities and their environment. (i.e.: First, do no harm.) Remain mindful of the ways that development can drive gentrification, displace current residents, and disrupt communities. Empowering community members in all planning processes can be an effective way to curtail displacement. Prioritize the needs and goals of communities that have suffered disproportionate harms of pollution and other environmental degradation. Some of these residents also face extra barriers to fully participate in policy-making processes and traditional hiring practices. Therefore, it is imperative that these communities be actively engaged in the planning and evaluation processes to ensure equitable access. Recognize, articulate, and plan according to the disproportionate cumulative impacts felt by marginalized communities while advancing a clean energy transition. Analyze the racial, economic, and environmental justice impacts of fossil-fuel pollution, heavy traffic burdens, water infrastructure degradation, hazardous materials siting, and other harms so that the administration can better develop equitable solutions. Establish robust transparency and accountability protocols that enable Chicago residents to influence goal-setting; learn and participate in the steps being taken to achieve those goals; and engage in feedback pathways to ensure meaningful progress and community benefits. Ensure accessible pathways of participation for all key stakeholders, representing the full racial, cultural, economic, and ecological diversity of Chicago. We must devise solutions that maximize the economic and health benefits for Chicagoans who need them most. In this period of transition, we suggest the continuation and expansion of the following efforts: - Advance the clean energy transition for City-owned buildings by 2025; - Develop a transition plan for community-wide 100% clean energy by Dec 2020 in accordance with resolution R2019-157; - Support expansion of energy efficiency programs such as the successful energy benchmarking program for buildings, comprehensive natural gas system planning – including yearly cost-benefit analyses of electrification - and other efforts to address rising gas bills among City residents, specifically for low-income households/buildings; - Engage utilities serving Chicago residents in planning to reach the City’s environmental and health goals; - Coordinate strategies and leverage resources of complementary initiatives such as Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge, C40 network, and Ready for 100 that seek to promote equitable climate resilience. In the first 100 days of the administration, we offer the following priorities: - Develop a working group to guide the community-wide 100% energy transition planning process and begin to design a community planning strategy for the process; - initiate comprehensive air monitoring and reporting throughout areas with the worst air quality; - Restore the Department of Environment and direct city agencies to identify and address disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of their actions on minority and low-income populations; - Evaluate, strengthen, and grow the scope of the environmental enforcement and healthy communities initiatives under the Chicago Department of Public Health and process under the Department of Planning that impact community health and environmental integrity. The following suggestions fit into longer timeframes and can be used to develop priorities over the next four years: - Support new job training and placement programs and new hiring targets for residents of environmental justice and low-income communities. Investments in clean energy infrastructure should create good, family-sustaining jobs; - Ensure that electric vehicles and charging infrastructure are equitably deployed in all Chicago neighborhoods and housing types; - The city should develop concrete steps to enact citywide environmental justice policies that address the cumulative environmental and health burdens disproportionately borne by low-income communities of color across Chicago. These policies could be based on data collected as part of a racial equity analysis of the Department of Planning; - Monitor potential opportunities for offshore wind energy in Lake Michigan as an additional pathway to reaching Chicago’s clean energy goals; - Adopt and enforce a zero net energy code for City, park district, and new buildings with electric vehicle–ready and solar-ready construction standard; - Provide residents a periodic report, such as the Annual Water Quality Report as a way to relay information about the city’s progress towards a 100% transition and related benefits and programs. Memorandum Date: April 15, 2019 To: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot From: Lisa Hyatt Subject: Promoting clean air and land in Chicago through community engagement It is a privilege to serve on the environment committee of the transition team. Though the team is compromised of regional experts and leaders in the environmental field, it is important to acknowledge that the experts of the effects of environmental conditions in our communities are the residents. In order to promote clean air and land equitably in every community, I recommend a thorough community engagement initiative with the reinstatement of the city’s Department of Environment. Today, our city selectively finds ways to promote clean air and land. Most notably, it can be found in the “Building on Burnham” plan that seeks to expand residents’ opportunities to connect with nature along the lakefront, rivers, and in parks throughout our neighborhoods. We must continue to carry the vision and spirit of Daniel Burnham into our administration, but we must allow residents in communities who are most affected by environmental injustices to unite their visions and priorities with Burnham’s. It is with this in mind that I recommend we ambitiously kick off the community engagement initiative with 100 meetings in the first 100 days. To hold up our ideals of equity and inclusion, 75% of the meetings will be conducted in communities on the south and west sides that face more environmental injustices and whose voice must be the foundation for any environmental policy and initiatives instituted by the administration. The purpose of these meetings is to allow leaders to share conditions and concerns of land and air quality and to share transformative ideas for their unique communities. Upon my appointment to this committee I sourced a small sample of leaders from communities all over the city and asked their ideas for promoting clean air and land. It is no surprise that the ideas are concrete, creative, relevant and actionable. Ideas include: Expanding the definition of infrastructure improvements for the aldermanic menu program to include green infrastructure and mandate a portion of menu funds be used for these improvements to address things such as storm water management, fund a city-wide composting initiative, and decrease long-term maintenance costs of the boulevard system and city-owned lots by adding more trees, plants, and shrubs that require less upkeep and that also offer a haven for people and wildlife. To institutionalize the city’s commitment to clean air and land, it is recommended that these conversations be conducted by a Commissioner of Community and the Environment within the city’s Department of Environment and whose primary function is serving the environmental interests of communities affected by environmental injustices. The Commissioner and their team is responsible for ensuring community voice is at the table before, during, and after city-wide decisions are made that affect land and air quality. This institutionalized role upholds our values of accountability and transparency, and it assists in long-term engagement by ensuring community voice is heard. Community needs and voices are diverse, and many of our communities are jaded by the lack of genuine engagement from the city as it pertains to equitable allocation of resources to address environmental issues. These are challenges to anticipate when instituting a robust, city-wide environmental community engagement initiative. We must anticipate that it is not enough to have 100 conversations in 100 days, and it is not enough to create positions dedicated to the engagement of communities. We must act and build on momentum from these conversations in order to build trust with community leaders and residents throughout the new administration’s term. In order to promote clean air and land in Chicago, we must give a platform to the people in communities that are most affected. Therefore, I recommend that the administration adopts a comprehensive engagement initiative that reflects our values of diversity, equity, inclusion, transparency, and accountability. It is only through acting on these conversations that we will see true transformation. Marcella Bondie Keenan Program Director Center for Neighborhood Technology To: Environment Transition Committee Proposal: Comprehensive Flood Resiliency Initiative The City of Chicago should develop a comprehensive flood resiliency initiative that provides direct assistance to Chicago residents, develops area and city-wide stormwater management plans, and prioritizes flood mitigation projects in neighborhoods which suffer a disproportionate burden from flooding. The Problem Chicago experiences widespread and chronic urban flooding, and climate science indicates that it will continue to worsen. The cost to residents is substantial. Flood damage insurance payments to Chicago residents over a nine-year period totaled more than $400 Million. Flooding also causes health and financial hardships, including mold and respiratory problems, stress, and lost work hours. However, flooding does not affect all Chicagoans equally. Just thirteen (of fifty-nine) ZIP codes represent nearly three-fourths of flood damage claims studied between 2007 and 2016. In these areas, 93 percent of residents are people of color. More than 750,000 residents live in these areas, including 200,000 children and 100,000 elderly. Sixty-two percent of these households have an income less than $50,000. Over 25 percent are below the poverty line. City-wide, 87% of flood damage insurance claims were paid in communities of color. The Solution The City of Chicago must implement a comprehensive flood resiliency initiative, and prioritize the residents who are disproportionately impacted. The technical solutions are known: increase investment in green and grey stormwater infrastructure, and preserve and create more open space. The recommendations below describe methods to ensure the initiative centers values of equity, transparency, accountability, diversity and inclusion, and transformation. However, all specific policies and plans must be developed in partnership with the environmental justice leadership of Chicago, and with residents broadly. The City of Chicago has already partnered with MWRD and CNT to implement a flood resiliency pilot, codesigned with community leaders and residents, in the Chatham neighborhood. Chatham is the most flooded neighborhood in Chicago. City Council passed the final ordinance necessary to initiate the project in December. That project needs to begin immediately, so that it can be brought to scale and replicated in other communities. Enhance Existing Programs and Policies • • • Continue funding Space to Grow, a collaboration between the City, MWRD, Openlands, and CPS to install green infrastructure at public schools. Projects should prioritize frontline communities. Coordinate with Elevated Chicago and support Capital Pipeline project development, which includes critical environmental resilience projects in specific TOD areas across Chicago. Coordinate the existing Chicago Sustainable Development Policy with the new flood resiliency initiative. Require all development proposals to be assessed for potential flooding impacts. • • • Retain the Open Space Impact Fee, which funds open space and parks, and prioritize frontline communities for funding allocations. Expand the existing Chicago Data Portal to provide transparent open access to flooding and stormwater management datasets, including a map of flood-prone areas. Continue partnering with MWRD on site-specific stormwater projects, and establish a working relationship to implement this comprehensive flood resiliency initiative. Establish New Programs in the Next 100 Days • • • • • • • • Initiate a Comprehensive Flood Resiliency Initiative to be led by an inclusive steering committee with representation from frontline communities. Appoint a diverse staff team to manage and implement the initiative, establish an ombudsman, and financially support the participation of frontline communities in the program. Use this Initiative and its representative steering committee to further define and implement all of the recommendations below. Initiate a public stormwater management planning process. Establish publicly available criteria for prioritizing flood resiliency projects. Prepare plans and proposed stormwater projects in partnership with community-based partners. Prioritize project implementation in frontline communities. Review all planned municipal construction projects for opportunities to add green stormwater infrastructure, which provides numerous community co-benefits. Require the addition of community benefits into the City’s green and grey infrastructure construction and maintenance projects, e.g., local hire and local procurement practices. Hiring and procurement should prioritize residents and businesses in frontline communities. Initiate a residential direct assistance program to retrofit homes with flood mitigation technology, including green infrastructure. The City previously administered a one-time program in 2015-16, funded by CDBG-DR. The launch of a new pilot program developed in collaboration with MWRD, RainReady Chatham, has been delayed. Review the Building Code and building inspection protocols for opportunities to incorporate flood mitigation measures and prevent sewage backup and mold. Initiate a stormwater fee study to evaluate equitable fee options. Stormwater fees provide a dedicated funding stream for flood mitigation investment. Funding allocations should prioritize stormwater infrastructure in frontline communities. Incorporate flooding into environmental impact evaluations and other departmental policies. Possible Challenges Green stormwater infrastructure provides many co-benefits and opportunities which conventional grey stormwater infrastructure lacks. However, green infrastructure has been associated with rising property values, which can inadvertently cause displacement pressure on existing residents and businesses. Therefore, it is important to include community-based organizations from the earliest point in the planning process, and incorporate economic strategies that provide direct benefit to existing residents and help maintain neighborhood affordability. Housing affordability strategies, although outside the scope of this memo, should be considered at the inception of every neighborhood green infrastructure project. April 15, 2019 Name: Margaret Frisbie, Friends of the Chicago River Transition Committee: Environment Prompt: Ensure everyone has access to clean, safe water and that our rivers and lakes are sustained for future generations Initiative Concept: A call for zero tolerance for sewage and litter in the Chicago River system Summary In order to make the Chicago River system truly safe for recreators and ensure equitable access for all communities, the City should make a commitment to stop the regular flow of sewage and litter into the river system from combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and stormwater runoff. This bold action will demonstrate that the City is committed to our people and the natural resources we share and must protect. It would also help put the City into compliance with its Phase 1 CSO permit issued by Illinois EPA in 2002 and the rules of the Clean Water Act, and assist in regional compliance with the 2011 USEPA approved water quality standard that protects recreators for swimming. CSOs, which are an issue all along the river system, occur after rainstorms when the combined volume of sewage and stormwater exceeds the capacity of the sewer system and the excess volume is, by design, released directly to the river, and sometimes Lake Michigan, in an attempt to prevent widespread flooding and basement backups. Harmful to people and wildlife, CSO discharges include a mix of untreated residential, commercial, and industrial sewage and wastewater as well as polluted stormwater. According to USEPA, some of the principal pollutants found in CSOs are: • Microbial pathogens (bacteria, viruses and other disease causing microorganisms) • Oxygen-depleting substances (cause fish kills) • Toxic industrial and commercial chemicals • Floatables and trash (repellent to people and potentially fatal for wildlife) To solve this issue in 1972 the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), Cook County’s sewage and stormwater agency, adopted the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (aka TARP, or Deep Tunnel) which, when finished in 2029, will provide pre-treatment storage for 20.55 billion gallons of this toxic mess through 109 miles of tunnels and three reservoirs. The tunnels and two of the reservoirs are complete. MWRD estimates put the current CSO capture rate at 85% meaning that there are still regular sewage discharges to the river. Design limitations and impacts on rain patterns from climate change mean that this problem will persist even when TARP is finished. Green infrastructure can address that inadequacy and provide habitat and opportunities for recreation. Although Chicago’s sewer system utilizes TARP to manage its waste, Chicago is responsible for its own CSOs and its 231 CSO discharge outfalls are subject to the Illinois EPA discharge permit. City outfalls release directly into at least nine separate reaches of the Chicago River system. A call for zero tolerance for sewage and litter in the Chicago River system would be the first step in addressing the CSO problem and this effort would advance at least two other environmental objectives on Mayor-Elect Lightfoot’s agenda: promoting clean air and water and positioning Chicago as a leader on climate change. Systemically addressing sewage and litter would reduce or eliminate basement backups, flooding, and runoff pollution; improve and increase wildlife habitat and open space connectivity for people and wildlife; build climate resiliency; and reduce the urban heat island effect. Equity, Transparency, Accountability, Diversity and Inclusion, and Transformation The Chicago River system has been polluted and industrialized for so long that many communities have never had access to it, and where they do it has been common to witness risky interactions such as postCSO recreation and sustenance fishing. It is imperative that the waterway be clean for all. This type of pollution accumulates downstream and the city neighborhoods with the least access to the river and natural open space are generally on the downstream end. Committing to a timeline to end CSOs and litter pollution now would bring transparency to the City’s obligation to meet the law under the Clean Water Act and its Illinois EPA CSO permit. Furthermore it would drive equitable efforts to clean up the waterway. Improving water quality and truly committing to open accessible, natural heathy landscapes with a blue/green corridor along the river system would transform Chicago by creating a public amenity that would provide free unfettered access to people from every community and critical wildlife habitat at a time when rates of extinction are skyrocketing. We can and should become an international leader in urban greening, and have the natural resources to do it and establish Chicago as an ecological hub. What is happening today that we need to keep? The City has developed a number of meaningful strategies that combat sewage and litter in the river system (or will when implemented), address the 2002 permit, and support green natural open space. They include: • Chicago’s CSO Operations and Maintenance Plan (2013) • Chicago’s Green Stormwater Infrastructure Strategy (2014) • Chicago’s Checkout Bag Tax (2017) and related strategies for sanitation and waste reduction including street sweeping, reintroducing a trash skimmer boat and installing a floating trash skimmer • Chicago’s CSO Technology Screening and Public Notification Alternatives Report (2018) • The Chicago River Ecology and Governance Group (2019) • Chicago’s Chicago River Design Guidelines (2019) • Support for investment in natural open space corridors and new and improved riverfront parks What do we need to implement in the next 100 days? • Release a public statement calling for an end to sewage and litter in our rivers • Forge stronger relationships with other local governments to coordinate water quality and land use • Conduct a “current conditions” assessment to determine progress on the City’s 2002 CSO permit and delineate what still needs to be done • Announce a CSO permit training event with MWRD and Friends to educate municipal dischargers, including upstream communities who contribute to the pollution of Chicago waters, about what their responsibilities are as it pertains to CSOs and litter • Work with Friends to begin an aquatic litter assessment to determine sources (CSO vs overland) • Support the Healing Our Water Coalition’s call to triple the federal state revolving funds program to increase available funds for infrastructure and to protect the Clean Water Act What can we plan for longer-term implementation? • Conduct any remaining required studies from the 2002 permit and use that information to draft a new CSO permit that meets the rules of the Clean Water Act, improving upon the draft Phase 2 permit issued by Illinois EPA in 2015, in partnership with Friends and our Water Quality Task Force • Hold the CSO permit training event with MWRD and Friends (Fall 2019) • Complete the litter assessment and develop strategies in response to the data found • • • Begin to seek federal support for infrastructure and related funds Develop a monitoring protocol with MWRD and Illinois EPA to locate illicit sewage discharges and garbage sources Co-lead the development of a regional watershed based green infrastructure plan that includes MWRD, municipalities, park districts, and other large scale public and private land owners who can contribute to onsite water storage through nature-based solutions with a focus on connectivity What challenges might we encounter in executing on this initiative? This is a long term commitment that will require thoughtful, detailed, and comprehensive planning and cooperation across county and municipal boundaries. Potential challenges include changing weather patterns, aging infrastructure, finding funding, and potential resistance from partners/other dischargers. To be successful it will take an honest, open, collaborative and multipronged approach and willing accountability. 15 April 2019 TO: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot FROM: Michael A. Pagano, Dean, College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago. Environment Transition Committee member. Re. Memo The several objectives outlined in the “environment” policy arena, including candidateLightfoot’s “A Plan for a Cleaner Environment,” address critically important issues affecting land, energy, water and neighborhoods. One initiative addresses access to clean, safe water, which is addressed below: Objective: Ensure everyone has access to clean, safe water and that our rivers and lakes are sustained for future generations. Initiative: Redesign the fiscal architecture of the city such that it better ensures that equity and accountability are maximized by ensuring rates, fees and taxes cover the full costs of water (and other infrastructure) provision and do not push all of those costs to future generations. The water and wastewater infrastructure of the city is aging. National concerns about the problems of lead pipes certainly resonate in Chicago. The city must design a long-term strategy to repair and replace hundreds of miles of pipes that will cost hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars. In designing the fiscal architecture to ensure everyone has access to clean, safe water, the city must create a rate structure, possibly supported by a broader general tax structure, that not only accelerates the pace of repair and replacement but also better prices the cost of potable water and wastewater disposal equitably and efficiently. Estimates of the costs of infrastructure construction and replacement almost always include only the capital costs, excluding the repair and maintenance costs for the life of the capital asset. Water and wastewater are no exception. The price structure (fees, rates) for infrastructure should reflect the full cost of the asset, including repair, maintenance and renewals of the infrastructure asset for its useful life, and not just to cover the capital costs associated with new or expansion projects. As a basic human necessity, access to potable water should never be denied on the basis of ability to pay. All Chicagoans should be granted access. As such, the pricing scheme for a new, modern and improved water and wastewater system must not be based only on individual consumption. Rather, the pricing scheme must recognize that the city, and other users, will subsidize access to those who do not have the ability to pay. This becomes critically important to consider as the city and other government agencies design a long-term strategy to ensure the water and wastewater infrastructure supplies clean water to everyone not only today, but in the distant future. The water and other environmental challenges facing the city, its residents and the neighborhoods are the products of a myriad of decisions made over decades. Each of these decisions was motivated by market and policy forces, sometimes to the improvement of the city and its neighborhoods and sometimes not. As the city moves forward with a capital plan that must address the health and welfare issues surrounding ‘access to clean, safe water’, it must also reconsider the design of a fiscal system that recognizes the disparate burdens placed on individuals and firms. This orientation to how change happens is to broadly understand what incentivizes behaviors, including policy and in particular fiscal policy. Creating a fair, capital plan that creates access to clean, safe water is also a recognition that previous plans and investments did not consider environmental justice as a principle that motivates plan making and fiscal policy making. An equitable fiscal architecture should be designed that incentivizes conservation activities, discourages behaviors that create environmental degradation, and ensures that everyone has access to clean, safe water. • Currently, customers who cannot pay their bill can negotiate with the city. This program should be kept, as it recognizes differences in ability to pay. • In the next 100 days, the Mayor-elect should launch a capital improvement plan that identifies replacement needs and costs of water and wastewater assets. Her administration should also rapidly move to meter all users to ensure equity, transparency, and accountability. • Longer term, the Mayor-elect should plan to change the way Chicago designs its tax and fee structure such that long-term maintenance and repair costs are built into the costs of capital investment while enshrining the ability-to-pay principle so that no one is excluded from consuming clean water. • The major challenge to this initiative is that the massive costs of assuring access to “clean, safe water” could dissuade a reasonable strategic conversation that would benefit future generations. Focus on Climate Urgency While Improving Environmental Health 1 The following are ten recommendations to Mayor-elect Lightfoot’s Environment Transition Committee that will help mitigate climate change and enhance the livelihoods of Chicagoans. These recommendations express the Mayor-elect’s values of equity, transparency, accountability, diversity and inclusion, and transformation. 1. Follow through on campaign commitment to establish a Department of Environment. This new department must have buy-in from senior staff, a clearly articulated mandate—particularly around the enforcement of environmental protections—and dedicated resources. Related, formal training of the Mayor’s staff, the City Council and their staff, and appropriate city departments and agencies on civil rights and other applicable laws that impact the air, water, and land quality of Chicago and its region helps ensure that environmental considerations are understood and acted upon by the entire City of Chicago government. The department’s creation provides an ideal opportunity to set a new, inclusive approach to obtaining resident input on community projects and citywide initiatives. 2. Provide clear expectations that environmental considerations will be part of decision-making and budgeting at the Chicago Departments of Planning and Development, Transportation, and Water. Explicit, formal screens for population vulnerability, existing pollution burden, and impacts of proposed uses on air, water, and land quality should become standard practice. This information should be made accessible to the public. 3. Develop a comprehensive inventory of lead service lines and a plan that will identify and replace 100 percent of lead service lines by 2040 (if not sooner), prioritizing communities that are at high risk of lead exposure. A key challenge will be paying for these improvements. Among municipalities across the state and country, Chicago is not alone in trying to improve and maintain its water systems. The solution likely requires involvement by the State of Illinois (e.g., a revolving loan fund) and the Federal Government (e.g., tax credits) to ensure these improvements happen in a timely manner for all City of Chicago residents. 4. Publicly display dashboards with real-time air quality information online, in City Hall, and in community locations. Property from City or Sister Agencies, mobile technology, and youth can all play helpful roles in raising our awareness about air quality and what we can do to improve it. Similarly, and related to the recommendation above, more extensive testing and sharing publicly of water quality information is necessary. 5. Provide residents the ability to report and enforce odor and pollution violations via 311 City Services. This requires a novel engagement between the City of Chicago and its residents in the monitoring of community-level environmental quality and hazards. This can provide a new approach to raising resident and business community awareness of environmental issues, their associated costs, and ways to address them. 1 Prepared by Mijo Vodopic, Senior Program Officer, Climate Solutions Program, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The views and recommendations expressed in this document are his own and do not reflect the position of the MacArthur Foundation. 1 6. Designate a clear leader within the Administration to advance community solar projects across Chicago with an emphasis on prioritizing projects serving low-income ratepayers and hiring minority-owned firms. Community solar represents a new market for local developers, an opportunity to help residents build wealth, and an additional measure to improve the City’s resiliency. This initiative expands on the City of Chicago’s increasingly ambitious commitments recently adopted by the City Council to utilize clean energy sources for its own operations and buildings and helps broaden the benefits of solar energy to a more diverse set of communities. 7. Electrify the Chicago Transit Authority’s buses and system as soon as possible. This represents a helpful urban climate mitigation strategy and, as importantly, a way to directly improve the air quality and health outcomes of residents from lower bus emissions. With a strong equity analysis in its planning, CTA could prioritize electrifying first the routes where there is the highest incidence of asthma among residents. To minimize infrastructure improvement costs the City of Chicago should work closely with Regional Transit Authority, especially the Pace Suburban Bus and Pace Americans with Disability Act Paratransit. 8. Reinvigorate partnerships with Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, Chicago Park District, and Cook County government to implement an integrated water management strategy across city departments to reduce flooding and combined sewer overflows. The City of Chicago should prioritize using green infrastructure to meet stormwater management needs and take a leadership role in maintaining the region’s tree canopy. 9. Continue with the Greencorps Chicago program and expand partnerships with local universities, research institutions, and businesses to provide a broader range of employment opportunities and experiences. 10. Chicago has a global responsibility to be a good steward of the Great Lakes—one of the largest concentrations of freshwater in the world—and, therefore, the broader hydrological system that surrounds them. From preventing Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan to lowering nutrient run off in Lake Erie, among other critical issues, the City of Chicago stands to benefit immensely from leading locally, regionally, and globally by having the respective governments of the Great Lakes adopt and enforce the highest environmental standards to protect this increasingly overtaxed natural resource. The new Administration can consider an added role for World Business Chicago and new initiatives with business interests (e.g., restaurant and hospitality) to help adopt and implement higher standards and practices that improve Chicagoland’s air, water, and land quality. 2 SOUTHEAST ENVIRONMENTAL TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS TO MAYOR-ELECT LIGHTFOOT Chicago neighborhoods and residents marginalized by economic and racial inequality tend to be those most impacted by pollution and most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. At the same time, these residents face substantial barriers to participating fully in our democracy, which inhibit their ability to both protect their communities and to ensure that they and their families benefit from policies that address pollution and climate change. Now is a critical time for Mayor-elect Lightfoot to prioritize the health and well-being of environmental justice (EJ) communities: enabled by city policies, heavy industry is moving from well-off Northside neighborhoods to city-designated “receiving” zones in Southwest and Southeast side communities of color, further concentrating noxious uses in these already overburdened communities and limiting their economic and social potential. Doing so will not only lift up the most burdened communities, but also the city as a whole. We thus call on the Mayor-elect to: Continue​: ➔ Chicago Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) evaluation and expansion of its environmental compliance and enforcement activities​, as well as its integration of environmental health and equity into the City’s health-in-all-policies platform. Upon creation of a Department of Environment (CDOE), continue enforcement and build interagency coordination with CPDH to ensure an orderly transition. ➔ CDPH’s development of regulations for metals recycling and construction and demolition waste processing and handling​. ➔ CDPH’s collaboration with USEPA to investigate soil, air, and water contamination on the SE Side​. In the first 100 days​: Formally acknowledge and commit to addressing the harms of environmental injustice in Chicago​: ➔ Prioritize Manganese (Mn) storage and handling in residential communities in SE Chicago through ​(a) creating a moratorium on Mn handling immediately (b) targeted hair, toe nail, and blood testing of residents whose households have shown high levels of Mn, Arsenic, and lead from previous testing. Note: Manganese is only present in blood two days following initial exposure. ➔ Adopt a moratorium on permitting of new or expanded sources in the City’s Industrial Corridors and PMDs ​until the city has developed comprehensive reform measures to address cumulative impacts to health and welfare from sources in such zones as part of DPD’s Industrial Corridor Modernization initiative. This will prevent new potential incoming polluters from adopting outdated regulations and policies. ➔ (a) ​issue a directive to all city agencies to enact environmental justice policies ​that protect the health and well-being of impacted communities across Chicago ➔ (b) ​create an Environmental Justice Advisory Working Group​ that includes agency representatives, members/representatives of impacted communities, and other relevant stakeholders. The working group should be part of the first phase of project and policy to effectively address disparities in land use zoning, and public health. The strategy for forming this group should be representative of the breadth of communities impacted and ensure adequate opportunity for contribution and power in decision making. ➔ ​Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT)’s trucking traffic study for the Southeast Side. ➔ Promote transparency by issuing a policy that directs city agencies to increase public participation​ ​for agency environmental, zoning and land use actions for parcels in/adjacent to industrial areas​ and Planned Manufacturing Districts (PMDs), beyond the minimum currently required by city code. The policy should include, but is not limited to: expanded notice to residents living within a 3 mile radius, as opposed to the 200 feet that is currently required by the regulations; having these notices posted to the DPD website; additional public hearings in accessible community APRIL 15, 2019 PG 1 SOUTHEAST ENVIRONMENTAL TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS TO MAYOR-ELECT LIGHTFOOT settings and times; creation of a database providing (timely) public access to environmental, zoning and land use application and related materials including such materials for agency actions/proceedings dating back to at least January 1, 2017; and enhanced responsiveness measures for public records requests for documents not required to be in the database. ➔ Increase city inspection and enforcement training and staffing capacity for environmental violations​ ​at industrial sites in Chicago​, as well as designated inspectors for heavy industry per industrial corridor, including fully staffing inspector positions authorized in the existing CDPH budget and increasing line items in drafts of the Mayor-elect’s new budget. Increases should be geared not only towards enhancing the city’s own staffing, but also filling the increasing gaps in environmental agency staffing and resourcing at the state and federal levels. ➔ Continue DPD’s Calumet River Industrial Corridor Modernization Initiative ​to ensure that cumulative burden is part of the industrial modernization planning process, and include (a) health equity and neighborhood revitalization as key objectives, as well as job creation (b) a city-level analysis that looks at the benefits and costs of each individual corridor in relation to the other industrial corridors and the broader city economy, and that assesses equity in the distribution of these benefits and costs, and (c) individual industrial corridor processes that employs community-participatory planning principles and methods in a way that caters to the unique needs of the community. ➔ Direct DPD, CDPH, CDOT to coordinate to develop regulations preventing heavy-duty trucks from transiting residential neighborhood streets​, including facilitating truck-free street designations to protect residents from diesel emissions. ➔ Direct the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) to, by December 31, 2019, review and revise its Sustainability Matrix to include environmental justice factors/metrics​, including pollution mitigation and monitoring activities, require a minimum number of environmental justice points from industrial and/or truck-intensive developments, and increase the overall point requirement that is to be met. ➔ Work with USEPA to ensure clean-up of manganese and lead in the soil of properties exceeding certain thresholds for these metals on the city’s Southeast Side​. ➔ Adopt a moratorium on water shutoffs in low-income communities burdened by water costs. ➔ Expedite the completion of projects to restore the natural areas within the Southeast side community. Over her first term​: ➔ Deliver on commitments made within the first 100 days, per the above. ➔ Develop and implement comprehensive land use and zoning reforms​, in close collaboration with community members and representatives, that address environmental justice issues while bringing clean-energy and climate-resiliency resources to communities that bear the greatest cumulative environmental burdens. ➔ Allot and employ TIF funds for the cleanup of brownfield contamination. ➔ Develop a system of support where the city designates Superfund Site status. ➔ Develop and implement comprehensive diesel transportation reforms, ​in close collaboration with community members and representatives, that maximize emissions reductions near diesel hotspots in communities overburdened by transportation, distribution, and logistics facilities. ➔ Develop a strategy to further invest in and improve the overall function of the Health in All Policies group including its facilitation of cross agency collaboration and ensure adequate funding and staffing. For example, CDPH regulates industries and needs to weigh in on permits that DPD issues before they are issued. APRIL 15, 2019 PG 2 SOUTHEAST ENVIRONMENTAL TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS TO MAYOR-ELECT LIGHTFOOT ➔ Include environmental justice indicators in Chicago policies such as those found and reported on by the Tishman Center and NRDC.​ ​The national scan serves as a resource for policymakers interested in repairing harm that has been caused to environmental justice communities. APRIL 15, 2019 PG 3 To: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot From: Seva Gandhi, Institute of Cultural Affairs Chicago is filled with local residents, leaders, and organizations who are doing innovative and impactful environmental work. With efficient City infrastructure, support, and leadership in certain key areas I believe this administration will be able to easily Position Chicago as a local and regional leader on climate change. During my tenure at the Institute of Cultural Affairs we have supported the work of local leaders throughout the city by creating and facilitating the Chicago Sustainability Leaders Network (CSLN). The grassroots leaders that comprise the CSLN have worked hard on understanding the key pain points when working with the City around environmental issues and have generated ideas on how to solve them. The members of the CSLN believe that the Lightfoot administration can infuse the values of equity, transparency, accountability, diversity and inclusion by: - - Prioritizing Equity and Inclusivity in City Decision Making – simply put, communities that have the highest needs should be prioritized for resources and services. Ensuring Authentic and Meaningful Community Engagement - Participation of diverse stakeholders in all aspects of planning and development will allow for the most relevant, accountable and comprehensive long-term impact. Conserving Community History & Culture – Environmental initiatives should be respectful of the history, culture, and current reality of communities. Advocating for Public Space - Services and property that are available for the public should have priority over those that are private in order to strengthen the commons. Fostering Creative Collaboration and Citywide Connection - the City should support partnerships across communities to promote mutual learning and resource sharing and innovation An initiative that I believe is imperative to this administration’s success and would be catalytic in creating the change we so desperately need in Chicago is: Establishing a baseline for transparent communication and engagement with all city stakeholders (City departments, sister agencies, Chicago organizations and residents). What We Need to Keep There were many ideas and initiatives outlined in the Resilient Communities Plan unveiled by the outgoing administration that would be impactful if implemented. Many hours of labor and engagement went into the plan and it would be a loss if the document just sat on the shelf and got lost in the midst of transition between administrations. Specifically, Action 6 in the plan highlights that the previous administration began to take inventory of existing public engagement strategies among City departments and sister agencies; this data would hopefully be available to lay the groundwork for the initiative. For Immediate Implementation -- 100 days There are two separates but equally important strands to the initiative listed above. One is focused internally on how the City communicates with itself and sister agencies, and one is the external way the City engages its residents and organizations. Although seemingly outside the field of ‘environment’, my experience of attempting to enact sustainability-based change in Chicago has made it clear that unless the City’s communication and engagement issues are made better, we are definitely not prepared to be a resilient city in the face of climate change. In the first 100 days the new administration should focus on the internal strand – which would include taking stock of all of the internal communication structures that currently exist among City departments and sister agencies, exploring the current key sticking points or bottlenecks, co-creating a vision with all stakeholders on what a clear and efficient communication system could look like, and begin to determine an implementation plan. I assume the ideas generated would have to be very creative and out of the box, and might include some restructuring. An example of a successful integrated communication strategy among departments could yield the following result: City parks, schools, buildings and alleys could have standard recycling options thereby creating a salient message for residents while minimizing confusion. Midterm Implementation The second strand of the initiative is creating the infrastructure for transparent communication and engagement with organizations and residents. There is no reason to do this first or even concurrently with the internally facing communication strategy. I have facilitated numerous public meetings around environmental issues in Chicago and the City’s fragmented approach to efforts (like the recycling one highlighted above) often frustrate residents who have taken the time to engage or offer ideas and inputs on what changes should happen. Residents do not believe their engagement is worth the time and effort if they cannot see the results of their suggestions and ideas in action throughout the city. The City must use their newly established strong inter-departmental communication systems to create a vision for a unified citywide engagement strategy. I believe City staff will need to be trained on engagement and facilitation, or a department tasked with engaging residents and organizations on behalf of the City, that could act as the glue between all of the other departments, should be created. Long Term Implementation Long term I believe Chicago needs a Center for Community Engagement so that is able to actually collaborate with communities on sustainability initiatives. A city government that considers community members and organizations as partners is able to create meaningful and impactful programs built on genuine ownership and buy-in. Community organizations offer a nuanced understanding of the needs and assets of their specific community while the city has the ability to leverage resources, expertise, and capital. Working symbiotically, the two can accomplish more than either in isolation. From my experience where the lack of engagement is most visible is in new developments - and city planning at large. I believe that this city is filled with residents, leaders and organizations that care so deeply about the environment that if the City could truly create system to listen, sustainability would likely always be prioritized in all city plans. Challenges you may encounter in executing on this initiative Engagement and Participation are not easy or fast. They take time, and trust building is a lot of work. In a city with a mandate to get things done ‘quickly’ engagement is often the thing that falls to the wayside. Unfortunately, it is that side step that often means the project will have limited success. If the city is relying on residents and organizations to implement the new strategies it is taking, they must be included in the decision-making process. This would be an entirely new culture in Chicago and would require a lot of patience, on both sides to do well, and it will take time for the residents and organizations of Chicago to trust that the city government is willing and desiring to serve them. Memo To: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot From: Susan Mudd, Senior Policy Advocate, Environmental Law & Policy Center Prompt: Protect and Improve our Air Quality to Ensure the Health of All Chicagoans Initiative: Clean up the diesel vehicles & equipment used throughout Chicago, and transform them from diesel to electric by 2040 By involving residents in monitoring small particulate pollution, making publicly accessible air monitoring results from all sources, and requiring cleaner vehicle fleets and equipment, transit and school buses, Chicago can address critical existing health inequities experienced by front line communities. And as transportation is now the single largest source of carbon pollution, improving public transportation ridership and cleaning up vehicles and equipment, Chicago can be positioned as a Climate Change leader. WHY? Too many Chicago children (1 in 8) now suffer from asthma; in some southside and westside Hispanic and African American neighborhoods it is one of every two or three children. Families with children with asthma have annual health care costs cnsiderably higher than other households ($1700/year nationwide). Older adults with COPD, indeed everyone is affected at some time by unnecessary, avoidable and inefficient air pollution which is also contributing to climate change. Chicago’s place at the crossroads of the nation’s rail and truck routes and our older transportation systems currently result in excessive diesel pollution. Fumes from school buses, transit buses, aged locomotives and construction equipment all contain numerous toxins. Using cleaner vehicles and equipment would allow the economy to continue to grow more efficiently without our people’s health suffering needlessly. What is happening today that we need to keep and build upon: ● City Council passed resolution April 10 calling for CTA fleet to be all electric by 2040 ● First electric school bus to serve west side CPS children this fall ● Drive Clean Chicago grant program assists those obtaining cleaner trucks ● City has two ordinances nominally addressing diesel vehicle idling and requiring cleaner construction equipment ● State, academic researchers and citizen scientists monitor some air pollutants ● CDPH is developing first ever Air Quality and Health Report Plan What we need to implement in the first 100 days: ● Vigorously oppose US EPA attempts to rollback particulate matter (PM2.5) standards ● Develop a plan for achieving a zero-emissions CTA prioritizing routes for early implementation so as to address current health inequities and disparate air quality ● Direct CPS to incentivize school bus contractors towards electric school buses, assisting them with accessing VW and other funding sources to do so; Mayor ride with west side CPS children when first EV bus drives them to/from school this fall ● Expand proposed EV-ready ordinance that would require new residential multi-unit buildings to make 20% of parking spaces ‘EVSE-ready’ to include new commercial freight truck-intensive developments (e.g. warehouses, ports, etc.) ● Conduct an internal audit to assess compliance with the 2011 Chicago Clean Diesel Construction Ordinance (2-92-595), update the ordinance to reflect and incorporate technological advances that result in cleaner air, and expand ordinance requirements to all public and private projects undertaken in the city ● Incorporate citizen science monitoring, and up to date enforcement mechanisms in City Air Quality and Health Report Plan currently under development ● Enforce the city’s existing anti-idling ordinance (#9-80-095) limiting diesel vehicles to 3 minute idling/hour while bringing in revenue by adopting a plan such as NYC’s allowing citizens to report violators ● Insist to IDOT that a dedicated bus lane be part of the North Lake Shore Drive reconstruction. ● Urge IEPA to dedicate a larger share of VW Mitigation Trust funds for electric vehicles and equipment ● Ensure renewal of ComEd franchise agreement with city that ends 2019 includes provisions to adequately supply electricity for public-serving fleets such as CTA buses, school buses serving CPS students and city garage locations What we can plan for longer term implementation: ● Improve city Inspection and Enforcement of air related regulations ● Convert CTA fleet to all EV, saving 55,000 tons GHG/year, equivalent to taking 10,000 cars off the road What challenges we might encounter in executing this initiative: ● Fear of change ● Exaggerated claims of costs not being worth the benefits (but note for instance that resulting health benefit to the populous of the city from the reducing respiratory and other diseases is estimated at ~$55,000 per year per CTA bus) ● Misinformation about electric vehicles and equipment not being available. Actually availability increases by the day with more and more coming on line and prices coming down with greater supply; Chicago as part of Climate Mayors can help with bulk purchase discounts ● Insistence that minority contractors can’t comply with new clean vehicle/equipment requirements; this can be overcome with education and directing to financing sources (eg State Treasurer, DERA, VW) TO: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot FROM: Uzma Noormohamed, Program Director DATE: April 16, 2019 RE: Residential Energy Engagement Priorities for the Lightfoot Administration In order for Chicago to be positioned as a leader in clean energy practices, people must be engaged where they are and by those they trust. People must be convinced to take action, adopt practices and programs in their interest, and change their behavior when it comes to energy use. Priority needs to be given to educate and engage Chicagoans on energysaving opportunities with deliberation and attention to how people access information, particularly to serve the needs of people who have lower incomes. As an organization that supports community-based consumer engagement on energy programs, technology and education, the Illinois Science and Energy Innovation Foundation proposes for your consideration a few themes and opportunities to increase energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, and position the City as a leader on climate action through effective resident engagement and education. Today, there are organizations in the field who serve as expert energy advisors to both residents and community based organizations. These organizations are entrenched in neighborhoods and have highly interactive conversations with residents, letting them know which energy-saving programs will work for them and demystifying bills, programs, and incentives. We need to make sure decades of their work in furthering energy literacy at the neighborhood level is leveraged by the City. The administration has an opportunity to connect City initiatives with existing utility and nonprofit programs that will ensure higher energy literacy among residents. Short-term recommendations Energy engagement assessment: In the short term, the City has an opportunity to design programs and services with resident education at the center. Often times, outreach and communications are conflated and are an afterthought, but the success of a program depends entirely on outreach and whether residents think it’s in their best interest. The City can engage residents more effectively by implementing an outreach and engagement assessment in the design phase of every public-facing program. The assessment should include the outreach strategy, external outreach partners, internal City outreach channels, and information design. Particular attention should be given to ensure information is easy to understand, translated, and accessible. Aldermanic staff training: Educate Aldermen and Aldermanic staff in a train-the-trainer fashion, derived from community engagement and grassroots outreach models. Engagement topics should include the range of energy-saving programs and choices that residents can take advantage of whether offered through the city, the utility company, or nonprofits. The idea here is not for Aldermanic staff to become experts, it’s for them to serve as useful touchpoints when residents inquire about energy programs and for them to refer residents to designated ‘energy advisor’ organizations. Consumer protection: Over the years, we’ve heard from energy education nonprofits that residents are being preyed on by door-to-door salespeople representing alternative retail electric suppliers and more recently developers selling solar ILLINOIS SCIENCE & ENERGY INNOVATION FOUNDATION 18 SOUTH MICHIGAN AVENUE, 12TH FLOOR, CHICAGO, IL 60603 WWW.ISEIF.ORG leases. The targets are mainly people from low-income backgrounds who get locked into often expensive electric supply and solar contracts. In thinking about outreach and engagement, the City has an opportunity to help residents by creating policies that prevent predatory practices in this area. This directly effects engagement because residents mistake legitimate engagement organizations with those involved in predatory practices and as a result dismiss any conversations that could potentially help them save money through energy programs. Long-term recommendations Intersections and alignment: Some people are interested in how to reduce energy usage and will attend a dedicated event educating them on related topics. Most people, however, are interested in saving money and there are opportunities to educate them in these contexts. Some of these contexts include affordable housing, new home construction, health, financial literacy, and new homeownership. There are a plethora of community based organizations specializing in providing education in these topics, many of them funded by the City to do so. These organizations and their staff can be trained to offer information on City and utility energy programs within their respective contexts. The same intersections exist with programs offered by City departments related to health and housing. FEJA Program Implementation: FEJA program implementation is in the nascent stages. The City can play a role here by convening community organizations and organizations specializing in energy literacy in order to find ways to best implement programs so that the benefits reach all residents. Youth engagement on climate and energy: A few months ago, young Chicagoans sent a message that they want action on climate. The city has an opportunity to work with young people on a communications strategy that would allow them to engage their communities and neighborhoods on clean energy options in the context of the urgency of climate change. Potential challenges There are challenges here but they can be overcome. • Resources: Outreach work is a full-time job that takes place in neighborhoods and rests on relationship development. The challenge in sustaining an ongoing effort to participate in and leverage existing outreach is the recognition that this takes time and involves dedicated resources in order to work at an intensely local level. • Aldermanic staff capacity: One challenge that may come up with respect to Aldermanic education is staff capacity. Staff time can be limited and participation can be minimal. This can be addressed by expecting Aldermanic staff to serve as connectors between residents and energy advisors such as Citizens Utility Board or Elevate Energy. In our work supporting statewide energy literacy and engagement, we have found that people become more energy literate in high-touch interactions that involve conversations and 1-to-1 conversations. Our preliminary research has also found that people tend to share information on energy programs when they have internalized an understanding of them. As we’re starting this conversation together on how best to increase energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and acting on climate, let’s recognize that this is all about people and takes place in a community. Before we can talk about transformation, we must do the people work first. ILLINOIS SCIENCE & ENERGY INNOVATION FOUNDATION 18 SOUTH MICHIGAN AVENUE, 12TH FLOOR, CHICAGO, IL 60603 WWW.ISEIF.ORG April 9, 2019 Dear Mayor-Elect Light I am honored that you have invited me to join your Environment Transition Committee and I humbly accept. There is much work to be done in our great city around this issue of our common home; the environment that we share with all living things. You stated during campaign several objectives on the area of environment: • Increase energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources • Promote clean air and land • Ensure everyone has access to clean, safe water and that our rivers and lakes are sustained for future generations • Position Chicago as a local and regional leader on climate change. As the Chicago Outreach Director for Faith in Place (FIP), a member of the Faith in Place Action Fund (FIPAF) and a longtime resident in the community of South Shore, I would like to share both the mission of FIP and FIPAF and my personal commitment to the environmental objectives you outlined above. I think that they are in line with how you would like to see your Environmental Transition Committee work with you to meet your environmental objectives for Chicago. Climate Change Educating communities (and local leadership) about climate change and its effect, while creating opportunities to clean (green) energy jobs, economic opportunities for both their families and communities with clean and affordable transportation options. In addition creating a program that address Climate Resiliency for not only the city, but with strong emphasis in vulnerable EJ communities is paramount. Job Creation & Just Economy We believe that the pathway to stable families and communities can only happen with equal access to the economic opportunities, job training, community investments that will level the playing field for those living in EJ communities who have been cut off from such opportunities and left to see their communities layered in urban blight, crime and abandoned housing and empty commercial corridors. This must happen with a keen sense of urgency and “radical” strategic planning. Let’s think out of the box, following in the footsteps of some of our neighboring cities; Detroit for example. Clean energy technologies and new green economy jobs present employment opportunities for all communities, and the Future Energy Jobs Act created the Illinois Solar for All program to train residents in Chicago and throughout Illinois, including returning citizens and foster care alumni, for clean energy jobs. High levels of unemployment correlate directly with violence in Chicago communities and recidivism. Families and spouses of persons with criminal records are negatively and economically impacted and deserve good paying jobs. Wage gaps continue to exist based on gender and race, with Caucasian women earning 82 cents, African American women earning 65 cents, and Hispanic women earning 58 cents for every dollar earned by Caucasian men in hourly wages. As people of faith and conscience promoting political action for environmental justice in Chicago and all of Illinois, members of the Faith in Place Action Fund believe creating clean energy job pathways in neighborhoods that suffer most from environmental degradation results in a future that is promising for all. Food Justice & Scarcity More than 500,000 people in Illinois live in food scarce neighborhoods where local, healthy food, is not readily available. Despite an increase in the total number of supermarkets in Chicago, food deserts and food inequity persists. For example, African Americans make up approximately one third of Chicago’s population, but almost 80 percent of the population of persistently low or volatile food access areas. Water Justice Testing continues to be a significant strategy in identifying the pervasive nature of the problem of lead in Illinois water. Testing must result in replacement. The crisis of lead in water leads to lifelong intellectual, emotional and behavioral consequences, lower IQ, slow growth, hearing problems and anemia. Transparency regarding our water quality and implementing a plan to eradicate the problem before we move to crisis proportion is so critical. Housing and Property Values The acts of predatory lenders that led the worst mortgage crisis since the Great Depression, become one of the greatest environmental injustices to hit our city, especially EJ communities. I’m convinced that this crisis “must” expand the definition of “Environmental Justice”. We must and can find ways to right the wrongs. One of the initiatives could be to demand that lenders who caused this crisis to stop the continual devaluation of housing and properties in EJ communities; both occupied and unoccupied. Existing property owners are left feeling “stuck and disillusioned’ regarding their property value. The second issue is the now bank-owned properties that have been devalued is then “priced-to-sell’ to developers often for a “cash-only” deal, something that most people in our communities do not have. This practice is another form of “red-lining” where only those with money are able to ‘buy and sell” property in certain communities. It is people of color who are in most of these communities with no recourse but to live next too blight and boarded up, environmentally hazarded property until a developer comes in and scoops it up for pennies on the dollar. This leaves the long-time homeowner next door seeing their property value continually go down despite their improvements and maintenance. Finally, we must create programs that will open up the pathway to homeownership for college grads who have been buried in school loans, yet forced to pay high rent from the same developer/property owner who bought up their community for little to nothing. Getting young, creative people to come back to their community will take creative courage and innovation. With them comes creative businesses, positive use of our open space and a renew sense that their hard work and sacrifice to get an education has been rewarded. Why can’t we sell them some of these properties for pennies on the dollar and them give them the financial support and a reasonable time period to make them habitable again? Please refer to the link below that supports my views regarding the devaluation of Black Communities. ttps://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018.11_Brookings-Metro_Devaluation-Assets-BlackNeighborhoods_ Sincerely, Veronica Kyle Wendy Zeldin Experimental Station/61st Street Farmers Market Environment Transition Committee Initiative: ​Ensuring underserved communities on the south and west sides have access to affordable, local food, while additionally providing regional farmers with incentives to sell their products in these low-income neighborhoods. The new administration can infuse the values of equity, transparency, accountability, diversity and inclusion, and transformation in this initiative by engaging and working actively with individual community members, nonprofits and other social service and community organizations​ living, working and operating on the west and south sides​ to build healthy food environments in their neighborhoods. Farmers markets can be important forces for transformation, as they enable individuals to learn about food and nutrition and to take greater charge of their own wellbeing, while building community around healthy food. In many ways, the City of Chicago is currently working in alignment with this proposed initiative. In the past seven years, the City has supported the creation of five farmers markets in underserved neighborhoods on the south and west sides. Since 2010, the City of Chicago has partnered with Experimental Station to provide SNAP/EBT at City of Chicago farmers markets. Additionally, for the past six years the City has provided $87,000 per year to Experimental Station to fund SNAP/Link nutrition incentives (‘Link Match’) at City-run and independently run farmers markets in Chicago. Beyond the funds provided by the City, Experimental Station supports Link Match nutrition incentive programs at farmers markets throughout the city of Chicago. To ensure the success of the City farmers markets and Link Match programs, the Department of Cultural and Special Events creates a brochure that includes detailed information pertaining to all of the City markets as well as other independent Chicago markets. As of 2018, Experimental Station initiated a universal Link Match currency for markets in Chicago. The universal currency will be expanding to include​ all ​Illinois​ ​farmers​ ​markets funded by Experimental Station in 2019. In the next 100 days, the Lightfoot administration can further ensure the success of this initiative by 1) launching the seasonal City of Chicago Farmers Market program 2) following through on current commitments to both SNAP/Link nutrition incentive funding and the City market program (i.e., ensuring the City moves these initiatives forward in a timely and organized fashion, keeps their contracts with farmers, such as The Urban Canopy, etc.) and 3) providing continuing support (administrative, financial, operational) to existing south and west side markets. In regard to longer term implementation, we feel it is crucial to remember that simply creating a market does not ensure its long term success or sustainability. Every farmers market would benefit from a Mayor who truly believed and publicly stated that the lack of access to healthy food in these underserved neighborhoods is the result of long-term disinvestment. We recommend that the Lightfoot administration adopt a community approach to building on the already existing farmers markets in these underserved neighborhoods, in order to ensure the markets’ long-term growth and staying power. Besides encouraging neighbors to shop at and advocate for their local markets, the Mayor’s office can identify nonprofits, churches, hospitals, social service agencies, and/or other community-based organizations in these neighborhoods and encourage them to advocate for and adopt the nearest market as their own. Once local organizations are identified, the Mayor’s office could also plan to bring together these community groups and organizers to discuss how they can further support the market’s programming (including Link Match incentives), ideas for outreach, etc. There are numerous challenges that make this initiative harder to realize. For one, many of the new farmers markets on the south and west sides lack the necessary management, community outreach, and engagement needed for them to thrive and grow. Another challenge lies in curating the markets, including finding vendors/farmers willing to come to these neighborhoods. Many farmers have been hesitant to sell in underserved neighborhoods - noting uncertainty of safety, their need to make a greater profit, doubts they can sell to specific communities, etc. The lack of health and food education in underserved communities—including a lack of access to space/tools for people to cook the food that they purchase—present additional challenges. As always, funding remains a key challenge. Operating a successful market (especially in a low-income neighborhood) requires management, administration, SNAP/EBT services, and strong and ongoing promotion and outreach—all of which involve real costs. Charitable ventures rather than for-profit businesses, farmers markets earn a small portion of their overall operating budget from vendor fees, with all other operating funds coming from other sources, such as grants. In the past several years, the City has had to reduce the number of farmers markets and market days serving the underserved neighborhoods on the south and west sides, due to budgetary concerns. Needless to say, budget cuts make it significantly harder for markets to operate and make it difficult for residents of our low-income communities to consider them dependable sources of healthy food. April 15, 2019 TO: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot FROM: Marisa Novara, Vice President, Metropolitan Planning Council Use racial equity assessment in decision making  Why: The only way our region and its residents will reach their full potential is by dismantling the barriers that create disparities and inequities by race and income. It is essential for our growth and our shared prosperity. The government sector has a constitutional obligation—and statutory powers—to end the segregation of people, power and resources, and demand it of others as well. This means a commitment to not only creating new mechanisms to address disparities, but to changing the institutional systems that perpetuate them through ongoing staff training, equity assessments of any proposed initiatives and investments, and public accountability to progress on goals.  How the new administration can infuse the values of equity, transparency, accountability, diversity and inclusion, and transformation in this initiative: By building racial equity assessment knowledge and capacity agency by agency, department by department. All staff—from teachers to police officers to judges to medical personnel—would receive implicit bias and individual/systemic racism awareness training and it would become a required component of new staff orientation. Trained staff should be able to self-select to be part of each agency’s or department’s “Change Team.” These groups receive initial and ongoing training, help develop department level strategies to address issues of equity within the context of their work and lead in-department use of racial equity tools. Attention is paid to Change Teams reflecting a range of positions, race, gender, etc. to ensure the work is embraced throughout the organization. Racial equity assessment tools can be employed immediately to analyze disparate impacts by race and plan accordingly on the front end, such as in proposed budgets, ordinances or other policy changes and in practices such as hiring and contracting. Measurable indicators of success/impact over time can be created for accountability. The City of Seattle and King County, Washington have pioneered the use of racial equity impact assessment (REIA) tools in government to augment decision-making and mitigate harm caused by unintentional bias and structural racism. The City of Seattle’s commitment to equity was formalized by a resolution passed in 2009 that directs all city departments to available tools to assist in the elimination of racial and social disparities across key indicators of success. Other cities in the United States have already begun to implement policies like those recommended above: Seattle, New York City, New Orleans and Philadelphia all have in place racial equity frameworks from which Chicago can emulate and learn.  What is happening today that we need to keep: The Chicago Department of Public Health has been successful in providing baseline training on understanding structural racism to their staff and partner agencies. CDPH has also invested in dedicated staff through their 2019 budget that will focus on operationalizing equity to advance the work of the health department.  What we need to implement in the next 100 days: o Meet with CDPH and Cook County to learn about their work training staff, use of equity tools and partnership with the Government Alliance for Racial Equity (GARE) o Form a taskforce to study best practices by other cities working to implement an equity framework and draft an ordinance for the city’s commitment to eliminate racial and social disparities through the use of equity tools and mandatory training of all city employees. o Meet with GARE to scope out a potential partnership. o Seek funding for this work from philanthropy  What we can plan for longer-term implementation: o First Year Actions and Goals: Pass a “Chicago Equity & Social Justice Ordinance” o First Term Goals: All city employees trained in implicit bias and understanding structural racism starting with elected officials; Establish an Office of Equity and Social Justice and Chief Equity Officer that reports to the Mayor.  What challenges we might encounter in executing on this initiative: Resistance from longtime city employees and aldermen who don’t see anything broken to fix and/or “don’t see color.” Resistance from groups who see themselves as likely to be on the losing end of racial equity assessments. Why the time is right: In the last few years there is a heightened conversation around issues of race and equity. Nonprofits, philanthropy, corporations and government agencies have embarked on honest assessments of their position in maintaining systems that hold inequities in place. In Chicago, disproportionate fines and fees in communities of color, black population loss and police/community distrust are all signs of the need to embrace a racial equity framework. A new mayor who advances equity is the right leader to bring this change to city government at a time when equity is at the center of public discourse. What it will take: Addressing racial inequities will require the cooperation of the Mayor, City Council, City Commissioners and agency heads. Partnership with the Government Alliance on Race and Equity will also be essential.   April 15, 2019 TO: Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot FROM: Marisa Novara, Vice President, Metropolitan Planning Council Transparent, comprehensive planning that includes best practices for land use in Chicago Chicago’s land use planning practices are out of step with nationwide best practices. Below, we offer recommendations and action steps for reforms to Chicago’s land use and ancillary practices, derived from our research into policies in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Seattle, Philadelphia, and New York. Adopting a system of transparent, comprehensive planning that incorporates community engagement will move Chicago to be a more transparent, inclusive and accountable Chicago. Note: Many of these ideas are aligned with and adapted from the Shriver Center’s report A City Fragmented. Develop a comprehensive plan that prioritizes transparent and inclusive community engagement The City has no comprehensive plan or clearly articulated citywide goals centered on the crucial issues of population loss, health, housing affordability and development grounded in racial equity. Unlike other cities, land use planning is currently done on a reactive basis when potential projects arise. This leads to fragmented efforts that do not align critical areas like housing, transportation and open space and are not fulfilling a larger strategic framework or vision for the city as a whole. This is also partially exacerbated by 50 aldermen making their own zoning and land use decisions, which can prevent the City from executing on larger citywide goals such as the equitable distribution of affordable housing. Further, community engagement around planning is not an integral part of the current way that City agencies function. It is inconsistent across and within departments. The City should create a) a comprehensive plan for Chicago with community and stakeholder input that builds upon existing community-level plans and establishes a clear vision for the city; and b) an inclusive vision for public engagement that is embraced institutionally and executed by each agency. The process should be consistent across agencies and projects and operate within the core values of effective public engagement practice including two-way communication, collective learning and trust-building. To facilitate this, a new Mayor’s Office of Community Engagement should be established to align and coordinate efforts across different agencies. Community engagement that builds trust between the city government and residents is key to ensuring that comprehensive plan results in creating a more equitable Chicago. This comprehensive vision and plan, shaped by community engagement, should be created through the use of a racial equity framework supported by goals and metrics that allow the City to track achievements, progress, and alignment of subsequent plans. This vision should build upon existing neighborhood plans and shape the adoption of future neighborhood plans that align with the larger citywide strategy that would guide land-use decisions related to residential, commercial, transportation, parks and open space. Within the first 100 days, additional staffing and budgetary needs should be identified in tandem with an inventory of current and completed neighborhood plans. A taskforce should create the scope for a comprehensive plan that considers costs, timeframe, community engagement and funding sources. A completed plan, including the vision, strategic goals and metrics should be completed by the end of year two. Create timelines for passing zoning amendments through council Currently, aldermen can hold a land use application indefinitely in City Council’s Zoning Committee with the potential to effectively kill a rezoning or permitting request without ever having to cast a vote. This power has been used repeatedly to thwart affordable housing development, and it reveals a deeper problem in how zoning happens in Chicago: there is no set timeline by which zoning or permitting processes have to move through the planning process. The solution to this problem is simple and well-tested: create a clear, transparent timeline by which planning proposals need to move through Council, and create real consequences if no action is taken. New York’s Universal Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) provides a precedent. ULURP creates a transparent process and does not let its council members hide behind procedural maneuvers. Every development gets a fair hearing (or is approved). Any development that seeks a rezoning must have a decision from the community advisory board within 60 days; if no action is taken by the board, then the proposal advances. The borough president and City Planning Commission likewise get 30 and 60 days to review proposals; if no action, then the proposal advances to City Council. And Council, too, gets 50 days with a proposal. If Council fails to vote, then the proposal passes. Minneapolis has a similar timeline process, mandated by the State of Minnesota. Mayor Emanuel proposed an ethics reform package that set comparatively conservative timelines on zoning applications: the Zoning Committee would be required to vote on an amendment within 180 days. Yet this proposal was deflected by City Council. MPC recommends that the Mayor’s Office establish legislation that sets common-sense parameters on this process; within the first year, an ordinance should be introduced setting timelines on the zoning amendment process. It should require that if introduced ordinances are not heard within the established time limits (unless an extension is mutually sought by developer and Alderman) then they are automatically approved (barring special circumstances that must be approved by the Department of Planning and Development (DPD)). Transfer permitting, signage, and other routine land use powers to DPD Chicago’s aldermen have an inordinate amount of control over routine land use decisions: signage, permitting, right of way obstructions, parking permits, and construction permitting. Being the gatekeeper for all of these decisions provides opportunities for self-enrichment and corruption. Chicago’s residents and businesses deserve transparent, accountable permitting processes. Non-discretionary permitting considerations should be made by DPD, which would serve as an impartial administrative body within the city that follows existing policy. Aldermen should set land use legal requirements, not focus on selective enforcement. New York, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Philadelphia all leave these decisions to their central planning department. Chicago should follow suit. Again, New York’s ULURP is exemplary in setting clear, transparent processes with discrete timelines for addressing routine land use issues. Within the first 100 days, the City should scrub all departmental applications that require aldermanic approval on non-discretionary matters. For example, driveway permit applications should not require an alderman’s signature, so long as that driveway meets legal requirements. Aldermen would be notified of the application, but the onus would be on them to raise a fact-based objection should they have one. Within the first year, the City should introduce an ordinance modifying relevant municipal code. The ordinance should remove aldermanic authority to administer code requirements and leave that review power with the Department of Planning and Development or another City department. To enable DPD to take up this work, adequate funding should be appropriated in the 2020 budget. Eliminate requirement within DPD for a letter of aldermanic support to access city financing Chicago’s aldermen are gatekeepers for access to public financing for affordable housing projects. While community input and the support of leaders can be an important tool for shaping neighborhood development, it can also be used to maintain segregation. The application instructions for DPD (now Department of Housings (DOH’s))’s Multifamily Housing Financial Assistance program explicitly requires a letter of support from applicable aldermen. Without this letter of support, applicants do not receive the financing they require to create affordable housing units. This allows uncooperative aldermen in primarily white wards to block affordable housing developments by withholding approval. Among the cities we have examined, only one required Council member support to access city funds, and this practice was stopped via lawsuit. Until 2018, the City of Los Angeles required all affordable developments to receive a letter of acknowledgment from the controlling Council member. This “pocket veto,” as it came to be known, allowed council members to stop affordable housing units from receiving consideration because of the difficulty associated with getting financing. In 2018, the City of Los Angeles was sued over this requirement, and it lost. The California State Legislature passed a bill banning any such local requirements for letters of approval. Similarly, the Illinois Housing Development Authority eliminated their requirement for a local letter of support in their Qualified Application Plan in 2012. Within the first 100 days, any such letter of approval requirements should be eliminated. If this is simply an internal procedural requirement within DPD, then it should be immediately eliminated by DPD’s Commissioner. If it is embedded in municipal code, then it should be routed out through City ordinance. Note that many aldermen are likely to raise legitimate concerns about this step, as with aldermanic prerogative, over-limiting their means to shape local development. Several have noted to me that they weed out irresponsible developers and landlords by withholding support. MPC would welcome the opportunity to conduct further research with peer cities on how they have controlled for this consideration. At a minimum, aldermen should be able to register their concerns in writing with DOH regarding any developer or development. Establish a transparent, accountable Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) The City of Chicago is alone across the country in its lack of transparency regarding its affordable housing financing criteria. The state of Missouri’s is the only other QAP that does not use a public point system in establishing its criteria, and Missouri does instead have much clearer priorities, selection criteria and set-asides than does Chicago. The City has resisted calls to follow Illinois’ lead in establishing either a points system or clear set-asides because of a stated desire to be as flexible as possible. The downsides are many: developers have no sense of City priorities and thus waste time and money designing potential projects, the City remains in reactive mode to proposals received rather than setting a citywide vision for what it intends to fund, and most importantly, it maintains a system of backdoor deals and favors which erodes trust in government. Within the first 100 days, establish a group to define how a transparent, accountable QAP would work and have the Mayor and new DOH Commissioner announce the changes to the next round.