In 1996, as the Chicago region prepared for a new millennium, the leaders of the Commercial Club of Chicago began a new project to commemorate the club’s work of the past century: the Metropolis Project.
The club’s Metropolis Report, published in March 1999 after a cumulative two-year effort, examined many of the challenges to the region’s future, such as housing, transportation, education, and the environment — all of the things that go into making a region a good place to live, work, and raise a family.
According to the report, the region’s advantage of having a diverse mix of traditional and new economy industry sectors — which drives the $319.5-billion regional economy — is offset by an inadequate supply of housing for workers close to jobs, low test scores of children in schools with high concentrations of poverty, and a tax system that limits the ability of some communities to educate their children and combat crime.
Among the report’s key recommendations was the creation of a new entity called Chicago Metropolis 2020, which would bring top business leaders to the same table with leaders of local government, the clergy, labor, environmentalists, and other civic leaders. The Commercial Club, composed of CEOs and senior executives of the largest companies in the region, created and provided support for the new non-profit organization in 1999, seeing to it that the Metropolis Report would have a dedicated group of leaders to work on its recommendations.
"The Chicago region will remain strong only if we acknowledge our challenges and develop solutions," said Donald G. Lubin, chairman of Chicago Metropolis 2020. "Too many schools have failed to provide a good education for our children," he continued. "Too many men and women can’t afford to live in or even close to the communities where they are employed." Lubin stated that if positive changes are not made, the entire region will suffer.
A tremendous resource for this young organization, President and CEO George A. Ranney and other senior executives are volunteering their time. These dedicated executives have many accomplishments in the private sector — they understand the region and know all of the players. Among them are Whitney W. Addington, former director of the Primary Care Institute at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center; King W. Harris, former president and CEO of Pittway Corporation; Adele Simmons, retired president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and Paula Wolff, past president of Governors State University.
According to Jim Bray, spokesman for Chicago Metropolis 2020, by many measures, the Chicago region’s economy is strong. "We’re fortunate that it is a diverse economy and not overly dependent on any single industry sector like automobiles or high tech," said Bray. "It is generally viewed as a good location for business and with a good labor force. For instance, Boeing looked throughout the country last year and decided Chicago was the best location for its world headquarters." In 2000, the region’s airports served the fourth most international destinations of all U.S. metropolitan regions, but Houston and Atlanta are challenging its position. Bray said, "We can’t take it [this good fortune] for granted."
In fact, the region’s fortunes are mixed. Its share of national venture capital fell 2.1 percent in 2000, dropping the region to 11th place among the top 20 metropolitan regions. On the bright side, violent crime fell 5 percent in 2000, and the property crime rate fell 6 percent. Yet the region’s violent crime rate still was 54 percent higher than the national rate.
Still, the challenges to this region are not that different from those faced elsewhere in America, according to Bray. He specifies that "too many people have to make long commutes to and from work, and part of the reason is the lack of housing for workers close to their jobs. Success in schools is uneven. A high reliance on property taxes for education and government services has made it difficult for some poorer municipalities and school districts to provide basic services." The affordable housing options are fewest in communities experiencing the most job growth between 1991 and 2000.
Between 1994 and 1999, there was a reported 2.7 percent average annual increase in daily vehicle miles traveled per mile of roadway, while the population increased by 0.7 percent. Growth was uneven in the construction of 40,000 new single and multi-family housing units in 2001.
Frank H. Beal, executive director of Chicago Metropolis 2020, said that these imbalances pressure the social fabric. "For instance," he said, "long commutes are detrimental to the economy because they frequently lead to high turnover of workers. Tiring of the commute, workers look for jobs closer to their homes, and businesses must then pay the cost of finding replacements and training new employees."
In 1999, the average rush-hour trip took 69 percent more time than the same trip in a non-congested period. Beal continued that long commutes also can lead to increased air pollution and demands for more highways — problems that increase the tax burden of businesses and families. "If you’re stuck in a traffic jam for an hour after work, you’re not going to be home to watch your child’s softball game or meet with teachers after school," he said. "Single parents and dual-income households lose time with their children, and that takes a toll on the kids, as well as parents at work.
According to Beal, the Chicago region does not have an adequate plan for transportation and development. There are a variety of transit agencies and governments responsible for roads and highways, he said, but there hasn’t been much success in linking planned development with transportation. As a result, pressures for new highway infrastructure and developments spring up along the way.
"It is a costly way to do business," said Beal. "It is inefficient in a variety of ways." While communities and organization have made their own plans based on area of interest, there have been few efforts to take a comprehensive look at the whole region — to see how the pieces fit together.
"By the year 2030, the population of the region is expected to grow by 1.5 million people," said Beal. "We need to look now at where they will live, where they will work, and what transportation systems will be needed."
With respect to overcoming the aforementioned obstacles, author Elmer W. Johnson wrote in Chicago Metropolis 2020 that regional children need access to good healthcare and education, and that adults need access to high-quality workforce development programs. He also called for spatial transformation of the metropolis and noted both the high level of concentrated poverty and the racial and social segregation that characterizes the region.
When asked how Chicago Metropolis 2020 is addressing these challenges, Bray replied, "First, this is not an organization that pretends to have all of the answers. We work with many other organizations, and we try to be a catalyst for change." Bray said that part of what they do is educational. For example, they publish the Metropolis Index, an annual report card on the region’s progress — an independent assessment of how the region is doing in a variety of areas, such as housing, transportation and land use, education, the environment, and community life. In addition to attempts to spur government action, Bray said, "We don’t sugarcoat the statistics or act as a cheerleader. We provide a legitimate source of information and encourage a dialogue in the region."
The Metropolis Index reported, for example, that the average wage paid to employees in 11 of the 15 industry sectors that drive the region’s economy were higher than the national averages. But after the steady economic growth during the 1990s and through the year 2000, the expansion stalled — the region lost jobs at a faster rate than the nation from 2000 to 2001. The number of Chicago-headquartered companies with 500-plus employees declined 3.6 percent in 2000, from 192 to 185.
Since there are currently a vast array of skills training services available through public and private sectors, "Chicago Metropolis 2020, however, has focused its efforts on non-skills barriers to employment," said Beal. "The non-skills barriers we are addressing include reliable and quality childcare for working parents, affordable housing near jobs, and transportation to jobs. Overcoming non-skills barriers is just as critical to finding and retaining a job as the skills barriers."
But the group is active as well as educational. Since its inception, the organization has helped enact a state program to increase funding for roads and mass transit; helped frame the debate over growth policies in the state; helped businesses see the value in helping their employees find childcare services; and, said Bray, "We’ve encouraged a dialogue with community leaders throughout the region." Chicago Metropolis 2020 has also helped convince the Governor to advocate a system of early education for three- and four-year-olds. A task force was created to recommend ways to implement this system, and its report was issued earlier this year. If state and federal funding can be found, the improvements will be phased in over a five-year period.
Community leaders and experts alike have worked to develop the Metropolis Plan for Growth and Transportation, which will be an interactive computer-based model of the region allowing citizens to visualize and help define the region’s development over the next thirty years. The idea is to create two projections: the first based on what the region might look like if no policy changes were made; the second based on what the region might look like if changes are implemented.
"We think the results will challenge the region’s leaders to shape policies and make investments that will lead to a better region in 2030," said Beal. "One with improved mass transit and roads, housing closer to jobs and transit stations, and preservation of open space."
According to Bray, Chicago Metropolis 2020 soon will issue recommendations on how to improve the supply of workforce housing that is within the price range of working families. "In recent months, we’ve talked with two dozen suburban mayors and a variety of housing experts for an assessment of the barriers to workforce housing, and we’ll have a series of recommendations for action by local and state governments."
Finding positive answers to the obstacles in place will allow the Chicago region to continue to be attractive for business investments. that, in turn, should make jobs available to current residents and those moving to the region. With the help of these movers and shakers, life away from the job should be better, too — families should be able to spend more time together and take advantage of all that the region has to offer.
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Mr. Jim Bray, 1800 Noble Ave., Springfield, IL 62704; 217-793-8416
Frank H. Beal, Executive Director of Chicago Metropolis 2020
Chicago Metropolis 2020, by Elmer W. Johnson