City of Chicago: Green Meeting Industry Council Has Chosen Chicago as Host City for 2013 Global Sustainable Meetings Conference

Chicago City Mayor Rahm Emanuel leads a comprehensive plan for building a new Chicago. In a $7 billion, three year infrastructure program, Building a New Chicago is an investment in the city infrastructure that has green all over. According to the Business Civil Leadership Center, the Plan includes several sustainability initiatives that will help build a new Chicago. Beside the 30,000 jobs planned to be created in the next three years, the plan provides to expand and maintain:

1. Over 5 million square feet of green roof space;
2. More than 250 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified buildings, twice as many LEED certifications as any other U.S. city;
3. 26 miles of open and free public lakefront access;
4. The nation’s second largest public transportation system, serving 1.6 million rides on an average weekday;
5. More than 8,100 acres of Chicago Park District green space, making Chicago home to the largest municipal park in the nation;
6. The nation’s largest urban solar plant, Exelon’s 10 megawatt solar field; 
7. 28 miles of Chicago River within city limits.

The City of Chicago sustainability agenda continues to move forward through:

1. Eliminating food deserts through a city ordinance increasing community garden plot sizes and removing permit barriers;
2. Improving water efficiency by replacing over 1,500 miles of pipes and sewer lines;
3. Improving air quality and energy sources through reduced coal-powered energy, closing the Fisk and Crawford coal plants within city limits.
4. Advancing clean energy by creating an electric vehicle infrastructure of over 280 charging stations in Chicagoland;
5. Creating a world-class bicycling network through installing 25 miles of protected lanes in 2012 and launch a bike sharing system of over 3,000 bicycles;
6. Improving transit systems through a $1 billion investment to eliminate slow zones and make other improvements; 
7. Reducing waste with the implementation of citywide curbside recycling in 2013, as a result of competitive bidding.

In the words of Mayor Emanuel: 

“Whether it is renewing our parks or repairing our pipes, repaving our roads or rebuilding our rails, retrofitting our buildings or revitalizing our bridges, we must restore Chicago’s core... Our plans are comprehensive because our needs are comprehensive -- because no city in America relies on its infrastructure more than Chicago. While our infrastructure challenges are not unique, our resolve and determination to see them through is. I look forward to rebuilding our city’s infrastructure so we may continue to lead in the 21st century.”

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