Chicago currently has more than 110 miles of on-street bike lanes, more than 30 miles of marked shared lanes, many miles of off-street paths (including the 18.5-mile Lakefront Trail), more than 12,000 bike racks, and sheltered, high-capacity, bike parking areas at many CTA rail stations.

Chicago Biking Resources:

Bike Chicago Calendar, Bike Chicago is a summer-long series of bicycling-related events. The Bike To Work Day Rally in June anchors the season. Anyone can submit their bike-related event for inclusion on the Bike Chicago calendar.

City of Chicago Department of Transportation Bicycle Program Website, Welcome to ChicagoBike.org. Our job is to implement the strategies in the Bike 2015 Plan, to make cycling an integral part of daily life in Chicago.

Available videos on ChicagoBike.org

Bike on the Street, Not on the Sidewalk – Safe Cycling in Chicago Part of the Safe Cycling In Chicago series created by the Chicago Department of Transportation’s Bicycle Program…

Use a Headlamp When You Bike at Night – Safe Cycling In Chicago Part of the Safe Cycling In Chicago video series created by the Chicago Department of Transportation’s Bicycle Program…

Share the Road – Buses and Bicycle The Chicago Department of Transportation and the Chicago Transit Authority partnered to create this training video for bus operators and bicyclists on how to safely share the road…

CDOT and Chicago Police – Traffic Enforcement for Bicyclist Safety A training video for Chicago Police Officers created in partnership between the Chicago Police Department & The Chicago Department of Transportation…

Share the Road – Buses and Bicycles (CC) The Chicago Department of Transportation and the Chicago Transit Authority partnered to create this training video for bus operators and bicyclists on how to safely share the road…

CTA – Bikes on Buses The video shows how to load a bicycle on the bike racks in front of CTA buses…

Chicagoland and Illinois Bike Maps

Interactive Mapping Tools
CitySpokes Rate and save your favorite routes for your personal use.
RTA’s GoRoo Bicycling directions added May 2010.
Google Maps Bicycling directions added March 2010.

Printable Maps in PDF format.
Many maps are PDF files, while others are links to a bigger list of maps or a map store. You have several software choices for viewing PDF files: Windows, Mac, others.

Date:

Join us to celebrate the successful launch of the Peterson Garden Project. For two months we’ve planned, worked and planted. Now it’s time to revel in our success, admire the fruits (or should I say veggies?) of our labors, and introduce our plans and aspirations for the next phase. Kids & pets: come dressed as your favorite veggie to join in on a parade especially for you.

4:00pm: Party begins
4:30pm: Veggie parade
4:45pm: Remarks, Stories, Tributes… and next steps
5:15 to 6pm: Jess Yoakum with Gabrielle Schafer and Aaron Rester of The Lost Cartographers (Acoustic/Folk/Indie)
6:15-7pm: Kodiak Farm Boys-(Acoustic/Rock/Bluegrass)
7:15-8pm: Rhapsodia – (Tango, Gypsy and Cabaret)

Click here for more information regarding the Victory garden: http://petersongarden.org

Video Link: Medill Reports

Residents who, like those gardeners almost 70 years ago, want to work with their neighbors to grow their own food. Join The Peterson Garden Project for an adventure in community gardening – retro style!

Click here for more information regarding the Victory garden: http://petersongarden.org

Approximately 30 Mather High School students were in attendance to learn about eco-friendly green roofing. Installing a green roof has many benefits for the building and the environment.  Some of these benefits are:
.

• Stormwater reduction
• Stormwater quality
• Urban Heat-Island effect reduction
• Air quality
• Natural habitat
• Extends roof life
• Improves energy efficiency
• Aesthetical appeal

In attendance were Ms. Washington, teacher, Mather HS and approx. 30 students, Courtney Benvenuto- Banking Center Manager- Bank of America in Wilmette, Durgaprasad L. Vallabhapurapu – Banking Center Manager II- Bank of America on Devon, Marilyn Rojo- Banking Center Manager II- Bank of America in Skokie, Barry L Crawford, Sugey Barradas- Assistant Banking Center Manager- Bank of America-Lincoln & Peterson and Greengrid Project Manager- GreenGrid

The  garden site was part of an original WW2 Victory Garden from 1942-1945. This revival Victory Garden is being launched for the 2010 growing season for Chicago residents who, like those gardeners almost 70 years ago, want to work with their neighbors to grow their own food.

Come garden with us! No experience necessary but enthusiasm is!

Each bed in Peterson Garden has 24 square feet of gardening space. That allows for a lot of fresh produce for your family and friends.

What you need to do:

1. Plan on 2-3 visits per week to the garden
2. Be committed to gardening organically
3. Participate in educational opportunities (if you’re a new gardener)

Costs for gardening are on a sliding scale of $45- whatever you want to donate. This helps to pay for a raised bed, organic soil and other miscellaneous costs.

To learn how much you can really grow in a small space, click HERE.

If you’re interested in gardening withus, send an email to want2grow@petersongarden.org or call the Alderman’s office at 773.769.1140

Volunteer

Maybe you can’t commit to your own plot for a summer? That’s ok… if you want to tend the soil, water, weed and generally hang out in a great garden environment we’ll look forward to your assistance! The more gardeners, the happier the garden will be…

For more info on volunteering opportunities send an email to want2help@petersongarden.org

Donate

This garden is being built on the generous donations of time and resources from community members who know that edible gardening matters.

We’ll be providing several opportunities throughout the spring to participate in fundraisers and your financial donations are most welcome.

Farm4You is a program where you make a donation (sliding scale from $200+) and we tend a 6×4 foot bed for you. That’s 24 square feet of produce all summer long with no work on your part – quite a steal when you consider the price of heirloom tomatoes at the grocery store. (But, truthfully, your own tomatoes will taste much better.) If you are interested in this innovative program, please send an email to farm4you@petersongarden.org

Peterson Garden is in the process of being set up as a non-profit. Until that happens, donations will not be tax deductible. But they will be greatly appreciated.

For more information on how to support this great garden, please send an email to want2help@petersongarden.org

Learn

90% of the Victory Gardeners during WW2 didn’t know how to garden. That didn’t stop Chicago from becoming the national role model for Victory Gardening!

Like those neighbors of generations past, we’ll be there to help you put in your garden and answer your questions throughout the growing season in person and online.

Victory Garden History

The year – 1943 – was a banner growing season for Chicago Victory Gardens. As the war was in its second year, Chicagoans rallied community-by-community to do all they could for the effort and to alleviate the shortages caused by the largest international conflict of all time.

As transportation resources were diverted to moving troops and munitions, shipping fresh produce to market fell low on the priority list. In addition, the glut of low-wage workers from the Great Depression were finding jobs in military-related industries so farms were short-staffed and unable to meet the food demands of the nation. To complicate matters, materials previously used for canning food were now needed for weapons.

Simply put: there was not a lot of food available to buy.

In response to this crisis, massive coordinated efforts across Chicago – by hundreds of thousands of average citizens – created four gardening seasons (1942-1945) the likes of which have not been seen since…

Here’s some of the surprising facts of the “army of gardeners” in 1943 who fed Chicago, kept up morale and did their part for Victory:

1. 90% of the people who grew Victory Gardens had never gardened before
2. 14,000 plots were gardened by children on Chicago Park District land
3. The largest Victory Garden in the country was in Chicago’s North Park neighborhood
4. 800 families farmed this gigantic garden
5. Victory Gardens produced 55,000 pounds of food during the summer of 1943
6. Chicago-based companies such as Marshall Fields and International Harvester  donated seeds and garden equipment
7. A city ordinance prevented theft from Victory Gardens with fines of $600-$2,400 in today’s currency
8. An estimated 172,000 Victory Gardens sprang up in Chicago in 1943
9. 908 acres of which were on private/city lots or park property
10. Communities held dozens of “harvest festivals” in the fall of 1943 including a city-wide festival at Soldier Field attended by thousands of Chicagoans

Fast forward to 2010… while not embroiled in the largest international conflict of all time, we do face food-related concerns and a new trend toward growing one’s own food is again sweeping the country:

1. In 2009, stories about food safety were the #1 topic in food-related media
2. Sales for home canning supplies have increased 30%
3. Almost 8 million people started gardening in 2009 for the express purpose of growing their own food

It is important to remember that today’s challenges aren’t that different from those almost 70 years ago – our food supply is in jeopardy. It doesn’t matter the cause – we are feeling similar concerns. And, like those Chicagoans who had never gardened before, we can raise our own food on our backyards and neighborhood plots.

Chicago’s Victory Garden efforts were so coordinated and successful that our plan was sent out by the US Government to other major urban areas as a blueprint for success.

Perhaps, once again, we can rally and provide an example for our country in urban food production… who’s in?

Date:

On Saturday, April 17, 2010, you and community groups in your area can make an immediate difference in your neighborhood by volunteering your time and efforts to take part in Mayor Daley’s Spring Clean & Green Day.

For two decades Chicagoans have teamed up with community groups and the City of Chicago to help beautify their communities by cleaning up and recycling accumulated litter & trash. All you have to do is sign up to help a location close to you that could really use a good cleaning. The City will work with you and your community organization to provide use on that day of all the brooms, rakes, shovels and bags needed to get the job done.

Tools are loaned to community groups throughout the year. Requests for tools must be received 3-4 business days prior to date of clean up. Tools and bags will be picked up at the local Streets and Sanitation Ward Yard. Groups wishing to have a weekend clean up must pick up the supplies on Friday. (Tools may be picked up on Saturday only on the two special citywide Clean and Green days in Spring and Fall.)

The distribution of perennials, the “Great Perennial Divide,” is conducted in partnership with Openlands, Chicago Botanic Garden and the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance.

The 2010 registration and give-away dates are:

• Seeds – Friday, March 5 (Registration deadline); Saturday, March 13 (Give-away date)
• Vegetables – Friday, May 7 (Registration deadline); Saturday, May 15 (Give-away date)
• Annuals – Friday, June 18 (Registration date); Saturday, June 26 (Give-away date)
• Great Perennial Divide – Friday, September 10 (Registration deadline); Saturday, September 18 (Drop-off date);
• Saturday, September 25 (Pick-up date)
• Bulbs – Friday, October 15 (registration deadline); Saturday, October 23 (Pick-up date)

Registration forms are available approximately six weeks prior to the event, and will appear below.

The distribution locations for seeds, annuals, and bulbs are:

• North: North Park Village Nature Center: 5801 N. Pulaski (4000 West)
• Central: Chicago Center for Green Technology: 445 N. Sacramento (3000 West)
• South: St. Ailbe’s Church: 9100 S. Stoney Island (1600 East)

The distribution locations for the Great Perennial Divide are:

• North: North Park Village Nature Center: 5801 N. Pulaski (4000 West)
• Central: Garfield Park Conservatory: 300 N. Central Park (3600 West)
• South: St. Ailbe’s Church: 9100 S. Stoney Island (1600 East)

The vegetable distribution day takes place at only two locations:

• Central: Chicago Center for Green Technology: 445 N. Sacramento (3000 West)
• South: St. Ailbe’s Church: 9100 S. Stoney Island (1600 East)

To be eligible for these give-away events, a community group must:

• Plant all Greencorps-donated materials in a public space
• Complete a registration form (separate for each event)
• Have a completed certification form and attachments on file with Greencorps Chicago.

Planting on residential property is not permitted (exception: individual gardeners may participate in the Great Perennial Divide if they donate plants).

Event:

In response to families seeking healthy, natural ways to raise their children and positively impact their communities and the planet, Green Parents Network announces the Green Family Festival, hosted by Chicago’s Irish American Heritage Center on April 17-18, 2010.

The Green Family Festival will feature experts, celebrity chefs, demonstrations and exhibitors all focused on the importance of raising children in a balanced, holistic way.

Activities will feature panel presentations, healthy cooking demonstrations and exercise, lectures and children’s activities.

Suppliers of wholesome, natural products and services will be on hand for discussion and demonstration. Throughout the weekend, families will be able to exchange information, learn about and enjoy organic, locally grown food, workshops on organic gardening, yoga and dance, fitness and bodywork for all ages.

Attendees can browse and learn more about non-toxic personal care products,cleaning products made without harmful chemicals,building materials made with sustainable, natural products and explore holistic medicine, holistic veterinary pet care, holistic dentistry and more.

The day will be filled with entertainment, live music, family activities and food. The Green Family Festival will be open on Saturday, April 17 from 10am to 6pm and Sunday, April 18 from 10am to 5pm.
For additional information, visit the Green Family Festival website at http://www.greenfamilyfestivals.com

Website:

The Edgewater Environmental Sustainability Project (EESP) is a blueprint for the next ten years that will enable Edgewater to thrive in these changing times while not compromising the future of our children. To accomplish this, it targets nine areas where new initiatives and/or changes in direction are needed to accomplish its goal.

The EESP provides a flexible framework for implementation of one of the Edgewater Community Council’s (ECC) strategic goals: moving Edgewater towards becoming a more sustainable community. The EESP was created with volunteer power and asks the readers to consider joining our project moving forward. This is a dynamic project and will be updated as progress is made.

The EESP’s nine Target Areas represent the wide range of sustainability, environmental and quality of life issues facing Edgewater. For each Target Area, a subcommittee outlined specific goals and implementation timelines. Each of these are listed and discussed in the following chapters, and further information, including background documents and plan details are available at www.edgewater2020.org.