Latest News — Illinois ITE Section

On July 18th, the Illinois Section of ITE was pleased to host a Technical Webinar on Parking Solutions for Livable Communities. The webinar was put on by Lindsay Bayley from CMAP and Jane Wilberding from HNTB.

As one of the largest single land uses in any community’s “footprint”, parking deserves more attention than is typically bestowed upon it. Besides encouraging the use of automobiles, having such a large supply of parking influences the character, form, function, and flow of our communities. At the same time, parking is necessary to support a community’s local businesses; finding the right balance between supply and demand—as an economics would—is the next step.

Lindsay and Jane informed the audience of just how to strike this balance while creating a more livable and vibrant community. They provided a brief history of the issues associated with how parking policies have been implemented in the past, explained the adverse effects they have on cities, celebrate the substantial momentum for reforming them, and discussed opportunities for our City and region.

The webinar can be viewed here.

Registrants received 1.0 PDH for participating in the webinar.

On June 28th, 2023 IL-ITE hosted the June Luncheon in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago. We were delighted to have Benet Haller present on the recommendations of the County Bike and Transit Plan for Cook County Government Department of Transportation and Highways. What a great way to spend the afternoon! Thanks to Jakob Boxberger, P.E., PTOE, Jim Kane, PE, PTOE, and Sanjay Joshi, P.E. for planning the event, and to Francesca's on Chestnut for hosting.

Since graduating from UIC Masters in Urban Planning and Policy Program in the spring of 1994, Benet Haller has spent the past 30 years working in the Chicago area in a variety of planning endeavors. In the 1990s he worked at the Oak Park Housing Center and Teska Associates prior to joining the Chicago Planning Department in 1998. Over nearly 20 years with the City, Benet worked on the redevelopment of Cabrini-Green in the near north side, led planned development review and managed the development of neighborhood and city-wide plans. In late 2017, Benet started working for the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways as Transit Manager and works extensively on both bike and transit projects and was the manager for both the recently published County Bike Plan and the County Transit Plan, scheduled to be published this year. He has a degree in history from the University of Chicago and has masters degrees in planning, architecture, and geography.