Small Starts is a federal grant program administered by the Federal Transit Administration for eligible transportation projects that cost less than $250 million total. A Small Starts grant proposal is being spearheaded by MTD for a segment of high-traffic streets in the center of campus, which would require a cost-sharing component by all the CATS member agencies.  Within the University District, this grant proposal includes bike lanes on White Street, Wright Street, Green Street from Wright Street to Lincoln Avenue, and Armory Avenue from Wright Street to Fourth Street.  Within the Small Starts proposed improvements, the University has jurisdiction over Armory Avenue from Wright Street to Fourth Street, the Wright Street existing bike path to the east of the roadway from Armory Avenue to Green Street, and the Green Street existing bike path to the north of the curb from Wright Street to east of Goodwin Avenue. 

The Green Street bike path removal should occur when the City of Urbana installs bike lanes on Green Street.  The Wright Street bike path removal will need to happen in conjunction with the installation of bike lanes on Wright Street, which is under City of Champaign jurisdiction.  The bike lanes on Armory Avenue should occur when the Wright Street and Armory Avenue intersection is reconfigured.  That reconfiguration will include shifting the street and sidewalk southern edges farther to the south, so it will be primarily under the jurisdiction of the University.  However, this work will require careful coordination with the City of Champaign, and the intersection should be done in conjunction with the bike lane installation on Wright Street.

The projects in this grant proposal are the top priority safety concerns for the University and the other CATS agencies.  Every effort should be made to assist MTD with obtaining this grant, so these safety issues can be addressed quickly and completely. Additionally, because the Small Start Grant will require some matching funds from the member agencies of CATS, the University should be diligent in helping to meet the required match.

see attached

Cindy Klein-Banai from UIC reached out to Jim Martinie and Ginger Velazquez at OBFS about train travel. "One recommendation of the Transportation subcommittee falls within the purview of OBFS. It is to modify the University Travel Policy to create incentives to use Amtrak rail.  Doing so would decrease University costs, offer improved safety, and provide environmental benefits in comparison to traveling by automobile.  We have been in touch with Heather Haberaecker, Executive Assistant Vice President for Business and Finance at UIC, who expressed her interest in the use of Amtrak between Chicago, Urbana-Champaign and Springfield..." 

Ben McCall will be joining the call, as well as Stephanie Lage and Morgan Johnston.  Ben added the following note to Cindy's comments: "In addition to the issue of travel between our campuses, there is also the broader issue that our university's travel policies seem to actually forbid the use of rail travel unless it is cheaper than air travel (while ignoring climate impacts completely)."

Cindy's office is setting up a conference call for January 23 at 3pm.

Ed Choklek led a discussion about the Committee moving forward with creating a new Job Shadowing Program for college and university students with USGBC Illinois members in 2014. Tom Shelton shared the results from his Doodle Poll to all Committee members and the preferred months were March, April and October. After some additional discussions, we agreed that late March and October would work best for the campus sustainability professionals since April is a very busy month because of Earth Day activities. Ed Choklek answered questions from several meeting participants based upon their reading and review of information provided on the USGBC Missouri Gateway’s Job Shadowing Program. John Brophy, Paul Matthews and Ed Choklek will meet with USGBC Illinois leadership before our January 20, 2014, Committee Meeting to get approval to move forward with our proposed Job Shadowing Program and to determine resources available from USGBC Illinois to support this new initiative. (Check on using USGBC Illinois Chapter Speakers’ Bureau members and USGBC Illinois Chapter Board of Directors for the 2014 Job Shadowing Program since these groups represent many different business sectors.)

The attached information is related to how the USGBC Missouri Gateway Chapter has been running their job shadowing program.

UIC's Chancellor's Committee on Sustainability and Energy (CCSE) is tasked with making recommendations to Chancellor Allen-Meares on sustainability and energy related topics to maintain our campus's climate commitments. This fall, the CCSE created their 2013 CCSE Report, which included recommendations relating to campus grounds, transportation, recycling and waste management, energy and utilities, and events and activities.  A copy of this report can be found at http://www.uic.edu/sustainability/reports/CCSE_2013_Report.pdf.

http://www.dailyillini.com/news/campus/article_a60c0a42-5d69-11e3-9672-0...

From: Foote, Gerard Paul
Sent: Monday, December 02, 2013 1:19 PM
To: Mondello, Jessica Rae; Ross, Karoline Jeanne; Myles, Kirsten N; Khan, Nadia; Jones, KeJuan M; Jamal, Sahir S; Anjum, Hiba Sattar; Sheth, Saloni B
Cc: Johnston, Morgan B; Hochman, Sarah E; Hauger, Kevin J
Subject: Campus Conservation Nationals Introduction email

Hello everyone,

I hope everyone had a great holiday!

As a follow-up to our initial meeting, I would like to thank you all for your interest in participating in the first ever UIUC CCN competition.

It is great to find fellow students interested in making a difference in the world, and sustainability in energy conservation is a great place to start.

This competition is promising to be an Awesome experience!

Getting started: I would like to schedule a meeting where we discuss the roles needed and create the competition schedule.

I know these next two weeks are demanding but we need to meet,

With this in mind;  I  am available most evenings after 5 pm,  Mon and Tue I have prior arrangements but can cancel them if needed.

Please respond today or Tue with which evenings and times that work or don’t work for you, then I will post the meeting options that meet the majority

Attached is a sample timeline. Keep  in mind these are recommendations and we may opt to re-arrange to best fit our team’s needs.

When I met with you there was some question as to the duties in each role participating in the competition, attached is a pdf of sample team position descriptions.

When responding with meeting times if you already know what role or roles you are interested in please indicate that in your response.  Thank you!

http://competetoreduce.org/ccn/plan.html This is a link to the competition training webinars, I encourage you to scroll to the bottom and read the CCN Competition Planning Guide and the CCN Data Collection & BuildingOS Guide. These will provide important data for understanding what and how we are going to accomplish CCN, as the competition organization team.

For those of you that are more ambitious watch the webinars as they are well prepared and explain many facets of the competition in great detail.

I have downloaded and watched them all!  

As for an update on the current status of the competition;

-We have a tentative timeline for collection and competition weeks, however we have been invited to participate in a Big 10 version of the competition as well, this may require us to modify our schedule to match the Big 10 timeline, will update as we progress.

-The 20 res Halls with metering capability have been identified and I am working with the metering dept. to get training on how to digitally collect this data.

-Most of the signatures on the CCN registration have been received with 2 remaining this will be completed by Dec 15th 2013.

Thank you again for your participation and I look forward to working with all of you in creating this Amazing competition at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.

Paul Foote