Blue Island, Represent! Submit your photos to CMAP for the 2009 Images of Northeastern Illinois Photo Contest… http://bit.ly/19q86Q
The City of Blue Island has submitted a final design for approval from the National Park Service, bringing us one step closer to launching the heritage marketing plan supported by our Preserve America grant. Coming soon: watch this space as we unveil our new marketing logo and tagline in the following month!
Lawrence Group kicked off their design process this past summer with the Preserve America survey that many of you completed. Following review of the survey responses, members of Lawrence Group’s project team visited Blue Island. The team was given a tour of the City that included the Blue Island Historical Society Museum at the Blue Island Public Library, a visit with local “Main Street” merchants, a trip to Fay’s Point, a meeting with local stakeholders, and a tour of sites in Blue Island that included the Calumet-Sag Channel, Olde Western Avenue Historic District, the Broadway Ave railroad crossing (where we met a couple that travelled from Pennsylvania just to see our trains!), Landmark residential buildings, and the Park District’s Memorial Park.
Lawrence Group was impressed by our tree-lined streets, parks, and the natural beauty of the Little Calumet and Fay’s Point. They created a unique logo that explores Blue Island’s connection to land and water, a nod to our long history on the Blue Island Ridge – The City on the Hill – as well as the importance of the rivers and canal to Blue Island’s early settlement.
A tagline was developed as a compliment to the logo. The chosen tagline has local resonance and highlights Blue Island’s mix of independent businesses owners, industrial heritage, and little-known natural history alongside our famous diversity of landmark residential styles.
2009 Images of Northeastern Illinois Photo Contest
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) is once again excited to ask residents of Cook, DuPage, Will, Kane, McHenry, Lake, and Kendall counties to pull out their cameras and capture what they value about the region.
CMAP will be accepting photo entries from around the northeastern Illinois region from November 1 - December 1, 2009. Submissions to the “Images of Northeastern Illinois” photo contest may be showcased on CMAP’s website and in publications (with prior consent for print publications).
This is a great opportunity to show off your talents, win a prize and let the region know what you value most about Blue Island.
For additional information on the photo contest, check out the following links. Submitting a Photo – Rules & Regulations – FAQ – Prizes & Sponsors
The City, Robinson Engineering has secured Stimulus funds to rebuild the crosswalks and sidewalks at the intersections of Western Ave & Vermont St and Western Ave & York St.
What will the new intersections look like?
Robinson will rebuild the crosswalks and streetscapes with integral colored concrete, an improvement over the sprayed asphalt currently used on Western Ave. Crosswalks and sidewalks will be brick red with a paver-style stamped pattern, following the recommendations Farr Associates created for the Blue Island Plan. Pedestrian friendly “bump outs” will be located at the NW and SE corners of Western and Vermont. The City has approached Christy Webber Landscapes to “green” the Robinson plan and is exploring opportunities to add street trees and planting areas.
How do these improvements relate to the Blue Island Plan?
These improvements are intended to meet the redevelopment goals established at the March 4, 2009 Blue Island Plan Update Community Charrette. Nine redevelopment goals were selected for vote at the charrette. ”To Enhance the Environment for Pedestrian Shopping” received the most votes, followed by “Greening the Downtown.” The intersections selected by Robinson were identified as top redevelopment priorities, ranked no. 1 and no. 3 by charrette participants.
Why sidewalks and crosswalks?
Many have inquired about why the City would choose to spend money on sidewalk and crosswalk improvements when Blue Island has many shovel ready projects that should be higher priority. With so many projects on hold due to lack of funding, this is a logical question. The answer in this case is simple; This specific funding opportunity was awarded only to proposed projects located on Federal Aid Urban (FAU) routes.
Unfortunately, the majority of Blue Island’s shovel ready projects are not currently located on FAU routes, so did not qualify for this specific grant award. We do expect that many of our priority projects will qualify for future funding opportunties and will pursue those when they become available.
Future Green: Senior Suites @ Fay’s Point to have significant “green” elements: geotherm h/c system, permeable pavers & recycled materials!
Blue Island Community Health Monitoring pilot one of several feature in “Improving Community Health: Brownfields… http://bit.ly/B6cNe
Blue Island’s Community Health-Monitoring Pilot program mentioned in latest issue of Environmental Practice Journal (Sept 2009 pp. 190-195)!
Special thanks to all who attended last nights Community Health Monitoring meeting Future updates on this project at http://budurl.com/BICHM
