2009 Burnham Award for Excellence in Planning awarded to Chicago Metropolis 2020

The 2009 Burnham Award for Excellence in Planning given annually since 1988 to recognize superior plans that have resulted in sensible growth and development in the Chicago region was presented to Chicago Metropolis 2020. Since the release of their 1999 landmark report Chicago Metropolis 2020: Preparing Metropolitan Chicago for the 21st Century, the business and civic leaders driving Chicago Metropolis 2020 have advocated for better regional planning and smarter investments in transportation, community development and housing, and the regions people. Among the groups accomplishments are the following:

. Wrote the legislation and led the effort to create the consolidated Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning;
. Organized and managed 250 organizations throughout the region in the year-long Burnham Plan Centennial, to make bold plans and big dreams for the next 100 years;
. Crafted The Metropolis Freight Plan: Delivering the Goods to modernize and maintain the regions global leadership in freight;
. Led a coalition to help create the Illinois Housing Task Force;
. Wrote the legislation and led a coalition to help pass the Illinois Comprehensive Housing Planning Act requiring Illinois to have an annual housing plan;
. Has led the nation on juvenile justice issues and alternatives to incarcerationon;
. Led the CHANGE Illinois! coalition representing more than two million Illinoisans working for political reform legislation and focusing on campaign finance reform.

In 1999, the Commercial Club set out an ambitious agenda to strengthen regional planning, improve investments in our regions roads, transit and rails, balance Chicagolands housing stock, and support our greatest resource: our people, said George Ranney, president and CEO, Chicago Metropolis 2020; senior counsel, Mayer Brown; and vice chair, MPC Board of Governors. On behalf of my colleagues at Chicago Metropolis 2020, I am honored to accept the Burnham Award celebrating our success in implementing that agenda.

The award included a cash prize of $5,000 underwritten by National City Bank, a part of PNC. Joseph Gregoire, president and CEO of Illinois Banking for National City Bank, and a member of the MPC Board of Governors, presented the award. Learn more about the award, including a complete list of past winners, on MPCs web site.