What is "Streetscaping"?

Streetscaping is a subcategory under the City's Economic Development program within its Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). Streetscaping projects are physical enhancements to Chicago's commercial areas that are made to attract and retain both businesses and customers. In addition to Streetscaping, the Economic Development program includes

To the extent that community residents and businesses are included in streetscape planning and design, the investment made in such capital projects will benefit the entire neighborhood.

Why Should I Care About Those Median Planters?

Median improvements continue to be a significant part of the annual Streetscape portion of the CIP. Streetscaping includes commercial street improvements, as well as the installation of landscaped median strips. One of Mayor Daley's favorite enhancements, the median planter program has been implemented throughout the central area of the city and in an increasing number of neighborhood commercial areas.

The program offers an example of top-down community planning without the benefit of community input. The City's pattern has been to independently plan median projects, without linking them to other commercial or neighborhood revitalization plans and without the benefit of community input. Indeed, median projects in the 2002-06 Capital Improvement Plan do not generally link commercial street upgrades with median improvements.

Streetscaping budgets declined in 2002 along with other Economic Development budgets... ...but Streetscaping has been getting the lion's share of funding attention ... The bottom chart reveals the City's Streetscaping priorities. While funding levels for Economic Development projects have declined in recent years, streetscaping was close to being fully funded both in 2001 and 2002. *Other projects include Millenium Park, Illinois Shoreline Protection Program, Fountain Program, Facade Rebate Program

The disparity that often takes place between the City's vision for a neighborhood and the needs of the business and residential communities in that neighborhood can be seen in the City's recent $600,000 rebuilding of median planters on Randolph Street. Installed at a cost of about $5 million before the 1996 Democratic National Convention and without the input of the business or neighborhood community, the planters' excessive height contributed to an increase in traffic accidents and impeded truck deliveries to the food purveyors and restaurants in the busy Randolph/Fulton market area. After community complaints and organizing, the City agreed to rebuild the planters.

How Does the City Pay for Streetscaping?

Sources of funding for Economic Development infrastructure projects, of which Streetscaping is a subcategory, come from local, state and federal sources, with only one-third of it coming from City of Chicago bonds, including General Obligation bonds and bonds backed by the City's expected sales tax revenue. A small proportion of funds come from the Chicago Park District. (See chart below.)

Streetscaping projects are overwhelmingly paid for through local sources, mainly general obligation bonds and sales tax anticipation bonds, with relatively small amounts of federal and state funding.

"Funded" vs. "Unfunded"

The City's CIP -- its five-year road map for public works investments -- often includes projects for which the City has not identified a funding source. In other words, the City says it wants to do the project, but it hasn't figured out how to pay for it.

In the CIP, the City projects its capital spending over a five-year period and shows how much of each project is slated for funding in the first year of the plan. NCBG considers the five-year figure for each capital project its allocation, while the first year projected spending is considered what is funded, since this is the only actual funding information the CIP offers.

Why is this important? Because unfunded projects are more likely to be delayed -- sometimes for many years -- or dropped from the books altogether. An unfunded project represents a lesser commitment by the City than a project to which it has pledged Federal, State or local dollars.

While funding levels for Economic Development projects have declined in recent years, Streetscaping was close to being fully funded both in 2001 and 2002.