InfrastructureUSA.org is a non-profit, online community whose mission is to bring together infrastructure experts, industry leaders, government officials and most especially interested citizens, to participate in vigorous conversation and generate action to address the U.S. infrastructure crisis.

 Founded in 1978, the Center for Neighborhood Technology is a leader in promoting more livable and sustainable urban communities. We research, invent, and test urban strategies that use resources more efficiently and more equitably.

Jacky Grimshaw joined CNT in 1992 and has since developed its capacity to engage in public policy advocacy, transportation research, public participation tool development, GIS mapping, and community economic development. Jacky created and has led CNT’s transportation and air quality programs and has led CNT’s Transit Future Campaign in the fight for mass transit reform in the Chicago region.

Build Local Support and Elected Officials Will Follow
…It’s important for us to have an infrastructure, particularly in transit, that is sustainable and that serves the population. One of the ways that we are looking to assure that happens is going directly to the people of Cook County, telling them what we’re doing, telling them how it’s going to benefit them, and that they should express to their elected leaders that this is something they should support.

It’s up to the Infra Community to Raise Public Awareness
We need to do more about getting people to pay attention to some of these infrastructure problems. We’re talking about transportation infrastructure, but it’s the same thing with water infrastructure…We have to make that connection for people.

Getting Through to Congress
Sometimes the bottom up is the only way to move those folks up there at the top…I think part of the challenge is to always try and help people see how they can make a difference, how they can get the elected officials to behave differently so that we really get these problems solved.

The Center for Neighborhood Technology
…What we try and do is reduce the cost of living, give opportunities for things to be more efficient, for people to be able to live locally…We look at what policies exist and what regulations are in place that either are barriers or opportunities for achieving urban sustainability, and then what we try and do with those policies is create market responses.

Download transcript (PDF): Jacky Grimshaw on The Infra Blog

Tags: Center for Neighborhood Technology, Chicago, CNT, Cook County, IL, Illinois, Jacky Grimshaw

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 4th, 2014 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Guests on The Infra Blog, Local, Policy, The Infra Blog . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.