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<TITLE>NWI Times: Connect our region for opportunity, sustainability, wellness</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Geneva, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'>A cross-the-state-line coalition effort to close a gap that’s inhibiting the future connection of NW Indiana’s Marquette Greenway to the Chicago lakefront. <BR>
URL - <a href="http://tinyurl.com/burnham-gap">http://tinyurl.com/burnham-gap</a> [Full text below – coalition members at the bottom.]<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT SIZE="7"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:26.0px'><B>Connect the region for opportunity, sustainability, wellness<BR>
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| Tuesday, February 24, 2009<BR>
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We are writing to urge state and federal support for a relatively small capital expenditure that will have large public benefits. We support linking Chicago, its Southland suburban communities and natural areas and lakefront Indiana by closing a small gap -- the Burnham Greenway Gap -- that is the strategic missing link in a rapidly expanding nature trail network. In the short term, closing the Burnham Greenway Gap generates needed construction employment, healthful public access to nature, and a dramatic expansion of our region's open space infrastructure.<BR>
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Completing this 1.6-mile gap in Burnham provides the keystone for connecting trails as diverse as the 500-mile Grand Illinois Trail, Indiana's Marquette Trail and Pennsy Trail, and the American Discovery Trail stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It would be the premier Green Legacy Project for the Southland, to commemorate the centennial of the 1909 Burnham Plan that first called for regional cooperation to preserve natural open spaces.<BR>
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The gap between Burnham Avenue and State Street in Burnham now separates the Southland's trail system from Chicago's bikeway system and the Lakefront Trail, severely limiting future accessibility of the Calumet-Sag Trail.<BR>
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Closing the Burnham Greenway Gap requires the construction of two bridges and will cost $4 million dollars to cross the Grand Calumet River and multiple rail lines. With funding, a construction bid could be let in late 2009, providing an estimated six months of construction work for on average 20 workers a day.<BR>
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This cost is beyond the means of Burnham, but its benefits reach from Northwest Indiana, through the Southland and into Chicago.<BR>
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A completed Burnham Greenway would attract positive regional attention, improve community health, boost economic activity, and expand equity in recreation and transportation. In the long term, closing the Burnham Greenway Gap allows communities to build brighter, more sustainable futures.<BR>
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We have joined together to respectfully urge our state and federal officials to close the Burnham Greenway Gap.<BR>
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Ed Paesel, Executive Director, South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association<BR>
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Jerry Adelmann, Executive Director, Openlands<BR>
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John Swanson, Executive Director, Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission<BR>
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Paul O'Connor, Communications Director, Chicago Metropolis 2020<BR>
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Robert Polk, Mayor, Village of Burnham<BR>
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Peggy Salazar, President, Southeast Environmental Task Force<BR>
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Sandra L. Wartman, Executive Director, Calumet-Memorial Park District<BR>
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George Bellovics, Grand Illinois Trail Coordinator, IDNR, Grand Illinois Trail Council<BR>
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John W. Wilson, Director, Lan-Oak Park District<BR>
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Dan Persky, Advocacy Director, Active Transportation Alliance<BR>
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Aeria Charles, Chief of Staff, Cook County Commissioner Deborah Sims<BR>
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Ed Barsotti, Exeucitve Director, League of Illinois Bicyclists<BR>
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David H. Kircher, Chief Landscape Architect, Forest Preserve District of Cook County<BR>
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Douglas Chien, Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club<BR>
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Jim Bloyd, MPH, Assistant Health Officer, Cook County Department of Public Health<BR>
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Bev Moore, President, Illinois Trails Conservancy<BR>
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Carl Toren, MD MPH, Medical Director, Chicago Family Health Center<BR>
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Ralph Schultz, Director of Planning & Operations, Forest Preserve District of Will County, Old Plank Road Trail Commission<BR>
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Jim Garrett, CDME, President/CEO, Chicago Southland Convention & Visitors Bure</SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11.0px'><B>au<BR>
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