Green minds unite in Elgin

Residents and civic leaders from around the state visited Elgin on Friday to learn more about fostering "green" communities.

Whether it was reducing freeways, increasing public transit or using sustainable building materials, the second annual Sustainable Cities Symposium focused on measures local governments can take to benefit the environment.

"Creating sustainable communities is tremendously important," Elgin Mayor Ed Schock said. "And many cities, including Elgin, have much to learn."

The symposium was coordinated by the city of Elgin and the Illinois Green Government Coordinating Council, under the leadership of Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn.

"We all have a duty to be good stewards of our Earth," said Quinn, who called Elgin an inspiration because of the city's focus on environmentally friendly practices. "In Illinois, in the middle of our country, we can be a real model for the United States."

Fred Schnook, former mayor of Ashland, Wis., and a speaker at Friday's symposium, said one way to encourage sustainable development is by recognizing that improving the environment also has economic benefits.

"We need to talk about the environment in terms of the economy," said Schnook, now a project manager in economic development for Green Bay-based Foth Infrastructure and Environment. "I think what you'll find as communities it will save you tens of thousands of dollars."

However, not all environmentally friendly practices will save communities money in the short term.

John Norquist, another speaker and former mayor of Milwaukee, discussed the benefits of eliminating, or at least limiting, freeways, and how higher density communities and less sprawl have environmental and economic benefits.

That's because freeways discourage development -- at least in their immediate vicinity -- and divert funding away from more effective local street networks.

"You spend billions of dollars and make congestion worse," Norquist said of the proliferation of freeways. The planet is in danger. But I would say there is a convenient remedy for part of the problem: returning to basic urbanism.

"I think in the case of the environment, being behind the curve could be politically dangerous," Norquist said. "More so than being ahead of it."