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Join us for an evening of bikes and brews at Revolution Brewing. Local experts will give rapid-fire presentations on Chicago’s bike culture and the state of cycling in our city, followed by an audience Q&A. Beer and a light buffet included!

Price
$35 public
$28 CAF members
Meet
Revolution Brewing, 2323 N. Milwaukee Ave.

As cycling enjoys a new Golden Age in Chicago, important questions are being raised regarding the prioritization of bicyclists in transportation planning. What needs to be done to assure the appropriate infrastructure is in place to support bicyclists? How are cycling resources being distributed within our neighborhoods? Streetsblog Chicago contributing writer Lynda Lopez, Chicago Park District historian Julia Bachrach, city planner Benet Haller and Active Transportation Alliance advocacy manager Maggie Melin will report on the city’s diverse and growing cycling community.

Program Moderator: Benet Haller

Benet Haller

Benet Haller has worked for the city’s department of planning and development since 1998. From 2000 to 2003, he managed the creation of the Central Area Plan, which provided a framework for the development of Chicago’s downtown for the next 20 years. Currently, he leads larger, citywide planning efforts and works with metropolitan planning agencies to ensure metro-wide planning policies promote reinvestment in the central city. In the early 1990s, Benet worked for several residential architectural firms. His experience also includes nonprofit housing development and management.

Program Speaker: Julia Bachrach

Julia Bachrach. Photo by Robert Knapp

Julia S. Bachrach is a consulting historian, preservationist, and urban planner. She previously served as historian and planning supervisor to the Chicago Park District for 28 years. Her books include The City in a Garden: A History of Chicago’s Parks and Inspired by Nature: The Garfield Park Conservatory and Chicago's West Side. She also contributed essays to AIA Guide to Chicago Architecture, Oxford Companion to the Garden, Midwestern Landscape Architecture, and Encyclopedia of Chicago and soon-to-be published Art Deco Chicago.

Program Speaker: Lynda Lopez

Lynda Lopez

Lynda Lopez is a contributing writer with Streetsblog Chicago. She has written pieces on affordable housing, barriers to cycling for working class Chicagoans and transit-orientated development. A lifelong Chicagoan, Lynda wrote for the youth publications of the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times during high school. She later interned for the Tribune’s RedEye publication and participated in the University of South Dakota’s American Indian Journalism Institute. While earning a B.A. in romance languages and literature at the University of Chicago, she served as the news and public affairs intern at the university’s community service center. Lynda currently does youth outreach for the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council and volunteers as an affordable housing advocate with Grassroots Illinois Action.

Program Speaker: Maggie Melin

Maggie Melin

Maggie Melin is advocacy manager at the Active Transportation Alliance. She managed the city’s Go Campaigns—which encouraged more biking, walking and transit use—in Bronzeville, Pilsen, Albany Park, Edgewater and Garfield Park from 2013 to 2016. Maggie has also co-authored two national reports on the state of walking and biking the U.S. and managed the development of a bicycle and trails map for the Northwest Indiana region.


AIA/CES Credit: 1 LU

Note: This event is open only to guests age 21 and older.