The Big Ideas Behind the Proposed 'Chicago Transit Redevelopment Trust'

Greg Hinz reports that the Chicago Central Area Committee "is bidding for an innovative $100 million grant that Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation is offering for the best big idea worldwide."

The Chicago Central Area Committee's idea: "expanded transit service in the bustling and increasingly congested Loop area" and "better transit to the Barack Obama library site, too, combined with new investment in housing and jobs on the South Side."

The latter comes as a result of the catalyst provided by the Obama Library, planned for the east end of Hyde Park, in Jackson Park.

Though CCAC's plan is expansive, even wild in its ambition, it puts together in one spot two obvious concerns: downtown's need for added capacity on Chicago Transit Authority lines from the north and west, which now are near capacity in peak hours, and the South Side's need for both new service and massive redevelopment help.

The Chicago Central Area Committee put together a video for the Chicago Transit Redevelopment Trust Proposal, as its called, which describes the dichotomy between the haves and the have-nots in the city of Chicago.