Greenroof and Greenwall Project Expansion in Chicago
TO: Bruce Rauner, Governor of Illinois
FROM: Sienna Moriarty, The City of Chicago Department of Environment (DOE)
DATE: September 27, 2017
RE: Greenroof and Greenwall Project Expansion in Chicago
As you already know, the Greenroof and Greenwall project was established in Chicago in 2001. This project built a 20,300 square foot garden covering the sides and roof of a 38,000 square foot roof on a building located downtown. This building is City Hall. This single garden took one year to build and cost $2.5 million dollars. While that might seem like a hefty price, the beauty of this garden is that it saves the city $5,000 annually on utility bills (International Greenroof and Greenwall Projects Database, 2017:1). This means that since this garden has been built, the city has saved $80,000. I recognize that this is not the full amount that it took to build the garden, but the garden is only 16 years old and the city is on track to make up the rest of the debt.
I am sure that you are aware the city of Chicago faces a major urban heat zone issue every summer because the amount of steel, metal, and pavement we have here in the city. The city of Chicago is what is called a “heat island”; meaning the amount of dark colors here traps and stores heat. This last week alone, it remained an average of 90 degrees Fahrenheit. I think we can agree this is not good for business in the city of Chicago, which generates a lot of revenue for our state as it is. I believe we can begin to attack our state’s deficit by starting in the city of Chicago.
I propose that we re-visit the Greenroof and Greenwall project to see if the initial cost of the garden could be reduced in anyway while maintaining the amount of money saved. Not only could this be a great financial opportunity for the city, but it would have a great impact on the environment as well as generate essential revenue for the state.
The initial idea of this project was to be environmentally friendly while saving the state on the revenue front. I think it successfully does both of these. It effectively allows City hall to save on their air conditioning bills while keeping the air around the building cool as well (City of Chicago, 2017:1). While the cost of constructing a roof with this garden on it would cost about 50% more than a typical roof, the “useful life” gained out of this garden roof is 50% longer than a conventional roof (City of Chicago Department of Environment, 2001:12).
I am sure you are also well aware that the state of Illinois is currently suffering on the revenue front, especially Chicago. Currently, the city of Chicago is in billions of dollars of debt, as is the state of Illinois. Some of the fiscal policy ideas proposed by those working in the city so far to solve the problem of trying to pay off this debt have been reasonable. According to the Chicago Tribune, the tax the city seems to be going after is property tax, “The level of property tax-backed city debt was about $9.4 billion at the end of 2015, compared with about $8.3 billion the year before, according to the city's annual financial report made public Friday. That means that for years to come, the city will continue to spend nearly every penny of the $1.2 billion-plus collected from property taxes each year to pay down debt and fund employee pension systems” (Dardick, 2016:1). Clearly, there is an issue with this plan. It is the same issue that faces our state at large, which is that there are no funds being generated beyond paying off debts. We currently have no rainy-days funds, and are barely covering our bills as it is. Just last month, the Chicago Tribune featured another article where Mayor Rahm Emanuel proposed his idea for a “borrowing structure” at the “city’s annual Chicago Investors Conference that’s attended by potential buyers of city debt” (Dardick, 2017:1). This is being done in the hopes that the city receives an overall better debt rating so they can start paying lower interest rates on the debt they already owe (being paid in bonds currently). This solves the issue that arose from the plan proposed in 2015 of merely trying to pay off this debt with revenue collected from property taxes. If the interests rate were lower, there would be some revenue left over. While this is an idea that is working in cities such as New York City, I am not confident that our total state revenue won’t hinder this plan being implemented. While the city of Chicago makes up a large portion of Illinois’ population, it is still only a part of the state.
Since the issue that is facing our state is lack of revenue being generated, I believe this project could help with that issue. However, the truth of the matter is, our state did not bounce back from the housing crisis of 2008. So I believe the real problem lies in the problem that the state is not gaining enough revenue from property taxes due to low property values. This is why I would propose for you to implement this policy. We possibly substitute the labor cost for building these Greenroof and Greenwall projects by using those sentenced to community service. The policy should also ask each business occupying/owning the building (private company buildings) to help in the building of the project, since their fees for maintenance will drastically decrease. The most beneficial part of these would clearly be their friendliness to the environment (as Chicago has spoken out in accordance with), but they will also “insulate buildings, extend the life of the roof membrane, increase property values, and vastly improve urban aesthetics” (Yocca, 2003:1). This policy, in addition to the one proposed by Emanuel last month, should together increase property value, which will increase revenue from property taxes, which will make it easier to implement Rahm’s plan, and benefit Illinois in the long run.
Reference List (ASA Style)
"City Hall's Rooftop Garden."2017. , Retrieved September 27, 2017. (https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dgs/supp_info/city_hall_green_roof.html).
Breuning, Jörg. 2017. "The International Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database.", Retrieved September 27, 2017. (http://www.greenroofs.com/projects/pview.php?id=21).
Daley, Richard. . "A Guide to Rooftop Gardening: From the City of Chicago." Chicago Department of Environment.
Dardick, Hal. 2016. "Latest Sign of Financial Stress: City's Debt Up by $1B." Chicago Tribune, Jul 8, . Retrieved September 27, 2017 (https://search.proquest.com/docview/1802627903).
------. 2017. "Emanuel Says City Will Save Millions through New Debt Structure." Chicago Tribune (Online), Aug 9, . Retrieved September 27, 2017 (https://search.proquest.com/docview/1927520981).
Yocca, David. 2003. "Chicago City Hall Green Roof." Conservation Design Forum, Inc.
