As of Saturday, May 31, Metropolis Strategies, formerly Metropolis 2020, closes its doors.
I’m sorry to see the feisty think tank depart although, when it was founded in 1999 by the Commercial Club of Chicago, it was supposed to operate for ten years only. Its life was extended an extra five years because of its leadership of the Burnham Plan Centennial and its involvement in many pressing issues facing Chicago, its region, the state of Illinois and the Midwest, such as transportation and prison reform, to name just two.
I feel a particular pang because, after I was laid off by the Chicago Tribune in April, 2009, Metropolis 2020 became my home for nine months. I will always be grateful to George A. Ranney, Frank Beal, Emily Harris, Paul O’Connor and many, many others for giving me the great opportunity to write about the Burnham Plan and present-day planning efforts three days a week in the Burnham Blog, a labor of love.
I don’t know how long the blog posts will remain up. But, for now at least, you can see them here.
Some of the people I enjoyed working with at Metropolis 2020. (photo: Erin Roberts)
In addition to the Burnham Blog, George et al gave me the delightful opportunity of authoring two pamphlets dealing with regional planning: Our Region, Our Future and Creating Tomorrow’s Green Region
All that writing gave me a chance to feel — at least, a little bit — like Daniel H. Burnham.
Patrick T. Reardon
May 30, 2014
Written by : Patrick T. Reardon
For more than three decades Patrick T. Reardon was an urban affairs writer, a feature writer, a columnist, and an editor for the Chicago Tribune. In 2000 he was one of a team of 50 staff members who won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. Now a freelance writer and poet, he has contributed chapters to several books and is the author of Faith Stripped to Its Essence. His website is https://patricktreardon.com/.