CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- With a climate summit underway in Europe, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is highlighting her administration’s plans to plant and maintain 75,000 trees in Chicago.
The city plans to spend $46 million to greatly expand and refocus its tree-planting operations. The aim is to plant the 75,000 trees across the city over the next five years.
“Our new tree planting strategy is part of our effort to fight the climate crisis,” said Mayor Lightfoot in a statement.
“Delivering on bold, equitable climate goals is critical for our city to continue to thrive. These investments will directly benefit our residents in neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change and help address decades of disinvestment.”
City Council Finance Committee chair Alderman Scott Waguespack is a big proponent. He described it as a “quality of life” issue.
"I think the biggest issue with planting these trees is that you're creating a more livable city and there's a lot of communities that not only have the disinvestment with infrastructure like roads and bridges, but when you look at a tree, it really does add value to a community."
He also said that trees are good for people's health, better for the environment and even the economy, because the city will be expanding its forestry workforce, so the new trees will create jobs.
The tree-planting is just one part of a $188 million environmental justice and climate action budget, according to a news release.
The city also plans to invest in 20 new green and resilient schoolyards at public schools in the most flood-prone areas, retrofit 500 low-income homes and units, create neighborhood resilience hubs, install solar power in five public libraries, and utilize existing roofs on industrial facilities to install community solar as well as some community-level environmental projects such as remediate large swathes of contaminated land and cleaning waterways.
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