This morning I went to a forum on financing sponsored by Lake County Partners, our county economic development organization.  There are so many good people who really get it - working in and for Waukegan - toward the goals of creating jobs, supporting existing businesses, broadening the tax base, and improving the overall quality of life for all of our residents.  It's an honor to work with these professionals and I'm looking forward to updating all of you on our plans for downtown.  2012 is going to be an amazing year.   One piece of the strategic plan we're developing for downtown includes promoting the new urbanist aspects of Waukegan.  New Urbanism is the movement in planning and community development that recognizes the value of walkable neighborhoods - something we've already got going where I live.  I'm taking a course in how to develop this further, including building more mixed-used developments, creating public spaces, building green, supporting historic preservation, working with market demand and developer interests, as well as how we can most effectively market our successes.  I'd love to talk more about this if you're interested!  Feel free to email me anytime at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it