Al Gore

How has Al Gore affected tourism on Michigan Avenue?

I met Al Gore about 15 years ago while he was vice president and his campaign to curb global climate change was just getting revved up. He had not yet differentiated himself from the hundreds, maybe thousands, of other politicians promoting a more sustainable environment. But the others, for the most part, were unwilling to take a risk and step out ahead of the voters who had put them in office.

It is true that the environmental ethic, already 30 years old during the early 1990s, was strong. Almost all governmental officials took credit for what they were doing to clean up the land, air, and water, but voters still came first. At the end of the day, those representing coal producing regions of the country worked to kill clean air legislation, those from auto producing regions worked to defeat fuel efficiency standards, those from industrial regions worked to kill clean water standards, and so on.

Al Gore, however, was sent to Washington by a coal producing state where communities were hard pressed to comply with stricter environmental laws. Yet he promoted the need to reduce “greenhouse gas” emissions where coal is a cause of the problem. This strident posture earned him the respect of the country, an Academy Award, and a Nobel Prize.

But the tide has turned, and more and more opinion leaders are supporting stronger environmental stewardship, In fact, governmental officials are voted out at every election for not being “green” enough. What a sea change!

The public’s appetite for green hospitality is getting stronger. Differentiating a business by demonstrating a commitment to a sustainable natural environment has become a source of profits on Michigan Avenue. We see fewer and fewer incandescent bulbs being used by our retailers, restaurants, and hotels as they are replaced by more energy efficient LEDs and compact fluorescents. Most of our hotels encourage guests to save water by reusing towels and linens. The Talbott Hotel is 100% wind powered, the first of its kind in Chicago, and the InterContinental Hotel recently won an award for environmental initiatives it has taken, just to name two specific examples.

This spring visitors to our area will experience Tulip Days on The Magnificent Mile® Presented by Bank of America. They will see innovative kinetic art in the gardens, wind powered mechanisms created by 17 of Chicago’s premier architectural firms through a program coordinated by GNMAA. All of the materials used in creating these devices are reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable. Not only is the art attracting customers to our member businesses, but it is raising awareness in sustainability.

So I have a strong respect for Al Gore and the movement he propelled, one that we can anticipate getting stronger and becoming more embedded on Michigan Avenue.

Orchard Road Comes to The Magnificent Mile

Representatives of the Orchard Road Business Association, Singapore's sister to North Michigan Avenue, visited with GNMAA staff and key leaders in our community on Monday, September 10, 2007.

Camille Julmy, a member of the GNMAA Administration Committee and a past chairman of the Board, set up the meeting. My counterpart and eight other representatives learned about GNMAA's structure and operating practices before lunch at the Signature Room at the 95^th (thanks to Angela Roman), a boat tour (thanks to Holly Agra), and a double-decker bus ride (thanks to John Curran). Greg Holland conducted a tour through Norstrom, Mitch Feldman narrated a tour of Water Tower Place, and they met Barry Graham at The 900 Shops for an explanation of this premier facility.

The group left Chicago overwhelmed with the beauty of the City and the hospitality of our people. I learned several interesting things about Singapore. For example, there are virtually no homeless people and panhandlers on Orchard Road due to local ordinances and severe punishment for offenders. Drug trafficking and the use of a gun in a crime are justifications for an "automatic death penalty." As one American youth you may recall from several years ago learned, the penalty for vandalism and many other lesser crimes is caning, an extremely harsh practice that our group attributed to police while the country was an English colony.

Interestingly, the City of Chicago and the city/state of Singapore are about the same size – about 225 square miles. Many comparisons hit home.

Camille and his Branding Committee are working on strengthening North Michigan Avenue's distinction as "One of the Ten Great Avenues of the World." Orchard Road, with many of the same high quality retail and hospitality businesses that have a presence on the Avenue, is another Great Avenue. Maintaining a relationship with the Orchard Road Business Association will have many benefits.