The Friends of Downtown 2015 annual meeting was held on Dec. 17 at Chicago's East Bank Club.

Outgoing FoD board president Martha Frish gave a recap of the year's activities, including: successful "Jane's Walks" and other related events held in May; and our "Art of Local Architecture on Dearborn Street" walks and our panel discussion, "35-years of Friends of Downtown,' in conjunction with the Chicago Architecture Biennial, held in October.

A slate of new officers for FoD's Board was presented and approved, including Adam Lund, President; Lydia Lazar, Vice President; Martha Frish, Treasurer; and Dora Moore, Secretary. Adam Lund presented Friends of Downtown's new website (up and running, as of Jan. 1, 2016) and highlighted its current features and coming attractions.

Both board and other members attending participated in a lively discussion covering FoD's advocacy role in development issues, the interdependency of the city and its suburbs, creative uses for existing downtown spaces, locating a space to hold our popular "brown bag lunches" and reviving this popular program and possibly, the annual awards. We are moving forward on all of these topics, and 2016 is expected to be an active and meaningful year for FoD.