CTA Tattler

If Daley doesn't get his head out of his ass, I foresee an election losing event on the scale of the snowstorm of '78. I mean, this is all so unreal.

I just keep hoping and hoping that SOMEhow this doomsday plan won't go into effect.

I'm new to this site and love it and hate it at the same time. Though the hating part is entirely not your fault, but the CTA's, of course. :P

He's lost my vote, and this CTA mess is the chief reason.

$3M? wow, that's disgusting. this whole mess has me so mad that i actually hope that the state doesn't come through with funding, despite what it will do to my commute and other getting around since i don't have a car. but it would serve the CTA and the city right.

and you're right, chicago jason. two years ago i was thrilled to finally have the opportunity to vote for daley. after the chicago magazine article i read about jesse jackson junior, well, he doesn't seem such a bad option. man, i can't believe i'm saying that.

Does Daley believe that out-of-town conventioneers will save his butt come next election? He really, REALLY needs CTA riders right now. The average joes, the backbone of the democratic party, take the train. He doesn't have the patronage power of his dad, is weighed down surrounded by scandal right at his very doorstep, and now he intends on pissing off anyone and everyone who takes the CTA. When Italians were interviewed after WWII about Mussolinni, the consensus was "He wasn't that good, but he made the trains run on time." Daley is no Mussolini, but the point is - what if the trains aren't running?

The CTA cuts are (as it always is) most severe on the people who have the least options - the near to mid south side & west sides. This is JJJ's home turf and where Harold Wasington built his base. Has Richard M. forgotten where the previous opposition came from?

Allow me to also point out that he has already ticked off the young professionals (who are the ones most likely to read this, being honest) with Kruesi's absolute mangling of the Brown Line Renovation. He (and Brown, and the rest of the board) need to be fired, and if there was some form of public humiliation, I might go for that as well. Let's start our budget cuts right there.

Actually, this debacle, even if it cuts are avoided by some last-minute funding, will still be a negative to Daley. Even if Krusi is hung from the Picasso. It never should have gotten this far and we the riders should not have been treated like children in a bad divorce.

Arrgh!
R

Even though it would be an absolute disaster, part of me hopes the "doomsday scenario" happens too, but it won't:

Imagine tens of thousands of people having literally NO WAY to get to work. Imagine the increase in crimes like robberies and assaults in neighborhoods like Lakeview and Lincoln Park, as foot traffic dies at night because the el stops are closed and everyone's taking cabs. Imagine the increase in murders and assaults as gangbangers have to walk through neighborhoods because there's no bus or train. Imagine having to wait an hour for the Damen bus instead of a half-hour ... nobody would! Imagine the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce's reaction when all their members are bleeding money because their employees can't get to work. Imagine the lawsuits by people from neighborhoods that are already economically disadvantaged and ignored by our unimaginative, lazy, cowardly and corrupt politicians. Imagine the companies lost to the suburbs. Imagine the tourism dollars lost. Imagine lines of angry commuters pouring down the stairs at your neighborhood el stop and spilling out into the street. Imagine the southbound morning Red Line already packed to the gills by the time it reaches Morse! Imagine the crowds at transfer stations and bus hubs! Imagine NO express buses! Imagine Lake Shore Drive gridlocked from LaSalle north to Hollywood by 7 a.m. because an extra few thousand people (who can afford it) are driving to work. Imagine all the downtown parking garages filled to the brim, and the resulting gridlock, tension and potential disaster that could result as frustrated suburban drivers and taxis blow more red lights, block more crosswalks and endanger more pedestrians than they already do. Imagine small businesses going under because their proximity to public transit is devalued. Imagine the national news coverage it would get.

I predict a bail-out. I predict Kruesi will be deservedly sacrificed. I predict Daley still gets 75% of the vote next election. I predict Blago gets re-elected. And I predict the Red Line will still smell like a lavatory. And I predict there will still be workers on the tracks at all hours during the non-rush, mechanical difficulties, slow zones and abysmal communication. And I predict very little or nothing will change.

A few years ago I was part of a conference on public transportation at UIC. We got the head of the NYC transit system to come to Chicago and give a presentation on how the NYC system got turned around. Basically, the answer was 1) Broken Windows Theory, and 2) The City of New York now contributes ONE BILLION DOLLARS to the NYC transit system-- not to mention some state and federal funding.

Even taking into account that the Chicago system is about 1/3 the size of New York's, the $3 million contribution that has been UNCHANGED SINCE 1983 (with Daley in charge for 16 of those 22 years) is sickening. In 1983 the Blue Line ended at Jefferson Park and there was no Orange Line, but the city's contribution has been unchanged.

And I predict very little or nothing will change.

As much as I'd never thought I would say this, I would kill for the status quo to remain as present.

Perhaps Daley's taking a page out of Machiavelli's book. If the situation gets bad enough, all he has to do is wait to the last minute when everybody thinks there will be service cuts and a rate hike, then step in, bail out the CTA, fire Kreusi and make an example of him, and then make some speech about preserving the infrastructure of this great city yadda yadda. He would look like such a hero. And then he really wouldn't have to worry about the election. Even though he would just be taking care of business that should have been done YEARS AGO.

Hey M, you forgot to mention the increase in drunk driving fatalities as more drunks take their cars instead of the train or a bus. Both cabs and bars take cash, but not farecards. The kind of guy who would drink & drive is the same kind of guy who would spend his last nickle on booze. People will die for Kruesi's incompentence and the city's underfunding.

I am not being melodramatic.

STUNNING. And we live in the City with the highest TAX RATE???

Thanks, Mr. Mayor, for spending millions and millions and millions more on Millenium Park and that freakin' BEAN. Too bad we all can't go down to see it!

A

I agree....WHERE IS THE MAYOR???? If the transit system declines watch the drop in the value of all those new Lakeview condos. The mayor is too smart to let that happen and I hope will step in.

As for Anish Kappoor's "Cloud Gate" (aka Mr Bean) I beliweve it was paid for with corporate money not taxes.

And about taxes...why do people always complain? I say let's raise the taxes and get this crap taken care of.

Melt down the Bean, use it for new brakes on the "L" trains.

The $3m the city contributes to the CTA is part of state law, if you want to change it, you have to change state law. BTW, that doesn't include like $30 million for police and the fact that about $200m in RTA sales tax collected in the city goes to CTA. You could replace the RTA sales tax with a City sales tax and it would look something like NYC, but what difference does that make. in fact it was set up this way to make it look like the poor black city was at fault for screwing up the cta ... the dirty little secret of all of this is that this was all part of the plan by Dupage repubs to screw harold washington, that's when they changed the law. They even prevented Washington from having any appointees to the cta board by giving the city council confirmation (read veto) power over the board appts so that Fast Eddie Vrdoluyak could block any changes during council wars. Wake up folks, this is part of the suburban screw chicago plan put in place years ago.

Daley's silence on this issue paticularly offensive given his track record of infrastructure and "quality of life" improvements to the city. Granted, everyone agrees that the funding structure to the RTA as a whole is flawed and has been for years. I reaffirm Greenliner's comment about the increased power of the suburbs and collar counties since the 1980's. But Daley needs to contribute and his slience is perplexing.

The laws need to change but Daley has to take the initiative and keep his political weight behind it. For him to not do this is reprehensible in light of the amount of time, money and lobbying he has done to attract tourists and large corporations (Millenium Park? Boeing Corp?, etc). Fine, he increased the tax base. But he needs to ensure each agency receives adequate funding and he's failed miserably in this case.

I am beginning to think he will follow the path suggested by Karl. Wait till the last minute, jump in flailing and yelling to save the day and instantly boost his approval rating. I'm not a fan of this approach, but I really doubt he can afford to not do anything.

Hmmmm, Although the Mayor of every city "oversees" the departments of the city, I'm sure that there are people in place of decision making that he believes/believed he could trust to make well informed decisions (as in any multi-million/billion dollar business). That said, I didn't read anything on the fact that the CTA proposed to build yet another line (that just made things worst for many commuters) and petitioned the City Council to approve it, and that they did without evening knowing what they were voting on or why!