CTA Tattler

Blago's fuzzy math

Generally, I'm OK with giving seniors who deserve it a free ride, but that should be part of a separate policy discussion that includes an income test -- those who earn under $15,000 or whatever regardless of age -- get a ride free or at a severely reduced rate.

Yes, there should be means testing. After all, there are seniors thriving on a high "fixed income" who make more than the $35,000-a-year secretary who works down the hall.

The bottom line on Blago's "amendatory veto" is that the math doesn't add up. He wants to take "lemons and make lemonade" for those seniors who will be victimized by the tax hike. But the quarter of a percent sales tax increase in Cook County will cost all consumers -- seniors too -- just 25 cents on every $100 they spend. (The extra tariff is a half percentage point in the collar counties.)

And now Blago thinks because of that extra quarter paid on $100 spent, all seniors should ride free.

But do the math. A senior would have to spend about $70,000 on taxable goods annually to equal the $176 the governor says he's now saving on a free CTA ride twice a week. It doesn't make sense.

Hmmm.... so let's see. Help all seniors = buy some votes.

That's right, I'm a cynic.

Update: New meet-up site for No Pants Day

There's a new meeting place for you folks ready to part with pants and bounce around in boxers or parade in panties on Saturday on the CTA.

Cesar, one of the local No Pants Day organizers, reports the new meet-up will be at Granville and Magnolia. You can call him at (773) 790-8019, or email him here.

Unfortunately, I can't make it, so somebody better get some photos and send them here for me to post.

Gov. mounts his shiny white steed -- and mucks up the works with risky move

Most people probably don't have any problem with giving deserving seniors on fixed incomes free rides on public transportation. That's definitely a public policy that should be debated and enacted.

But I DO have a problem with this current governor swooping in like he's some kind of Boy Scout to cram this important public policy statement into an even more important public transit funding bill.

As you probably know, Blago says he will sign a bill to raise the area sales tax a quarter of one percent (half a percent in collar counties) IF seniors get to ride free.

OK, fine. So now a bill that would have provided for $494 million in new RTA funding is reduced right off the bat by $20 million for the CTA alone. That doesn't include the costs for free rides on Metra and Pace.

Then there's the risk that the bill won't pass. It squeaked by on just one vote in the Senate Thursday morning, after the Senate leader had to twist arms and change a vote overnight. What if someone can't make it to the next legislative session to consider Blago's "amendatory veto"?

Why didn't Rod tell the House and Senate he wanted free rides for seniors BEFORE they passed the bill. Could it be he's courting the senior vote for his next election? Pardon my cynicism. But this is just a very very maneuver.

One final note: The last time I looked at the Tribune's unscientific click poll on whether seniors should get free rides, 75% of voters opposed it. So maybe I'm wrong about my first sentence.

Count 'em - TWO bailout bills hit the Senate; one fails there

Oh, what a difference a year makes. Or at least, the turning of the calendar page from 2007 to 2008.

In a chamber that couldn't agree on anything last year, the House yesterday passed not one but TWO transit bailout bills for the Senate to consider. Since it is a new legislative year, any vote in the legislature requires just a simple majority, and not a super majority (60%), as required during the "overtime" session after May 31.

The first bill to pass (66-49) was the $385 million diversion of state gas tax money in the six-county RTA region. Of course, that puts a gaping hole in the state budget, but hey, we'll worry about that later. Yeah, let's tax those poor schmoe smokers a lot more, whaddya say? Isn't there a lot of smoking on the CTA?

The second bill, approved by a 63-52 margin, was a version of SB 572. This one would raise the state sales tax a quarter of a percent in Cook County and a half percent in the outer five-county region. Those counties would have the option of use extra quarter percent for road construction. It would also raise real estate taxes in Chicago.

That bill makes the most sense to me because it has us citizens who use mass transit -- and are affected most by it -- paying for it. It's a sustainable source of funds that's not terribly onerous on the taxpayer -- we'd have to pay a quarter more on every $100 of goods we buy.

Unfortunately, the Senate came up one vote shy of a majority in passing its own version of the sales tax bill. The Senate will try again Thursday.

And besides, even if the Senate could pass a version of that solution, Blago, who previously threatened to veto it, would tinker with it using his amendatory veto power -- "improvements" he calls it. That could torpedo the bill entirely and certainly delay passage as the haggling over "improvements" proceeds.

Rep. Julie Hamos has it right in this report from ABC7:

"I'm worried about what the governor is going to do. That's why we're trying to pass a couple of bills over, so we can give them some options. Not the good way of doing business down here, but at this point, I wish the governor would just be honest and tell us what bill he wants," said State Rep. Julie Hamos, (D) Evanston.

Still, there is this much progress to report. I guess it beats getting smacked with a bag of hammers.

Though I'd still rather have full service and not fare hikes on Jan. 20.

Forget No Service -- Let's support No Pants Day!

For a day, let's forget about Doomsday and threats of no bus service, and focus instead on No Pants Day on the CTA!

That's this Saturday, Jan. 12, from 2 till 5 pm. The meet-up place is the Loyola Red Line stop. Basically, you show up without pants and nonchalantly ride the El.

UPDATE: See new Meet-up location here.

No Pants! Day started in New York by Improv Everywhere in 2002. Read about the Chicago event on Facebook here. This is the first year the pantsless riders are hitting the CTA.

So grab your best boxers and pantaloons and make Chicago proud. And maybe make some other riders blush while you're at it.

Hat tip to Gapers Block. Photo by Improv Everywhere.

Gov: No more temporary bailouts; door open to sales tax hike

It may be too little too late, but Gov. Blagojevich finally is showing a bit of leadership on the transit funding issue. And just 13 days before service cuts and fare hikes are scheduled for CTA riders.

Still, it's good to see that Rod is "loathe to suggest" a third temporary bailout of the CTA before the Jan. 20 Doomsday. Since he came riding in on his white horse twice previously just before the original September and November Doomsdays, it was refreshing to hear him rule out that possibility and put the onus on legislators to find a long-term funding solution.

Even more positive is the news that Blago might sign a bill that contained a tax hike, such as the 1/4 of 1% sales tax hike that SB 572 calls for.

From the Tribune's Clout Street blog:

Asked if he would sign legislation that increased the sales tax, Blagojevich hinted he might be able “to improve” a bill so that enough constituencies are satisfied. If it’s a bill that includes an increase in sales taxes to fund transit, then so be it, the governor said – just send it his way.

“If, however, the legislature believes in that (sales tax) bill, they ought to pass that bill and give me a chance to improve it,” Blagojevich told reporters in Chicago.

“There are a lot of creative things you could with the ability to rewrite legislation and I’ll leave it at that,” he added. “If they believe in that bill, they ought to pass that bill. We want them to pass something and give me the ability to act.”

When pressed on how he would “improve” the bill if he remained dead-set against increasing the sales tax, Blago said only: “Stay tuned. Stay tuned.”

Blago also is making it easier for riders to get messages to legislators by setting up cameras in the James Thompson Building downtown that folks can use to record diatribes.  Transit users also can send messages directly from the state's Web site.

If only he had shown such leadership months ago. We may not be in this mess right now.

Blame Blago -- and here's his final chance

Throughout this transit funding crisis, I have avoided pointing blame at any one person for the mess we find ourselves in. I was happy to spread blame among all the top legislative leaders in both parties and the governor.

Now I point the finger of blame directly at Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

First, there were all his veto threats to any funding solution based on new taxes, such as the six-county sales tax increase of a quarter of a percent. SB 572 got 61 House votes in September, but didn't pass because at that time it needed a super majority of 71 votes. It would need 60 today.

Second, there were his two last-minute "bailouts" to avert various previous Doomsdays -- one in September and one in November.

Finally, there's his insistence on tying a capital spending bill to passage of a transit funding bill. This further complicates matters greatly.

Ultimately, it is Blago's lack of leadership to bring ALL legislative leaders to the table to focus exclusively on tackling the funding problem -- not offering 60-day fixes or saying what he WON'T support.

I think this next week could truly be the defining days of a second term that so far has spun out of control.

It's up to him to decide how that definition will be written.

The squabblers, the prayer and the shoveler

Sights seen on a cold January Red Line. . . .

First: A middle-aged couple sitting together, arguing about something inconsiderate he has said to her. He's kinda laughing, his arm around her, trying to talk her out of being mad. She wants nothing of it, saying one moment that she's not talking to him anymore, and the next moment continuing to berate her. This goes on for many stops, till they get off together at Fullerton, and escorts her on to the Brown Line, where no doubt the same discourse continues.

Second: On the same car, a middle-aged woman audibly mouths her prayers from Argyle to Grand.

Third: On the return trip home, a 40-ish woman boards at Clark and Division carrying a large, red snow shovel. Making me wonder whether I had missed some dire winter storm warning.

Latest funding news: Nothing, as usual

Sorry if you've heard all this before. No news is bad news. And hearing the same news over and over again is bad news.

1. Gov. Blagojevich called another special legislative session today, and no one came. At least, very few showed up. Two leaders were still on their way back from the Rose Bowl in California. And Rep. Madigan reportedly was in Florida.  Anywhere but where they should be.

2. Blago again suggested Daley use funds from the sale of the Chicago Skyway to bail out the CTA. Daley said no way, and made Blago look like a financial fool: “You don’t take sales of assets and use ‘em for your budget. . . . You only use ‘em for infrastructure. That is the worst scenario for anyone dealing with financing. . . . That is disaster,” scolded da Mayor, according to the Sun-Times report. 

3. Rep. Julie Hamos held a hearing Wednesday on how to plug the state budget hole if state gasoline sales taxes were diverted to fund transit.

4. Now this is the only real news on all this nonsense: Since it's a new year and a new legislative session, it will take just a simple majority to pass bills instead of the super majority required late last year in the overtime session.That means 60 votes in the House and 30 in the Senate. Hamos/ SB 572 -- the regional sales tax increase -- got 61 House votes on Sept. 4. And the legislation to divert the gas sales tax got 57 votes on Nov. 28. The downside is that the union agreement is out the window now and will have to be renegotiated. Part of the agreement was that it had to be passed by Dec. 31.

5. Realistically, the next legislative full session probably won't start until Monday, Jan. 7 -- less than two weeks from the Jan. 20 Doomsday.

Happy 2008 everyone!

Best of 2007: May's marvels; June jewels

Continuing with the Best Tattler Tales of 2007.

May:

Huberman named new CTA president: No doubt, the best CTA news of 2007.

Drunk lady spews vulgarities: And a very nasty one at that.

June:

Huberman interviews: The first showed how he was holding his managers and employees accountable.

Bizarre overheard conversations.

Deodorant girl: Have stick, will apply.

More do's and don'ts for riders. Rules are good to have, if only more would follow them.