CTA Tattler

Calling something so trivial (and stupid) gay-bashing cheapens the word. Save it for an actual hate crime, not the defacing of a for-profit's advertisement.

I don't care if it were a hetero couple kissing, I don't want to be nudged to think about "lube" on the L. So my discomfort comes from the name "LifeLube", not the fact that there's a gay couple on the ad.

I actually snapped a shot of one of the ads the other day. Not because it was offensive (it's not), but because it was poorly/oddly worded. "How are you healthy?" makes me think of "How is babby made?" It's dying to be Photoshopped.

I'm with Bill. Because something is dumb and gay-themed doesn't mean that anyone who thinks it sucks is automatically gay bashing.

I suppose that an ad showing heterosexuals using LifeLube where they usually use such products would be acceptable around children. Probably not.

Also, as proved by the 2008 transit legislation, more is never enough. Nothing was mentioned about how CTA, Metra, and Pace were prioritizing their "unmet needs," nor the effect of the stimulus bill in meeting them (for instance, the stimulus money was enough for Pace to meet its "unconstrained budget" for bus replacements).

This sort of sounds like Lisa Madigan hollering that Blago's budget cuts kept her from doing her constitutional duty, but then, after Quinn proposed tax increases, saying maybe he should look at budget cuts. Or the editorial in today's Tribune about the county wanting to use 25 year bonds to pay for automobiles having a 5 year useful life. I suppose that the county really needs the cars.

Jack, I'm not sure what you seem to be saying relative to transit. I don't think it's any secret that the economy is down and there's less money coming in the form of sales tax revenue to fund transit. So when additional funding was passed in '08 and intended to meet certain projections, and when those projections aren't being met because of a bad economy, you wind up with a shortfall.
I've read Pace's budget, and they have a constrained and unconstrained budget for capital. It's real simple: unconstrained would meet the total need and what they'd like to do given unlimited capital funding. Constrained is, obviously, what they are able to do given available capital funds in a given year. So if they receive, say, and extra $33 million through the stimulus funds that wasn't anticipated when the budget was developed last year, then they can work on items in their unconstrained budget.
I'm not seeing the problem here, and I'm really not being at all sarcastic toward you. If you can explain further, I would greatly appreciate it.

Gotta agree with a couple of others here. A dad not wanting to discuss homosexuality with his 8 year old daughter on a apparently crowded train (you say they FOUND three adjacent seats, leading me to think there were more than a few people on the train) should NOT be listed under the headline "gay bashing". For all you or I know, he might have waited until he got home to discuss it with her. What, he's required to have the discussion then and there? It's his kid. As long as he isn't physically or mentally abusing her, he can deal with the matter as he wishes. Besides, it's going to take longer than a train ride to explain lube to your eight year old and why/how it's used.

Patrick:

The problem is that as far as I can remember (and that goes back about 10 years, including the Illinois First years), CTA has always claimed that its "unmet capital needs" were a multiple of what it claimed was available. The other agencies now are climbing on the bandwagon, but at least in Pace's case, it seems like a big chunk of its "unmet capital needs," in the sense of the difference between the constrained and unconstrained budgets, are being met through the stimulus plan, so it does not need the equivalent money through the state (which, unlike the feds, can't print money or issue bonds solely on the basis of the strength of the government).

Also, when CTA talks about capital needs, it includes the philosophy that "we won't leave federal money on the table, and hence the state has to pass a capital bill to come up with the match," which included such foolish proposals as the Ogden Trolley, which apparently is now off the table.

Some capital needs seem never to be met, even though money was spent. The "capital needs" in 2002 apparently included about $100 million for the NABI articulated buses. Now there is a capital need to replace them (no one has seen them back on the street after being off it for about 6 weeks), which now would cost in the $200 million range.

Now Daley is resurrecting plans (which have been sitting around for about those 10 years) for the airport express, Carroll Ave. connector, Clinton Ave. transitway, etc., and we are supposed to believe that TIF money will pay for them. In the case of the airport express, we were told that had to be put on hold because the "proposed switches were obsolete," according to the Mayor, while Carole Brown said she was against "direct service without express service" and "moving forward without a private partner," even though $250M of someone's money (whether it is TIF, CTA's or the developer's) has been poured down that hole, and the only result is that we lost the Washington Red Line station.

So, my point is that this kind of talk has always been with us. Without a clear list of priorities, politicians will always spend the available funds and ask for more, sometimes benefiting the public but often not.

I think I see where you're going with this, and to a certain extent I agree. I think that without question, projects should be prioritized through a more open process based on what's needed. Clearly, you need to maintain what you have and get it into a state of good repair before you build new stuff. Kind of like when we were coasting at 5mph on the Blue Line while Frank tried to sell us on the Cirle Line. I think the Moving Beyond Congestion campaign was intended to focus on maintenance of existing infrastructure as well as enhancing and expanding. Planning is what needs to be done with these projects because it can take years to line up the funding, and prioritization need to be a major component of the planning process. I'm not saying it isn't but I would like to see better prioritization than what we tend to see- Ogden streetcar is a brilliant example.

Part of the problem with the stimulus funds (in my humble opinion) was that while using the money on shovel ready projects within 180 days is admirable, agencies may not have had time to use it on the most ideal projects; only the ones for which funding could be obligated in the given timeframe. Pace's website seems to indicate this given that they say they used existing open contracts to make their purchases. So prioritization on using the stimulus funds may have taken a back seat to using up the money to meet the deadline. I don't blame Pace for this, they're doing what the ARRA tells them they need to do: spend the cash, and spend it fast.

However, to list projects as part of an unconstrained budget or to point out unmet needs is not, in my opinion, inherently wrong or disingenuous. There are always projects that can and/or need to be done, especially with 100+ year old infrastructure such as that of the CTA. Beyond the buses and rail cars, you have bridges, stations, fare collection machines, trackage, and umpteen other things that require capital investment. Then there are smaller projects that could be done but are less essential, such as, for example, rehabbing the Wilson station both inside and out. All have some level of merit, and all are things the CTA probably wants to get done over time, so maintaining and updating infrastructure is something that will perennially be an unfinished effort.

There have been other gay men's health ad campaigns on CTA in the past that haven't generated this kind of immediate response. Maybe it's the use of the word "lube" that's got everyone down.

Meanwhile, it seems like a little lube is what's needed in Springfield to get those capital dollars flowing.

I believe there is a Rod Blogojevich prison joke to be made here, but I shant be the one to put it into words.

Holy crap, Daley's been indicted on corruption charges:

http://tinyurl.com/395w9a

I know it's April Fool's Day, but that's just cruel, strannix.

Hey there, as one of the creators of the ad campaign, I just want to clarify that LifeLube is not about lube, literally, it is about lube metaphorically, i.e. the various components of our lives that we need to be healthy - physical, sexual, spiritual, emotional - all need to be aligned for optimum health.

LifeLube.org is a website and a blog where info and discussion about all the above can be found.

Jim Pickett

Obviously, the advertising geniuses that came up with Lifelube need to go back to the drawing board.

Look a little deeper and find out who is funding this ad campaign. Is it the Chicago Department of Health?

FYI: Not sure if you can find it on the Sun Times archives, but there was a story on the defacement of the signs in the paper yesterday. It sounds like a well-planned attack.