The Blog

You nailed this one - and I can only hope that the voters of this city will hold those legislators, both state and city, for the demise of our public transit system. And you are exactly right in point toward the environmental benifits - but then these yahoos will probabely add a few bike lanes and pat themselves on the back for a job well done. What a sad day - and for a bunch who want to pretend we are reaching out to be a 'global' city envied for its green policies.

It's about construction. It has never been about use, and certainly not about maintenance (except for projects as graftable as new construction.) They spent more on monstrous copper gargoyles for the new library than on books. Huge new L stations are being built while they can't make the trains and busses they already have run. Several years ago, a new guy was made head of CTA maintenance who was actually going to clean it up and make it work. The entrenched grafters and loafers drove him out in less than a year. I oppose the Olympics bid because I don't think that with the current "administration" it can be anything but a boondoggle.

It's about corruption! And as long as the taxpayers allow their elected officials, public servants, to get away with these boondoggle's, you can begin kissing are many institutions good - the CTA - our schools - our parks - our public safety - but as you mention, we'll have milleneum park, gargoyles, and a lucky few will have 'green' alleys.

I'm actually acquainted (casually) with the CTA's new operations chief and he strikes me as just what the place needs. Which makes me seriously doubt that he'll last there. I thought the Crain's front-page article a few months ago was the best coverage I've yet seen as far as explaining how the CTA's own choices have contributed to its decline. I'm actually of a mind that what's needed is an actual "transit doomsday", because (a) at this point no threat or worry can possibly be believable to taxpayers or their elected representatives, and (b) nothing less would cause the wholesale housecleaning or personnel and practices and assumptions which the CTA needs.

Don't blame the new stations or projects. It takes ten years to plan that stuff and most of the money is from the Federales. Since they hold the purse strings, they won't allow Federal money for operations costs (day to day stuff like train operators, cleaning staff, etc). They are still under the delusion that transit can pay for itself, you know, like highways do ;) On paying for operations, there are a whole bunch of problems starting with the Unions and their pension to customer lawsuits. If you want to make things better, they should skip Springfield and go see their Congressman.

No level of government thinks transit can pay for itself, hasn't for decades. Indeed federal funding decisions, in particular, are explicitly based on the assumption that it never can. One of the values of the Crain's coverage, for me, was to blow apart the conventional wisdom as parroted endlessly by CTA apologists: that the problem is just federal pork leading the agency around by the nose as you describe. In fact the CTA has also been regularly robbing from operations and maintenance budgets to pay for capital stuffhaving little or nothing to do with any federal funding; that in _combination_ with the federally-enabled boondoggles is what Kruesi and everyone close to him should have been fired for years ago.

chicago metropolis 2020 has called for increasing the tax on gasoline to pay for transit. this seems like the best approach by far. right now the price of gas does not come close to reflecting the social costs of driving - including pollution, car accidents, and the loss of public space to parking lots, gas stations, and highways. now is the best time to contact elected officials as the campaign to get adequate funding is shifting into high gear. call blagojevich (217-782-0244 or 312-814-2121) and submit a comment to him here, asking for adequate funding. remember to ask for a gas tax increase to pay for transit. then call your representatives (find them here). this is the only way we can get a decent public transit system.

guess this format doesn't take html. blagojevich's comment form: http://www.illinois.gov/gov/contactthegovernor.cfm find your representatives http://www.civicfootprint.org

Jake, Let me see if I have this straight, we should tax the alternatives so that one of the most poorly run (and physically repulsive) systems of transport on earth can continue to provide miserable performance. What if the CTA instituted some reforms first, then the voters considered whether to increase funding? Are you sure throwing good money after bad "is the only way we can get a decent public transit system" How about performing routine maintenance and cleaning up the vomit first? JBP