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Mister C, you win! Your guess of May 1 for the end of Frank Kruesi's career in our Frank Kruesi Dead Pool has won you a lovely Chicagoist T-shirt. Email Rachelle@chicago.com to claim your prize. For the rest of you — well, you can rejoice as well because the glory days of CTA President Frank Kruesi are over. Mayor Daley announced at this morning's press conference that Kruesi is retiring. Ron Huberman, the Mayor’s chief of staff, will take over the ailing CTA. Kruesi was appointed by Daley ten years ago to help turn around the agency.
Though Daley denied Kruesi would get the ax after his landslide victory in February, the signs were there. The Sun-Times reports that people in Springfield — specifically House Speaker Michael Madigan — were so pissed off at Kruesi that they refused to help out the CTA until Daley appointed someone new.
The laundry list of problems facing the CTA right now is a long one. In addition to the fires and slow zones, CTA employee retirement funds may run out this year. Oh yeah, and there may be more service cuts and fare hikes coming this year.
The new CTA boss, Ron Huberman, is a Chicago Police Department veteran with a masters in Business and Social Service Administration from the U of C. He is also the former director of the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
While we think new blood can only help the CTA (aka "a third world transit system" according to a couple of Aldermen), we have no idea how much influence a new boss will have on fixing the myriad of problems facing the system. All we know is that whatever Kruesi was doing, it wasn't working.
Image via the CTA.
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May I be the first to say, "It's about damn time!"
HUZZAH!
Don't let the door hit you on the butt on the way out, let my boot instead!
awesome. that guy sucked so bad.
Congratulations Ron! It is going to be a tough job, but I think he will do well. I met him last summer and he is a real stand-up guy. A great leader.
I heard he was leaving to spend more time with his yellow jacket.
Hey, that jacket was green. Show some respect. :)
I'm just glad you guys are giving out a prize for the Dead Pool.
Not to poop on the parade, but I wonder if Huberman is going to make a difference. He's a Daley loyalist, and doesn't have urban planning or transportation experience, though he does have extensive knowledge of the city and a tech background which might bring the CTA into the 20th Century.
In any case, hooray. This is a day for rejoicing. Bring me my wine!
Ding! Dong! The witch is dead!
How 'bout a pool on what sweetheart job Frankie boy lands in, say, 8-12 months?
Hope his exit makes it easier for the state to cough up more CTA money.
So, is it time to start a dead pool on Huberman? Things aren't going to get any better. Daley replaced one loyalist patronage hack with another. If the Mayor had any interest in fixing things, he would look outside for someone with experience running or helping run a public transit system.
Seeing as how Huberman is Daley's lapdog, I'd say a minimum of 4 years, during which time we'll probably see the complete collapse of the CTA.
Enjoy this moment while you can because this Friday, there is gonna be a party in the back room of Gibson's and yall aint invited. There, Darth Daley will give Kruesi a fat envelope and a kiss on the cheek. Kruesi will then take a month long vaction to some Island. When he returns he will be appointed to lead another agency where he will screw things up, again!
opps, Vice 77 said it all
if huberman has prior emergency experience, he's got a leg up on kruesi already.
Kruesi will get a cushy job with the airport authority where he can further botch an already over budget O'Hare expansion.
Maybe he will be appointed to run the Olympics!
This probably isn't going to make a damn bit of difference, but screw it... he really needed to go.
The CTA is an entity that should NOT exist. The City of Chicago needs to get out of the transit system business completely and let the CTA get merged into the RTA/Metra/Pace system. It should all be one METRO agency since our population flows all around.
Who's going to be the new Chief of Staff in charge of protecting Daley?
i agree with john. nyc has the mta and they do commuter rail as well as subways and buses. it's stupid that the metra and cta have to compete for funds.
#14 - Joe is right. Daley trusts Kreusi to make certain that capital projects reward Daley buddies to the maximum extent possible. That means the airport.
John: probably Terry Peterson.
so i guess that takes 'police veteran' huberman out of the running for phil cline's job....let's hope ron doesn't abuse his position....
Geekgrrl: Keep in mind that Kruesi had experience at the Dept. of Transportation. Huberman's experience in emergency mgmt. is laudable, but I don't think it makes him a better candidate out of the box than Mr. K. was.
OMG!!!! What an honor!!! I'd like to thank the CTA of course, and Mayor Daley for dragging his feet long enough to make my prediction a winner, and everyone who beat the drum for firing Kruesi for the last two years...(sniff, sniff) Damn, I promised myself I wouldn't lose it up here (exit music swells) OK, thanks to everyone and goodnight!
Seriously, I wondered if Kruesi would even get the ax at all, since it hadn't happened yet and it seemed that the CTA had briefly slipped off the radar (probably why Daley did it now). Plus, the street protests never materialized (which would have made me seem Nostradamian, eh?).
Anyway, Huberman as a replacement was a bit of a surprise, as the scuttlebutt was that he was going to be the new head of the CPD. He's definitely a Daley loyalist, but also isn't as afraid to chop heads as others in the camp, so there's a slight chance he might help things. We'll see.
While I'm wasting valuable Internet space and wallowing in my tiny moment of glory, please allow a moment of blatant self promotion:
Storyteller, historian, and Certified Chicago Tour Guide Michael Corcoran will be giving a presentation on “The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893” at the Ray Harstein Campus of Oakton Community College (7701 N. Lincoln Avenue in Skokie) on April 24 at 1:00 PM as part of their “Passages” lecture series.
The Columbian Exposition was Chicago’s proof to the world that it had recovered from the Great Fire of 1871 to become a global metropolis, and is widely recognized as a pivotal event in the formation of the modern American consciousness.
Join Michael as he provides a brief synopsis of the genesis and construction of the Fair, followed by an extensive “virtual tour” of the buildings and grounds featuring over 300 images culled from his vast collection of 1890’s era books, lithographs and pamphlets. A fascinating trip through what many believe to be the greatest peacetime event in human history.
Admission is $11.00 for the general public. $6.00 for “Passages” subscribers. Call Joan Phillips at 847-635-1414 for more information.
OOOPS!
And thanks to Chicagoist for what will no doubt be a lovely garment.
i feel like chad lowe!
I'll be sure to thank Chicagoist at every opportunity for at least several weeks. I may even do a DIY scrawling of the words "THANKS TO:" on my new Chicagoist T-Shirt. Or would that make me too emo?
That's why the Blue Line was faster this morning!!! Oh wait, it wasn't and won't be for a long time because the CTA's problems are far bigger than any one person. We'll all be complaining about his replacement in a few months.
They should take away the new guy's drivers license right now before they give him the job, just so he knows what the problems are first hand.
I think that the reason Daley did this was to have a better team to lobby Illinois legislators. Kruesi is as persuasive as putting fingernails on a chalkboard.
When and where's the party to celebrate the "X"ing of Kreusi, incompetent head of the CTA and Daley's point man for the demolition of Meigs Field. I only regret that we, the taxpayers, will be paying Kreusi's pension. Any guess how big it will be?
So. who will be Daley's new chief of staff?
Transit experience is beside the point. Kruesi had transit experience and he was a disaster. Ford Corp. fired Ford Jr (read: insider/cronie) and replaced him with a guy who had no knowledge of cars to get the company back on track. Government needs to think more like business.
The demolition of Meigs Field was a good thing...
Let's stick to the negatives, as there's plenty of them...
The CTA needed two things: strong management and someone who could get things done in springfield. Huberman's run a public safety organization and headed up a huge city government. He get things done. And he can handle the politics because he backs up what he says. i think the change is going to be clear
Mikey, had to respond, anyone who thinks the demolition of Meigs was good for Chicago is ignorant, not dumb, ignorant about the airport, its history, its utility, its mismanagement by the city.
Here's how I see it...
A single strip airport on land owned by the Chicago Park District, but used primarily by the privileged few (i.e. the rich and elite)...
or a park such as was envisioned by Daniel Burnham, that can be used and enjoyed by the public. Furthermore, Northerly Island was created specifically for the Century of Progress World's Fair (where my grandfather worked as a concessionaire for The Italian Village). That history means much more to me than that of an airport built 15 years after the fact...
Is there not a single transportation executive/expert in the entire country that could take the CTA over and make it work?? We get stuck with a buddy of the Mayors with a police badge?
I'm with mikey on this one.
I was hoping the Mayor would appoint Huberman- he's young, he's smart and he gets things done. This is a very good day for Chicago.
You dont need a transit expert to come in and work at the CTA. The system needed a good manager, someone he gets things done regardless of obstacles. I am pretty confident the CTA had gotten just that.