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In the continuing soap opera that is our state's budget crisis, Governor Rod Blagojevich made a visit to Rev. James Meeks's south side mega-church, House of Hope Sunday to drum up support for his proposal of free rides for seniors on the region's mass transit system. Besides being pastor of the church, Meeks is also an Illinois State Senator, and is often allied with the governor.
In remarks to the congregation of about 8,000, Blagojevich pitched his plan as a choice between pessimism and hope. "With every good idea comes somebody who's got something to say that ain't so good.... It's amazing to me," the governor said. Responding to Mayor Daley's comments on Saturday that “any politician can give things for free, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” Blagojevich suggested that Daley get some religion. "Mayor Daley shouldn't be so pessimistic," Blagojevich said. "Maybe he needs to come to the House of Hope and have a little bit of hope, because I have high hopes for our lawmakers." Blagojevich told the congregation that free rides for senior citizens who are dealing with increased living costs, including higher property taxes that Daley successfully pushed through the city council late last year.
Image via House of Hope
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Ya know what? I agree with Blago on this.
Heck, were on the topic, so lets actually do something visionary with CTA as we are the ones that gotta pony up. Free to the elderly poor and the disabled.
If Daley can give billions away in contracts to the rich, then lets let poor seniors and the disabld ride for free. I'm tired of their never being enough money or services for poor folks, but always enough cake for the connected
I'm tired of people playing politics at the expense of even basic public service.
The free ride idea might be good, Spook, but there is no excuse for doing this without any warning or research, and there is no reason to do this in such a manner unless the gov is again trying to play politics.
Daley took issue with Blago's timing. Through all the months and months of talk about the CTA budget crisis, Blago didn't bring up the free rides for seniors until just last week, as I understand it.
Blago kind of seems like Rip Torn's character in Dodgeball: "If you can dodge a wrench..."
Free rides for old people? Fine. Introducing it at the 11th hour to the complete surprise of absolutely everyone, while demanding that it be appended to the already approved bill? Disgraceful.
You haters shouldn't be so pessimistic. Maybe you need to come to the House of Hope and have a little bit of hope, because I have high hopes for our lawmakers.
yea Tilda, there is no excuse for no warning or research, just like there is no excuse for the 20 years of uber criminality and stupidity that Daley continues to pull on poor folks.
So I'm not gonna go wild’n out when some body in America actually boldly stands up for poor folks, even if its "politics". What I'm gonna due is rally around on general principal( even it its satan saying it) simply because it’s not enough people doing it. Screw that status quo sh*t, so folks can go back to sleep.
If Daley wants money than figure out how to let poor folks ride, if not then let him shut the F*ck up and fix the damn thing. He wasn’t concerned about money when he appointed thug Kruise to a fact cat Washington Job. This city is only broke when it comes to people outside the family.
So, Spook: All the corruption justifies a last-minute political stunt that could threaten approval of a new source of revenue for mass transit?
Your "logic" makes sense only if your prime concern is some primitive, superficial notion of payback to Daley (?!).
And your "logic" also carries the assumption that seniors, as a group, are poorer and/or more deserving of this perq than other gorups such as students, single moms, disabled people, low-wage workers, etc.
Spook, Blago's plan isn't to give free rides to the "elderly poor" but to give free rides to anyone old enough to qualify. This means that a single working mom just getting by working at McDonalds's will pay full fare to subsidize the ride of a 65 year old vice-president taking the bus home from the office. An executive who, by the way, already receives a heavily discounted fare. So much for your helping "poor folks."
This has nothing to do with helping the poor, it has everything to do with buying votes for the next election with my taxes. No thanks.
Blago isn't taking a stand for "poor folks", except a small segment of them that happen to be over 65 years old. And at the same time he lumps in the retired CEO living in Lake Forest.
If he cared so much about "poor folks", why not instead offer free rides for those under a certain income level? Could it be that demographic tends to not get out to the polls as much?
Oops, there I go losing hope again.
p.s. Yea I'm pissed and I ride public trans to and from work. But I'm sick of seeing on the train all the stupid eye readers facing CTA "doomsday" but just as happy as can be reading about Britany or what the stupid cubs are gonna due this summer! They voted for Daley who made a choice about CTA a long time ago. Well the chicken' has come home to roosts. And now Springfield is all of a sudden the answer?
I don't blame downstate for not wanting to give Al Capone and his city any more money. Heck last week whole towns downstate got flooded! And what about the towns with no doctors and lots of poor people too!
Daley didn't ask Springfield when he thumbed his nose and tore down Migs Field, but now it’s about "Partnership"
So, your position, Spook, boils down to this: Because you hate Daley, and the RedEye readers on the CTA who allegedly make up a big part of his power base, you are OK with Blago forcing free rides for seniors during the 11th hour before the latest Doomsday threat takes hold?
Do I have that right?
If so, you should embrace the joys of policy based on clearer thinking rather than policy based largely on what appears like childish emotions.
I agree that Daley is a big villian on this, and that more people should ride transit for heavily discounted fares, but your logic, as usual, fails.
One aspect that no one seems to notice is the logistical nightmare this will be -- if you've ever called the CTA for help of any kind with your Chicago Card, you'll realize how much of a clusterfuck this will end up being. The CTA will have to create a new card, dole them out to any old person they can find, and somehow manage the inevitable theft and fraud problems. This can't just be "tacked on" like the governor seems to insist.
No Matilda it aint Daley that’s the villain, it’s us.
So take your O'bama or Hillary Clinton “Change 08” button and your UIC public policy talk and put it in your status quo pipe and smoke it
Yes it “shouldn't” be ALL seniors ridding free, but as more seniors are poor- as opposed to rich- especially those who ride the bus, and minority seniors in Chicago are the majority- who tend to be poor- I’ll settle for all seniors because to even discuss (at the highest levels of government)free transportation too and from work is a revolutionary conversation worth having even at the “11th hour”. So,
A) as far as I’m concerned, let Chicago F*cking walk, it’s about all we deserve. Then maybe the bullshit that is soooooo important perhaps won't be sooo Fu*cking important any more. Call it a wake up call for the walking dead, a News flash from the TwighLight Zone, yo, our country is F#cked, between rising unemployment, the banking crisis, and consumer spending plunging for the first time in 20 years combined with every thing else going wrong including this war. I’m sick of this parochialism
B) so yea let’s talk about seniors ridding free while the rest of the Chicago gets to feel what it felt like during the Montgomery Bus boycott during the 60’s. Heck maybe we will get a new Mayor with and have a 65 percent turn out( like they had in Kenya) next election
Spook, your attitude is a detriment to your argument and to this discussion.
My change buttons, Spook?
You mean me, personally. If so, yeah right.
What are you doing, then, besides bitching? Ever put yourself at risk to help make change? Ever march? Flood politicians' offices with phone calls and emails? I doubt you are as much a "revolutionary" as you pretend to be.
And, no, you are wrong: This is not the discussion to have at the 11th hour. Timing has been very important on this debate, and for the gov to through another wrench out of spite--or, for his own political motives--makes him even less of a statesman. And for you to confuse your own spiteful attitude with anything resembling public policy is another foolish move.
Ifonly,
sure, I’ll just put the blinders back on and play nice, its easier that way
Spook, you make a lot of sweeping geralizations, don't you think?
I didn't vote for Daley, nor did I vote for Blago.
I agree with you that many of the elderly that take the CTA are poor, and this will benefit the poor. But, what about the rich 70 year olds living in Glencoe who want to take the metra to see the Lyric? This should be based on need, not age. And for Guv Hairdo to throw this in with his amendatory veto powers is bullshit. The seniors are saying that they hope the general public blames Blago, and doesn't blame them for this.
What does the Montgomery Bus riot have to do with this?
I hope that this brings on change in voter mentality. But, alas, we are sheep, and we (meaning the city) will probably vote for Daley because the garbage is picked up (usually) and Michigan Avenue looks pretty in th summer. Because we are too apathetic and are satisfied with the status quo.
As for Governor Hairdo, I hope we (meaning the state) wise the fuck up to what he is and vote the asshole out.
No Matilda, I don't march any more cause unless you’re willing to get arrested in mass, it’s pointless and counter productive. And since young people( with nothing to risk) are no longer willing to be “inconvenienced” to get arrested in mass any more than it just a major waste of tax payer money and strips police protection from poor community.
Flooding politician’s offices with calls and letters? Yea thanks for sharing your Amnesty International high school organizing experience. Grow up, they don’t care about your letters or phone calls so toss your high school text book out the window.
But I will say this , I took more risk when I was 13 being arrested for protesting apartied at the South African Consulate than you will ever take in your limited romper room of cyber activism. And another thing, real activism is going on, but it’s down low because it needs to be, so you have to seek it out
Mean while I’ll use this forum to blow off steam (while perform covert ops in the belly of the beast) but you could at least entertain a using it to practice a broader frame work as opposed to trying to win the cyber statesperson award. Again I say, let us walk. Not another dime from Springfield. There are so many downstate communities, like Pembroke, Cairo, Ford Heights, Robbins, etc, that that don’t even have standard water, basic utilities, or paved roads in this age. But Chicago/We let our mayor piss away and stuff his friend’s pockets with billions. And now our Mayor tells us the “bank is broken” And instead of being out raged, instead of demanding our media make this connection we demand more money from Spring field, I’m tired of being a pawn
Sparky
I mentioned the Montgomery Bus boycott, because it harkens backs to a time of powerful civic engagement in America.
I also don’t think that many folks in Glencoe will take CTA even if it’s free. And I don’t think Blago’s idea overs metra. And as we agree on the "sheep", "too apathetic" and the “satisfied with the status quo”part, then why do we deserve some body’s tax dollar that lives in Pembroke?
I mean we just built a new lake front play ground, we are still collecting money for the Olympics, Didn't Daley know about these on coming problems when we were building the new bears staduim?
yet we turn to other communities for money for something as basic as the CTA?
If this were Todd Stroger we would be marching on the Bastille! But because its Daley, then its "those people in Springfield" better come and save us!
More proof Spook is full of shit and, apparently, a coward:
"No Matilda, I don't march any more cause unless you’re willing to get arrested in mass, it’s pointless and counter productive. And since young people( with nothing to risk) are no longer willing to be “inconvenienced” to get arrested in mass any more than it just a major waste of tax payer money and strips police protection from poor community."
So, Spook does not march because other people are not as revolutionary as he/she is. In essence, he/she limits the work because other people are not as cool. So, one might ask: Why doesn't Spook lead by example, or provide more of a spark to those youngsters are not as down with the revolution as he is.
Always excuses from Spook.
Spook, big changes are needed. That said, you are just a blowhard and hanger-on and would-be voice of passion, and really offer nothing productive.
I'm tired of being a pawn, too. But Spook offers nothing except cynical inaction and spite disguised as policy and/or revolution.
One other thing, asshole: Calls and emails don't always change the world, but I would bet a decent sum of cash that most politicians, even those who are part of the Daley machine, listen to what the voters say. That doesn't mean your suggestion will be followed if you call, but the staffers for these politicians often keep tabs of what the people are calling about. For godsakes, Spooks, we are talking about politicians, people whose jobs involve keeping track of which way the wind is blowing.
Are you really that ignorant, or just too relovutionary for me?
Spook, the rule applies to ALL public transit in ALL of Illinois. So, yes, that includes the 65 year olds in Glencoe taking the metra, too.
Yes, the CTA is basic. And Daley knew what was going on, heck he kept Kruesi in charge for so long, he cannot claim ignorance. But doesn't the state subsidize the roads people drive on and the schools our children attend? Don't forget that the CTA is part of the RTA. Yes, there has been mismanagement of the CTA in the pass, no question, but Metra and Pace seemed to be managed appropriately, and they too are in a financial crisis.
Do I wish that people would get off their asses and really do something? Yes! As for me, I would be happy to join in the protest (I have protested before) and be a part of some civil disobedience. But until that hits (I hate this term) critical mass, there will be a small minority drown out by an apathetic majority. I will continue to write, flood offices with calls, and vote. This is a way that my voice can be heard. One problem I have with modern day protesting is many are in it for their own selfish cause. You've been to a war protest, right? Example: you go to any Iraq war protest and there are hundreds of different little groups protesting a bunch of little things and have little to do with the war and are missing the big picture. But, everyone in Montgomery was there for one reason.
I haven't seen any recent protests around the city. Not all protests are even effective (ie., PETA) Have you been a part of anything lately? Why do you think cyberactivism is bad? If I had the time I would gladly organize a protest against the Governor or Da Mare. If you can organize one, let me know and I will be there. Seriously. But let's unify on the reason why we would be there.
That said, you are just a blowhard and hanger-on and would-be voice of passion, and really offer nothing productive.
Holy crap..... you realize you're the biggest blowhard on here of them all, right?
Slap: Yes, but at least I offer realistic ideas and don't treat facts or reality as fantasy. Spook, on the other hand, is a bullshit artist, and his/her ideas offer no chance of progress, despite the cheap, college-level rhetoric about some ill-defined yet needed revolution, an affliction common among too many citizens.
I could teach you more, but then I would have to start charging fees.
I could teach you more, but then I would have to start charging fees.
Ha ha ha, I guess your milkshake is better than mine. Holy crap, that's funny. Try this -- stop drinking your own Kool-Aid for a while and start being a bit more civil. Your arguments tend to lose their civility before they even begin!
Slaphappy: "...stop drinking your own Kool-Aid for a while .."
So, an insult is supposed to urge an online stranger to be civil?
You are the optimistic sort.
Sparky
I don’t think wealthy or even the upper middle class will in droves use CTA even if it’s free, but I do recognize that there is risk. But real change carries risk. And just the fact that this idea has been raised by the Governor of IL. is progress, no matter what the circumstances. I think we should run with it before the door shuts close and we get back to the status quo.
I mean next we might be talking about free CTA for public school children and the poor!
Honestly since universal health care was proposed nationally, I cannot remember such a sweeping progressive public policy call, especially in Chicago were ripping down CHA housing with no replacement for poor folks passes for a “Plan For Transformation” and gutting education passes for “School Reform”.
Yes Pace and Metra are on hard times, but they are better run and are not the play toys/pawns of a dictator named Daley.
Now I gather that you have at the very least some sort of activist and or organizer spirit, so as far as you flooding offices with calls, that’s a cool thing to do for the politically engaged ( as is blowing off steam on Chicagoist, etc) as long as its not confused with actual progressive organizing. Now I try to remain anonymous as possible here, (like us all) but to your question, yes I did participate in the first Iraq anti war protest in Chicago, even at the risk of losing my job. And it was the most effective protest since the democratic convention because Lake Shore Drive was closed down by the protestors in defiance of the authority sending a world wide signal. MLK would have been proud.
I also went to the pathetic second march and I couldn’t help but wonder how much the vast amounts of police protection cost Chicago’s poor communities, so some radical Acrombie and Fitch students and Goo Goo liberals could play radical chic. I also don’t think cyber activism is bad ar all. I think it’s a very powerful tool to make people think, but when we have to compromise in the nine to five day, I think online should be about expanding and discovering new paradigms, instead of mimicking the status quo and carrying our nine to five constrictions into cyber land.
With that said, thanks for the dialogue or as they say in the hip hop world, nice building with you.
Last and least
Dear Matilda
Perhaps you might consider writing weekly political commentary for the "Baby on Board" section cause that’s about the scope of your ability. Remember grasshopper, shrillness with intellect can be a clarion call, shrillness with stupidity is simple loud, son, and that’s one to grow on