The Return of The Chicagoist Reader Meet-Up
Cubs Combat Casino
Notre Dame Fan Takes It Too Far, Allegedly Punches Clausen
County Sales Tax Rollback Vetoed - Here We Go Again
PHOTOS: Peaches And Amanda Blank At Metro
The CTA board meeting scheduled for today has been postponed until tomorrow due to the CTA's failing to post a notice of the meeting as required by the Illinois Open Meetings Act which is in place, "to ensure that public business is conducted in public view by prohibiting secret deliberations and actions on matters that should be discussed in a public forum." Still, one day won't change the suspected outcome of the meeting: an expected 25-cent fare hike. We ran down the ins-and-outs of the new budget about a month back, but said budget is finally coming to pass.
CTA President Ron Huberman is doing his best to distance himself from last fall's repeated Doomsday scenarios. "Today is not doomsday. Today is a tough budget year." Officials are quick to point out that Blago's decision to offer free rides to seniors is costing the CTA $26.5 million at a time when they're already facing a $42.5 million budget hole. The fare increase would be instituted in January. The Ron is also stressing the fact that the fare increase would only amount to enough money to keep the CTA running and not enough to make necessary improvements.
Photo by VtotheendL
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
So what do these guys need? Why is this the 4th consecutive year of not having any money?
When thinking about this year's fare increase, let's remember that CTA dropped $60-70 million of its money into the "Block 37 Black Hole" this year. (Crain's)
City of Chicago has put $54 million into Block 37.
They give only $3 million to operate CTA per year.(Crain's)
They destroyed the Washington Blue-Red Transfer tunnel and this public investment will be handed over to a private firm to profit off of taxpayer dollars. Service there is a pipe dream, designed only to benefit the wealthy while regular service falls to pieces.
Stop the robbery. Stop the fare increase.