Chicago Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein Resigning
By Chuck Sudo in News on Nov 1, 2013 7:45PM
Chicago Department of Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein announced he’ll be resigning at the end of the month.
Klein is one of the more innovative members of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s cabinet and will leave behind a legacy that includes installing Chicago’s first protected bike lanes, the beginning of construction of the Bloomingdale Trail, the Divvy bicycle sharing program, the speed-enforcement camera program for school zones and parks and promoting non-vehicular forms of transit such as bicycling, Barnes dance intersections and bus rapid transit lanes.
Klein told Tribune transportation reporter John Hilkevitch he plans on returning to the private sector and starting a family with his wife. He singled out the Divvy program as one of his proudest accomplishments but it wasn’t without controversy. A rival bidder claimed Klein’s consulting work with Alta Bicycle Share LLC, the company that manages Divvy, tainted the bidding process. Klein long claimed he recused himself from the bidding process because of his connections to Alta Bicycle Share.
Klein’s relationship with Emanuel dates back to when the mayor was a congressman and Klein was the transportation commissioner of Washington, D.C. Klein’s resignation announcement comes as John Tolva, Chicago’s Chief Technology Officer, is working his last day at City Hall.