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The Regional Transportation Authority doesn’t project the region’s ridership will come back this decade. In 2022, the agency estimated ridership could hit 74 percent of pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2031 if current circumstances persist, though RTA staff said the figures are likely conservative.
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Audio and summary Illinois bill would override local law to allow homeless living in all public parks – Wirepoints
April 14, 2026
29 Comments
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago Fiscal Crisis Worse Than Pre-Bankruptcy Detroit, HIV Surge and Public Health Threat From Open Borders Goes Unreported
April 10, 2026
2 Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago pension buyout plan mostly shifts debt rather than eliminating it, property tax surge doubles inflation over three decades
April 3, 2026
9 Comments
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times falsely blame Texas Gov. Abbott for 2020 to 2024 surge in Chicago Latino HIV, AIDS infections – Wirepoints Quickpoint
March 31, 2026
11 Comments
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
As good old Harold would say, “ this story is Pure hubris, it’s humor gone wild. The idiots At the RTA must think we are all chumbalones. The RTA will never come back, It can’t happen because people and jobs are leaving! The only people who use it are the ones that must pay or jump the turnstiles. The only thing the RTA wants is our MONEY! They want everyone in the state to pay for Chicago’s riders. This crap must stop, the Rest of the state can and must come together and vote these idiots out of office. If… Read more »
Until CTA kicks the urine puddle stinking homeless and the scumbag thieves off the buses and trains the riders aren’t coming back. I only ride to get to the airport with two or three month gaps between. Each and every time the el is progressively and steadily worse than the prior ride.
The Climate Clerics are at it again. The Fiscal Cliff the RTA intentionally created wasn’t enough. The clergy must now employ their religion of the sun god to raid taxpayers’ wallets. Again. Yes, the puny humans are desperately selling their climate religion whereby the temperature will possibly-maybe be slightly cooler only if the taxpayers surrender more of their hard-earned money. Trib typist Sarah Freishtat was kind enough to let slip that the political stooges operating the CTA are still running too many trains and buses for the customers that remain. In Feishtat’s PR talking point piece on behalf of the… Read more »
The RTA saying ridership won’t come back this decade is the same as the RTA saying ridership won’t come back. What do they expect will happen next decade to magically increase ridership? Therefore, agree with Ex Illini that staff reductions should’ve already been underway.
First, taking the CTA can be very dangerous, so only those that have to take it will. Second, it’s inconvenient, so that’s strike two. If the CTA doesn’t expect ridership to return to normal levels by the end of the decade, they should have started firing people two years ago.
Dorval Carter needs time to freshen up that resume. 375 K jobs don’t grow on trees for Brandon’s buddies, you know.