Note to readers from Mark Glennon re: Ukraine
May 6, 2026
4 Comments
Everybody needs a side hustle these days, and mine is Ukraine, where I am now.
-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
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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.
Projects of this type are boondoggles to provide the connected with a place at the trough for kickbacks! The shoddier the work the bigger the deposits to the connected.
We need to provide the thugs and gangbangers more opportunities to assault riders. Let’s extend the Red line!
To the surprise of no one, CTA wants to fund this boondoggle with a titanic tax theft TIF trap:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/8/2/23289047/cta-red-line-extension-transit-tif-property-taxes-proposal-chicago-city-council
There aren’t enough people in that area south of the 95th Street stop to justify this extension. That’s why it never ran there in the first place.
Yep, it’s going to take a long time for the density south of 95th to increase to support those new stations. But density will follow with new stations…eventually.
Let’s be honest, the Red Line should have been extended long ago. S/SE sides have long been underserved, mostly because Metra and CTA can’t seem to work together.
Express buses from those areas to 95th Street are much cheaper than the billions the extension will cost. There is no significant population close to where the extension will run.
Yes, exactly…
nixit wrote: “But density will follow with new stations…eventually…”
Lol… those areas are **totally** trashed, the kinds of neighborhoods residents *flee* if they have any chance of doing so… any Red Line expansion is a moronic boondoggle…
They need to extend it to the deep South so people can move to a red state easier.
CTA Is Dead Broke, Has Lost Most Of Its Riders For Good — But CTA Is Still Planning On More Train Lines
The area is far from a ‘Transit Desert’. In addition to the numerous bus services that crisscross the area, Metra’s IC line bisects the region. It would be cheaper to simply add a stop to the existing South Shore Line that branches off from the IC line at 115th Street and makes a bee line to 130th Street, near Altgeld Gardens. The article insanely makes the area in and around Altgeld sound like a desirable touristy destination. It isn’t. The article also offers the typical platitudes about spurring business development while at the same time wringing its hands at the… Read more »
Cook County actually took a tiny step in this direction by funding reduced fares on the Metra Electric lines. A better option, in addition to the improvement “The Railroader” suggests, would be to add service on the Metra Electric, approaching CTA headways and span of service, with transfer privileges to CTA. The right of way and much of the needed rolling stock already exist. Much of this could be done in a couple of months, But, as others here have noted, the main reasons to build the extension are to generate contracting opportunities and create a shiny object. There’s also… Read more »