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On the one hand, the state could increase transit spending to reach the “regional transit” model. On the other, commuters could see their travel times nearly double if the state does not commit more tax dollars to public transit.
Summary and audio linked here.
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.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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Let it grind to a halt. The RTA has been a money pit for years. Shut it down and let’s start anew.
Read The Sun-Times thinks your taxes need to be raised to support another failed government program because after all, the democrat masters need those patronage do nothing jobs.
From 2016 through 2019, Chicago’s thug element ran wild. Useless political animals like Kim Foxx, Lori Lightfoot, Tim Walz, and JB the Hutt did nothing to stop the degradation of civilization that the unfettered thug element caused, all while Kamala Harris raised funds to keep the thugs on the street creating mayhem. With conditions rapidly melting down in the Loop, Companies left in droves along with their employees, with some fleeing Illinois entirely in favor of a Red State address. This had the side effect of the closure of most of the businesses dependent on those employees that used to… Read more »
We’ve long been saying that the collapse will be a process, not an event, and that Chicago and IL won’t blow up in one big crash. This public transpiration cliff, however, could be quite the Big Bang.
How did you go bankrupt?
“Two ways. Gradually, and then suddenly.”
Ridership decreases due to shift from office to working from home aside, unknown is how many riders avoid the el due to concerns over personal safety at stations and on the moving el, and preferring not to ride in cars smelling of urine, pot, etc.
Dufus Carter crying again boo-hoo. If you don’t have the money then cut expenses.
Wait times are long now, so add on another
Hour or two.
Until they fix the trains and the buses, rather the people that ride them, nothing will get better. The buses and trains aren’t safe, they aren’t comfortable, every single time I board the Red Line, there is someone smoking, someone drinking and usually gambling. Not once in a while EVERY time. In the morning or night. The Clark and Division station is just a complete mess with the homeless hanging around. Which of course is because the powers that be refused to let the Mark Twain hotel be torn down. Yes, it’s a great idea to make 150 apartments that… Read more »
Or we could just the seven commuters per bus an ebike and call it a day.
The RTA should have acted 3 years ago to adjust to a post Covid world, where work from home, which was already on the rise, became the norm for hundreds of thousands in Illinois. Instead, they ignored the new environment and did not change their model, or their expenditures. Now they make threats about looming traffic disasters. For once, the RTA needs to be an adult and act responsibly. Reduce expenses now!
Gee, how did they ever get by without COVID-19?