Latest news with #KirkDillard
Chicago Tribune
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Letters: If the state would fund its mandates, the RTA wouldn't be faced with such a fiscal crisis
The day the Tribune front-page story exclaimed, 'RTA warns of 'doomsday' transit cuts if budget gap isn't plugged' (March 21), the editorial inside railed against state unfunded mandates ('Our views on the suburban ballots' advisory questions on fair maps, pension reforms and unfunded mandates'). Rightly, the Tribune Editorial Board asks: 'Why should the state be allowed to pass a bill that requires spending someone else has to cover?' Our region's public transportation faces a $771 million transit 'fiscal cliff' when federal COVID-19 monies run out. The state of Illinois contributes the least to mass transit operations of any state — 17% here compared to 28% in New York, 44% for Boston and 50% in Philadelphia. Regarding unfunded mandates, the state's reimbursement for Americans with Disabilities Act paratransit is just 4% — just $10 million of the $249 million yearly mandate. Also, the state mandates free and reduced fares of $150 million annually but provides a paltry reimbursement of $20 million. Recently, Springfield began to impose a 1.5% collection fee on RTA sales taxes reducing the budgets for the CTA, Metra and Pace suburban buses by another $20 million each year. If the state would fund its mandates, the doomsday budget cuts looming over the 1.2 million weekday RTA riders could significantly shrink. — Kirk Dillard, chair, Regional Transportation Authority Use of Will County land Last month, Gov. JB Pritzker went to Champaign County to launch his Standing Up for Illinois Tour. The governor blasted the abrupt cancellation of U.S. Department of Agriculture contracts and programs. He called farming 'the bedrock of our economy … the backbone of our communities and … a way of life … under attack by the leaders of our country.' Pritzker can also demonstrate his commitment to Illinois agriculture by calling out Democratic lawmakers for blocking long-overdue state legislation. In February, state Sen. Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, introduced a bill, SB2186, authorizing an alternative use plan for 7 square miles of state-owned countryside near the Will County village of Peotone. About a quarter century ago, the Illinois Department of Transportation bought the land for a 'third' Chicago airport. One problem: The region is already served by five commercial airports: O'Hare, Midway, Milwaukee, Rockford and Gary. In 2023, Pritzker signed a law directing IDOT to solicit bids to turn the land into a cargo airport. (The property — including some of the best farmland on earth — is leased to corn and soybean farmers.) Last November, the Will County Board voted to explore an alternative use plan. Area residents envision a 'regenerative agriculture research and development center' — a place where people can learn, teach, experiment, grow, process and sell food and other agricultural products. I'm working with Will County Board member Judy Ogalla, R-Monee, to find partners to develop the Northeastern Illinois 'Good Food For All' research triangle. Anchored by the Peotone site, a tricounty research triangle would connect Joliet, Kankakee County's Pembroke Township and Chicago's Englewood neighborhood. (This south metro area is home to 'a critical mass of local food infrastructure,' according to state officials.) We envision a local farm economy planning process to address the interrelated goals of community-centered and commercial-scale agri-food groups as well as nature conservationists. Ventura responded by introducing the 'Agri-Food Infrastructure Investment Task Force Act.' The bill would authorize a study drawing on 'broad-based community support for solving food insecurity problems.' The outcome would be a road map to build a thriving regional farm economy. Ventura was told Illinois Senate Assistant Majority Leader Napoleon Harris, D-Harvey, has found potential airport developers, so there's no need to consider alternatives. Pritzker should demand that state lawmakers entertain options instead of clutching to an idea first proposed nearly six decades ago. — Bob Heuer, director, HNA Networks, Evanston Loss of Black teachers As members of the Chicago Alliance of Urban School Educators (CAUSE), we are compelled to respond to Paul Vallas' April 1 op-ed 'The decline in Black teachers has nothing to do with CPS' evaluation system.' While we appreciate the attention to this critical issue, Vallas' commentary fails to address the structural policies that continue to push Black educators out of Chicago Public Schools — namely, the do not hire (DNH) list and the racially biased evaluation system known as Recognizing Educators Advancing Chicago's Students, or REACH. The REACH system, introduced under the same managerial reforms that Vallas once championed, consistently ranks Black teachers lower — particularly those serving in high-poverty, underresourced schools. This is not a reflection of ineffective teaching, but of an evaluation framework that penalizes educators for the systemic challenges their students face. These scores are then used as a pretext to remove teachers from classrooms and place them on the DNH list, often without any misconduct, due process or opportunity for reinstatement. The DNH list has become a quiet but powerful mechanism of exclusion, disproportionately affecting Black educators and operating with no transparency or oversight. It strips educators of their careers, silences their voices and destabilizes school communities — while CPS and city leaders claim to support equity and justice. If Vallas is serious about reversing the loss of Black teachers, we urge him to support the implementation of the CPS DNH four pillars, which would ensure that no educator is placed or kept on the DNH list unless they: Have a disqualifying criminal conviction. Fail a standard background check. Lack a valid Illinois State Board of Education license. Have an open or substantiated Department of Children and Family Services case. All educators who meet these criteria must be reinstated immediately. It is not enough to lament the loss of Black educators — we also must dismantle the policies that have caused it. The REACH system and the unchecked power of the DNH list are central to that problem. CAUSE calls for action, not rhetoric. Justice for Black teachers must begin with accountability and meaningful reform. — Dr. Marlo Barnett, executive board member, and Dr. Rosita Chatonda, president, CAUSE, Chicago Trans student's life The Tribune recently covered the controversy over a transgender student using the appropriate school locker room in Deerfield ('Transgender issue puts middle school in spotlight,' March 23). I'm the mother of two teenage children, a son and a daughter, both of whom attend public high school and neither of whom is transgender. I worry about a lot of things when it comes to my kids, but the mere existence of a transgender student — even a transgender student in the locker room — isn't one of them. I'm pretty sure transgender students, like most students, are just trying to make it through the day and live their lives. By all accounts, the Deerfield student, whose parent filed a federal civil rights complaint over her transgender peer, was given opportunities to change in private, as any student should be allowed to do. That means she was not forced to change anywhere or change in front of anyone, and her safety was never put at risk. In fact, I wonder why there hasn't been more discussion of what the trans student has been going through. What must it feel like to be so unwanted by a fellow classmate, viewed as so dangerous, that your classmate runs out of the locker room (and a parent makes a federal complaint about it!) rather than share space with you?
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
RTA outlines ‘doomsday' transit cuts if budget gap isn't filled, including slashing bus and train lines
More than half of Chicago's bus routes could be eliminated, at least parts of four 'L' lines could shut down and Metra weekday service would be slashed to once an hour under a transit doomsday scenario. Those are some of the cuts under consideration if lawmakers fail to plug a $771 million budget gap expected to hit the region's four transit agencies as soon as next year, when COVID-19 relief funding runs out, the Regional Transportation Authority said Friday. Also on the table are fare hikes and job losses. The potential cuts represent a worst-case scenario if none of the budget hole is filled. The reductions would dramatically slash service across the CTA, Metra and Pace, limit access to buses and trains across the city and suburbs and bring dire economic consequences to the region, the RTA warned. 'People have to understand what the consequences are of not filling the funding gap,' said RTA Executive Director Leanne Redden, calling the effects of the potential cuts 'devastating.' The agency outlined the situation as debate in Springfield heats up over the future of transit. Transit agencies and advocates have pushed to boost funding, while lawmakers have said their focus is first on the way transit is overseen. Two bills under consideration by the General Assembly address oversight, with one calling to consolidate the CTA, Metra, Pace and the RTA into one entity, and another, backed by a coalition of labor groups, aiming to boost coordination among the existing agencies. The RTA, for its part, has acknowledged that reform of transit is needed and supports measures similar to the labor-backed bill. Chairman Kirk Dillard has called for a stronger RTA that would coordinate fares, service and construction projects among city and suburban bus and train agencies. He has also proposed fare hikes, savings from the new oversight model and more state funding to generate more money for transit. But funding remains a pressing issue, RTA officials have said. They and other advocates have pushed to not just close the budget gap but go further and find $1.5 billion in new money to overhaul the system. With the extra money, transit could grow and efforts already underway could expand, like a CTA plan to run buses every 10 minutes on key routes or Metra's work to run more trains throughout the day rather than focusing on commuting hours, RTA officials said. CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen previously said additional money also could allow trains to run every six minutes and overnight service to expand. Failure to plug the budget hole, on the other hand, could lead to dramatic cuts. And planning could start this summer if lawmakers fail to act by the end of the legislative session, agency officials said. The CTA, Metra and Pace would begin planning for service cuts as part of their budget processes and would be required to give public notice on proposals to slash service or raise fares. That could happen through the summer and fall, for changes to begin taking effect in 2026. 'You cannot really balance this kind of budget gap with service reductions,' said Maulik Vaishnav, senior deputy executive director of planning and capital programming at the RTA. 'There has to be full eliminations on the table.' More specifics about routes and lines that could be affected would be identified during the planning process. In the meantime, the transit agencies have warned of the scale of the potential cuts. On the CTA, service could be cut on all or at least some branches of half of the agency's train lines, and 50 stations could close or see service slashed. Trains could run 10% to 25% less often, and as many as 74 of the agency's 127 bus routes could be eliminated. Metra service could be cut by 40%, and trains would run once per hour on weekdays and once every two hours on weekends. Early-morning and late-evening trains could be eliminated, and service could stop running entirely on a branch of the Metra Electric line that runs to suburban Blue Island, cutting off access to seven stops. The BNSF line, Metra's busiest, could be cut from 91 trains per day to 44. Cutting Metra service could be especially challenging because it would take years to bring back, the RTA said. Metra shares tracks with freight railroads, which makes changing service complex, and the agency could lose staff to the other railroads who would be difficult to replace. Pace suburban bus service also would see steep cuts, affecting shift workers who rely on the buses to get to jobs and residents who use buses for medical appointments and errands. All weekend Pace service could be cut. Routes that now run every 15 to 20 minutes could run every half-hour, and buses that now run every 30 minutes could have their wait times double. Service after 8 p.m. would end on 62 routes. Paratransit service for people with disabilities is federally mandated, but the service area could be cut by more than half on weekends, the RTA said. The cuts would leave communities without transit, with the CTA bus eliminations alone cutting off access for 500,000 residents, the RTA estimated. They would also bring consequences for the entire region. The cuts could mean $1 billion in lost wages annually for the Chicago area as access to job opportunities is lost, according to the RTA. Almost 3,000 transit workers could be laid off. And the budget shortfall could kick off a cycle of funding shortages and service cuts as fewer people ride. Traffic congestion also could skyrocket as more people buy cars instead of turning to transit, worsening emissions and air quality and causing gridlock that would make travel times 30% longer, according to the RTA. 'The whole network ends up being devastated and ends up providing workers with many, many fewer commuting options,' Redden said. 'So it becomes less of a viable service for them to use.' The RTA is not advocating for a source of funding for transit, Redden said, though the agency has analyzed 11 potential options, including tweaking sales taxes, congestion pricing and increasing vehicle registration fees. The RTA also pointed to what it described as decades of underfunding as a contributor to the looming budget shortfall. Illinois funds 17% of transit operations, while New York covers 28% and Philadelphia covers 50%, the RTA said. The state also reimburses only 4% of the cost of paratransit services and 14% of the cost of free and reduced-fare programs for seniors and disabilities, the RTA said. Though the service cuts outlined Friday paint a dire picture for transit in the Chicago area, Leerhsen, at the CTA, has said the agency is working to ensure they never happen. At a board meeting this month, she said raising the alarm was part of the plan. She also pledged to consider equity when detailing potential cuts, making sure certain communities would not see disproportionate cuts. 'I don't want people to worry here at CTA that that will happen, because we're on the case and we're working hard to make everyone understand the importance of transit,' she said.
Chicago Tribune
21-03-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
RTA outlines ‘doomsday' transit cuts if budget gap isn't filled, including slashing bus and train lines
More than half of Chicago's bus routes could be eliminated, at least parts of four 'L' lines could shut down and Metra weekday service would be slashed to once an hour under a transit doomsday scenario. Those are some of the cuts under consideration if lawmakers fail to plug a $771 million budget gap expected to hit the region's four transit agencies as soon as next year, when COVID-19 relief funding runs out, the Regional Transportation Authority said Friday. Also on the table are fare hikes and job losses. The potential cuts represent a worst-case scenario if none of the budget hole is filled. The reductions would dramatically slash service across the CTA, Metra and Pace, limit access to buses and trains across the city and suburbs and bring dire economic consequences to the region, the RTA warned. 'People have to understand what the consequences are of not filling the funding gap,' said RTA Executive Director Leanne Redden, calling the effects of the potential cuts 'devastating.' The agency outlined the situation as debate in Springfield heats up over the future of transit. Transit agencies and advocates have pushed to boost funding, while lawmakers have said their focus is first on the way transit is overseen. Two bills under consideration by the General Assembly address oversight, with one calling to consolidate the CTA, Metra, Pace and the RTA into one entity, and another, backed by a coalition of labor groups, aiming to boost coordination among the existing agencies. The RTA, for its part, has acknowledged that reform of transit is needed and supports measures similar to the labor-backed bill. Chairman Kirk Dillard has called for a stronger RTA that would coordinate fares, service and construction projects among city and suburban bus and train agencies. He has also proposed fare hikes, savings from the new oversight model and more state funding to generate more money for transit. But funding remains a pressing issue, RTA officials have said. They and other advocates have pushed to not just close the budget gap but go further and find $1.5 billion in new money to overhaul the system. With the extra money, transit could grow and efforts already underway could expand, like a CTA plan to run buses every 10 minutes on key routes or Metra's work to run more trains throughout the day rather than focusing on commuting hours, RTA officials said. CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen previously said additional money also could allow trains to run every six minutes and overnight service to expand. Failure to plug the budget hole, on the other hand, could lead to dramatic cuts. And planning could start this summer if lawmakers fail to act by the end of the legislative session, agency officials said. The CTA, Metra and Pace would begin planning for service cuts as part of their budget processes and would be required to give public notice on proposals to slash service or raise fares. That could happen through the summer and fall, for changes to begin taking effect in 2026. 'You cannot really balance this kind of budget gap with service reductions,' said Maulik Vaishnav, senior deputy executive director of planning and capital programming at the RTA. 'There has to be full eliminations on the table.' More specifics about routes and lines that could be affected would be identified during the planning process. In the meantime, the transit agencies have warned of the scale of the potential cuts. On the CTA, service could be cut on all or at least some branches of half of the agency's train lines, and 50 stations could close or see service slashed. Trains could run 10% to 25% less often, and as many as 74 of the agency's 127 bus routes could be eliminated. Metra service could be cut by 40%, and trains would run once per hour on weekdays and once every two hours on weekends. Early-morning and late-evening trains could be eliminated, and service could stop running entirely on a branch of the Metra Electric line that runs to suburban Blue Island, cutting off access to seven stops. The BNSF line, Metra's busiest, could be cut from 91 trains per day to 44. Cutting Metra service could be especially challenging because it would take years to bring back, the RTA said. Metra shares tracks with freight railroads, which makes changing service complex, and the agency could lose staff to the other railroads who would be difficult to replace. Pace suburban bus service also would see steep cuts, affecting shift workers who rely on the buses to get to jobs and residents who use buses for medical appointments and errands. All weekend Pace service could be cut. Routes that now run every 15 to 20 minutes could run every half-hour, and buses that now run every 30 minutes could have their wait times double. Service after 8 p.m. would end on 62 routes. Paratransit service for people with disabilities is federally mandated, but the service area could be cut by more than half on weekends, the RTA said. The cuts would leave communities without transit, with the CTA bus eliminations alone cutting off access for 500,000 residents, the RTA estimated. They would also bring consequences for the entire region. The cuts could mean $1 billion in lost wages annually for the Chicago area as access to job opportunities is lost, according to the RTA. Almost 3,000 transit workers could be laid off. And the budget shortfall could kick off a cycle of funding shortages and service cuts as fewer people ride. Traffic congestion also could skyrocket as more people buy cars instead of turning to transit, worsening emissions and air quality and causing gridlock that would make travel times 30% longer, according to the RTA. 'The whole network ends up being devastated and ends up providing workers with many, many fewer commuting options,' Redden said. 'So it becomes less of a viable service for them to use.' The RTA is not advocating for a source of funding for transit, Redden said, though the agency has analyzed 11 potential options, including tweaking sales taxes, congestion pricing and increasing vehicle registration fees. The RTA also pointed to what it described as decades of underfunding as a contributor to the looming budget shortfall. Illinois funds 17% of transit operations, while New York covers 28% and Philadelphia covers 50%, the RTA said. The state also reimburses only 4% of the cost of paratransit services and 14% of the cost of free and reduced-fare programs for seniors and disabilities, the RTA said. Though the service cuts outlined Friday paint a dire picture for transit in the Chicago area, Leerhsen, at the CTA, has said the agency is working to ensure they never happen. At a board meeting this month, she said raising the alarm was part of the plan. She also pledged to consider equity when detailing potential cuts, making sure certain communities would not see disproportionate cuts. 'I don't want people to worry here at CTA that that will happen, because we're on the case and we're working hard to make everyone understand the importance of transit,' she said.
