Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), a subcommittee member who requested Monday’s hearing, said he remains optimistic that a funding deal will be worked out in Springfield before Sunday when the CTA will eliminate 39 bus routes and Pace will stop running shuttle buses to suburban Metra stations due to huge budget deficits.
“I am confident the state and local governments will address the immediate needs,” Lipinski said.
Differing from others who testified, Lipinski maintained that “fortunately, Chicago already has a world-class transportation system.”
His views were not well received by disabled transit activists who disrupted the hearing for about 10 minutes, chanting, “We need transit now” and “What about the money for the CTA?”
Confident Springfield will work things out… that makes exactly one person who believes that.
it’s interesting that a representative from Oregon is more concerned about the state of transit in Chicago than a Chicago representative is.
As one of the disruptors (it wasn’t just disabled activists, but our message wasn’t clear), I wrote the senator from Oregon to thank him for comprehending, better than any local politician, exactly what’s going on here. He saw right through it. As for RedEye, they put Daley on the front page screaming “Fix transit, or else!” What a joke: Daley is the one who created this mess! Doesn’t anyone here get it?
It is no coincidence that we staged our demonstration for Monday at 11 a.m. at Federal Plaza and, as if a miracle, Daley staged a press conference on transit at exactly the same time at Mather High School. We will be ready next time.