Chicago's Competitive Transition Assessment Crisis Leaves Residents Helpless

Since the CTA crisis has begun, city residents have been held captive to pay their own ransom. As politicians haggle ever-so-slowly in their own interest, not surprisingly, all the CTA can think of is itself. Fares have risen to the highest in our nation. CTA infrastructure suffers, even in the midst of needed reconstruction to fix dangerous condition caused by years of neglect. Neglect that the CTA claims it couldn't fix until now.

CTA's first bail out gave them enough money to fix these changes in the interest of creating the pink line. The CTA started fixing up the brown line, and installing new elevators. This would allow disabled access and bring the CTA into compliance with federal disabled access law. Various track repair efforts have dragged on. None of these projects are near completion. All the while, CTA board members up to, and including the CTA president, are making undeserved wages that, if given up for a time at least, could fund the CTA for at least two years.

Frank Kruesi resigned under fire for his mismanagement, bringing Ron Huberman into the forefront. Mr. Huberman promised better management with results that were to be seen quickly. Like other big wigs, he's left us waiting. Since Huberman has been on board, the CTA has fallen into two crisis sessions.
These events threatened to shut down bus routes in huge numbers, with layoffs numbering in the severe numbers. Were this to ever happen, the city would be crippled. Crippled because those who rely on the CTA to get to work and back home to their lives, their families, would not have a way to do so. Children old enough to use the CTA for school transport would be stuck where they're at, effectively taking up valuable study time or other time used to prepare for school.

For students, preparation time is key. You back them up like traffic, that means they have to get up earlier, which affects their sleep. They would have to hit the bed right after school with no time for homework. No time for a nutritional dinner, no time for anytihng else key to their academic functioning. Some have argued that these students should opt to just attend the school local to them, instead of traveling into other neighborhoods. Of course, it would only be the caucasian population making such an argument. I hate to play the race card, but such a biased attitude is indeed racist. Why is it that we don't hear other races & ethnicities suggesting that the white students do the same? Enough said!

A recent meeting with law makers, including Governor Blago, and Mayor Richard Daley, ended in shouting. Shouting has been loud in regards to the CTA crisis for good reason. Thousands of employees will be laid off in January 2008 if no deal is reached, and many routes will be cut. Cutting CTA routes will leave the city with public safety woes left only to the imagination, since this move will ultimately leave countless people on their own two feet for transportation. Chicago is notorious for crime, especially at night when criminals are more active. Active criminals will see this as an opportunity to be sure!

That's what most criminals are, opportunists. Though the cold will slow the criminal element down, it will not stop them completely, unless of course, it's cold enough to compare to Antarctica. There are no answers to the question of where the CTA funding has been going. The only one obvious answer, which is only a piece of the puzzle as a whole, remains ridiculous board member salary. Why do CTA board members need to make more than $60, 000 a year? In my own opinion, unless someone there is an absolute certified genious, with extra-human talents, no one is worth the absurd salaries they are allowed to enjoy.

Why has the CTA allowed it's infrastructure to deteriorate so badly? Why has it allowed it's responsibilities to sit unattended? Does anyone in charge even show up for work, or is it one of those comfortable "no-show" jobs? The CTA has hired employees during the time things have been spiraling out of control. They have been paying overtime, paying on - call employees / technical specialists 4 hours of pay, just for being called at home to respond to things that could have been avoided in the first place.

Isn't it bad enough that CTA riders have to put up with drivers who talk on their cell phones while driving, drivers who sneer, cuss, and otherwise verbally abuse passengers just to add insult to injury. Most times, the riders have waited more than 45 minutes for a bus or train with no explanation! CTA employees can say what they want about the riders being rude, behaving badly, etc. However, let's face it, the CTA has never been close to dependable in the first place. After all the political wrangling, screaming amongst themselves, and when the underhanded deal making is over, the CTA will leave Chicago residents holding the bag.

Here we are under consideration to host the Olympics, and the CTA is ready to melt down. That's gotta hurt! Mayor Daley is trying to raise taxes on bottled water, alcoholic beverages, and a number of other items. He is playing the game with the other politicians, whilst openly advocating for the people of Chicago to have reliable public transportation. All we have is dead ends, thanks to beauracracy! The Governor, and members of the State house are using the CTA as a bargaining chip to push their own agendas. Gambling is one of many pet interests the CTA is being used to pursue. Don't ya just love manipulative people?

Where does this end? A complete shut down and liquidation of the CTA followed by bids, followed by rebuilding a behemoth metropolitan transportation system? No matter what happens, Chicago residents will remain captive pawns holding the bag. The CTA is screaming at the state. The state is pointing the finger back at the CTA. Judy Baar Topinka openly stated via the media some long time ago, that she is for letting the CTA face up to their blunders, their mismanagement of billions of dollars. Judy has finally made sense! Yo Carol, Mr. CTA President, why are you staying so quiet instead of communicating with the public? All this time, and we have no statements other than standard professional double talk and passive defensiveness.

Where are the State Police & FBI? State and Federal funds have not been accounted for. They have been misspent, mismanaged, possibly lost, whatever happened is deserving of law enforcement scrutiny. I say let the chips fall where they may. This is only a dream because a liberal leadership always has the upper hand, as is typical of corporate big shots. Didn't you know that the CTA is a privately held corporation with it's own payroll? The equipment is city property? We need to find out how many vacations were had, how many expensive gifts were bought for family members. We need to know where the funds have gone!

If Blago can get reamed for using the state jet for short trips a car would have sufficed for, the CTA can be held accountable for itself! By now, you would think that the city would have taken steps to hire it's own employees and let the CTA folks go. Review the current workers to see who is worth holding on to, get rid of the non-workers or workers with bad records, and replace them with hard workers. Make the CTA a CITY AGENCY! We already have a city Department of Transportation completely capable of being the controlling body to oversee the whole thing. Eventually, maybe privatization is a possible answer.

All of those things would just be too easy I guess. In a sense, it's just another can of worms for human resources to have nightmares over. See the wall we're up against? FIX THE CTA! Never should city residents have to choose between being able to get around and buying their life's needs! Other sources for reference are included below:

CTA WIKI
SAVE CHICAGO TRANSIT
KEEP CHICAGOLAND MOVING
CHICAGO L

Someone really either missed a huge portion of their homework over at the wiki, or purposely lied. Any CTA employee will tell you that they are not a municipal agency. In fact, CTA paychecks come from CTA internal payroll, NOT City of Chicago Human Resources! According to the link above, if you read between the lines, board members want their money more than they want to fix their mess. The CTA board fixes the CTA President's salary, Now we know for sure the good old boy network is alive in Chicago!