The future of public transportation in the Chicago area may hinge on what state lawmakers accomplish in the next 10 days.
The Chicago Transit Authority said if it does not receive an additional $82.5 million from the Illinois General Assembly, it will implement a “gridlock budget” that would include ending late evening Purple Line service and night trains on the Red Line, among other cuts for 2005.
The last meeting of the General Assembly this year will be during the fall veto session, running from today to Wednesday and then again from Nov. 16 to 18. In addition to overriding the governor’s vetoes, lawmakers can introduce new legislation.
The CTA has asked the General Assembly to rewrite the formula that allocates money to Pace, Metra and the CTA.
But lawmakers said the fall veto session is not the best forum for discussing such a solution.
State Rep. David Miller (29th) said that altering the formula would be too complex a task for the short veto session.
“You can’t just say in six days’ worth of time that we’re going to change things just because the system’s broken,” Miller said, adding that formula restructuring should not shortchange Metra and Pace, which serve his district in south suburban Chicago.
It is also unlikely that the Illinois General Assembly will give the $82.5 million to CTA outright, legislators said.
The state is in a $5 billion deficit, and it would be difficult for legislators to find money for the CTA, said State Rep. John Fritchey (11th).
“I’m more concerned with a long-term fix,” Fritchey said.
The Illinois General Assembly also could authorize the CTA to move money from its capital budget to its operating budget as a short-term solution. CTA’s capital budget provides money for service expansions.
But State Rep. Ruth Munson (43rd) said she would oppose such a measure, because it would make it more difficult for the CTA to extend the Blue Line to her district in Elgin, Ill.
Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin said he will be in Springfield this week to urge lawmakers to solve CTA’s budget crisis.
The General Assembly needs to look at creative ways to find additional funding for Metra, Pace and the CTA, Suffredin said. One possible solution is tapping into federal funds, he said.
In addition to Suffredin, more than 300 CTA employees and riders will go to Springfield Tuesday to urge the General Assembly to support transit, said John Jones, director of community outreach for Chicago-based Campaign for Better Transit, which is organizing the trip.
The CTA has publicized its budget crisis through billboards on area expressways, a cable TV program and recorded announcements and ads on buses and trains, CTA spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler wrote in an e-mail.
The ads point to the CTA’s special Web site, keepchicagolandmoving.com, which urges riders to contact their legislators.
“I’ve received scores of e-mails from my constituents on the issue,” Fritchey said. Many residents of Fritchey’s district on the North Side of Chicago rely on CTA’s services, he said.
Chicago resident Victoria Aguirre said she is worried about the proposed cuts and has considered contacting her state representative.
“A lot of us get out of work real late,” Aguirre said. “And it’s starting to get cold outside and it’s going to be a mess.”
Reach Greg Hafkin at [email protected].
