Standing outside the Foster Street El station, Medill freshman Anna Maltby was a bit shy as she stopped commuters and handed them flyers.
“Help fight the CTA cuts,” she repeated over and over as most passersby grabbed a flyer and walked off. Maltby said she wasn’t used to flyering, but the looming cuts to the Chicago Transit Authority’s budget motivated her to volunteer.
“It’s just kind of a concern to me because I take the El downtown a lot and I can’t afford a cab,” Maltby said.
“And obviously there are a lot of people who need it to get downtown to their jobs.”
Maltby was one of 13 Northwestern students distributing flyers Tuesday at Evanston El stops, The Arch and The Rock trying to raise awareness about the CTA budget crisis and Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s plan to combat it. The NU event was part of a city-wide drive that included about 200 volunteers and the governor.
“It shows that NU students are interested in seeking alternatives to the present CTA cuts,” said Associated Student Government President Patrick Keenan-Devlin, who helped organize the event. “It shows that we are being proactive in finding a solution that will benefit the CTA and the state of Illinois.”
The CTA faces a $55 million budget deficit and has been warning of potential service cuts that could have particularly dire effects in Evanston. Under the current plan, the Purple Line would run on its current Sunday schedule throughout the week. Express service and CTA buses in Evanston would be terminated, and trains would be 10 to 15 minutes apart.
The cuts are scheduled to take effect July 17, but Keenan-Devlin said State Representative Julie Hamos has assured him that they will not be enacted.
“She promised myself, and I believe she’s starting to promise other citizens of the state, that these cuts will not happen,” the Music junior said. “I think it’s almost an ‘over my dead body’ attitude, which is a great attitude.”
Hamos proposed a strategy of lobbying the federal government for a grant to cover the cost of the CTA’s $50 million-plus paratransit program, which allows disabled commuters to use public transportation.
Blagojevich has launched a competing plan to combat the CTA’s budget woes by closing a corporate tax loophole. The “canned software loophole” exempts companies who buy licensed software in bulk from paying Illinois’ sales tax. Closing it would save Illinois $65 million a year and affect less than 1 percent of the state’s largest corporations, said governor’s office spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff.
“It’s unfair,” she said. “It benefits a very small percentage of businesses. The governor wants to close that loophole and use the savings to help our transit system.”
Tuesday, the governor kicked off a campaign to rally public support for his plan, visiting the 95th/Dan Ryan stop on the Red Line while about 200 volunteers — including NU and University of Chicago volunteers — handed out flyers and spoke to commuters, Ottenhoff said.
“We need the help of the public in lobbying the legislature to approve that funding plan,” Ottenhoff said.
At the Foster station, Maltby said it seemed that many NU students were oblivious or apathetic about the CTA crisis.
“It seems like so many people are just stuck in Evanston,” Maltby said. “They don’t leave, so I think a lot of people don’t care because they haven’t become dependent on (the El).”
That attitude seemed a bit ridiculous, Maltby said.
“There’s more to this area than Old Orchard,” she said.
Reach Jordan Weissmann at [email protected].
