Doomsday 2010 – Day 2
Monday, February 8th, 2010We’ve had a couple updates from riders on how the Doomsday is affecting them.
Rally for Mass Transit
Monday, January 18th, 2010There will be a second Rally for Mass Transit this week at the CTA Board Meeting.
WHEN: Wednesday – January 20, 2010
WHERE: CTA – 567 W Lake Street
TIME: 10:00 am – NOON.
Sponsors: Citizens Taking Action, Little Village Justice Organization.
Upcoming Feb 7 CTA budget cuts are an attack on workers and will disproportionately affect transit dependent riders. Here’s how it will affect you:
- Less frequent buses and trains = longer waits, more overcrowding.
- Shorter hours of operation = stranded riders.
- Elimination of 9 express route = fewer buses, discriminates against the South/West Side.
- Layoffs of over 1000 good paying union jobs.
These cuts don’t have to happen. Come to the rally and
- Let the CTA know not to protect downtown transit at the expense of the South Side.
- Let the city know to give CTA more than $1/person/year.
- Let the suburbs know to pay in their fair share.
- Let the state know to give CTA riders their fair share of funding compared to Metra.
- Let Congress know to stop overspending on highways and start giving mass transit it’s fair share of support. Funding with civil rights and jobs guarantees!
For more info, call Mike at 773-762-6991 or call Charles at 312-842-5036.
MLK Day March for Jobs and Public Services
Friday, January 15th, 2010Join us in celebrating Dr. King’s legacy of struggling for social justice and defending workers’ needs.
CTA management is threatening to lay off over 1,000 bus drivers and maintenance workers on Feb 7th. This means fewer and more crowded buses and trains.
Chicago Public Schools plan to close another 25 to 30 neighborhood schools and hand over our public education money to private companies. This won’t help educate our kids.
Unemployment is at its highest in 30 years but caseworkers who approve Food Stamps and Medicaid have unworkable caseloads of 1100 to 2200 families per worker – so people can’t get the help they need.
The rich and their politicians steal our taxes to bail out Wall Street and they “borrow” from our pension funds to hand out contracts to their friends. They sell our publicly-owned resources to private companies, and then make us pay for it through higher fees and fines. We say: make the rich pay. They made this crisis; we’re not giving up our jobs and services to pay for it.
Join PUBLIC WORKERS UNITE! to defend our public services
We say not on our backs! Fund public services, not the wars!
Money for jobs, not for bankers! Tax the rich, not working people!
List of endorsers: AFSCME Local 2858, Caucus of Rank File Educators (CORE), International Socialist Organization, Jobs with Justice, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, NoCTAcuts.org, Socialist Alternative, Solidarity.
To endorse or for more information, contact publicworkersunite@yahoo.com
PUBLIC WORKERS UNITE! next meeting: 10am Jan. 23, UE Hall, 37 S. Ashland, Chicago
Labor Beat: Let’s Fix Chicago’s Public Transit!
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010CLICK HERE TO SEE A LABOR BEAT VIDEO ON THE CTA CUTS!
Chicago public transit riders and workers have become fed up with the perennial funding crises that always translate into service cuts and attacks on working conditions and jobs. There needs to be a positive social solution with adequate funding, and transit riders and workers need to control the system. With Mike Pitula, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization; and Erek Slater, CTA Bus Driver. Also Elwood Flowers, ATU 308; Carlos Acevedo, ATU 241; Dan Hrycyk, Financial Sec., ATU 241; Heather Benno, NoCTAcuts.org. 23 minutes. Produced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner. Labor Beat is a non-profit 501(c)(3) member of IBEW 1220. Views are those of the producer Labor Beat. For info: mail@laborbeat.org, www.laborbeat.org. 312-226-3330. For other Labor Beat videos, visit Google Video, YouTube, or blip.tv and search “Labor Beat”.
Congress: Time to Support Transit Operations
Friday, December 11th, 2009We are living in a time of great crisis, but also great opportunity. It can be hard to wrap your head around the twin crises of the economy and the environment. Especially if your job is at stake, the bills are mounting, and it is just harder getting by. However, there is opportunity if we know how to respond.
In the next 4 to 18 months, Congress has a great opportunity to respond to the crisis. That opportunity is public transit. Transportation spending is second only to defense in the federal budget. By directing those dollars to public transit, we can make an economic recovery while we clean the environment and reduce our emissions. Recent research shows that investing in public transit creates 19% more jobs that investing in highway construction. It means jobs in operations, in vehicle and component manufacturing, as well as supporting industries and services. And trains, streetcars, and buses are cleaner and greener than even a whole rush hour traffic jam of electric cars.
Transit Riders for Public Transportation (TRPT) is a campaign to change the way we get around in this country. In order to make a realistic impact on the need for jobs, a clean environment, and a stable climate, we propose the following:
- Reduce highway funding – Expand public transit funding.
Transit is treated like an afterthought in America. 80% of our transportation spending is on highways. This has lead to increasing traffic, accidents, pollution, and global warming. Let’s flip the script: 80% for transit 20% to maintain roads. - Transit Operations Funding
For 13 years Congress has spent 0 dollars on transit operations. Meanwhile transit agencies like CTA have made massive fare increases, service cuts, and attacks on labor. Dedicated operating funds will allow for more bus and rail service on existing lines, dramatic fare reductions, free transfers, and 24/7 transit service. - Inclusive jobs Jobs and contracts from the Stimulus had extremely low minority and woman participation. Federally funded projects should feature targeted hiring of workers normally shut out, quality job training, apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship training programs, Community Workforce Agreements, and woman and minority participation in contracting opportunities.
- Get Civil Rights back on the bus and train.
In 2001, the Supreme Court decided that you cannot sue transit agencies if there is a “disparate impact,” unless you can prove that it was intentional. Discrimination happens, but it is very hard to prove intent in this day and age. We support a new civil rights bill that would provide a remedy when people are left out of the transit system.
We salute this ATU Locals 241 and 308 for their courageous picket. We encourage you to contact your Congresspeople and tell them you support funding for transit operations.
To find out more about TRPT and view our full campaign demands, you can visit http://transitriders.net
FACT SHEET: How “Invent the Future” public input helped shape the GO TO 2040 draft preferred Regional Scenario
Friday, December 11th, 2009Residents across the seven-county region helped to “Invent the Future” from May to September 2009 via public outreach by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), which is developing GO TO 2040, the official comprehensive plan to guide development and infrastructure.
Click here to read a CMAP news release summarizing this phase of public input. More than 20,000 participants shared consistent priorities for the region’s future: more transit options, compact land development, reduced energy and water consumptions, and more parks and open space. Residents weighed in via interactive GO TO 2040 web tools, workshops, kiosks and booths at community festivals.
This public input, combined with extensive research conducted by CMAP via dozens of strategy papers and Regional Snapshot reports, has shaped the draft “preferred Regional Scenario,” which is open for public comment before being submitted to the CMAP Board for approval in January 13, 2010.
The following text and charts describe the public input and how it is reflected in the draft preferred Regional Scenario. These questions were posed to over 3,700 residents in workshops and on-line. To read more about the results of the public engagement phase, read the full Invent the Future report.
Development Density
CMAP asked Invent the Future participants:
“What type of new development should we encourage?”
The draft preferred Regional Scenario recommends development that is more compact and for mixed-use, livable communities to serve as the building blocks of our region’s future development. Denser development will help increase affordability while minimizing household transportation costs.
More about Develop
ment Density:
Density means how many people or buildings are in an area. Higher density means homes and businesses are located closer to one another. Homes are closer together on smaller lots or concentrated in taller buildings. A benefit to higher density is that communities become more walkable.
Development Location
CMAP asked Invent the Future participants:
“Where should we encourage new development?”
The draft preferred Regional Scenario recommends strengthening existing communities and that growth occur as reinvestment, or in areas within existing communities across the region that are already served by infrastructure.
More about Development Loca
tion:
Developing in community and metropolitan centers would encourage development in many existing communities so that more housing would be near job centers, shops and services.
Environmental Policy
CMAP asked Invent the Future Participants:
“How should we manage our natural resources?”
The draft preferred Regional Scenario recommends the use of resource conservation measures to reduce consumption of energy and water, while also improving the region’s high-quality system of parks and open space. This will include a focus on green design for new developments and buildings, energy codes to guide new development, retrofits or renovations of existing buildings, and support for the growth of green jobs and industry.
Resource conservation is only part of the solution. Cleaner energy sources are needed to power buildings, and cleaner fuels and more efficient vehicles must be part of the solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.
Many of these improvements, in addition to imparting environmental benefits, also reduce energy costs for households and businesses, increasing affordability. The plan will also treat farmland and food supply as an important natural resource, and will emphasize local food production and access to fresh food as a means to reduce energy consumption, improve health and the natural environment, support the agricultural economy, and increase a sense of community.
More about Environme
ntal Policy:
Water, air, energy, and the overall environment are central to quality of life. There are important choices about which programs to implement for protecting or conserving these resources for generations to come.
Transit Investment
CMAP asked Invent the Future participants:
“How much should we invest in transit?”
The draft preferred Regional Scenario recommends making additional investments in transit and freight, using innovative and sustainable finance and system management ideas, and encouraging choices that result in livable, transit-supportive communities.
Transportation system investments and improved jobs-housing balance is expected to increase job access.
More about Transit Invest
ment:
Investments in transit determine how many travelers the train and bus systems can handle.
Road Investment
CMAP asked Invent the Future participants:
“How much should we invest in roads?”
The draft preferred Regional Scenario recommends transportation investments and a denser land use pattern to reduce congestion. The region’s traffic congestions is among the worst in the nation, with negative impacts on the economy, environment, and quality of life.
To increase quality-of-life across the region, participants in the public input phase felt it was imperative to reduce the amount of time individuals spend traveling from place to place within the region. While there was some agreement that roads need to be enhanced, there was no clear answer regarding how much. However, it is significant that at least 70 percent of participants want at least a moderate increase in road investment.
More about Road Investm
ent:
Investments in roads determine how many cars and trucks the system can handle.
Transportation Policy
CMAP asked Invent the Future participants:
“What transporation policies should we encourage?”
The draft preferred Regional Scenario recommends planning multi-modally for transportation and making transportation investments (see above) targeted to clear economic and environmental outcomes, while finding more sustainable ways to finance infrastructure improvements. Providing transportation options will increase the use of public transportation, non-motorized travel modes (walking and biking), and carpooling. Allowing more use of these transportation modes can reduce congestion, improve the natural environment, and create more livable communities. The Regional Scenario is expected to increase the use of alternative transportation modes through its investments in transportation improvements and denser, mixed-use development pattern.
The Regional Scenario is also expected to improve air quality through increased use of transit and non-motorized transportation modes.
More about Transportati
on Policy:
Favor driving would mean more (and less expensive) parking in lots, garages, and on the street. Favor alternatives would improve facilities for transit, walking, and biking, with less (and more expensive) parking.
Press Contact
Justine Reisinger (312-386-8802 or jreisinger@cmap.illinois.gov)
Program Contact
Erin Aleman (312-386-8816 or ealeman@cmap.illinois.gov)
December 8, 2009
