Quote:
Originally Posted by emathias
Looking at those graphs, it seems to be that being a popular presidents associates with attendance as much as time. I've only been to two, Reagan's in California, and JFKs in Boston , and both were fairly busy.
Also, it's really too bad the CTA didn't maintain an active plan to (re)extend the Green Line to Jackson Park so it could apply for more Federal stimulus in infrastructure bills.
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My hope is that discussion of the Green Line will be revived once the Obama Center is up and running. IF the two were tied together, it might fracture the fragile coalition of Obama Center supporters in the neighborhood - still a lot of folks in Woodlawn who believe the Brazier/Finney party line about the L bringing crime and blight.
Of course, if they do revive it I hope they study an alley alignment 1/2 block north or south of 63rd. The land is mostly available so there's no reason to build over the street again. By that time the North Red Line should be up and running, so there will be several spots in the city where CTA can point to the reduced noise/vibration of a modern concrete el structure.
They could also re-route 63rd temporarily using that vacant land and then build a cut-and-cover subway, but the incline from subway to elevated could be seen as an eyesore and the transfer to Metra at Dorchester would be 2 levels of transfer instead of one. On the other hand a subway alignment could be extended further than Stony Island, maybe to Jeffrey or even to S. Exchange to absorb the South Chicago branch of Metra.