It IS probably out there, that's why we want an Honest Study!

You will probably say this is irrelevant, but do you remember our recent adventures with
one Ms. Barbara Byrd-Bennett? I wouldn't trust anyone in City Government about anything
as far as I could throw the last Green Hornet #4391.

For those who say the MED couldn't be used as rapid-transit, check this Video;
same 1/2 mile station spacings as the 'L', high-acceleration AC powered equipment,
close CTA bus connections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc9pplGpFNk
(Video Thanks to Amtrak fan 90368)

Thanks for the video. Stops at seven stations on the branch, picks up all of four passengers. Pick eleven at three stops at Hyde Park. Three more at McCormick Place. Question...how many stops would it take the CTA Red line to have twenty passengers aboard. Well, see for your self....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ7oTzKTJpY

DH

Glad you noticed that David, that was my purpose for posting the Video -- and what I noticed about the MED operations many, many years ago! Nobody on the stations or trains except during rush-hours; so what to do?

1. Find a way to use the facility in a more profitable way for the benefit of the operating Agencies, AND the Communities along the Line.

2. Abandon the Line because of the low-ridership, and leave the entire SE Quadrant of the City solely dependant on bus transit (very effective during extreme weather, like the winter snow blizzards that can bring EVERYTHING to a standstill, sometimes for days)

I also notice the big difference in how the North Side's rail transit facilities MUST be improved (most especially the Flyover), or the entire North Side will dramatically Wither and Die!!

Meanwhile the South Side should have it's existing rapid-transit system torn-up; and be made completely dependant on road-based transit on high-traffic roads; great transit planning -- is it the demographics?

Mr. Payne....Maybe you have not noticed....I am not here to argue to debate with you about Gray Line. I don't want to hear about 37 Block, Mrs. Bennett, etc; as others have told you, they have nothing to do with Metra Electric.

Simple question..Why should the CTA agree to accept responsibility of the $64 million yearly deficit operations of the Metra Electric?

DH

I hate to intervene in this epic and everlasting debate between you two stalwarts of south side transit but.....

1. Mass transit is not a money making endeavor, it is a service

2. Have you considered that if the MED actually upgraded to full, CTA style rapid transit service it could see a vast uptick in ridership? Especially if the city did the unthinkable and promoted dense development around its newly created L stations

Mr. Urban Politician, you didn't answer the question.....why should the CTA....

DH

In case anyone missed it, he clearly did.

He said yes, the CTA should accept an operation deficit because transit is supposed to be a service rather than a money making endeavour, but that the deficit wouldn't be as high if there was an increase in ridership brought on by service improvements an accompanying urban development.

I bet none of you live in the catchment area of Metra Electric. Most probably don't even live in Chicago, let the south side, or Roseland. Have you been through the area in the last year? "Improvements...urban development"?? Tell Mr. Carter at the CTA he only provides a service. Watch the video to see what a real transit should look like . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ7oTzKTJpY

Mr. Harrison, I am not here to "debate" anybody either;
But when YOU ask a "simple question" - YOU are initiating yet another debate. There is nothing more to debate, it's all been discussed a zillion times -- and nobody is changing their goals or actions.

Do you actually expect us all to say "never mind" like Roseann Rosanadanna on Saturday Night Live?

Some of the Members of the CMME are the Greater Roseland Chamber of Commerce (nowhere near the South Chicago Branch), the South Chicago Chamber of Commerce (on the SCB), Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference, Alliance of the Southeast, etc.

So you're saying that all these people (not dummies) don't know or understand what their own communities need? The reasons for that lack of understanding?

And these folks have everything to do with the Metra Electric.

CTA Red Line In The Median Of The Dan Ryan Expressway.
 

Enjoy the pictures.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...f/P1140302.jpg[/URL][/IMG]

CTA Red Line showing a southbound at 59th St. shown from a passing Green Line train.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...f/P1130272.jpg

CTA Red Line action in-between 69th St. and 63rd St. stations next to the Chicago Skyway.

Transit TIFs
 

Union Station Transit Center
 

July 6, 2016

Design team chosen for phase one of Union Station project
 

From today's Sun-Times

Full story available at link.

Cool, but waiting for Federal money is like waiting for the Ice Age. My grandkids will be 90 when this happens

^ Who said anything about Federal? As of last week, the city has a new TIF tool that can raise large sums of money specifically for transit projects including Union Station. It's a 1/2-mile radius around the station, which includes mo$t of downtown.

It's interesting that in the article, Emanuel seems to downplay this. I wonder what his rationale for that could be?

But those TIF funds still need matching Federal funds. Which means study after study after design consultant after design consultant. Like I always complain about, despite huge demands for labor we've become a nation of managers and desk workers, so we've gotta fill those coffers first.

Emanuel is probably downplaying this, IMO, because of the whole "Mayor 1%" business. It would look better politically to talk about extending the red line south

Yeah, I thought the assumption is that this is a nice way of earning the local dollars to use as a match for federal without having to deal with the city or especially the state to come through.

It's gonna be a long time before the TIF does anything. Its income is derived from changes in assessment. If they were enacted today, they would not see a dime until the next triennial. And probably a decade until there's enough dough to do anything. Then, we can can use it as matching funds with the further delays that are involved with that. Not that I think TIFs good idea.

As to the red line extension, political motives aside, its advantage is that it can be done with bupkis in land costs.

The thing about infrastructure is that if you wait for the demand to be there before you invest, you are already too late. You'll get more bang for the buck if you invest in transit where demand is low and costs are low. Then you lever that investment to create demand.

The city doesn't have to actually collect the money before funding projects. They can take out a loan based on the future revenue from the TIF. At least that is my understanding.

With our credit rating?

No thanks.

Could they not utilize a Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing loan, through the Federal Railroad Administration, which currently has $35 Billion available?

This page helps to explain the loans and process involved.

Wouldn't the quality of the collateral mean interest rates backed by TIF revenues would be lower than the rate the city would generally have to pay? These don't assume the city can pay the loan back, but rather that property owners will pay their taxes.

(I could be totally off here, I'm not an expert on this by any stretch)

^ Aren't property taxes one of the foundations of the city's budget anyhow?

Of course, but don't TIFs effectively shave off a piece property taxes and mandate that the city can't use it for anything other than infrastructure improvements within that district? So that revenue can't simply be used to cover other debts, which makes it a lot safer to a lender.

Kind of, but at least in CPS instance, it has it's own taxing authority, so it just raises to a level of its needs regardless of the existence of TIF. TIF is essentially an extra tax.

It is not an extra tax it basically borrowing against all future increases in tax revenue. Ideally from the increase in property values within the tif district due to redevelopment.

Borrowing would necessitate paying back.

TIFs divert current revenue from new sources away from the general fund, schools and parks and into a discretionary fund.

Although, the schools are supposed to get theirs under the Transit TIF.

I'm not sure RRIF loans could be used for the CTA network, it's really meant for mainline railroads. Union Station would certainly qualify though.

I don't know if it's kosher to use a Federal loan, backed by local property tax revenue, as the local match for a Federal grant. That seems like two bites at the apple. That being said, if there is a way to bend the rules, this is the ideal time to do it with a Chicagoan in the White House, Emanuel on the fifth floor and a former Emanuel staffer heading up FRA.

Federal matching is nice and all, but A) you're competing with cities around the country for a fixed pot of money, which is itself vulnerable to the mood of Congress, and B) the endless layers of Federal red tape you have to wade through add years to the project schedule, and in the world of construction cost inflation, years of delay could mean hundreds of millions of dollars. Construction costs often don't scale with inflation, so the longer you wait, the less buying power you get from your tax receipts.

Chicago also has going for it at the federal level both Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk on the transportation committee, Durbin is very good at steering funds our way. Also, the possible future president was born and raised not to far from here.

^ Park Ridge very much counts as Chicago. But disappointingly its famous former resident has practically disavowed, or at least downplayed, any ties to us. She definitely has a Chicagoan-ness in her persona though, and it would be nice in the future if she would be proud of and even emphasize those links. For example, a potential future presidential library would probably go to NY, even though that would be based largely just on three years in New Haven and eight carpetbagging years as senator in her fifties; this slightly feels like a stab in the back. (I'm doubting Arkansas would be a finalist in such a competition.) Edit: Come to think of it a library in DC would kind of make sense though, as she would have marked a significant first in two and a half centuries.

Anyway, to be back OT here, we could guilt her into emphasizing transportation infrastructure in Chicago.

That didn't help us land any direct flights to Cuba

Nice goin', Kirk and Durbin :rolleyes:

If Illinois is going to be taxed so heavily and put a bunch of crooks in office, then damn it, act like crooks and bring home the chowder!

We actually did get a direct flight to Cuba, just not to Havana, and far less than daily. :shrug: So your point still stands.

Yeah, Hillary Clinton's ties to Illinois are minor at best. Unlike Obama, Hillary spent none of her academic or political life in Illinois. She went to Wellesley and Yale and married Bill almost immediately after to move to Arkansas.

Remember, Ronald Reagan was also born in Illinois, and Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky... good for a highway sign and not much else.*

Plus, Illinois is about as blue as it gets. Hillary will owe the state of Illinois absolutely nothing if she wins.



* = Apocryphally, Reagan was responsible for the Orange Line getting Federal funding, but I believe that was more about Bill Lipinski's vote for sending aid to the Contras in Nicaragua than about any fondness Reagan might have had for Illinois...

CTA, Metra are unworthy 'social engineering,' GOP says .....
 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/o...721-story.html

Wow, I guess this happened at UIC today during the storms ������

https://twitter.com/islesoferin/stat...64207859986432

Local, rail officials won't $110 million for South Side projects
 

^ Nice going again, Dick and Mark :rolleyes:

Illinois--corruption without the benefits

It does say only 18 out of 212 grant applications actually got funding, so the odds weren't exactly great to begin with.

Durbin was able to steer money the CTAs way through the Core Capacity program. So the corruption paid off a little bit at least. 8)

^ Not enough. Transport is vital to Chicago's economy. More than any other metro

^The cars aren't holding up the freight trains. The trains are blocking the streets.

Couldn't agree more, which is why there is such an emphasis on O'Hare and our freight network.

It seems like Illinois Congressional delegation is terrible at bringing home the money.

Dude, Federal money requires a local match. The delegation is hamstrung by Springfield gridlock and Illinois' ridiculous debt levels. Municipalities and the state government just aren't putting up.

Plus, Congress no longer allows earmarks, so legislators have much less influence over grant awards than they used to. Bureaucrats are now firmly in the driver's seat on this type of stuff, and in lieu of earmarks they often have vague directives from Congress to "direct resources to rural areas" or "increase access to underserved communities". As a result, USDOT just allocated $3B in Fastlane grants, explicitly for freight movement, and Illinois got nothing.

On the other hand, as another commenter noted, Durbin was able to "steer" funds to Chicago by creating a new grant program that's basically tailor-made to CTA's needs, and then tipping off CTA so they could be first in line. But that's way harder to do than an earmark, and only possible because Durbin is the #2 Democrat in the Senate (and possible Majority Leader after November).

We've been a net contributor state for too long. We're essentially insolvent and need federal funds more than most states. Our congressional representation is terrible.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...XgAAydA--1.jpg

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...58974930_n.jpg


The CTA is using its 8-car 2400 Series Boeing Historical Fleet in special service serving the Chicagoland Baseball Classic. The cars ran on Monday. Today, Wednesday, train will leave 95th around 4:52pm, getting downtown around 5:15pm and to Addison about 5:35pm. I'm surprised we haven't seen photos. The door chain signboard will be different. Photos: CTA.

I hope this becomes a more regular thing with the CTA where heritage fleets are used during sports games. Would definitely be great for both sports and rail fans

Durbin, Emanuel, Members Of Illinois Delegation Announce $25 Million TIGER Grant For Garfield Green Line Gateway
https://s32.postimg.org/llbx9btol/TI...t_Project2.jpg
https://s32.postimg.org/8snt9ei2t/TI...t_Project1.jpg
http://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroo...n-line-gateway