Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Downtown
Ha.
I've been in several nonpublic meetings with such folk that touched on this topic. Unwilling to slam the door on whoever's so politically connected that they've been keeping this fever dream going, the operating agencies have politely but noncommittally said "we'll look at whatever plan is presented."
Landmark Development is utterly clueless about Chicago transit. They wanted to say Orange Line spur so they could say "one-seat ride to MDW." They wanted to say BNSF spur so they could say "one-seat ride to Naperville." When I asked Bob Dunn how his new transit hub helped the Bears fan coming in from Barrington, he seemed unaware that UP trains come into a different station. A year ago, I was at a meeting where they'd suddenly added Rock Island trains into their analysis, hoping to somehow prove that their new project would give new access to good jobs for poor blacks in South Cook County. The South Side community leaders at the table snickered and went to the back of the room to get another danish.
|
Yeah I got the same impression at the last McCormick Place public meeting, talking to the Perkins + Will planner who flew in from San Francisco (the Orange Line spur idea seems suspiciously like the BART spur to SFO). But I just chalked it up to the wild-eyed spirit of the early project planning phase.
There's gotta be somebody at the agencies willing to pitch them an actually useful package of transit improvements, though. If they want to pay for something, there's no shortage of needs. At the very least, the 18th St Metra station needs rebuilding and should be accessible, and the busway runs under their site and could become a useful piece of CTA infrastructure with a few ramps and turn lanes. What have they been doing for the past 2 years? Certainly there was a pause while Emanuel and Reifman gave way to Lightfoot and Cox... so presumably a fresh team of planners got a look at this project.