CHICAGO | General Discussions

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by glowrock

You completely ignored my main point, which was that Texas' finances are nowhere NEAR as rosy as the state generally leads on. Municipal debt loads are staggering, and that combined with generally substandard infrastructure is leading to situations like we're witnessing with the power grid nearly going completely offline, not to mention severe flooding, etc... etc... etc...

Those who look to Texas as some bastion of financial solvency and a panacea of wealth are woefully misinformed.

Aaron (Glowrock)

Got ya. I misunderstood you. My point wasn't that the state is in great financial shape, but that residents are better off there than here based on their taxation system etc.

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

* Classic case: Preckwinkle was more willing to pass a highly unpopular soda tax than to cut personnel. It came back to bite her, and she finally had to cut hundreds of staff—which nobody noticed because I’m sure that that staff did diddly shit. That’s the mentality of our leadership. Oh, and where is Toni? Still in office. Re-elected over and over and over again by the same flock of sheep......

No. . . Preckwinkle /knew/ she had to cut personnel as she had no choice but to do exactly that. . . the cartoonish soda tax was just a way to pass the blame and save face. . .

. . .

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

No. . . Preckwinkle /knew/ she had to cut personnel as she had no choice but to do exactly that. . . the cartoonish soda tax was just a way to pass the blame and save face. . .

. . .

^ IMO, you are giving her WAAAAAY more credit than I think she deserves. Based on everything that I know about her, I don't think she works that way. I'm pretty certain that she would do all that she could to keep staff (that is very chummy with her) employed as long as possible on the taxpayer's dime.

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ IMO, you are giving her WAAAAAY more credit than I think she deserves. Based on everything that I know about her, I don't think she works that way. I'm pretty certain that she would do all that she could to keep staff (that is very chummy with her) employed as long as possible on the taxpayer's dime.

Based on everything that I know about municipal and county government I'm pretty sure the levers available to them are more limited than people think. . .

. . .

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I don’t think anybody disagrees that municipalities have to collect taxes. Where we differ, and where I am feeling some pushback from the Illinois defenders around here, is in the idea that municipalities need to have the flexibility to cut costs when tax revenue is down—one way being eliminating unnecessary personnel. Cut staff, cut pay, maybe renegotiate pensions. *

The corrupt special interests that be made the latter nearly impossible. I find that not only horrible policy, but basically a moral failure.

* Classic case: Preckwinkle was more willing to pass a highly unpopular soda tax than to cut personnel. It came back to bite her, and she finally had to cut hundreds of staff—which nobody noticed because I’m sure that that staff did diddly shit. That’s the mentality of our leadership. Oh, and where is Toni? Still in office. Re-elected over and over and over again by the same flock of sheep......

I fully agree that the pension disaster needs a full reformation. Please don't insinuate I believe otherwise.

Also, being someone who's lived in muiltiple states throughout my 47 years, I believe I have a bit of knowledge with which to make judgments of the government abilities/ineptitudes that are present (at least to the somewhat more than casual observer.)

Aaron (Glowrock)

[UPChicago]

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[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by UPChicago

As someone who worked there..... THIS

So.... I would assume this means you worked FOR County Government. Hence you had a vested interest.

If that's the case, I would not consider you unbiased (no offense)

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

So.... I would assume this means you worked FOR County Government. Hence you had a vested interest.

If that's the case, I would not consider you unbiased (no offense)

No more unbiased /against/ Preckwinkle than you are (no offense) as someone who doesn't work in County Government. . .

. . .

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

No more unbiased /against/ Preckwinkle than you are (no offense) as someone who doesn't work in County Government. . .

. . .

^ Being a taxpayer and caring about my money not being wasted is not a bias.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Being a taxpayer and caring about my money not being wasted is not a bias.

I mean, it certainly can be, especially if you don't have a primary residence in Cook County.

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Being a taxpayer and caring about my money not being wasted is not a bias.

I'm a Cook County taxpayer and care about my money not being wasted, but that has nothing to do with what I was saying. . . you're passing judgement on someone simply /because/ they work in government and I'm positing that the opposite has equal standing in the argument - you could just as easily be "biased" for /not/ working in government, as your vested interests are elsewhere. . .

. . .

[UPChicago]

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[Handro]

I noticed the bus only lanes on Chicago ave for the first time today... cool, but there is still paid parking there, too? Not sure how that works?

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by Handro

I noticed the bus only lanes on Chicago ave for the first time today... cool, but there is still paid parking there, too? Not sure how that works?

Perhaps the bus lanes are only for certain hours?

[left of center]

^ Chicago Ave was two lanes in each direction, plus the parking lanes. They got rid of the right most lane of traffic in each direction and converted them to bus only lanes. The left most lanes and parking lanes are still open to cars.

[the urban politician]

How far do the bus only lanes on Chicago Ave extend? I’m assuming they run from downtown to...how far west?

I have a property near Chicago and Damen. Do they make it that far?

[left of center]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

How far do the bus only lanes on Chicago Ave extend? I’m assuming they run from downtown to...how far west?

I have a property near Chicago and Damen. Do they make it that far?

Yup, they definitely do. They extend past Western for sure, but I'm not sure where their terminus is.



*EDIT*

Found an article on this:

https://news.wttw.com/2020/09/21/cit...-2-busy-routes

Apparently they are only temporary in an effort to reduce crowding on buses during the pandemic. For Chicago Ave, they run from Ashland to Laramie. 79th between Western and Cicero has also been given bus only lanes. I think they are a great idea, and wouldn't be averse to them sticking around on a permanent basis, although I guess we would have to see how people react once the pandemic is over and vehicular traffic goes back to pre pandemic levels.

[Handro]

Originally Posted by left of center

^ Chicago Ave was two lanes in each direction, plus the parking lanes. They got rid of the right most lane of traffic in each direction and converted them to bus only lanes. The left most lanes and parking lanes are still open to cars.

Ah ok, thanks for the info. I guess I was just not seeing the whole thing clearly.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by left of center

Yup, they definitely do. They extend past Western for sure, but I'm not sure where their terminus is.



*EDIT*

Found an article on this:

https://news.wttw.com/2020/09/21/cit...-2-busy-routes

Apparently they are only temporary in an effort to reduce crowding on buses during the pandemic. For Chicago Ave, they run from Ashland to Laramie. 79th between Western and Cicero has also been given bus only lanes. I think they are a great idea, and wouldn't be averse to them sticking around on a permanent basis, although I guess we would have to see how people react once the pandemic is over and vehicular traffic goes back to pre pandemic levels.

The red-painted bus lanes are permanent infrastructure (more or less) and they only extend from Michigan to Milwaukee to speed buses past the traffic jams leading to the Kennedy.

West of that to Laramie is a temporary pandemic bus lane that's a lot more janky. CDOT just painted a solid white line between lanes, and a few "BUS ONLY" pavement lettering signs. I think the "BUS ONLY" signs are fewer than one per block. No red paint, no large overhead gantry signs, no signal priority at intersections. The few times I've driven on it, drivers are using that lane freely. Same for the similar lane on 79th St.

Honestly buses flow pretty freely across most of the city, especially during off-peak times. There are a few bad intersections where bus lanes are needed, but CTA would get a lot more bang for their buck if they did prepaid boarding or POP, and allowed people to board through the rear door.

[the urban politician]

My Dad just got a vaccine appointment!

And it's in Wisconsin.

That says it all