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Monday, Aug 20, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Far be it from me to offer lobbying or PR advice. I don’t get paid to do such a thing. But even I can tell that this might be slightly counterproductive…

Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano told board members Friday that he’s become increasingly frustrated with the tenor of the discussion in Springfield about transit needs.

“I guess I’m sick and tired of also people thinking that, in plain, blunt language, our riders are lily-white and making $250 thousand a year. That’s B.S.,” he said. “We are carrying more and more a diversified ridership base.”

Pagano said Metra’s ridership is 58 percent women and includes “plenty” of $20,000-a-year secretaries.

Even more frustrating, he said, is that some of the same lawmakers who refuse to back new transit funding ask Metra to provide additional service.

“I guess I’m getting a little tired of ‘Your guys can afford (higher fares),’” he said.

You have secretaries who ride the train? Oooooo. Good for you.

* Director Pagano also had some harsh words for all the attention lavished upon the CTA’s impending meltdown…

On the CTA, he snapped, “I’m getting really tired of the CTA and their service cuts. This isn’t a one-agency issue.”

All snark aside, I can understand Metra’s frustration. Really, I can. But Pagano seems clueless about the political reality in Springfield. Just about every Chicago legislator is in favor of pumping more money into mass transit. The publicity about the CTA’s woes are helping Metra get some attention.

Whining about the lack of publicity or the inattention by Springfield is not Metra’s answer. Their problem is that too many Republicans, particularly in the House, bought into an “easy fix” for transit that was based on gaming expansion. That package is now on life support. It’s up to Metra, PACE and the RTA to convince those recalcitrant suburban legislators - most of them Republicans - to get back on board the negotiated agreement for a sales tax hike which fell apart when the easy gaming money was dangled in front of them.

Anyway, that’s my two cents. More stories, compiled by Paul…

* Bridge conditions reviewed by Metra

* Metra officials prod lawmakers

* Editorial: Metra needs money to keep running

* Editorial: Pace cutting and will get worse without state aid

10 Comments

- RailRoaded - Monday, Aug 20, 07 @ 9:24 am:
Perhaps someone should ask Phil Pagano why he’s working against the bill behind the scenes? Otherwise, he sure put on a good show here.

- Casey Jones - Monday, Aug 20, 07 @ 9:50 am:
Let’s remember Pagano is hack who should have been tossed years ago. Pagano should be working to get a deal done. That means suburban GOPs voting for the sales tax hike. METRA gets more cash and some other goodies. And the $20K secretaries will have buses to climb on when they hop off the scoots.

- Truthful James - Monday, Aug 20, 07 @ 10:06 am:
Once again, however, the State will be feeding three political beasts (CTA, Metra,PACE) without attempting to improve the transportation sector as a whole. That would include everything from taxicabs and jitneys to toll roads.

BTW, I keep looking at the fuel prices at the toll road plazas. These monopolists charge more than the gas station owners elsewhere. I guess they are satisfied with lower volume, higher prices meaning more profit, but they have a captive traffio flow which could be a great source of additional MFT should the fuel price be right.

- Suburbs - Monday, Aug 20, 07 @ 10:34 am:
I read that to mean that Metra has financial issues too just not a crisis like CTA. They should get new funding so they can improve and should not be left out of the mix. Maybe they just didn’t say it very eloquently.

- Carl Nyberg - Monday, Aug 20, 07 @ 11:33 am:
If the economy expands from year to year, why can’t government services maintain the status quo with no tax increases from year to year?

- MsM - Monday, Aug 20, 07 @ 12:18 pm:
Metra is getting $100 million in new transit dollars out of SB572, while their operating deficit shows $11.5 million. AND, they are getting $1 billion in new bonding authority out of SB572. They need to start lobbying the House and Senate GOP; since they are the ones withholding votes from SB572.

Rich,

I agree with you; their comments are counter productive.

- here's da killer about CTA and Metra - Monday, Aug 20, 07 @ 12:30 pm:
What kills me about CTA and Metra is that they make “zillions” of dollars from riders yearly. The money that each of these agencies accumulate yearly can operate each agency. We pay these two agency double:

1. We pay to ride their services.
2. We pay the tax dollars that are doled out to them every year.

CTA and Metra need to better balance their budgets. Stop crying wolf and make due with what they have and any extra would be that; ETRA.

I believe these two agencies have been mismanaged for years and then the blame it pointed at the state and then we, the tax payors and riders suffer a penalty.

CTA and Metra, we’re tired of your doomsday senario’s. Especially CTA—Blame Daley and Frank Kruesi for the mismanaged CTA, cut all the construction on CTA stations, that cost more than it should have and everything will balance out.

- Yvonne DeCarlo, Secretary - Monday, Aug 20, 07 @ 1:26 pm:
I still do not know what “lily-white” actually means, and why Mr. Pagano chose what could be construed to be a perjorative term by some in attempting to make his case.

Was he not also the one who got a raise, behind closed doors, allegedly in violation of the Open Meetings Act some years ago?

“We have Secretaries, too” is preposterous, absurd, and like you said, counterproductive.

- NoGiftsPlease - Monday, Aug 20, 07 @ 9:43 pm:
Pagano is not known for his eloquence.I can tell you that the employees at Metra were stiffed for raises a number of years back. Management said “we’re not getting raises either.” What they didn’t say was that they got bonus’! Part of applying for federal funding for new starts projects (the new rail service) is telling the federal government you have the money to operate the system when it is built. How has Metra been certifying to that? CTA too, must say they can operate the new service if it is implemented. I have a lot of sympathy for the regular people who work at the agencies. I don’t have much sympathy for the management. Kruesi kicked out a lot of old timers and brought in a bunch of young MIT people…smart but not experienced and gave them high positions with high pay. He lost a lot of seasoned professionals who he should have relied on. Pace has been talking about a “new kind of service” for at least 10 years…bus rapid transit, new technology, etc., and seems unable to even put a demonstration project on the ground. Can I go on? Oh boy, couple that with the legislature and siphoning off money from the road fund for other parts of the state budget. Slowdowns in getting paperwork processed in Springfield, politics poking into every process. Watching the transportation system in the state is, pardon me, a train wreck in slow motion. It’ll take years to get they processes back on track.

- PC - Thursday, Aug 23, 07 @ 10:57 am:
Carl, the economy is growing but sales tax revenues are not growing as fast, especially in the city relative to the suburbs.

“Da Killer,” perhaps you don’t realize that farebox revenues cover only half of transit’s costs. The state auditor general concurred with the agencies that “the problems are real.”

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