Today’s quotable
Wednesday, Oct 28, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* The Sun-Times earlier this week…
Amtrak’s new maintenance facility in Bridgeport will undergo a federal environmental review after community pushback over the project initially being allowed to move forward without one, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. […]
It comes after months of public outcry from local residents who worry the new facility could pose health hazards and generate smells and sounds that could tank property values. An initial review from the FRA determined the project would have a minimal noise, air quality and groundwater impact on the surrounding community.
Also behind neighbors’ ire: The move comes hand-in-hand with potential future White Sox owner Justin Ishbia’s companies helping to finance Amtrak’s move while purchasing the existing rail facility, which it wants to develop as a site for a proposed new stadium for the South Side team.
In a joint statement Monday, Ishbia’s company, Canal Edge, and Amtrak said they welcomed the “opportunity for additional review, dialogue and feedback.”
* Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago), Senate Democrats’ point person on stadium legislation, discussed the Bridgeport opposition and his own experience dealing with railroads on the Sox in the Basement podcast…
I have sympathy for the people in Bridgeport and Armour Square because, as you point out, they’re facing a potential double whammy: losing the White Sox, who have played in the area for their entire history, 125 years, and then having what has been a dormant rail yard started back up with a rail maintenance facility.
So I understand why they’re pushing back against that. I also have sympathy for [Ald. Nicole Lee] and the other elected officials there because I know from experience as a local elected official how difficult it is to deal with railroads. […]
When I first became a legislator, that line was owned by the Canadian National Railway. They sold it to CSX. CSX told us at the time they were maybe running two or three trains a day. They said, “Yeah, we’re going to increase the trains, but we’re not going to run them during rush hour, and we’re going to put a cap on it, and they’ll mostly run at night.”
And we said, “well, what about 95th Street, a major ambulance thoroughfare to Christ Hospital?” At that time, Christ Hospital was the only trauma center on the South Side. If you got in a car accident or got shot south of like 47th Street, you were in an ambulance on 95th Street going to Christ Hospital.
So we’re like, “You can’t block this intersection.” “Don’t worry, we won’t. If we block the intersection because of a stopped train, we’ll break the train after 10 minutes.”
Never did any of that stuff. We went crazy. I was introducing bills in Springfield. [Mayor Jim Sexton] was introducing ordinances here in the Village of Evergreen Park. Matt O’Shea, the alderman of the 19th Ward, was doing the same. Meaningless. They’re all unconstitutional, as you said. Only the federal government can regulate railroads. We have almost no say whatsoever.
I had this conversation with Ald. Nicole Lee, and I told her, like, ‘I feel bad for you. I get what you’re doing, and you have to do this, and should do this, but you don’t have a lot of cards to play. In fact, you might not have any.’
The one benefit Bridgeport has that we didn’t have here is they are not dealing with one of the big freight carriers. They are dealing with Amtrak. Amtrak is a publicly facing rail company. They want to sell tickets to ordinary people, where, you know, CSX, their customers are big corporations. […]
There’s the old cliché: You can’t fight city hall. You can fight city hall. You can’t fight the railroads. That’s my lesson learned being an elected official here, and Bridgeport’s finding that out now.
Again, they have a fighting chance because it’s Amtrak. It’s not one of the freight carriers, so I think that they might be able to extract some sort of concessions out of them. But it will be difficult.
- Amalia - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 1:39 pm:
Hard to fight property owners who can do whatever they want with the space. what if the railroad sells to some more problematic entity? and according to the timeline the local officials have known about this for longer than they have been complaining in public. But, happily the team is on the up. was a fun year.
- levivotedforjudy - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 1:42 pm:
I look at these a two projects. !st - The White Sox moving near the Fire at Roosevelt and Canal would be a tremendous way to revitalize an area on the edge of downtown. The current home hasn’t spurred entertainment/hospitality development in decades so saying it might now seems moot. 2nd - the attitude towards environmental stewardship at the federal level now does not give me confidence it will be much of a factor. I hope I’m wrong and it is a thorough, honest assessment.
- low level - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 1:47 pm:
Residents of the South Loop have many unanswered questions as well about the possibility of a new stadium at the Canal Street rail yards. So far, Ishbia has not met with any South Loo community groups that I am aware of.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 1:59 pm:
===what if the railroad sells to some more problematic entity?===
Unless it’s another railroad, it is highly unlikely that a new entity would have less local and state accountability.
- Holy Cow - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 3:01 pm:
Why don’t the cubs ever think of moving?
It’s almost like the white sox team is aways treated differently than the Chicago Cubs.
The list goes on and on
- Night Games
-Development
- police presence at a game
- traffic control at a game
-concerts
- Leslie K - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 3:24 pm:
Sen Cunningham explains the issue very well, and is probably right that there might be more hope here because it is an Amtrak issue. Amtrak at least has a stake in being likeable. I don’t have anything specifically against the freight railways, but they definitely don’t have to care what local communities think.
- Kap - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 3:27 pm:
== Why don’t the cubs ever think of moving? ==
Because Wrigley Field is a bigger attraction than the actual team itself. The opposite is true of Rate Field. Very few go to games there to “experience” the stadium. If the team is lousy, there’s little reason to go.
The Sox could change that with a new stadium in the south loop, which came up in that podcast:
https://x.com/SoxInTheBasemnt/status/2115161315358716334?s=61
- Remember the Alamo II - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 4:14 pm:
=== Because Wrigley Field is a bigger attraction than the actual team itself. ===
Right. Because nothing says attraction more than stale beer and urine.
Its actually because the Rickets family owns most of the area around the ballpark and makes money hand over fist.
- Remember the Alamo II - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 4:14 pm:
I meant the smell of stale beer…
- Hmmmm - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 4:16 pm:
Bingo @Holy Cow
- JS Mill - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 4:41 pm:
=Very few go to games there to “experience” the stadium.=
It is actually the best outdoor stadium in the city by far. Best food and best amenities. Best team this year too.
- Kap - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 5:08 pm:
@JS Mill
I personally don’t disagree with you, but a big chunk of ticket-buying fans do.
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 5:50 pm:
Ishbia has a stake in being likable, and sticking it to the neighborhood that housed the team for 125 years is not exactly likable.
Once people get it in their head that a proposal is bad for them, it is hard to dispel that idea even with all the science in the world. I wonder if the environmental review comes back clean what the neighbors will do.
- JS Mill - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 6:38 pm:
=I personally don’t disagree with you, but a big chunk of ticket-buying fans do.=
Or non-ticket buying fans. I’ll see myself out.
- Ares - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 8:31 pm:
There are Federal boards which regulate Amtrak and regulate the private RRs (Surface Transportation Board). Hopefully the next Democrat POTUS will replace every STB member with members who will keep the RRS on a very short leash. (If not mistaken, the US S Ct allowed STB members to be fired by a new presidency)
- low level - Wednesday, Oct 28, 26 @ 10:35 pm:
== Ishbia has a stake in being likable, and sticking it to the neighborhood that housed the team for 125 years is not exactly likable.==
He also is off to a bad start with the neighborhood he would like to move to. While not as old as Bridgeport, the South Loop does have considerable clout with local alders. Ishbia needs to step up his game (pun intended).
- Just a guy - Friday, Oct 30, 26 @ 1:30 pm:
Leslie noted “I don’t have anything specifically against the freight railways, but they definitely don’t have to care what local communities think.” From the 1950’s until the Staggers Act was passed, railroads were brought to their knees. Couldn’t change rates. Couldn’t compete with other forms of transportation. Watched as Interstate highways - paid for with our tax dollars, including the tax dollars that railroads themselves pay for the right of way - were built and the trucks took the traffic.
I recognize that many of the railroads in the 1800s were built with land grants and the Robber Barons back there did quite well. But look at the Rock Island - it died a quiet, slow death because regulators spent 10 years arguing about rates, competition and whether it made sense. Unfortunately, today’s freight railroads are about profitability and improvement. Bridgeport folks would be wise to make a deal with Amtrak. If that ends up turning into a freight yard, they won’t be happy.