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CTA President: ‘The governance model is not the problem here’ - RTA Chair: ‘Funding cures most ills’ (Updated)

Tuesday, Jul 9, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Last year, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning issued a comprehensive report on reforming and improving the area’s mass transit system. An important point that is kinda being lost in the din

Importantly, in isolation, governance reforms cannot address the longstanding financial challenges northeastern Illinois’ transit system faces. The region needs more resources to succeed. Governance reform can, along with a suite of system improvement and funding solutions, maximize the efficiency of transit functions and strengthen responsible financial stewardship of scarce resources.

* But CMAP did recommend two options for transit agency consolidation

Option 1: Integrate the RTA and the service boards into one regional transit entity

    The service boards’ current service delivery responsibilities would be divided among service units. The regional agency would be represented by one board and one agency executive. To provide additional opportunities for input, the operating units could be represented by service committees that report to the regional board.

Option 2: Empower a regional coordinating agency to lead transit across the service boards

    The three service boards would continue to exist as three separate agencies led by a regional coordinating agency. The service boards would provide transit operations and local service planning, while the regional entity would be strengthened with greater authority and resources to develop regional policies, coordinate comprehensive mobility planning, and allocate funding to the service boards. All four agencies would have their own agency executives and governing boards.

* The transit leaders pushed back hard on those ideas today during a Senate Transportation Committee hearing…

Pace Executive Director Melinda Metzger: Quite honestly, we’ve read the report. We all are in favor, I’m going to speak for us all, you guys can say I’m wrong, but we’re all in favor of doing what’s best for the customer. We all want to do the best job we can. I do not believe that combining us into one organization will make us better. First of all, we all have board members who are local, who understand the local needs, and they give us a lot of input. Secondly, we all have different service areas. I cover, you know, 3,500 square miles, 15 times the city of Chicago. To put us all under one board, the needs of the suburban areas of farther away areas will not be met as well as they’re met right now. The system needs more money. And its Pace’s obligation to provide service in the suburbs. And I think putting us all in one service board will make those needs in the outer areas not as important, not because we don’t want to do it. We all want to do a good job, but just there’s pressures in different organizations. I also believe that we have been very adaptive to what’s going on, because we have this vast service area, and we have some dense areas. We go into the city of Chicago and the suburbs around the city of Chicago, we serve in one way. We have other areas that have no density, yet they still need to have service they need to move people. And I believe that the system we have today allows the input so that we can cover all of our service areas.

CTA President Dorval Carter: The model that’s been set up for governance today didn’t come by accident. It was a really, hardly negotiated compromise between the need for accountability as well as the need for local control over the entities that quite honestly impact those residents the most. In my particular case, 90% of the riders of CTA live within the city of Chicago. The Mayor of the City of Chicago believes that he is responsible for public transportation, and the governance model for CTA reflects that. I believe that the City of Chicago and CTA are both of the opinion that the governance model is not the problem here. It doesn’t need to be adjusted. The issue is getting the funding levels to work the way they’re supposed to, which will drive the decisions that I think everybody wants to see happen here, along with the ongoing collaboration I think you have between our agencies as we as professionals work to find ways to make our service better, more convenient and more efficient to our customers.

RTA Chair Kirk Dillard: The president said it very, very well. Funding cures most ills, and as I said in my opening remarks, over a 40-plus-year period, multiple general assemblies, multiple governors and multiple mayors have set up this governance structure with lots of input for a reason. I certainly do not believe the Civic Federation’s number that they put out. As I told you, the RTA might have 90 employees. Of that 90, if you back out those who take care of reduced fares and do the clerical things that we do, it’s a handful of people that really have the oversight responsibility. There’s value in maintaining an oversight responsibility outside of the day to day operations. These folks are up to their eyeballs in alligators every day. It’s very similar to an external auditor reviewing an internal auditors work. One of the reasons we have the lowest operating cost per mile, aside from the fact that we have a funding problem historically, is that the RTA does help hold these folks accountable. And if you let the operations people determine the ultimate budget they’re going to want to spend. So some oversight by us is, but I agree with them, they certainly need more money, but the RTA system does hold costs down, even though we need to really, really ratchet up the operations funding and capital too of the system. But funding cures most of the ills that all of you in the public have spoken about.

Metra CEO / Executive Director Jim Derwinski: I don’t think I could have said anything more than my colleagues at the table here have said, other than the fact we just hit 40 years this year, and looking back and trying to understand how we were formed, why we were formed. I did a lot of reading as well, reading the General Assembly floor remarks from 1983 when we amended the RTA Act. I read a bunch of the materials from 1973 debates, and actually found a thesis paper that went back to the beginning of time, almost 1870 and what transportation looked like here in Chicago. And really the problem has never shifted. It is a funding issue. If we adequately fund the system, the operators can do the right things. And I think the one thing that we all get, maybe victims of our own success. We do operate the leanest system in the country. We keep getting, we keep making it happen when we don’t have the right resources. And because of that, certain other things don’t happen. But we keep being victims of their own success by running as lean as we run. So I don’t know where the savings would be, and the combination of a bigger board … But in either case, I think it’s important that the local representation, meaning in our case, the collar counties and suburban cook have some voice, and what happens with Metro operations, and that could get minimized or lost in a grand board.

Please pardon all transcription errors.

…Adding… ICJC…

In response to today’s Senate Transportation Committee subject matter hearing on how public transit supports the economy, the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition (ICJC) released the following statement:

“Today we heard four transit agencies defend a status quo that simply isn’t working for current or potential riders who want a system that is more safe, more reliable, and more affordable. The status quo isn’t working for taxpayers who are paying for duplicate bureaucracies performing overlapping functions instead of funding one agency that improves transit across Chicagoland,” said Dany Robles of the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition.

“We also heard from everyday riders who spoke about the essential role the region’s mass transit system plays in their lives. Transit is critical to our region’s economic vitality and an affordable, reliable public transit system is an irreplaceable tool to ensure equity and accessibility for everyone.

“The State of Illinois funds just 17% of transit operating costs, well below its peers. We know the path to more state funding starts with the reforms in the Metropolitan Mobility Authority Act.

“Without confidence in an efficient and equitable governance structure, we won’t be able to secure the funding to operate the world-class transit system we deserve.”

  28 Comments      


A few stories of note during vacation week (Updated)

Wednesday, Jul 3, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

…Adding… Tina Sfondeles

President Joe Biden on Wednesday told Gov. J.B. Pritzker and 23 other Democratic governors that he has no plans to drop out of the presidential race and downplayed poor poll numbers after a damaging debate performance that has set off a wave of panic in the party.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with the governors, along with Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, in an hour-long White House discussion described by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, chair of the Democratic Governors’ Association, as “honest and open” and by Pritzker as “candid.” […]

Moore, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and California Gov. Gavin Newsom all sent out social media statements of support for Biden shortly after the meeting: “I heard three words from the President tonight — he’s all in. And so am I. @JoeBiden’s had our back. Now it’s time to have his,” Newsom wrote.

A campaign spokeswoman for Pritzker said the governor called the meeting “candid” and said “he appreciated hearing directly from the president.” He did not post a statement of support for Biden on social media Wednesday night.

* Pritzker on CNN…


Transcript..

Q: [If Biden does drop out] would you consider taking his place at the top of the ticket?

Pritzker: Look, right now, Joe Biden is our nominee, and I’m 100% on board with supporting him as our nominee, unless he makes some other decision, and then I think we’re all going to be discussing what’s the best way forward.

Q: But, as a Democratic governor right now, people are watching this and wondering what’s going to happen. You don’t think it’s a non-zero chance that we are in a situation where you’re discussing who a new Democratic nominee would be?

Pritzker: Well, I don’t know. You’d have to ask that to Joe Biden, is it non-zero, because he’s the nominee of the party, unless he says otherwise.

Q: Would you support a vice president Harris? I mean, the polling from CNN today, she’s polling better than he is with with independents, and that she is actually within striking distance of Donald Trump in that hypothetical matchup.

Pritzker: Well, the Democratic Party has a great bench. And I think you and I both know there are some hyper capable people that whose names have been mentioned as potential for the future. But right now, we’re focused on the 2024 race and the fact that Joe Biden is going to be the nominee, unless otherwise stated. So I, look, I think, very, very highly of Kamala Harris. She has stood by Joe Biden in these difficult circumstances. She’s somebody who has real backing among certain parts of the party. And so I think, again, she’s a terrific member of a class of Democrats who I think are all in very good stead and well liked within their states or across the government.

Q: You made clear that you do have concerns, and that those concerns have not been addressed, that you haven’t heard from President Biden. You want those concerns to be addressed. You want him communicating more. If he doesn’t do that, will you change whether or not you’re supporting him on this ticket?

Pritzker: He’s our nominee, and the most important thing is we have to win in 2024. The alternative is particularly unacceptable, Donald Trump.

Q: But that’s exactly what I’ve heard from Democrats, is if you’re so concerned about a second Donald Trump presidency, how can you tell voters that you should leave that person they saw on the debate stage Thursday night on the top of the Democratic ticket?

Pritzker: I think Joe Biden will do what’s best for the Democratic Party and for winning in 2024 and that’s, again, why he’s got to go communicate with people. I think we need to just make sure that everybody is heard. What I don’t like is shutting down dissent, shutting down discussion. I know there are people in the party that want people to just be quiet, but the truth is, I think people need to express themselves. We’re a party that accepts that, and I’m pleased about that, and then we’ll come to a conclusion here. Joe Biden will come to a conclusion about it. He’s a patriotic American who believes in the Democratic Tibet in our bodies, and has fought for them, his entire life. And so I think he’s going, again, he’s going to stres, all of that and make a decision on his own.

More

“First of all, I think there is a healthy conversation going on within the Democratic Party, we’re not a cult like the MAGA Republicans, we tolerate dissent and we think it’s good for democracy to have this conversation,” Pritzker said on CNN. “For me anyway, my word is my bond. I honor my commitments. Joe Biden is going to be our nominee unless he decides otherwise.”

A group of Democratic governors, including Pritzker, met on a call on Monday. Pritzker said none of the governors on the call said Biden should leave the race but rather the overall takeaway was that Biden needs to communicate with the nation better and more frequently after the unsettling debate performance.

“It was all a fairly positive conversation, people expressing themselves and of course talking about what they’d like to hear from the president, then what they think the strategy ought to be going forward and then I think everybody wanted to be able to express that to the president directly and that’s why Gov. (Tim) Walz, the head of the Democratic Governors Association, asked for the opportunity and the president was readily willingly to do it,” Pritzker said.

* Pritzker and other governors will be meeting with Biden this evening

Among the Democratic governors who were planning to attend in person were Tim Walz of Minnesota, who leads the Democratic Governors Association, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, Daniel McKee of Rhode Island, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Gavin Newsom of California, according to their aides. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy were planning on attending virtually.

* The Hill

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) suggested that the “only thing” that could adjust President Biden’s decision about staying in the race post-debate is poll numbers.

Quigley emphasized during an interview Tuesday on CNN that Biden’s decision to continue is his alone, following a rocky debate performance last week against former President Trump. The Illinois Democrat suggested that weak polling in the wake of the event is the only thing that could sway the incumbent. […]

“I think what I’m stressing is it has to be his decision,” Quigley said. “But we have to be honest with ourselves that it wasn’t just a horrible night, but I won’t go beyond that out of my respect and understanding.”

More here.

* Lee News

Despite “legitimate questions and concerns raised by President (Joe) Biden’s debate performance” last week, U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski on Tuesday declined to call for the octogenarian Democratic incumbent to step aside as the party’s nominee.

“It was a terrible night for President Biden. And I don’t think we can sugarcoat that,” said Budzinski, a Springfield Democrat, adding that she was reconciling the performance with “what I believe to be a remarkable set of achievements coming out of his first term in office.” […]

“The reality is that President Biden has won our party’s nomination in 2024, and it is up to him to choose his path forward,” Budzinski said. “I believe if he decides to stay in this race, and he has indicated that he obviously is, I’m going to be supporting him because I think there is just too much at stake for any other alternative.”

* New York Times

State Senator Robert Peters of Illinois said this morning that the decision for President Biden to stay in the race lay with him and his team, but he stressed that if Biden was going to continue campaigning he had to bring the energy that he had at this year’s State of the Union “every day.” “If that can’t be done,” Peters said, “then that is something that needs to be taken in serious consideration.”

* AP

President Joe Biden defiantly vowed on Wednesday to keep running for reelection, rejecting growing pressure from within his Democratic Party to withdraw after a disastrous debate performance raised questions about his readiness. He said he would not be forced from the race.

“I am running. I am the leader of the Democratic Party. No one is pushing me out,” Biden said, according to a top aide who posted his comment on the X social media platform.

Biden and Harris made a surprise appearance on a Democratic National Committee call, according to three people familiar with the matter who were given anonymity to discuss the private conversation. The people said it was a pep talk, stressing the stakes of the election and returning to Biden’s previous post-debate comments that he would get back up after being knocked down.

It was one of several efforts by the president and his top aides to try to calm increasing anxiety among his allies on Capitol Hill and at top levels of his party.

* More stories…

* Press release: Illinois Reaches Record High Cash Balance, Exceeds FY24 Revenue Estimates. Cash balance nearly 9% of FY25 enacted General Funds Budget: Today Governor JB Pritzker announced that the State of Illinois ended FY24 approximately $125 million, or .2%, above projected FY24 General Funds revenue estimates. Illinois also ended the fiscal year with the highest ever General Funds cash balance, capping off another year of fiscal responsibility and stewardship as Illinois continues to regrow its fiscal portfolio and restore fiscal stability following years of mismanagement. … The state closed the month of June with a $4.67 billion General Funds cash balance, up from $3.85 billion at the end of June 2023. Of the $4.67 billion balance, $2.1 billion was in the Budget Stabilization Fund and $1.74 billion was in the General Revenue Fund. ​ All in, the General Funds end-of-year cash balance totals almost 9% of the FY25 enacted General Funds budget. Credit reporting agencies and investors monitor state cash reserves to assess Illinois’ financial position and gauge the state’s ability to weather potential economic downturns. Improved fiscal conditions have led to lower credit spreads and reduced cost of borrowing for Illinois taxpayers.

* Illinois’ assault weapons ban won’t be heard by Supreme Court: The U.S. Supreme Court will not consider challenges to Illinois’ controversial assault weapons ban, for now. That doesn’t mean it’s not headed to the nation’s high court one day. In fact, a federal judge in southern Illinois has been preparing for a Sept. 16 trial in which he could more fully take on the question of whether the weapons ban passes constitutional muster. Whatever that trial’s result, it could soon put Illinois’ law back on track to the Supreme Court, which Justice Clarence Thomas says must offer more guidance “on which weapons the Second Amendment covers.”

* Statement from Protect Illinois Communities on the US Supreme Court Refusing to Review the Protect Illinois Communities Act: Today, Protect Illinois Communities President Becky Carroll released the following statement in response to the US Supreme Court refusing to review the Protect Illinois Communities Act: “After nearly 18 months of requests from extremist organizations to block the Protect Illinois Communities Act, the US Supreme Court has refused to take up the case, ensuring the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines stays in effect and continues to help save lives. “This victory would not have been possible without the hundreds of survivors, advocates and activists everywhere from Chicago and East St. Louis to Highland Park and Peoria who came together in just a few short weeks during the holiday season in 2022 to pass this historic legislation. We are grateful for the tireless leadership of Governor JB Pritzker, Speaker Chris Welch, Senate President Don Harmon and Representative Bob Morgan for championing the Protect Illinois Communities Act, and are thankful it will continue to keep weapons of war off our streets.” Protect Illinois Communities was proud to work with representatives from organizations including Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action, Everytown Survivor Network, People for a Safer Society, Illinois Alliance to Prevent Gun Violence, Parents for Peace and Justice, Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, March for Our Lives, Amnesty International, and Purpose Over Pain, as well as countless doctors, faith leaders, local elected officials and others.

* Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s candidacy challenged in Illinois by President Biden-aligned group: The group is challenging 66,487 of the 85,509 signatures submitted by the Kennedy campaign, alleging some signers were ineligible and necessary petition fields were incorrect or incomplete “due to likely fraud and forgery.”

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* Your moment of zen
* Isabel’s afternoon roundup
* Illinois receives $430 million federal pollution reduction grant
* Today's quotable
* The Internet is forever, Rodney
* Edgar Fellows Class of 2024 unveiled
* Uber Partners With Cities To Expand Urban Transportation
* Governor Pritzker endorses Kamala Harris for president (Updated)
* Mayor Johnson's actual state ask is $5.5 billion, and Pritzker turns thumbs down
* Open thread
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Selected press releases (Live updates)
* Pritzker, Durbin, Duckworth so far keeping powder dry on endorsing VP Harris (Updated x7)
* Biden announces withdrawal from reelection (Updated x3)
* Yesterday's stories

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