The most important number in the entire $3.6 billion budget now being debated by the Chicago City Council is zero. Zero is the amount of new money planned to make CTA trains and buses less crowded. Zero is also the amount of new money set aside to make sure CTA trains and buses are on time, clean, safe and friendly for everyone.
We are calling for at least 10 percent of the new revenue generated by the mayor’s tax and bond proposal to be spent on improving the public transportation system of our city. Our proposal would dedicate some $80 million over the next four years to make city trains and buses clean, safe, on time and less crowded.
Many people are shocked to learn that the city provides less than 2 percent of the amount of money it takes each year to operate the Chicago Transit Authority. That means of the $179 million annual operating budget of the CTA, only $3 million comes from the city budget. Our city budget must reflect our city’s priorities, and we can do better than 2 percent for public transportation. We must do much more to ensure the people of Chicago have the world-class transit system they deserve.
In addition to improving the quality of CTA service, the City Council proposal for mass transit also includes funds to make public transportation the center of development in our neighborhoods. We want to restore the recent CTA service cuts that disproportionately affected some of the city’s poorest communities, and we want to establish a new fund for transit-oriented development.
Responding to our proposal, the Daley administration has raised concerns about fairness, complaining that many CTA users live outside the city limits and should not benefit from city spending to improve mass transit. Although we agree that more must be done to improve the participation of state and federal funding agencies for the CTA, we also believe that improving public transportation benefits everyone. Political infighting between elected officials must not stand in the way of this historic opportunity to make Chicago a better place for everyone.
