'Do-or-Die Time' for Chicago transit.......

from the Sun-Times, via MassTransitMag:


'This is Do-or-Die Time,' Daley Says


Fran Spielman, The Chicago Sun-Times


With the CTA clock winding down to doomsday, Mayor Daley turned up the heat Monday on the state Legislature to approve the long-term funding for mass transit needed to avert fare hikes and service cuts scheduled to take effect Sunday.

"Either they support public transportation or they don't. This is do-or-die time," the mayor said.

"They've had all year. . . . No one understands why, time after time, they wait until the last minute until acting."

Daley used Mather High School, 5835 N. Lincoln Ave., as the backdrop for a news conference called to "put a face on" the 39 bus routes on the chopping block.

One of those routes, the No. 93 California, runs right past Mather. If the route is eliminated, junior Christina Correa and hundreds of her classmates will be forced to walk in the dark to Western four blocks away or to Kimball six blocks from their high school.

"I feel safe taking the California bus because there's a camera and I'm right in front of the school," Correa said.

Schools CEO Arne Duncan noted that the CTA cuts would affect 52 elementary and high schools.

More than 41,000 City Colleges students would also be impacted. Roughly 14,000 of them would have to drop out, while another 11,000 would reduce their coursework or postpone it, costing the financially-strapped City Colleges system $24 million in revenue, according to a recent survey.

"We've worked very hard to . . . add significantly more after-school programs. . . . But, that can't happen if it's hard for our children and families to get to our schools," Duncan said. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.masstransitmag.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=3&id=4675