CBS Chicago: CTA reduces some fares in new budget

 

[VIDEO] This has been in the news and since I like to cover transit related issues on this blog felt this was necessary to share. Riding CTA will be cheaper once the new budget is approved for 2022.

And get this transfers are free which in most parts of the country (for example Atlanta) you don't have to pay for transfers. How many of us remember before the days that you got someone tap for you to board a train that people used to beg for a paper transfer?

Also if you use passes they were reduced over the summer in an effort to encourage transit riders to return to using CTA. For next year those prices will remain in effect. For example a 7-day pass will now cost $20 as opposed to $28.

Oh and one thing I should've noted base fares will remain the same. $2.25 if you ride the L and $2.25 if you ride the bus and applicable especially if you use a Ventra card. Click this link if you want to see all current CTA fare information.

CBS Chicago: New city budget include police budget cuts

 

[VIDEO] There were members of the Chicago City Council who expressed interest in "defunding" the police here in Chicago. I didn't expect this, unless of course someone who observes the city finances expected this.

Also bear in mind Illinois voters will be voting on changing the state constitution to allow for a progressive or graduated income tax - you might have seen ads that advocate for a fair tax on the wealthy residents of this state. These cuts are also dependent upon any relief from the federal gov't and it seems for the moment none is forthcoming.

This has been a year of calamity. We've gotten the economic realities of the pandemic with many businesses considered non-essential at one point. Worse still jobs that were considered non-essential will probably not come back. And let's not forget the summer's unrest over police actions around America. Unfortunately some tough decisions will have to be made.

You will see Ward 9 Ald. Anthony Beale here agreeing with the mayor as far as why there shouldn't be deeper cuts in the CPD budget.

IL Channel: Can Mayor Lightfoot Find a Way to Save Chicago?

[VIDEO] From our state public affairs network Illinois Channel. Executive Director Terry Martin & the host of cable TV's Public Affairs Jeff Berkowitz talk about Mayor Lori Lightfoot's recent state of the city speech. One of the more talked about aspects of her speech is regarding the city's budget deficit. Vid duration is about 30 minutes.

You can read a couple of posts about that at CapFax

This one from yesterday

Lightfoot: “We can’t keep taxing the hell out of all of our people who make substantial income. That’s not right. That’s not fair. It’s not gonna work.” https://t.co/7ARuL2swlC

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) August 30, 2019

And this one from Thursday

Lightfoot says city faces $838 million spending gap, says committed to a graduated real estate transfer tax https://t.co/9Ie8blyVVM

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) August 29, 2019

CTA Budget hearing going on tonight!

UPDATED Nov. 9, 2018 with a new link and embed of the recent CTA budget hearing from Wednesday.

[VIDEO] You might have seen notices posted on CTA buses and trains recently. CTA have a hearing going on tonight with regards to their proposed budget. Right now you can watch this hearing live. The hearing itself takes place at CTA HQ 567 W. Lake Street.

Even if you don't get to watch this live, I would expect it would remain available her for those who couldn't physically go to CTA HQ or wasn't able to watch the hearing as it happened.

Hinz: City projects lowest deficit in a decade

So perhaps Rahm Emanuel finally has displayed some financial acumen:

In a statement, Emanuel praised the moves under his direction to end the use of one-time revenues, gradually restore actuarial funding levels to the city's four major pension systems, exchange variable-rate debt for fixed-rate securities, trim spending (Emanuel claims $600 million in cuts) and phase out by 2019 the use of "scoop and toss" financing, in which the city delays repayment of both loan principle and interest.

"We are more financially secure today than we were six years ago," said Emanuel, who took office in 2011 and soon will have to decide whether to seek a new term in the 2019 election.

Emanuel has had the benefit of a much better economy than predecessor Richard M. Daley did. City Hall says vacancies in city factories are at the lowest rate in 15 years and occupancy of downtown office space at the highest level since 2008—though Crain's reporting shows that market is softening.

Still, the city faces some continuing fiscal headwinds: It needs hundreds of millions of dollars more each year by early in the next decade to completely stabilize the four pension funds, and city sales tax revenues are slowly decreasing.

Beyond that, city labor unions can be expected to try to benefit from the better times, and the mayor will be under continuing pressure to spend money to try and curb the city's horrific murder wave.

CPS enrollment drop and budget

Yesterday Englewood residents attended a meeting at Parker Elementary regarding a new high school coming to that community. Today WBEZ has a report about CPS enrollment declines:

CPS officials estimate 8,000 fewer students will enroll in the city’s public schools next school year. District officials gave principals their budgets Thursday. This is the latest school-based budgets have been released in recent memory.

Separate from the enrollment drop, CPS plans to boost per pupil spending by about $200 this year to $4,390. That’s good news for principals who need the money to cover staff raises promised in contracts approved last year. Still, overall school spending will be $43 million less than last year — nearly $2.3 billion total — primarily because of the enrollment drop but also because the school district is expecting less federal money.

For the third year in a row, CPS it is crafting a budget that counts on state money that may never materialize. This year, CPS is assuming an overhaul of the state’s school funding formula will become law and deliver an extra $300 million to Chicago. Lawmakers passed the bill in May but Gov. Bruce Rauner says he will veto it. He calls it a “bailout” for the school district.

Via Newsalert

Concerned about the impact of Springfield budget stalemate

Log onto fb and watch a live broadcast of the state legislative Black caucus as state Sens. Donne Trotter and Kimberly Lightford host a discussion on the budget stalemate on Blacks in Illinois.

Here's a tweet below

Today, 11:00am Facebook Live with @IllinoisLBC leaders Lightford, Trotter re budget impact on African Americans https://t.co/oEmTHUwOEv pic.twitter.com/FJEa2DMrkj

— IL Senate Democrats (@ILSenDems) June 23, 2017

And then here's a link to the Black caucus fb page.

Yesterday on the Capitol Fax #notaprison

UPDATE June 7, 2016 11:48 AM: An update to this is seen on the Capitol Fax this morning one new pic of that classroom provided by a spokeswoman from CPS which is in better condition. Then from Kyle Hillman a more recent pic of the hallway which still doesn't look in that great of a condition. The pic of that classroom you see below was said to be from a DNA Info article from 2014 and we learn that CPS has a $3 billion deferred maintenance backlog.

It's been in the news that due to the current budget stalemate in Springfield, CPS may not open in September. You can follow a lot of the state budget news over at the Capitol Fax.

In the meanwhile CPS CEO Claypool took issue with Governor Rauner referring to Chicago Public Schools as crumbling prisons. I don't blame Forrest Claypool or any other figure named in that Capitol Fax post for sticking up for Chicago's schools. Unfortunately they are often maligned mostly for the right reasons and those students who attend public schools deserve to have someone lookout for them. It doesn't do them justice to be held hostage by a budget stalemate.

At that same time the Capitol Fax had another post regarding Claypool's comments. Rich Miller preferaced this post by saying the man with his own opinion - via this FB post - is no "Raunerite" but basically expresses his interest in fixing our neighborhood schools. I'll share a pic that makes the point of this pic look at teh state of disrepair.

Gale School - 1631 W Jonquil Terrace

This school is probably one example of many with issues of disrepair as the post noted lead paint peeling from the ceiling - this is a much older school. Also bad fire doors and broken fire alarms. Then what about services needed by students?

The school has been gutted by a funding formula CPS put in place. The school has no technology teachers, no librarians, after-school programs have been gutted and our social worker is hanging on by the grace of his nonprofit.

You know what they do get in Illinois Prisons? Library Services! Mental Health Services! Educational Services.

You see what happened there. What do CPS students get at this particular school versus what people who are incarcerated in prison gets? Then it goes further:

So yeah the Governor’s solution of REDUCING funds for CPS is madness, but what he said today wasn’t wrong. If Claypool doesn’t want his schools to be called worse than prisons… FIX THEM!

“Frankly, the Governor’s comments comparing Chicago schools to ‘crumbling prisons’ are disrespectful and beneath his office.” via Claypool.

You know what is really disrespectful and beneath (their) office? Allowing schools like this to happen, our Mayor owns this.

The next question is how many other schools have issues such as these. Not only a building in disrepair but not enough services educational or otherwise for students. I can believe that funding is an issue but that's certainly one one portion of many other issues in such a vast school district as CPS.

Sun-Times: Aldermen create independent budget office

I'm sure it's not necessarily on the radar for many of us, however, we are concerned about the financial picture of this city. Mayor Rahm Emanuel weather you agree or disagree with many of his decisions as da Mayor is certainly on the right track when he started talking about the financial picture at the beginning of his term. Still is it a great step to have such an office created by an ordinance of the Chicago City Council:

The City Council won’t have to take Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s word for it the next time the mayor tries to privatize a city asset, raise taxes, renegotiate the parking meter lease or expand the scope of ticket-spewing surveillance cameras.

Aldermen will have their own $485,000-a-year Office of Financial Analysis to research and assess mayoral initiatives and budgets with six full-time employees.

With Emanuel’s blessing, the City Council voted Wednesday to take what Ald. Ameya Pawar (47th) has called “one of the biggest reforms ever” for a City Council that legendary Ald. Paddy Bauler famously said “ain’t ready for reform.”

That may turn out to be an exaggeration — just as many of Emanuel’s bold savings claims turn out to be.

But it’s a big change for a City Council vilified for its lightning-fast approval of former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s lopsided 75-year, $1.15 billion parking meter deal without an independent analysis to determine whether Chicago taxpayers were getting the shaft.

To help bankroll the new office and its six full-time staffers, Emanuel is reducing — from $26,000-a-year to $23,000 — the amount of money allotted to each of the 50 aldermen for hourly or contractual employees.

The $23,000 will be added to the $73,280-a-year aldermanic expense allowance to get around Shakman complaints about contractual employees. But aldermen will have $3,000 a year less overall to spend.

That didn’t sit well with many aldermen, who are often forced to dip into their own pockets or political funds to cover excess expenses.

Another plan was introduced to the city council at the recent session on Wednesday via the Tribune:

And the maneuvering continues. A coalition of mainly African-American and Hispanic aldermen introduced their own plan Wednesday to create a City Council office to keep track of how well city contractors comply with standards for giving work to women- and minority-owned businesses.

Ald. Howard Brookins Jr., 21st, chairman of the black caucus, said the group would be open to having the new position included within the council financial analysis office "as long as there is a separate executive director in that office who's keeping track of the issues with women and minority businesses."

Does anyone think such an office is a good idea?

Chicagoist: Tribune Looks At The Mismanagement That Led To CPS' Historic School Closures

[VIDEO] Recently we got wind of this Tribune story via the Chicagoist blog. The point it to look at the financial mismanagement of the Chicago Public Schools. A lot of people are still upset about the school closings that took place this past summer, however, one of the justifications for the closings were that the schools were underutilized.

Chuck Sudo at Chicagoist further opines: "If you want to know why Johnny can't read, it's because CPS officials don't know how to maintain a sensible budget."

The video above shows what the city is spending money on. It started with the old CPS HQ on Pershing Road. If I recall correctly they bought this complex from army for $1 and now their HQ is in downtown. It appears the city still owns this complex and now there isn't a plan for its utilization. Apparently the city is still spending money on it.

What do you make of this?
 

Sun-Times - Chicago’s finances among the worst after 2008 recession: study

It seems Mayor Emanuel when he first entered into office with the city's finances as his first concern and this study shows why:

Chicago weathered the storm of the 2008 recession in worse financial shape than all but two major cities — Boston and bankrupt Detroit — because spending, debt and unfunded pension liabilities rose faster than revenues, according to a new study.

The Civic Federation used nine key indicators to measure Chicago’s financial performance against 12 other U.S. cities over a five-year period ending Dec. 31, 2011, that coincided with the recession and the painstaking recovery.

Chicago ranked No. 11. Only Boston and Detroit fared worse. New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Houston, Kansas City, Seattle, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Columbus and Baltimore all emerged in better shape.

The reasons are simple. The mountain of debt got higher. Unfunded pension liabilities are $19 billion and rising. And taxes are not growing as fast as city spending, according to the Civic Federation.

Over the five-year period, Chicago’s “real liabilities” — everything from operating expenses to debt and pension liabilities — rose by $824 a person to $3,296 for every man, woman and child living in the city.

Chicago raised taxes and fees by $113.45 a person during that same period, topped only by Houston ($122.01), Boston ($205.58), Baltimore ($354.28) and Detroit ($357.18). But it was not nearly enough to keep pace with expenses.

Although Chicago’s “debt service-to-expenditure ratio” declined over the five-year period, the five-year average of 11.9 percent is still the highest of all 13 cities, which had an average of 9.7 percent.

Read the whole thing!

Crime is down and minority police hiring

[VIDEO] ABC 7 reports that the crime rate in Chicago overall is down this year. This was said during a city council hearing. I assume this is a city council budget committee hearing. They did discuss how much more police were paying in overtime. One Alderman even commented on how much he believed the police should set aside in their budgets for overtime.

I want to add another wrinkle. Over at NBC Chicago, there's video of west side Ald. Jason Ervin going at it with Supt. Garry McCarthy over minority hiring in the police department. It was pretty testy and you can watch yourself [VIDEO]

Oh man I just had to see what 2nd City Cop had to say on this subject. I'm sure they'll say a lot more about the current crime stats, but they definitely discussed the color issue as far as police hiring. Or more accurately putting minorities in brass positions on the force.

Expired Meter: Alderman Beale Feels Parking Ticket Fine Increases Excessive

There were some stories last week about a proposed budget by Mayor Emanuel there are some proposed taxes such as an increase in cigarette taxes. Then, we have to be careful to be sure we follow the city's parking regulations. There's going to be increases in parking tickets and fees with that as well.

In fact 9th Ward Ald. Beale is speaking out about that:

South Side Alderman Anthony Beale (9th) isn’t taking kindly to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposal to increase fines on some parking violations and fees for impounded cars.

Beale believes these increases will disproportionately affect residents of lesser means according to DNA Info.

“I understand that we have to get creative to plug this hole but it seems like our creativity is coming off the backs of the poor and middle class,” Beale said. “Increasing rush-hour parking violations to $100 from $60 or storage fees for impounded cars to $20 from $10 is excessive.”

Earlier in the week, before the mayor’s budget address on Wednesday, City Hall said the mayor was proposing increasing the cost of some parking violations and by bumping up the cost of storage fees at city owned auto pounds according to the city. The city estimated these increases would bring in an additional $10 million a year in revenue.

This would include raising the fines for street cleaning, parking in a handicapped parking space, parking in front of a fire hydrant, rush hour parking and illegally parking a truck, RV, bus or taxi on a residential street.

Now, I'm not sure if Ald. Beale has voted against anything that the Mayor has proposed, and it's great to see that he's speaking up on this issue. The question is when it comes time to vote on the budget and its various items would Beale step forward and vote against it.

Capitol Fax: Senators call for Hamos ouster

Our state Senator Donne Trotter has attached his name to a letter posted to the Capitol Fax blog that express the lack of confident in the leadership of  the state Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) Director Julie Hamos. His name is attached along with his colleague Sen. Martin Sandoval in speaking for the "unified sentiment of our respective caucuses". The respective caucuses being the Black and Latino Caucuses of the IL state Senate. The letter mainly cites the budget cutting that has claimed many healthcare and mental health services and their affect on the Black and Latino communities of this state.

Concerned Citizens of Chatham: Rahmfather, your citizens aren't happy

Worlee was able to attend the city budget hearings last Tuesday at South Shore High School @ 1955 E. 75th Streethosted by the Chicago City Council's Progressive Caucus. Some Alderman came down from the North Side to conduct them as well as some of our south side Alderman such as 6th Ward Ald. Sawyer and 15th Ward Ald. Toni Foulkes. Whatever the citizens saw in Mayor Emanuel's budget not many were very pleased.

BTW, while the Chicago Reader didn't appear to write a report about the South Shore hearings they - they being Ben Joravsky - did write about some of the earlier ones. Keep this in mind when you read that piece, that the mayor is electing not to hold his own budget hearings available to the public as he did last year at Kennedy-King College:

This year he's holding none. Instead, he put together a series of private focus groups with carefully selected batches of citizens.

The mayor says it's more efficient this way. I say he just wants to avoid raucous events. You, the reading public, get to decide what you believe. You just don't get to weigh in about it at a hearing with the mayor.

In any case citizens who attended the hearing made this ominous statement regarding this budget and future political implications:

Overall, the citizens at the meeting were displeased with the Mayor's decision to not listen to their concerns and also put the Alderman present and other Alderman on notice that if the budget passes 50-0 they will remember them in 2015.  

And 2015 is close to two years away too!

$1 Million : What Would You Do With It

Four Chicago aldermen are holding participatory budgeting meetings for their residents soon. The aldermen are asking their constituents to help budget for community infrastructure projects with $4 million of the $5.2 million (menu money)they control. These are discretionary funds Alderman have to complete projects in their wards.

The wards and aldermen are:

•Leslie Hairston, 5th
•John Arena, 45th
•James Cappleman, 46th
•Joe Moore, 49th

Some of the prices are as follows:

Street Resurfacing $40,000

Street Relighting $100,000

New Fieldhouse $7,000,000-$10,000,000

                                                                  New Playground $12,000

What would you ask for?

For more details:http://gridchicago.com/2012/take-action-46th-ward-residents-have-opportunity-to-directly-influence-expenditure-of-1-3-million-on-infrastructure/

Emanuel’s budget passes City Council on unanimous vote - Chicago Sun-Times

Emanuel’s budget passes City Council on unanimous vote - Chicago Sun-Times

The political implications of yesterday's vote:

By pitching a shutout in his first big game on a new field, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has strengthened his hand when it comes to tackling the next big challenges ahead: pension reform and winning contract concessions from police and fire unions.

Emanuel’s $6.3 billion 2012 budget — and the $220 million in taxes, fines and fees needed to pay for it — scored a 50-to-0 vote in the City Council on Wednesday.

That’s a triumph for a rookie mayor — even one who honed his lobbying skills on Capital Hill — and a tribute to the partnership he forged with aldermen by tweaking his budget to accommodate their concerns.

Moments after the final vote, Emanuel warned aldermen from the rostrum that it was only “the beginning” and that “hard decisions” await. Police and fire contracts expire June 30.

“We have to deal with peoples’ pensions. We have to deal with … the costs hidden within our labor contracts …. burdening our taxpayers,” he said.

At a news conference later, Emanuel argued that the 50-to-0 vote, “strengthens the city’s future — not mine” when it comes to confronting those mega-problems.

BTW, Worlee posted a statement from the Alderman's office regarding his vote on the city's yesterday!

Sawyer votes yes on city budget

The Chicago News Cooperative has reported that the City Council approved the City Budget 50-0.

Here is Alderman Sawyer's response to a Facebook inquiry about his vote (from ~ 11am): 

I was a yes vote, this is a difficult budget and we are still working on reducing some job cuts but we were able to secure an expansion in the Bureau of Electricity to help stabilize the streetlight situation in the ward.

He later posted this on Facebook via Twitter:

This is an important time for the city of Chicago, and we must give this budget a chance to address difficult decisions #Sawyer on budget

and

I agree with @AldReilly about addressing procurement and contracts, we must do more #Oversight

You can follow Alderman Sawyer on Facebook. You can also follow him via Twitter.

This blog, The Sixth Ward, is not affiliated with his office nor the previous Alderman, Freddrenna Lyle. This is a blog for all residents of the area to learn and share about our community.

CTA budget hearings at Kennedy-King College

Hmmm, this is where we could ask more questions about the planned Red Line extension into Roseland and Altgeld Gardens. An update of sorts was provided in the comments for the video post about 95th. Hat-tip to the Greater Chatham Alliance!

Chicago Transit Board 2012 budget Recommendations

Just a friendly reminder that you will have an opportunity to provide comments to the Chicago Transit Board - regarding the 2012 budget recommendations at:

Kennedy-King College,
740 W. 63rd St.
Thursday, November 10th
6:00 p.m.

Written and oral comments will be taken into consideration prior to implementation of the 2012 Budget and Program, the 2012 Capital Program of Projects, and the Financial Plan.

This input will be welcomed at the hearing or by correspondence addressed to Gregory P. Longhini, Assistant Secretary of the Board, Chicago Transit Authority, P.O. Box 7567, Chicago, Illinois 60680-7567. Input can also be sent via e-mail to: longhini@transitchicago.com.

For a copy of the CTA's 2012 budget book visit:

http://www.transitchicago.com/news/default.aspx?ArticleId=2929

For more info, contact: Maria-Teresa Roman, Government and Community Relations Officer at: Tel. 312-681-2704 or Fax: 312-681-2825

Alderman: Target police, fire contracts to reduce budget deficit - Chicago Sun-Times

Alderman: Target police, fire contracts to reduce budget deficit - Chicago Sun-Times

Mayor Rahm Emanuel could wring $300 million from the combined $1.8 billion budgets of Chicago’s Police and Fire Departments, in part by dramatically altering union contracts that expire June 30, an influential alderman said Thursday.

“There’s no more sacred cows when the taxpayers are hurting like they are,” said Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), former chairman of the City Council’s Police and Fire Committee.

Beale has already infuriated the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) by targeting the $1,800-a-year uniform allowance officers receive as well as duty-availability pay, a $2,800-a-year lump sum that essentially compensates officers for being on call at any time.

Now, he’s going even further.

Instead of having the same number of police officers assigned to every watch and district, Beale is talking about putting officers when and where the crime is. That would allow Emanuel to eliminate 1,400 police vacancies and shrink the police force through attrition.

“I know it’s an unpopular thing to say. ... But if you put the officers where they’re needed vs. where they’re wanted, you could see a reduction,” he said.

 Ald. Beale was a one-time chairman of the city council's police and fire committee. What do you think of his proposal?