Signals from Springfield prompt CTA to delay cuts

December 15, 2004

BY MARK J. KONKOL
Transportation Reporter

After getting key support from Senate President Emil Jones, the CTA board is poised to delay massive service cuts and layoffs for at least six months when it meets Thursday so Illinois lawmakers have time to come up with more transit cash, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

CTA boss Frank Kruesi and board president Carole Brown have said it would take a "strong commitment" from legislative leaders to put off the so-called gridlock budget.

And that's what they got Tuesday from Jones (D-Chicago), who told the Sun-Times saving the Chicago Transit Authority will be his "top legislative priority" next year. He wants the CTA to put off the cuts until the General Assembly can act in the spring.

"I've advised the CTA to hold off until such a time we can come to a solution to the [funding] problem," he said. "That's as strong as a commitment I can make . . . without a machine to print more money. We don't have that, but we will work until the end to do something."

Gov. Blagojevich's office said Tuesday he also supports a six-month delay so lawmakers can reconsider his earlier proposal for closing a tax loophole to generate $65 million for a CTA bail out.

Hard to overlook Madigan

House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) has said he stands squarely behind restructuring how transit is funded but doesn't expect action until spring. He appointed state Rep. Julie Hamos to lead a committee charged with healing CTA's funding troubles.

"When I announced in Springfield what this committee would be doing, the speaker was sitting by my side," she said. "That is very significant. . . . The CTA could not avoid seeing this."

Brown and Kruesi declined to comment. But legislative and CTA sources said Tuesday the movement in Springfield appears to be enough for the board to delay cuts.

A vote on whether to implement a 20 percent cut in service -- which includes eliminating 30 bus routes, killing overnight L service and laying off 1,250 workers -- is set for Thursday's meeting.

In a private conversation Friday, Mayor Daley told Brown not to go with the service cut plan, sources said. But on Tuesday, Daley was still playing coy publicly, laying the weight of the service cut decision on Brown's and Kruesi's shoulders.

"You have to make a decision when you have that responsibility," Daley said. "What's happening in America is that no one wants to make decisions -- difficult decisions, whether in a family or anything else."

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said movement on a transit bill all hinges on the CTA's ability "to build a consensus" with lawmakers.

Suburbia helpful to a point

Republican state Sen. David Sullivan of Mount Prospect said he thinks that's doable, as long as funding isn't diverted from Metra and Pace to bail out the CTA.

Jones, who recently met with the CTA board chairwoman, said the Senate Transportation Committee will look for more transit funding for CTA, Metra and Pace.

"Casino [expansion] revenue may be one way to do that," he said. "We're not going to rehash the problem [in committee]. We're going to resolve it."

Contributing: Fran Spielman