A stonefaced president and board of the Chicago Transit Authority faced charges of fascism, incompetence, and calls for boycott at Tuesday night's (Nov. 3) public hearing on its scheduled fare hike and service cuts, a fare hike which could make the CTA the most expensive public transportation system in the nation. The hearing was held in the Solarium Room of the South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. Shore Drive, the second and last of two major public hearings the board would hold. CTA Board President Richard Rodriguez was one of three board members in attendance.
Over 100 people packed the meeting and, with only one arguable exception, expressed outrage over the plan to raise basic bus fare from $2 to $2.50, with bus to elevated train transfer to $3. The CTA says the fare increase is necessary to close a giant budget hole caused by declining state aid, higher fuel costs, a ridership slip and other factors aggravated by the current economic recession. Also, the decision last year by the legislature to allow seniors 65 and over to ride free further strained the budget . The state legislature is currently considering plans to restrict this privilege to low-income seniors.
But many complained the CTA itself is a sinkhole prone to frequent fare raises and endless budget crises. The very first speaker, a bus driver and representative of the bus drivers' union, drove home that point by noting in the last 25 years his union has given back over $220 million in wage and benefit gains and yet the CTA, which just two years ago threatened to close down, is once again in crisis.
"You never talk to us," he noted. "You never come and listen to our suggestions, how we can make this(the transit system) work for all the people. You have to love this job. You have to care about getting people where they're going."
Another speaker noted the service cuts include the elimination of nine express bus routes, all but one of them South or West Side express routes, as well as cuts in the hours some 41 routes are in service, cuts of as much as an hour off some routes. This speaker, speaking on behalf of a coalition seeking to restore full bus service on 31st. St., warned "another word for this is racism", and further warned there could be civil rights lawsuits facing the CTA because of the disproportionate impact the service cuts have on the South Side in particular.
Still another speaker wanted to know why the other five members of the CTA board didn't even attend this hearing. He got no answer.
The South Side routes being cut are the King Dr. Express, the CottageGrove Express, the Ashland Express, and the Garfield Express. On the West and Southwest Sides, the Washington/Madison Express, the Cicero Express, the Western Express(which also serves the South Side)and the South Pulaski Limited will also be eliminated. The only North Side express to be eliminated is the Irving Park Express.
"This is like martial law," one woman speaker said. "You're telling us where to go and when we can go", noting that for people dependent on public transportation these cuts mean many areas of the city and some suburbs will become inaccessible to them and others will find themselves stranded in the middle of the night, unable to make connections with bus routes which stop service earlier than they used to.
A delegation of high school students were among the attendees, warning the proposed cuts could make it both harder and more dangerous for them to attend school.
"Why is it always the black community that has to give up everything?", said one frustrated high school female freshman student.
Two speakers turned their backs on the CTA board members and addressed the audience directly, calling for a boycott of the CTA, beginning Feb. 7, 2010, the date when the fare increase and the service cuts will take effect, if the CTA board votes the changes at its Nov. 12 meeting. Several groups have called for a major demonstration that day outside the CTA headquarters, 567 W. Lake St., to stoke public outrage.
The only semisympathetic voice for the CTA came from a representative of the Pacific Federation, a businessperson's association, who called the fare increase, " a modest and sensible increase", warned the CTA not to rely on help from Springfield, and praised the board for being "reasonable" in its proposed budget.
Regarding the controversial free rides for seniors, one woman said, " I have always paid my own way. I don't see how living a certain period of life justifies a free ride." Another woman said, " They built the system. They maintained it. Why shouldn't they now get a free ride." A third woman supported restricting the "right" to low income seniors.
A fourth woman noted that every day there was a woman getting on the bus she takes to work who never paid a fare for reasons the fourth woman speaker did not understand. "The driver didn't even look at her", this woman fumed. She then added, "so one day I walked up to the driver and said, 'if she's not paying, neither am I".
OTHER NEWS
Halloween morning, Oct. 31, was a special day for over 100 people who attended the Crime Prevention Summit and Safety Resource Fair, a three-hour presentation of resources and means to fight crime in the community, held at the New Beginnings Church , 6620 S. King Dr., in its community meeting hall, sponsored by the Chicago Police Department's CAPS (Community Policing Strategy)program and several community groups, including Park Manor Neighbors.
Amid tables for several service groups, including the Black Star Project, a community-based educational program represented by one of my fellow examiners, and the P.E.A.C.E. Movement, a citywide nonviolence program supported by New Beginnings Church, the audience heard calls to action from Glen Brooks, from the CAPS Implementation Office, urging residents to form block clubs and offering forms and advice on how to get formally chartered. They also heard from Lt. Cynthia Lance, from the Troubled Building Unit, who spoke warmly of the cooperation between the police and the Chicago Housing Authority and the CHA 's crackdown on tenants.
A troubled building is not necessarily any vacant building, according to Lt. Lance, but one which is known to be used for criminal or socially disruptive purposes, with either the overt or covert support of the owner. An owner may be denied CHA Section 8 voucher payments or removed from the list of those who can accept CHA tenants if found guilty of allowing criminal activity on his or her property. An owner can also have his or her property taken away for up to a year. CHA residents who harbor or assist people in criminal or socially disruptive behavior may have their Section 8 vouchers revoked, although first they are called to a hearing before CHA authorities to determine the facts.
Lance said there are approximately 300 vacant buildings in the Third Police District, which covers the South Side from Garfield Boulevard to E. 75th. St., from the Dan Ryan Expressway to the lakefront. There are 72 buildings known to be drug and gang hangouts and possibly many more. Community tip-offs to the police are essential to combatting the trend, she said.
Police Sgt. Dennis O"Brien told the audience Chicago has the only anti-gang loitering law in the country, after an earlier law was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. The law is a little tricky to enforce. It does not apply to most private property, such as the front porches of people's homes, but does appy to the public way, including in front of businesses. Any group of two or more persons may be stopped and told to move on if one of them is a known or identifiable gang member. Gang members may be identified through their clothes, tattooes, if they are so recognized by police officers from previous arrests, or by self-idenification through online sources like YouTube or Facebook. There must be some evidence that by standing around on the street or sidewalk they are intimidating other people on the block. It is not illegal, in and of itself, to stand on a city street, even for an extended period of time.
Once identified, they must move in. If they return to the spot as soon as they get the cops are gone, they can be arrested and charged under the gang loitering ordinance.
The ordinance also covers narcotics loitering, but in this case a single person is subject to the ordinance if people report that person is engaged in drug trafficking while standing around.
Sgt. O'Brien also noted both the city and the state have separate curfews for the underage. The state curfew is normally 12 midnight to 6 A.M., the city's normally 11 p.m. to 6 p.m. Parents are subject to citation and fine for failing to keep their children in by curfew. Businesses are also subject to citation and fine if they fail to block the underage from entering their premises.
The real highpoint was a group of nine men, all ex-offenders, called, "Keeping it Real", describing how they pursued their careers in burglary, robbery and theft(one also worked as a con artist and another rented apartments he didn't own to unsuspecting people paying cash to get drug money) and what people need to know to protect themselves and their homes.
Among the eye-opening revelations were these.....
1. Dogs are not reliable. One of the ex-offenders said he could shut up a dog with a peanut butter sandwich. Another said, "I never met a dog I couldn't get to like me." Another said he sometimes stole small expensive dogs, which he could sell on the black market.
2. Cats are worse. Most cats sit in the window when the owners are gone, a blatant clue to a crook that no one's home.
3. Most burglars do "case the joint", sometimes for several days in a row, before striking.
4. While most burglars are in and out of your property in less than five minues, two of the ex-offenders said they'd stay all day if they knew with reasonable certainty the owner wasn't coming back any time soon and the neighbors paid no attention.
5. Burglars get into your home any they can: windows, basement windows, back doors, among their favorities.
6. Alarms work best when they are INSIDE the property, scattered in different rooms or floors and work on montion-sensing. One of the ex-offenders admitted he got caught that way.
7. They do specialize. One said he preferred upper-middle-income neighborhoods with childrenl, while two others preferred neighborhoods where nobody seemed to know anyone else or paid attention to who was coming in and out of other people's property. Five of them worked with teams of up to four people, while one insisted on working alone.
8. Burglars don't normally carry weapons. If you surprise one, the simplest and safest thing is let him run away.
9. Burglars normally steal what's simple: money, jewelry, appliances, etc. They prefer bedrooms, closets, kitchens and bathrooms, because they're looking for drugs. One openly said, "I mostly did it for the drugs." The homeowner or apartment dweller usually unintentionally provide the means to run off with the goods, for the ex-offenders would use the owner's own pillowcases, towels, even his/her duct tape to carry off the goods.
In an especially chilling moment, the ex-offenders mentioned that when they came to the church he wandered the church for a good 10 minutes before anyone came out and directed them to the meeting room, during which time they could have taken all four of the T.V. monitors in the hall adjourning the sanctuary.
MOVING ON
Third Police District Cmdr. Lillie Crump-Hales is retiring on Nov. 13. After nearly two years as commander she is moving on. During her time, she has led patrols up E. 75th. St., fought with drunken patrons of a bar who hurled bottles at her and the other officers from the second floor of the building where the bar was located and seen the crime situation all over Chicago grow more desperate.
Monday night at the regular Park Manor Neighbors meeting she was given a standing ovation and praised by PMN President Darlene Tribue as, "one of the best commanders we ever had". Although controversial to some, who feel beat patrols actually deteriorated under her watch, her ebullient personality and can-do spirit made her highly popular with others. She will be missed.
Comments
The crime rates in these "minority" hoods just scares away all the "positives".
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