Waiting, Wondering Shaky Bailout Has Commuters in Limbo

By Joseph Ryan

jryan@@dailyherald.com

Gov. Rod Blagojevich ponied up a hasty bailout package for Pace Thursday, but the last-ditch play may prove to be too little too late for scores of suburbanites who rely on buses and trains.

Transit officials are set to vote on the deal today. But there are strong indications there isn’t enough support for the plan as concerns grow that a long-term solution – in the form of tax hikes – won’t gain approval from lawmakers soon.

Meanwhile, even if the temporary relief gets the OK, transit riders are still left waiting and wondering if their buses and trains will keep showing up on time – or at all.

“It’s disgusting and disappointing to say the least,” said Kevin Eisen while recently waiting at the Elgin Metra station for a ride to Chicago. “I don’t understand why nothing is getting done in Illinois.”

One reason: politics.

Or as the head of the CTA’s union puts it: “egos.”

“We know the egos are not going to allow (approval of the tax hike) right now,” said union leader Darrell Jefferson. “It’s not going to go anywhere soon.”

The governor’s bailout offer could perhaps push off CTA and Pace fare hikes and service cuts from Sunday to Nov. 4. The plan includes nearly $100 million to be split between Pace, the CTA and Metra.

Currently, though, CTA and Pace officials are planning to go forward with their “doomsday” budgets because it is unclear if Regional Transportation Authority board members will approve the bailout today.

CTA will raise fares by up to $1 and slash 39 bus routes by Monday. On Sunday, Pace will hike fares 50 cents on ADA para- transit riders in the collar counties and 25 cents on local routes. Pace route cuts come in October.

Major problems

Still, putting off the immediate threat does nothing to prevent an eventual dismantling of the region’s transit network by the end of the year.

With the CTA, Pace and Metra in the red a collective $240 million, transit officials say they have little choice but to cut nearly all suburban weekend service, discontinue cheap transfers between Chicago and the suburbs, and end bus routes that get commuters to Metra stations.

If that happens, academics and transit supporters predict tens of thousands of people will hit the roads. Moreover, many people may have to quit their jobs because of difficult and expensive transit commutes.

All this doomsday talk, though, has not spurred action from legislative leaders and the governor until just recently.

The House put a regional sales tax hike measure to a vote just last week after months of debate and lobbying. The measure failed.

The Senate was supposed to first take it up Monday, but now even that is in question.

“It is still being negotiated,” reported Cindy Davidsmeyer, spokeswoman for state Senate President Emil Jones, a Chicago Democrat.

This political stalemate comes after nearly a year of lobbying by transit agencies and a $3 million marketing campaign to drum up support for higher taxes. And it is the inaction by lawmakers on any funding plan that is pushing some transit officials to question whether to take the governor’s bailout offer.

“I don’t think I will be part of the charade that goes on without some assurances from legislative leaders,” said Fred Norris, an RTA board member. “Nothing seems to get done (by lawmakers), except they gave themselves a nice handsome increase in salary.”

Lawmakers have been deadlocked for months over funding for education funding, health care and road building. Lawmakers and the governor did approve salary hikes for themselves early this summer.

Four “no” votes on the 12-member RTA board would be enough to reject the governor’s temporary relief offer. Norris, who represents the collar counties, and William Coulson, who represents suburban Cook County, are leaning toward opposing the plan. Judy Baar Topinka, the state’s former treasurer, says she will vote against it.

On the other side, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley supports the deal. He has three board appointees. CTA chairwoman Carole Brown is also expected to vote for it.

Bailout or bad move?

It remained unclear Thursday where the remaining five board members stood. RTA chairman Jim Reilly has avoided the media since the bailout offer was announced, but he did issue a statement questioning the fiscal responsibility of approving it.

Those skeptical of the deal say it would only worsen the financial state of transit because the package amounts to spending money from next year’s budget in the next few months.

“Using some shell-game financing is not the way to go,” Coulson said.

On the other hand, Blagojevich has made it clear that he will blame RTA officials for the transit crisis if they “look a gift horse in the mouth.”

That riles many transit officials and supporters, who point out the governor is helping to kill the sales tax hike plan that would bring the agencies more than $400 million a year.

The governor has called raising sales taxes a “backdoor fare hike,” and has advocated for business tax hikes instead. The details of his plan have not been made public.

“No one has seen anything,” Jefferson said. “If the governor does have a concrete plan in writing, show it to me.”

The politics and backdoor deals are so intricate it’s enough to give transit riders a headache. “I feel that’s not right,” Mount Prospect Tracy Panka says of the looming transit crisis while catching a Pace bus in Rosemont. “I think the government should give up the money and keep the (system) running.”

Action today may keep the system running as is for a bit longer. But in the end, some transit supporters say, it takes panic to spark action in politics.

“Nobody seems to work unless there is a crisis,” Norris said. “Right now we have a quickie solution, but we are going to be faced with the same thing in November.”

– Daily Herald staff writers Jack Komperda and Ames Boykin contributed to this report.

(c) 2007 Daily Herald; Arlington Heights, Ill.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.