Chicago Reporter (https://www.chicagoreporter.com/tag/public-transit/)
Chicago’s new mayor criticized developer Bob Dunn for slipping authorization for $5 billion into the state capital budget for a giant new transit hub next to Soldier Field.
Most transit-oriented development so far has been clustered on the North and Near West sides, the Metropolitan Planning Council found, reinforcing decades of underinvestment in segregated neighborhoods.
Most new grocery stores were built in areas with plentiful access in recent years, and those added to high-need areas were not enough to mitigate the effects of longstanding disinvestment and segregation, according to a new study.
As Rahm Emanuel courts flashy projects amid a slew of scandals, it seems the mayor is more accountable to big-money donors than to neighborhood constituents.
Converting the Metra Electric District main line into rapid transit could be a quicker, cheaper way to improve transit on the South Side than building more Red Line stations, advocates say.
The Chicago Transit Authority’s hybrid proposal lowers the number of privately owned properties that would need to be acquired, but residents still have mixed feelings on how the project could affect them economically.
The costly projects will add to the exodus of jobs to the suburbs making employment out of reach for low-income Chicagoans who rely on public transit.
In a city struggling to provide basic services, the mayor has set up huge pots of off-budget funds to dole out to developers with little oversight.
The Chicago Transit Authority plans to acquire some homes to extend the “L” and affected residents want to ensure they’re fairly compensated in neighborhoods that have been especially slow to recover from the housing crash.
The long-awaited expansion of the “L” could mitigate the impact of historic policies that fueled segregation and disinvestment in black communities.