 |
|
Public Affairs coverage from our award-winning staff |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Residents Split on Extending CTA Lines
Produced by Susie An on Thursday, August 13, 2009
|
|
Some Skokie residents are not supporting an extension of the Chicago
Transit Authority's Yellow Line. The CTA Board has approved a plan that
would extend that line and the Red and Orange rails.
At yesterday's board meeting South Siders praised plans to
extend the Red and Orange lines. But some north suburban Skokie
residents like Marda Dunsky were concerned about having an elevated
rail in the neighborhood.
DUNSKY: It raises anxiety when this is termed a locally preferred
alternative which suggest that some winnowing and some decision making
has already gone through with not a lot of resident input.
Dunsky says she has a petition signed by more than 180 Skokie residents who oppose the extension.
CTA Chairwoman Carole Brown says the board's approval does not mean
anything has been finalized. She says the vote allows the agency to
apply for federal funding and move on to the next steps of planning.
Brown says the route proposals are still open for change.adrh
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Scott Jackson, Morton Grove // Thursday, August 13, 2009 @ 10:01 AM
I don't know where Marda Dunsky was, but this has been in the works for three years. There have been public meetings about this (that I am aware of) since April of 2008. There has been plenty of opportunity for public input. This "Not in my backyard" nonsense from a small minority is not worth disenfranchising the many thousands of people who would utilize these lines if they were extended. Aside from getting the average joe to work in the morning, public transit also takes cars off the road, reduces traffic and pollution, and helps the poor, elderly and disabled populations who don't have the luxury of being able to drive. It's a no brainer.
|
|
A. // Thursday, August 13, 2009 @ 12:43 PM
To me this extension is a bit unnecessary. There are no less than four different bus routes that serve the area that the Yellow Line would be extended to (Three CTA routes and one Pace route). Two of those routes operate daily, every 15-20 minutes. One of the other two operates Monday through Friday every 20 minutes, and the fourth Monday through Saturday every 20 minutes. While I can completely get behind the addition of the Oakton Street station (scheduled to open in late 2010 at this point), the extension of the Yellow Line beyond Dempster Street seems completely unnecessary.
Additionally, going ahead with this extension completely ignores the people this extension impacts the most, the 3,800 residents who live along the proposed extension who are opposed to the extension (residents, I might add, who pay property tax, unlike individuals who just commute to/from Skokie, while living elsewhere). This seems a bit unfair to say the least.
In addition, there are security concerns that have come up (according to a nearby high school) that would result from the extension of the Yellow Line.
Last, but certainly not least, we are talking about the CTA here. They don't exactly have a history of being reliable. This is the same CTA that made service improvements along the #93 California/Dodge route (formerly #93 North California) only to announce that they would be eliminating the service (two years later) due to a lack of funding. Do we really want to extend the Yellow Line, build the elevated L structure, and then have the CTA come to the people and say that they are cutting Yellow Line service two years down the road, leaving only the elevated L structure behind, reminding the residents of what a bad idea the extension was? I don't think so.
Personally, the creation of BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) routes, similar to the ones created in New York City, along already existing CTA bus routes would seem less costly, and ultimately more feasible to me.
|
|
|
|
|