Nov 1, 2007 11:55 pm US/Central
Lawmakers Debate Another Short-Term CTA Bailout
Transit Officials, Some Legislators Say Another 'Band-Aid' Measure Will Only Do More Harm
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) ―
A raging internal debate is being hashed out in Springfield Thursday night on whether or not to accept a temporary bail-out measure proposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The CTA's "doomsday" cuts are just three days away. As CBS Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, CBS 2 Investigator Pam Zekman's story on CTA fare card scams certainly does not make it any easier for supporters of a sales tax increase to benefit mass transit and road construction to win the 71 votes they need to get the bill passed in the House Friday. That measure will still come up short, according to counts CBS 2 heard late Thursday night.
However there is a downside, some argue, to postponing what promises to be a dramatic showdown.
An Illinois House committee debated details of raising Chicago-area sales tax to operate mass transit and build new highways. Afterward, the committee chair was skeptical of Blagojevich's offer of a loan of $30 million more to the Regional Transit Authority.
"I think it really would be irresponsible to continue taking loans which just dig this system deeper in a hole," said Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston). "There's no indication they would ever work this out, even if we gave them a short-term loan."
Earlier, the governor accused officials of toying with the lives of 600 families of transit workers facing layoffs, and 100.000 riders facing the loss of their buses and trains.
"I think some have been trying to hold the taxpayers of this area hostage to a sales tax increase, and have been using the riders of the RTA and the CTA as pawns," Blagojevich said.
Behind the scenes Blagojevich and his allies were working hard to kill this sales tax increase proposal, but the Sunday deadline is putting pressure on everyone.
"They're now playing a dangerous game of chicken on the backs of their riders who rely on the CTA and RTA to get to and from work every single day," Blagojevich said.
"He's definitely wrong. This is not a game; it's reality," said Dennis Gannon of the Chicago Federation of Labor. "Cuts are reality people laid off, won't be able to get to work. That's reality not a game whatsoever."
"It's doable in the next week," said Republican Rep. Tom Cross. "The governor's got, someone suggested, a pot of money to hold us over. No one wants a meltdown."
Blagojevich has been saying he believes the RTA and its subsidiaries, the suburban Pace bus system and the CTA, have enough money to postpone that "doomsday" for at least a few more weeks while a deal is negotiated.
The governor's tough new accusations seemed to stun CTA President Ron Huberman.
"If the dollars are not able to be transfered by the end of this year, we would be putting the whole system at risk," Huberman said. "Quite literally the CTA would not be able to make its second December payroll."
Huberman and other transit executives in Springfield Thursday night are worried that accepting another loan from the governor might wind them up with the same problem they had with the first loan. They were suppose to get $18 million in October from the state; that money has not yet arrived.
If the state fails to pass a bill securing funding for the CTA, in addition to the elimination of 39 bus routes, fares will rise to $2.50 for buses and 'L' trains during off-peak times, and $3 for 'L' trains in peak periods. On Jan. 6, 43 more bus routes would be eliminated and fares would be hiked to top out at $3.25.
CBS 2's Mike Flannery and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.cbs2chicago.com's Most Popular Pages
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