U.S. Delivers $20 Million to Fix CTA Blue Line, Expand Chicago Bike Share Program
The CTA Blue Line is getting a $16 million upgrade.
(Chicago, IL) – Mayor Rahm Emanuel yesterday joined U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Governor Pat Quinn at the Logan Square L stop to announce that Chicago is receiving $20 million in federal funding to help rehabilitate a portion of the CTA Blue Line and to expand the Chicago Bike Sharing Program that is launching next year.
“I want to thank Secretary LaHood, Senator Durbin, Representative Luis Gutierrez and the Illinois delegation for their support,” said Emanuel. “We’re providing more stations, more service and more safety across the City, and this … grant will help ensure we provide a solid foundation for the city’s future.”
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), which will administer the Chicago Bike Share Program, are sharing the $20 million grant, with the CTA receiving $16 million and CDOT $4 million.
The CTA will use the funding to eliminate the slow zone between the Logan Square L stop and the California L stop on the Blue Line to allow trains to move at 55 MPH instead of the current 25 MPH, as well as help reduce maintenance and operating costs.
The Chicago bike share program will be partially funded by this grant. Chicago expects to offer 3,000 bikes at 300 bike stations in June 2012, and plans to expand the program to 4,000 bikes and 400 stations by 2013.
Logan Square is a candidate to receive a bike sharing station in 2012.
Emanuel will restore 300 emergency shelter beds for Chicago homeless
Mayor Rahm Emanuel
(CHICAGO) – After the Illinois General Assembly this week restored approximately $2.3 million to the City of Chicago’s Emergency and Transitional Housing program, the city will restore funding to support 300 shelter beds at community based shelters, according to the city’s family services commissioner.
“With the winter season upon us, these funds will support critical services that will keep Chicagoans safe during extreme weather,” said Commissioner Evelyn Diaz, Chicago Department of Family & Support Services.
The funding will restore approximately 22 city positions, including the Emergency Services overnight team whose primarily function is to provide transportation to shelters. Additionally, the city will restore nearly $600,000 in funding for approximately 300 shelter beds within 18 community-based shelters.
“I applaud the Illinois General Assembly for restoring critical funding to the Emergency and Transitional Housing program that supports homeless services and shelters,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “I want to commend State Representative Sara Feigenholtz and State Senator Heather Steans for their leadership on this critical issue.”
Since November 15, the city has been providing limited overnight transportation services with funding made available by Emanuel.
The City is working closely with the Illinois Department of Human Services and will begin the process of recalling staff and restoring funds to community based organizations upon receipt of the grant award, according to Diaz.
Emanuel says new CTA security cameras installed ahead of schedule
Mayor Rahm Emanuel
(CHICAGO) – The CTA now has a new message for riders: smile for the cameras.
In an early Christmas present to CTA riders, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Transit Authority President Forrest Claypool and Chicago Police Department Superintendent Garry McCarthy today announced that the project to install new security cameras at ‘L’ stops across the city has been completed six weeks ahead of schedule.
Nearly 1,800 additional cameras have been installed at 78 CTA rail stations during a fast-track initiative that was announced in June, according to Emanuel.
“The cameras have caught criminals but also serve as a deterrent, helping to ensure the highest level of security for our transit system,” said the Mayor, who spoke at the Clinton Green/Pink Line station, where police recently used footage from newly installed station cameras to identify, arrest and charge an offender responsible for attacking and robbing a woman of her purse in an elevator a block away from the station.
Emanuel has a 1990s Clintonesque penchant for the “real people” backdrops, even crime scenes.
In the last five months, CTA surveillance cameras have helped police arrest of at least 47 individuals for crimes. Of these arrests, at least 16 individuals have been identified for serial crimes committed on CTA property.
“These new cameras have been instrumental in helping to solve a number of crimes since we began installing them in June – including three murders that took place away from CTA property as well as a string of serial robberies, one involving a shotgun that happened on CTA property,” Claypool said.
“Shotgun robbery” on CTA property? If Claypool continues to report that type of news, riders may just abandon the CTA to gang bangers and their buddies.
Since June, the Chicago Police Department’s Public Transit Unit has arrested 123 individuals and issued nearly 300 citations for minor offenses and 316 contact cards.
Emanuel announces new CPS principal performance metrics, $20,000 award incentives
Audubon Elementary School principal John Price and other principals will need to achieve new performance metrics. (file photo)
(CHICAGO) – Mayor Rahm Emanuel today announced new principal performance metrics and $20,000 award incentives for Chicago public and charter schools.
“We need empowered principals, quality teachers and involved parents, and all must be accountable for our students’ success,” said Mayor Emanuel.
Elementary school principals will be evaluated based on growth in reading and math, improvement in college readiness and their effectiveness in closing the achievement gap. For high schools, principals will be evaluated based on growth in ninth grade achievement with an emphasis on measuring students’ ability to meet college readiness benchmarks in reading and math, 10th and 11th grade academic growth, and improvement toward graduating students by lowering dropout rates.
“Principals set the core vision and values at work in their schools, and their leadership can transform the school community of teachers, parents and students to drive student academic success,” said Noemi Donoso, CPS Chief Education Officer.
Principals will get $20,000 by significantly boosting student academic achievement. The awards are unrelated to the district’s contract with principals and funded through third-party sponsors to support this project.
Emanuel, Claypool roll out 706 new CTA train cars with $1.1 billion price tag
The CTA is introducing 706 new train cars.
(CHICAGO) – The CTA yesterday rolled out 706 new train cars costing $1.137 billion. The first of these new rail cars are entering revenue service on the Pink Line, marking the first time there has been an addition to the rail fleet since 1992.
“The CTA remains the primary mode of transportation for many residents of Chicago, and these new rail cars reflect the Agency’s commitment to its customers and to our city,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The addition of these new cars to the fleet will allow CTA to retire some of its oldest cars which average between 32 and 41 years old.
“These cars have wider aisles and roomier interiors, electronic destination signs and security cameras in each car for enhanced safety,” said CTA President Forrest Claypool.
The rail cars feature an aisle-facing seating configuration which adds six inches to the narrowest portion of the aisle, allowing more room for customers carrying backpacks, packages, luggage, strollers and bikes. The aisle-facing seating also provides space for an additional wheelchair position, increasing the total to two per car.
Additionally, the cars also have LED displays with larger text-size that will replace the scrolling destination signs on the exterior of the lead car. The LED signs on the interior will display the next stop, date and time. Above the doors, there is a system map with LED lights that indicates the train’s present location as it travels along the route.
Each rail car has multiple security cameras and will eventually transmit real time video to CTA’s Control Center, the Office of Emergency Management and Communication and the Chicago Police Department.
The $1.137 billion cost is funded by two CTA bond issuances backed by sales tax receipts. The remainder is paid for by $150 million in federal funds.
Quinn, Emanuel plan $1 billion overhaul of CTA’s Red, Purple lines
CTA Red Line train at the Belmont stop.
(CHICAGO) – Governor Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel yesterday announced a $646 million state grant to repair and rebuild the Chicago Transit Authority’s Red Line and improve the Purple Line.
The plan brings the total state investment to $702.4 million for the Red and Purple Lines to date. Combined with $255.5 million in federal funding and $44.1 million from the city, the total is over a $1 billion investment. The project will rebuild sections of deteriorated tracks to eliminate slow zones, replace or repair aging stations, install new power systems to improve performance and upgrade a significant portion of the Purple Line.
“Chicago is a city on the move, and we must be able to move our residents with the speed and comfort that mark modern transportation,” said Emanuel. “These investments will make our city a more enticing place to live, to start a business, to raise a family.”
Construction starts in 2012 and will last three years.
The project will replace the tracks between 18th and 95th streets and provide upgrades to stations between Cermak and 95th Streets. Further north, the Wilson and Clark/Division stations, along with the surrounding track, will be rebuilt. The ventilation system will be upgraded on the underground portion of the Red Line through downtown Chicago. Three electrical substations will be upgraded. On the Purple Line, track between the Belmont and Linden stations will be replaced, eliminating slow zones.
The Red Line service first started in the early 1900s, and the State Street Subway portion was built by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration during the 1930s.
Last year, the entire CTA rail system handled 211 million riders.
