Here we go again. In 10 days, the money dries up and huge numbers of buses and trains will stop running. Unbelievably, we were just in this situation two months ago, when the governor and legislators passed a temporary funding fix and assured us they'd hash out an agreement to fund Chicago area mass transit. Will a new funding measure be signed into law by Jan. 20? How would a public transit shutdown affect you?
Enough with the Chicken Little rhetoric. No doubt the political leaders will come up with another solution at the 11th hour. The House on Wednesday passed two bills, the Senate is working on legislation of its own, and the governor is ready to test the limits of the state Constitution by creatively amending whatever bill makes it to his desk to sign.
How worried are you that mass transit might actually shut down? Do you use buses or trains as part of your commute? What do you think is the fair and correct solution to fund public transit in the Chicago area?
Thank you, Eli. In AP style, we'd report those figures as $485 billion total (we round up), $26.2 billion to Illinois and $2.8 billion to DuPage. Those figures make sense and seem to correspond with incremental amounts I recall Congress approving.
According to their site as of 8:45 AM:
Total Cost: $484,790,361,120
Cost to Illinois Residents: $26,250,842,604
Cost to DuPage County Residents: $2,784,751,083
...and rising.
Eli,
Per your request, I put a note in your original post. If I change it altogether some of the subsequent comments wouldn't make any sense at all.
Now, are you sure about the math? The DuPage County portion? Or is the decimal supposed to be a comma? Because your math still makes no sense. Total cost of war is $26 billion? (I thought Congress was approving funding increments several times greater than that) and yet DuPage's share is $2.7 billion, more than 10 percent the total cost of war? I think you do mean trillion.
Ack, I'm sorry, billion, not trillion. If you could edit my original post to avoid further confusion that would be cool. Everything else is correct. My source for the original $26.235 billion figure (Which is $26.250 billion today.) is http://www.costofwar.com - The National Priorities Project.
They go as far as breaking it down by county too. DuPage county by itself, for example, has contributed $2.784 billion.
Joe,
Predator mistakenly thought you posted the comment about the Iraq war costing $26 trillion so far, a comment actually made by Eli Hodapp.
Predator,
The commenter's name appears under the line below the post above it--it's confusing, I know.
Eli,
What's your source for the $26 trillion figure?
Predator,
26 trillion what? What are you referring to?
Thank God for Mike Connelly on the DuPage County board. He is the ONLY board member that voted against putting a referendum on the ballot for DuPage county in Feb. Turns out he was right on the money.
Hey Joe,
26 trillion? Do the math....
Fare increases MUST be part of the solution...
I think we're seeing startling developments this afternoon with Gov. Blagojevich saying for the first time he would support a sales tax increase to fund mass transit in the Chicago area. Check Friday's Sun for details about how this would affect DuPage's desire to increase sales tax to fund public safety and other services.
Ah Eli, Eli, Eli,
Precisely what planet do you live on?
Based upon your inane comments, we should have never gone to war with people who invaded our country, killed innocent citizens and have continued to do everything within their power to bring our standard of living down to some subhuman, 15th century level.
Further, everybody who drives a car down Highway 88 (The Ronald Regan toll way) should stop what they are doing and ride a bicycle to work every day instead. Good idea, maybe they should use lightweight racing bikes made from carbon fibers (oops, there’s that bad word again, you know, carbon).
Oh Eli you treasonous fool, you should get down on your secular knees each night and thank my God and George Bush for keeping you alive for the last six and one-half years.
I would love to see people such as yourself being prosecuted for high treason and then shot at sunrise, only after a fair trial of course. Maybe then the rhetoric of your ilk would begin to change. As an alternative, you could be sent to Baghdad, forced into the Al Qaeda and see what life is like for subservient Muslim women, assuming you are a woman.
As for your idiotic comments regarding mass transit, when was the last time you tried to park at either the Naperville or Route 59 Metra stations? It would seem to me that there are vast numbers of people who would love to take mass transit, but cannot because some moronic bureaucrat does not see the need to provide adequate parking so that everyone can avail themselves of a fun mass transit ride on a commuter train.
I suggest that someone as learned and leftist as yourself should purchase a one-way ticket to San Francisco (put some flowers in your hair) and join the communist demise of the largest state in the union. As California slowly sinks into third worldishness and becomes the newest Mexican state, the remainder of the country can vote to give California back to Mexico and let them deal with the loonies who inhabit the place.
Far less Naperville residents need the bus system than currently use it. Cars are exspensive and a hassel, buses are cheap and relatively hassel free! I ride my bike or walk to the train station. I am fortunate that (for me) it's only a little more than a mile, but others do this as well and many more could join us. Save some money, save the frustration and get a little exercise at the same time. Forget the bus! If you want to continue with an elaborate bus system then YOU pay for it (bus riders). Higher fares are only fair.
If I'm not mistaken, a proper public transportation bailout is going to cost the state $500 million? To put things in to perspective, as of this morning, Illinois residents have supported the circus in Iraq to the tune of $26.235 trillion. (See correction below) 1.9% of the money Illinois has contributed for George W to live out his fantasies as commander of Team America: World Police would have secured the future of public transportation and insured the prosperity of the people who depend on it.
It is irresponsible for Illinois lawmakers to not come up with a long term plan for public transportation. The high-dollar jobs that are required to own a Naperville mini-mansion, pay out the nose in property taxes, and pay the salaries of these jokers in City Hall and down in Springfield largely don't exists in Naperville- They're in Chicago. What's the easiest (and generally most economical) way to get there? Here's a clue: It's not riding your brakes down I-88 for two hours at 20 miles an hour.
It has never made sense to me why so much emphasis has been put on expanding the Illinois tollway system while Metra, Pace, and the CTA have always had their heads on the chopping block. If Metra actually had the funding to implement their "Star Line" (A new train line which goes from Joliet to O'Hare, hitting the end stops of each of the existing Metra lines such as Aurora in our case.) and the bus systems were expanded to have more than a few dozen stops, it's conceivable that the tollway systems in their current form would be more than enough to handle the traffic.
The prices of gasoline work on supply and demand. Imagine if everyone who idles down I-88 to Chicago and back every day in their 8 MPG four wheel drive urban assault vehicles, that's ten gallons of gas saved daily by taking the train. 50 gallons across the entire work week. PER PERSON. The excess of gas in the economy could potentially cause prices to plummet, making weekend road trips an affordable getaway. (Instead of now where it costs $100 in gas to get to Milwaukee and back.)
I could go on for hours about the benefits of not only funding public transportation in its current form, but freeing up more government money to expand. Debating whether or not there's a "need" for public transportation is ridiculous, and I encourage everyone to not re-elect anyone who is being wishy washy on their stance of funding public transportation or who has voted down previous efforts to secure it's future in Chicago.
Will not impact me, but I know a lot of people that it will.
Sometimes in life there are things that will not operate at a profit or even on a break-even basis but you fund them because they are needed and they provide value to those who rely upon it.
Think of it as a grant for funding a hydrocarbon reduction program.