10/31/07 CTA and county news update

Now the city is going to take desk-duty cops and have them hang around schools that will be most affected by the elimination of certain bus routes. That's a good idea, in as much as it has the police actually working to reduce the influence of gangs in bad areas. Gee, Mr. Mayor, what a brilliant idea!

Meanwhile, the county government is up to its usual shenanigans in hiring. It's the usual wasteful patronage stuff that won't go away until voters realize that a Stroger may not be the best guy to run the county. I'm not holding my breath since blacks here vote so monolithically.

UPDATE: How could I miss this the first time around? Here's the usual extreme sob story of the day, courtesy of intrepid Sun-Times reportes Ben Goldberger. Apparently, someone who lives in THE SUBURBS is going to be affected my CTA cuts and fare increases. Gee, no kidding. Here's the good stuff:

By the time he returns home at the end of the day, Riggins, a married 20-year-old with no car and a full-time job, has transferred at least four times -- and spent nearly $10. And that's just when he's stationed at a West Side hospital. Some days he's assigned to jobs in Oak Park, Orland Park, Melrose Park, Tinley Park, Cicero or the Loop. Mass transit is the only way he has to get to any of them.

"It's costing me a pretty penny, costing me too much," Riggins said Tuesday. And as someone wholly dependent on the CTA, Riggins says the doomsday fare increases scheduled to take effect Sunday put a tight squeeze on an already limited budget.

"I'm going to have to stop doing everything I used to do for fun. If I want to eat, that's out of the question right now. It's costing me too much. Something's really got to change."

"This is a big part of my life," Riggins said of the CTA, "and I'm mad at the governor for not getting down there and signing that bill. He had plenty of time, and they say if he doesn't get it signed by January it's going to get even worse. And with winter coming, man."

Now what's not mentioned in the story? How about this: why doesn't he have a car? Has he had a bunch of DUI's or does he blow all his money on fancy stuff? Who knows? I'm guessing it's not because the car fairy hasn't yet left one under his pillow yet like she's done for everyone else.

So an extra $2 to $4 a day is going to cut out all of his fun money? This also isn't questioned, but rather it's taken for granted to be true. I don't believe it. Even granting that it would be true, this guy has clearly made some terrible life choices to even be in this position. I don't have a lot of sympathy for him.

The real problem is that he's allowed himself to become so dependent on cheap, publicly subsidized transportation. That's NOT a reason for forcing taxpayers all over the state to prop up a wasteful beaurocracy.