Chicago Transport Association
@chitransportassoc.bsky.social
Chicago transport, bikes, walking, zoning, biz, but no guarantee we won’t talk about something else. Don’t take all posts literally.
Also Fediverse/Threads: [email protected]
Also Fediverse/Threads: [email protected]
Pinned
Chair of @chicagocta.bsky.social Board has concerns about the transit reform bill. Says that Chicago may have given up too much local control over the CTA. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/21/o...
Lester L. Barclay: Transit funding was secured, but the CTA paid a price
Illinois’ public transit bill marks the end of Chicago’s autonomy over its own system.
www.chicagotribune.com
Nah. I think we’re good trying something else. The current way doesn’t work, and that’s what the chair suggests continues.
Example: Red Line extension that should have just been a repurpose of the Metra Electric infrastructure
Example: Red Line extension that should have just been a repurpose of the Metra Electric infrastructure
Canada has most of the best transit in North America
December 7, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Canada has most of the best transit in North America
Can Democrats like try to force the general public to be more aware of this shit. Make it hard for them to not know.
Don’t worry, I’m not voting Republican, just telling Democrats to get it together
Don’t worry, I’m not voting Republican, just telling Democrats to get it together
NEWS: On day of Kristi Noem visit to Chicago, federal immigration agents use tear gas on Elgin crowd. By Rebecca Johnson and @staceywescott.bsky.social
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/06/i...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/06/i...
On day of Kristi Noem visit to Chicago, federal immigration agents use tear gas on Elgin crowd
Federal immigration agents deployed tear gas and pepper spray Saturday on a crowd that gathered to protest a prolonged arrest in a northwest Chicago suburb, angering neighbors who said it’s “uncall…
www.chicagotribune.com
December 7, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Can Democrats like try to force the general public to be more aware of this shit. Make it hard for them to not know.
Don’t worry, I’m not voting Republican, just telling Democrats to get it together
Don’t worry, I’m not voting Republican, just telling Democrats to get it together
Reposted by Chicago Transport Association
After this, federal agents tear gassed the public on their way out of Elgin, per our photographer who was present. The Feds tear gassed eight Chicago neighborhoods this fall and now a suburb.
In Elgin, ICE agents have been in a standoff with the community as they’re trying to arrest a man. Here’s an altercation between the feds and residents ending with arrest and pepper spray. Video from Sophia Peterson
December 6, 2025 at 9:45 PM
After this, federal agents tear gassed the public on their way out of Elgin, per our photographer who was present. The Feds tear gassed eight Chicago neighborhoods this fall and now a suburb.
No way this guy is worse than the drug kingpin Trump pardoned this week
Video footage going around of what appear to be Border Patrol agents chasing folks in someone’s backyard here in Chicagoland
December 5, 2025 at 11:39 PM
No way this guy is worse than the drug kingpin Trump pardoned this week
The station needs to be reconstructed, but does it need to have $180 million of reconstruction?
Most people would prefer if they ran more trains
chicago.suntimes.com/transportati...
Most people would prefer if they ran more trains
chicago.suntimes.com/transportati...
CTA State/Lake station closing until 2029 for construction beginning next month
The planned station will feature wider platforms, new elevators for full ADA accessibility, a glass canopy, and improved lighting and visibility.
chicago.suntimes.com
December 4, 2025 at 6:42 PM
The station needs to be reconstructed, but does it need to have $180 million of reconstruction?
Most people would prefer if they ran more trains
chicago.suntimes.com/transportati...
Most people would prefer if they ran more trains
chicago.suntimes.com/transportati...
This city is filled with vacant lots in high demand areas. Let’s make them less attractive to keep empty by properly taxing the opportunity cost of having vacant lots.
Plenty of places on the north side but also places like near the Jefferson Park CTA. Vacant lots, vacant storefronts.
Plenty of places on the north side but also places like near the Jefferson Park CTA. Vacant lots, vacant storefronts.
Neither the EY report nor the mayor’s Chicago Financial Future Task Force mentioned a totally free option for raising revenue: changing land use controls to grow the tax base
Stef explains what City Council can do. @aldconway.bsky.social
Stef explains what City Council can do. @aldconway.bsky.social
Budget Talks are Missing One Key Option
Importantly, an option completely in City Council’s control
citythatworks.substack.com
December 4, 2025 at 3:53 PM
This city is filled with vacant lots in high demand areas. Let’s make them less attractive to keep empty by properly taxing the opportunity cost of having vacant lots.
Plenty of places on the north side but also places like near the Jefferson Park CTA. Vacant lots, vacant storefronts.
Plenty of places on the north side but also places like near the Jefferson Park CTA. Vacant lots, vacant storefronts.
Agreed that the city needs to install more loading zones so that trucks don’t need to double park in bike lanes. Let’s do that and then get this rolling
chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/20...
chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/20...
Business concerns stall plan to let Chicagoans flag crosswalk, bus and bike lane parking scofflaws
Ald. Daniel La Spata agreed to put a hold on his proposed citizen reporting ordinance in hopes of striking a compromise that could appease the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and the Chicagoland...
chicago.suntimes.com
December 4, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Agreed that the city needs to install more loading zones so that trucks don’t need to double park in bike lanes. Let’s do that and then get this rolling
chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/20...
chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/20...
Reposted by Chicago Transport Association
O'Hara: "There's folks that are masked, they may be kidnapping people. We have had those reports. The community should know that if you see something like that, you should call 911. Let's not forget -- we very recently had tragedy in this state by someone who was purporting to be law enforcement."
December 2, 2025 at 7:57 PM
O'Hara: "There's folks that are masked, they may be kidnapping people. We have had those reports. The community should know that if you see something like that, you should call 911. Let's not forget -- we very recently had tragedy in this state by someone who was purporting to be law enforcement."
The county does not charge enough property tax on empty lots in otherwise expensive areas
How much of the Lincoln Yards site would be developed by now if the city had simply passed a blanket upzone (say to DX-7 or 10) and Sterling Bay subdivided and sold the site to smaller builders? How much more money would they have made? How much money would the city have saved?
December 3, 2025 at 1:09 AM
The county does not charge enough property tax on empty lots in otherwise expensive areas
What happened to the “worst of the worst?” Apparently they are too hard to find, so they pick off people contributing to society instead
Nearly 1,900 immigrants were detained during the first half of Operation Midway Blitz. Most had no criminal record, newly released federal data shows. @joemahr.bsky.social and @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social report
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/01/o...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/01/o...
Nearly 1,900 immigrants were detained during the first half of Operation Midway Blitz. Most had no criminal record.
Newly released federal data shows that immigration agents booked in roughly 1,900 immigrants in the first half of Operation Midway Blitz – two-thirds of whom had no known criminal convictions or pe…
www.chicagotribune.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:28 PM
What happened to the “worst of the worst?” Apparently they are too hard to find, so they pick off people contributing to society instead
This story further calls into question the competency of whoever the Mayor has in charge of this.
They won’t explain themselves to the market or to the city & they didn’t flag this prior to the start of the market.
Find a solution, guys! Don’t kill the market!
www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/c...
They won’t explain themselves to the market or to the city & they didn’t flag this prior to the start of the market.
Find a solution, guys! Don’t kill the market!
www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/c...
December 2, 2025 at 1:03 AM
This story further calls into question the competency of whoever the Mayor has in charge of this.
They won’t explain themselves to the market or to the city & they didn’t flag this prior to the start of the market.
Find a solution, guys! Don’t kill the market!
www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/c...
They won’t explain themselves to the market or to the city & they didn’t flag this prior to the start of the market.
Find a solution, guys! Don’t kill the market!
www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/c...
Ventra is down for Metra tickets. They are giving free rides to all. Not great.
December 1, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Ventra is down for Metra tickets. They are giving free rides to all. Not great.
Metra has a real problem with black ice at the Ravenswood station. The fact that the sidewalk is painted with something obscured this. Be careful out there!
December 1, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Metra has a real problem with black ice at the Ravenswood station. The fact that the sidewalk is painted with something obscured this. Be careful out there!
Johnson could learn something from this guy. Instead of breaking the Chriskindlmarket, why isn’t Johnson fixing whatever the problem is?
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/30/c...
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/30/c...
November 30, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Johnson could learn something from this guy. Instead of breaking the Chriskindlmarket, why isn’t Johnson fixing whatever the problem is?
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/30/c...
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/30/c...
This is a great feature that I personally used to avoid buying a house that had a basement level garage, situated within a flood plain
Lol, Zillow tried to rate the climate risks facing individual properties. The real estate industry *hated* it, precisely because it worked -- it made selling risky properties more difficult. So they rebelled & Zillow caved.
Don't look up!
Don't look up!
Zillow Removes Climate Risk Scores From Home Listings
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 10:00 PM
This is a great feature that I personally used to avoid buying a house that had a basement level garage, situated within a flood plain
What is with this administration?
Do they not like the tourist dollars flowing into the city that this brings?
They say there is a budget crisis but then they do this.
Do they not like the tourist dollars flowing into the city that this brings?
They say there is a budget crisis but then they do this.
The weirdest local story in Chicago right now is City Hall messing with the Christkindlmarket in Daley plaza. They’ve dramatically cut capacity to half of what it was during COVID (???)
A beloved local tradition getting hassled, why????
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/28/c...
A beloved local tradition getting hassled, why????
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/28/c...
Christkindlmarket vendors ‘hopeful’ for resolution over new Daley Center capacity limit
City officials have put a 1,553-visitor limit on the Christkindlmarket, affecting vendors and putting the nearly 30-year-long event at risk.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 29, 2025 at 2:46 PM
What is with this administration?
Do they not like the tourist dollars flowing into the city that this brings?
They say there is a budget crisis but then they do this.
Do they not like the tourist dollars flowing into the city that this brings?
They say there is a budget crisis but then they do this.
A thing to remember is that their entire justification for this is that the people they are taking are dangerous criminals. And this has been proven not true, time and time again. Even their own statements put their success rate at below 3%.
A Border Patrol agent under Gregory Bovino wrote a report using ChatGPT and was texting with “Allmightywhity,” bodycam footage reviewed by the @chicagotribune.com shows.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/28/b...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/28/b...
Bodycam footage from Operation Midway Blitz released: ‘It’s all about arresting people’
The group of videos made public through the Loevy & Loevy law firm includes footage from agents who responded to controversial arrest operations in the Little Village and Irving Park neighborho…
www.chicagotribune.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:37 PM
A thing to remember is that their entire justification for this is that the people they are taking are dangerous criminals. And this has been proven not true, time and time again. Even their own statements put their success rate at below 3%.
Reposted by Chicago Transport Association
It's crazy to hear how many people are driving into this neighborhood recklessly.
November 27, 2025 at 1:10 AM
It's crazy to hear how many people are driving into this neighborhood recklessly.
This story doesn’t explain the reason for the Christkindlmarket attendance restrictions. Reducing by 4,000 to 1,000 is a lot! What is Johnson not telling us?
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/26/c...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/26/c...
November 27, 2025 at 2:38 PM
This story doesn’t explain the reason for the Christkindlmarket attendance restrictions. Reducing by 4,000 to 1,000 is a lot! What is Johnson not telling us?
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/26/c...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/26/c...
Reposted by Chicago Transport Association
I need everybody to read this and understand what’s going on. These are spouses of US citizens in the country legally. They have entry clearance and green cards, they’ve passed background checks and have no criminal records. ICE is taking them anyway.
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:40 PM
I need everybody to read this and understand what’s going on. These are spouses of US citizens in the country legally. They have entry clearance and green cards, they’ve passed background checks and have no criminal records. ICE is taking them anyway.
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Irving Park needs to lose half the bus stops it has
I completed my final count. Out of 10,511 bus stops, I found that 4,360 (41%) of them could be removed to align with national best practices of 1/4 mile spacing. Long-form explainer article and an interactive map are forthcoming. Green dots are removed stops, black are kept stops.
November 26, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Irving Park needs to lose half the bus stops it has
Reposted by Chicago Transport Association
In other NEWS: Masked agents took at least 15 street vendors from Chicago during Operation Midway Blitz. “Worst of the worst,” they aren’t. Story by @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social & @zareensyed.bsky.social about neighbors rallying to support culture under attack www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/25/c...
As ICE detains longtime Chicago street vendors with no criminal history, neighbors rally with emergency funds
As longtime vendors quietly disappear from the corners they’ve held for years, community organizations and neighbors are scrambling to support those taken, their families and those still working on…
www.chicagotribune.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:54 PM
In other NEWS: Masked agents took at least 15 street vendors from Chicago during Operation Midway Blitz. “Worst of the worst,” they aren’t. Story by @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social & @zareensyed.bsky.social about neighbors rallying to support culture under attack www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/25/c...
Think of your typical jerk police officer and make it 1000x worse and you have Bovino.
Here’s Bovino defending the use of tear gas in the Old Irving Park neighborhood before a Halloween party.
November 25, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Think of your typical jerk police officer and make it 1000x worse and you have Bovino.
Reposted by Chicago Transport Association
Today, after months of requests, I toured the Broadview ICE Processing Facility. I want to share what I saw.
The facility has no food vendor, no medical care, and detainees have to use toilets in the middle of shared cells. These are in no way suitable conditions to be holding anyone — period.
The facility has no food vendor, no medical care, and detainees have to use toilets in the middle of shared cells. These are in no way suitable conditions to be holding anyone — period.
November 25, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Today, after months of requests, I toured the Broadview ICE Processing Facility. I want to share what I saw.
The facility has no food vendor, no medical care, and detainees have to use toilets in the middle of shared cells. These are in no way suitable conditions to be holding anyone — period.
The facility has no food vendor, no medical care, and detainees have to use toilets in the middle of shared cells. These are in no way suitable conditions to be holding anyone — period.
Was happy to see that the city closed Washington for the weekend Christkindlmarket, but sad they didn’t actually expand the market to the street. Instead, it had a giant line. Seems like Clark would be perfect to close for the duration of the market, and allow it to expand. #Chicago
November 24, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Was happy to see that the city closed Washington for the weekend Christkindlmarket, but sad they didn’t actually expand the market to the street. Instead, it had a giant line. Seems like Clark would be perfect to close for the duration of the market, and allow it to expand. #Chicago