Monday's p.m. rush hour at Union Station will be backdrop for news conference with business, university, and elected leaders
(Chicago)
…
Metropolitan
Chicago
is Illinois’ economic engine: two-thirds of
the state’s population lives here, and two-thirds of total state revenue
is generated here. Without a strong, accountable and reliable public
transportation system, Chicagoland could easily be in the ranks
of
Cleveland …
or
Detroit.
Alarmed by what’s at stake
for the region and state if Metra, Pace, and the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
must cut service and raise fares, the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) will
hold a news conference at Union Station in the Loop on Monday, June 25, at 3
p.m. Business leaders, university officials, and state legislators will unite to
ask Gov. Rod Blagojevich to support a fix for the region’s ailing transit
system.
The Illinois House Mass
Transit Committee has passed a bipartisan bill that would provide funding and
induce reform for the region’s transit agencies, but Gov. Blagojevich has
threatened a veto due to the measure’s sales tax increase. “By standing in the
way of a regional sales tax increase, which would provide an adequate,
sustainable source of funding for public transportation, the governor will do
more harm than good to the region’s working people and to local businesses,”
said
Peter Skosey
, MPC vice president
of external relations. “All three transit agencies need a stable, sufficient
revenue source to operate, maintain and expand service. Without it, they all
will be forced to raise fares and reduce service year after year, more and more
working people will have to dig deeper into their pockets to get around, and the
resulting increase in traffic congestion will drive business away from
metropolitan
Chicago
, hurting the entire
state.”
WHAT:
News conference with area
business, university and elected leaders, to tell Gov. Rod Blagojevich that
entire transit system needs stable, adequate funding
WHEN:
Monday, June 25, 2007, 3
p.m.
WHERE:
Union Station, on the sidewalk
between
the Adams
Street and Jackson
Boulevard
entrances
WHO:
Sen. John
J. Cullerton (D-Chicago)
Chicago Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward)
Chicago Ald.
Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward)
Beth Hayden, Senior Vice President of Human
Resources, Jones Lang LaSalle
Mary K. Ludgin, Managing Director &
Director, Investment Research, Heitman; Co-Chair, Metropolitan Planning Council
Urban Development Committee
Sandra Pruett, AFSCME Local 1215,
transit-dependent city library worker
Peter Skosey, Vice
President
of External Relations, Metropolitan Planning Council
John Wozniak, President, Harold Washington College
For more information, contact Mandy Burrell, MPC
communications associate, at 312.863.6018 or
mburrell@metroplanning.org
.