Do I have a corn?
I want to get started. Like,
good morning everybody. Good morning
Church. The Committee
on Transportation,
the Public Way is now called to order.
We will now have a roll call to establish a quorum
where the alderman, please make sure their
microphones are muted.
Please note that your yes
or present response will be deemed
to be a yes vote when this quorum roll call is
used as a reference.
Vote for a later item. Thank you,
chairman Mitchell, president Vice Chair
Vazquez Ottman Conway.
Chairman Irvin. Ottoman Fuentes. Ottman Gutierrez. Chris.
Chairman Harris. Chairman Hopkins. Alderman Moore.
Altman Mosley. Alderman Nugent.
Ottman Rodriguez. Chant Rodriguez. Sorry. Uh, Ottman Wapac.
Alderman Yancy. There are 12 members present.
We have a quorum.
Altman Irvin has requested remote participation under Rule
59 of the rules of order and procedure of the city Council.
Can I get a motion from, uh, alderman Gutierrez
to allow remote participation for Alderman Irving?
So moved. Alderman Gutierrez. So moves on the motion.
All in favor say aye. Those opposed no.
Any opinion of chair? The ayes have
it at this time.
We will begin the public comment period.
Out of respect for everybody's time.
The public comment, um, will be limited to 30 minutes
and each speaker is limited to three minutes.
Alright? All right, everyone, um,
bear with me on this one.
Uh, we have a meeting going on in finance
and one of the issues with public comment is that they,
they, they get on us about not allowing them to speak.
So I'm gonna give them a little latitude
and allow them to finish up over there
and come over here so they can, so they can,
um, have public comment.
Yes. So,
yeah.
So in light of that,
I'll stand at ease for about five minutes.
Thank you.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Blakewood, for your information, we had a quorum,
our recess, to allow you guys to finish up over in finance
to come over here so you can be on public comment.
You're welcome. We're working on it, Mr. Blake.
All right. Um, again, at this time,
I would get a public comment period out
of respect for everybody's time.
Public comment will be limited to 30 minutes,
and each speaker is limited to three minutes.
Um, my first public speaker is Mr. George Blakemore,
For allow for me.
He didn't around you to seek you, accept you.
Anyway, I was trying to educate.
Is this speaker on? I'm trying to educate the public
At no time in no government body,
should you all have two meetings at the same time.
At no time. What you are doing, you are trying
to split the individual up.
Half of Mr. Blakemore can come to your committee
and half of can go to Pat Dole.
This is bad government, bad public policy.
But did you hear Mr. Blakemore using all
this bugger language?
Yes. But
because you all are bugger people
to allow this, now this been going on with you,
Mr. Mitchell, for about three
or four meetings, you know better.
Why don't you do better?
Promise us that this will never happen to us again.
Will you do this? Promises made, but not promises tell.
I'm not like these other actors.
I'm not trying to get my mama's property
or nothing like that.
I'm trying to free all my black people off
of this damn black case.
Mama. Sell out black people so I don't care.
And you don't care either.
So you say, oh, the man was cursing.
He used all kind of profanity. This was profane.
What you allow to happen here. It happened one time.
It, that's the second time Now. This is the third time.
Maybe it's something wrong with you
and the members of this committee.
So I'm going to say, I'm leaving it up to you.
What are you going to do?
Are you going to change this next
time you have this meeting?
They won't be at the same date and the same time.
If not, you know, I'm gonna get real bugger. Mr.
Blakemore, you, you supposed
to be an intelligent articulate man.
You supposed to be trying to educate your people.
I want all of y'all, if that ever happens again, don't,
don't curse, don't curse, Mr.
Blakemore. You know what you can kiss.
You know it. Shake your head all you want.
I can't laugh about you, you, or you.
So never let that happen again.
Never having two damn meeting at the same damn time.
Never let it happen again.
All right. Our next, uh,
public speaker is Jessica Jackson.
Now, well, I am here about my mama's property straight up.
Okay? Now here's the thing.
Now I've told you all over
and over again about how they steal black people's property
in Cook County and the city.
And you wanna act like you don't know. All right?
Well peep this. It's people in this room that know
what I'm saying is true.
This right here is a will. It's my mother's will.
You see, it was foul August 9th, 2016.
Uh, Conway Conway, you might wanna pay attention
'cause you a prosecutor, you a prosecutor.
See that? This is why we can't vote Democrat.
Anyway, this is a will
signed notarized full will.
I got this filed October 21st, 2024 from
Louis Apostle Public Administration office,
where he says on item number
one on July 4th, 2016, the decedent
and says, my mother's name, Mary Lou Thomas,
died interstate.
Do you all know what interstate means? I-N-T-E-S-T-A-T-E.
It means when a person dies without a will
and when they die without a will.
That's the reason why public administration would have
to step in and govern that estate.
My mother had a will filed in the court.
So this means that they committed fraud
and perjury on a court document signed by
Thomas Liam Weber.
Now tell the truth. Alderman Greg Mitchell, tell the truth.
On September 19th, 2024, did you
Alderman Tyler Faroh
and a representative from Commissioner Bill Laurie's office
named Lamont Williams?
Did you all meet with public administrators Leah Koski
and public administrator Thomas Liam Weber,
about this issue?
Absolutely. Did you all
so show a fraudulent petition that was signed
by Leah Joe Koski that showed that they had fraudulently
put my mother's estate in public administration?
Yes or no? Yes. So now find way, you know, as,
as a prosecutor that they have broken the law.
You need to go get them Louis Apostle from the public
administrator office.
Now, if they don't do it, then America,
look at the Democratic Party.
Carmela Harris, that's a black man.
Those was black men that was in that meeting.
She wanted make like she support black men.
Support those black public officials. Call her.
She had the DNC here. Call her. Tell her what they doing.
If she don't respond, America pay attention
that Carmela Harris ain't about black people.
This is why it's 2024. Donald Trump.
Donald Trump 2024.
The next public speaker is Taiwan Sims.
Good morning committee. So I'm just here
with the same information
that I shared like a few months ago.
The second one, um, it's involving a case
in the Northern Districts case number two, two CV 5 6 9 1.
It was involving two officers
that attacked me at Rogers Park while I was traveling
since this pedestrian way.
But black Americans don't got that right
to just freely travel in they cars
or do anything walking while black.
What, what, what Mr. Blakemore, Mr.
Blakemore got all the best sayings of
how they treat you while you black,
especially our city officials on
how they treat us while we black or American, period.
'cause whatever the agenda is in this room saw me as,
or has seen me for the last four years trying to avoid
fraudulent cops corruption by city officials,
Maria Hadden and her north side gangsta crew,
or the people that thought they was
gonna continue to play in my life.
Hey Vasquez, you smiling up there
smirking, but y'all took that picture.
Y'all, y'all pointed y'all selves out.
Y'all pointed y'all selves out when y'all stood in front
of the 24th district.
You manah, Homan works.
And who all y'all pointed y'all selves out?
Because I that took place right there.
Those criminals came outta that district the 24th.
But y'all wanna, I see y'all uphold those certain
cops while y'all what?
Try to defund all the other good cops y'all wanna uphold
y'all criminal force that y'all have erected in the, um,
CPD, huh?
So that's what, so the, so
that y'all can weaponize them continuously more
and more against people like me and myself, right?
So I have people coming around me telling me
that I ain't got no rights
'cause they got on a blue uniform
lay, you ain't a cop to me.
When you disrespect me. That mean you take a,
you transforming into something else
and then I'm able to take care of myself in a different way.
Don't think that, look, I don't respect none of that.
Like the people that look none of that.
And I don't respect people that abuse their authority either
or thought they was gonna abuse their authority.
Y'all took me away from my child, my finances
and everything, and I'm gonna take y'all away from
everything that y'all stand for, stood for
'cause y'all criminals, crooks with this agenda.
You c Joe Lopez, the one
who wanna hold black Americans outta housing.
I've been in this room 11 months now, today,
this will be the, this will be the 11 month
where you ask me, have you got your issue?
You know about my issue as my representative.
Why it ain't taken care of Mr.
Where's the joke at you?
Had you had a great joke today to share right in there.
So tell me, because I'm not the laughing stock,
which y'all will be for every humiliation,
for every disrespect that I've suffered under,
y'all gonna suffer more.
I'm not unaware of it. I know
where it came from outta this body of people that thought
that they would wield, not represent,
but wield their automatic power
by any means necessary against what,
how much does it cost to finance that?
Which can we go back over to finance and ask that?
How much does it cost to finance a small
attack on a citizen?
Mr. Vasquez,
Uh, uh, thank you for your public comment, Mr. Sims.
Uh, the next speaker is Ms. Danielle Carter,
Especially.
Yeah, cook, real Cook, cook. Oh no,
It's on, it's on.
Um, I've been, um, my husband,
it's a 28-year-old retired police.
Um, 28. He's been 28 years on the force.
Spent 28 years on the force. He retired in December.
I've been complaining and telling
and calling about illegals
and our neighborhood setting up shop
on every corner with entire
restaurants with hot food,
selling it on every corner in my neighborhood.
Now you all, they, I have a, I you all said,
or somebody said, when I called, they said that they, uh,
they doing something about it,
but every time I seen a call, it seemed like they,
I just went Sunday and filmed it
because they're still out there.
So what I'm saying is this, you
all keep spending our money on illegals.
You all gave them free everything.
My taxes have went up tremendously.
We are in the billion dollar deficit.
We are asking you all to stop spending money on illegals,
especially when they're making money on the street.
That's, that they're not paying taxes on.
So we can't get no help, you all.
And then Mayor j uh, well, he ain't the mayor.
John Johnson just stood up there said, instead
of stopping the illegals from coming in,
he's still letting them come in.
So now since we can't get no help
or get the people that we put in office to help us,
which is our alderman, our mayor, our governor,
our president, we are not gonna keep begging you all.
We are not gonna ask you all anymore.
We are going straight to the person who we know, listen
to America, who we know is concerned about
American citizens, everybody.
So we are advocating
and we are asking everybody, and we are pushing it.
And I think we are successful to vote Trump in office
after he vote, he get in office.
We are going there, we are going to d dc
and we are definitely letting him know
how we feel about sanctuary cities that we don't want them,
and we are gonna ask him to make it his business,
to deport all these people who are on government welfare,
who are taking all taxes,
and that you all are taking our taxes
and spending it on them and not on us.
So you all gonna keep taking our resources after that?
We are coming for the governor's seat.
We coming for the mayor's seats,
and we are definitely coming for you all
because the world is watching,
and I'm telling you right now, we are very serious about.
Thank you, Ms. Carter. Um, all right,
that concludes the public comment period.
At this time, uh, I wanna recognize Ottman instance
for purpose of quorum.
Um, I move to approve the Rule 45 report
for the Committee on Transportation
and Public Weight meeting held on September 30th, 2024.
Can I get a motion from Vice Chairman Vasquez
to recommend approve of this item?
Vice Chairman Vasquez. So moves on the motion.
All in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed? No.
Any opinion of the chair? The ayes have.
Okay, today we have 10 items on the agenda.
Going outta order on page three,
item one is a substitute ordinance
for a miscellaneous item located in the third ward.
Going outta order on page four,
item one is a substitute ordinance
for a miscellaneous item located in the 35th ward.
Can I get a motion to accept the substitute ordinance on
into community honor and Yancy?
So moves on the motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?
No. And the opinion of the chair,
the ayes have it going out.
Order on page two
and three, include 15 ordinance
for miscellaneous items introduced
by the local alderman from Wards
3, 20, 23, 25, 26, 28, 35, 36,
and 42.
Can I get a motion to recommend approval of these items?
Move Altman fu uh, gut. So moves on the motion.
All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? No.
And depending of the chair, the ayes it
going outta order on page four, item one,
congratulating the CTA on their DNC operations
resolution 2 0 2 4 0 0 1 3 1 4 7.
Recognition of Chicago Transit Authority
and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 2 41
and 3 0 8 on transportation work during 2024.
Democratic National Convention.
Going out of order on page five, item one, Blenheim Place,
ordinance 2 0 2 4 0 0 1 1 1 9 7
A pro, a proposed vacation of a remnant
of West Superior Street between North Willard Court
and the adjacent 13 foot wide
public alley in the area bounded by North Willard Court,
west Huron Street, north Racing Avenue,
and West Chicago Avenue.
The property is located in the 27th Ward here to speak.
We have witness Irene logos managing partner
of Bla Heim place.
LLC.
Chairman Mitchell?
Yes, chairman Alderman. Irv, you got me down?
Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.
There you go.
Sorry.
Okay, here it comes. All right.
All Right. Okay, Ms. Lo, take it away.
Thank you. Um, hello, committee members.
Um, I'm Irene LOEs.
I represent the 7 23 North Willard Court, uh, here with the,
um, Blenheim place, LLC.
And I'm here to get a request
for approval from the committee members with regard
to the proposed land vacation.
Um, from a company standpoint, we are a real estate,
uh, investor and developer.
We initially specialize in class A properties in the prime
real estate prime West loop area,
and then gradually expanded into the, um,
full gut rehabbing within the near near west side, such
as the west town and noble square area.
Uh, total of 5 million in total active portfolio,
10 properties managed today.
Um, uh, seven total gut rehabs
and remodeling projects thus far.
And today I'm here to talk about, uh, 7 23 North Willard,
where we are trying to do a, um, you know,
we've done a complete rehab on the interior of the building,
but what I'm here to, to, to request for is
to convert a portion of the area in the rear,
which currently belongs to the cdot, uh, for that
to be vacated back to as a private property.
Um, this property here that you see on the left hand side,
um, is currently a two upon acquisition.
It was a two unit multifamily, uh, with an RS three zoning.
We eventually went through a rezoning process, um, with the,
with the ultraman and the rest of the committee members, uh,
to, to convert this into a B two three.
Now today, this building, um, is a three illegal,
three dwelling units.
Um, we did an excavation of about three
and a half feet down to do an underpinning of the basement.
And, uh, a total of, uh, three units, two beds, two beds,
and then the basement is two bed, one beds, for example.
Um, I wanna take you to my next slide, which is where, um,
majority of the actually following slide, which is
where the information is presented.
You'll see that on the slide here is a
survey of the building.
Um, it is a standard lot with exception of the rear.
Back of that is not a perfect square or perfect rectangle.
The front half of that space is the property building as is
that we maintained, um, over the course
of the gut rehab process.
The gut rehab has been completed,
but I'm here for the land to pate, which is about, which is,
um, what do you call this, like a, um,
triangle shape on the rear, uh, on the northeast side
of the, of the, um, of the lot.
So this is actually boarded by the highway, uh, 90, 94,
and then it, um, crosses into the superior.
So this is what we call the superior remnants.
My ask here of the committee members is to, uh, request
for this to be vacated back, um, as a private property back
to the slot from a usage standpoint.
Um, from a usage standpoint, this is, this wants
to vacate back to us.
It will be converted into a detached parking space.
It's gonna be level against the back alley.
Um, bringing the total number
of parking spaces in the building to two, uh,
two parking spaces, size of the area to vacate about 200
or nine, one hundred and ninety two square feet.
We have worked with, um, attorney,
attorney Dolinsky here in house to, to,
to appraise the value.
It's about 2 20, 20 $8,000,
and we have committed to making that payment.
Um, assuming that we receive a yay from this committee,
expert assessments suggest that there's only normal utility
easements that exist on the subject property.
There's no other detrimental effect
on the value of the property.
Uh, no other environmental issues
have been uncovered as well.
Uh, per the expert assessment feedback.
Uh, that is the end of my quick, um, talk here today.
I would love to kinda get, um,
here if the committee has any questions, comments, uh,
for me, and, um, would love to obviously receive a,
an approval from the committee members here.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Loges.
Uh, any questions from the committee? Um, Ottoman Conway.
Uh, thank you very much for the presentation.
So my ward is just to the south of this,
and I know that on the properties in this area,
we often have, um, there are certain, uh, covenants
or restrictions involving idot.
Have, have you all checked into
that piece of this here? Right.
We have actually undergone, um, a complete assessment.
Um, this process was initially, um, aided through one
of the representative, uh, Rachel Devo.
So we did look through, ran through all of the survey,
the areas with the different, um, public utilities, uh,
you know, comment and others as well, to make sure
that it is consistent with, um,
that there's no detrimental effect once again on
utility easements, if that makes sense.
But is there any ownership interest in this property
by the Illinois Department of Transportation or other
Attorney? I did not hear anything like that.
Okay. Any, uh,
any more questions from members of the body?
If, if I may add one more comment here to the question
that was just posed.
Uh, what we do know of the reason
for why this was initially carved out as the part
of the CDOT IDOT was because back in the 1940s, forties
or fifties, they were trying to kind of create, um, a,
an alleyway in, in the event that they were wanted
to create a highway space, it was already created.
As we all know, I 90, 94,
and now that space is practically being, um, a part
of the living space.
Public, public alleyway for a lot of neighbors in
that space, but nothing to do.
It's very close to the ramp, um, off of den exit,
but, uh, it's not in any way, shape
or form impacting public transportation.
Okay. That's instructive. Thank you. We're moving pass.
All right. Thank you. Thank you for
that additional information.
If, uh, well, before we,
before we vote on the motion by honor MCC Conway to pass,
uh, the compensation due for this project is $28,000,
and the committee has received
and reviewed a letter of support from Alderman Burnett
on the motion by, uh, Altman.
Conway in favor say Aye. Opposed? No.
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
Thank you. As I need to take a step back, I got ahead
of myself on the resolution regarding, um, recognition
of the Chicago Trans Authority
and Amalgamated TransUnion local 2 41
and 3 0 8 on transportation work
during the 2024 Democratic Convention.
Can I get a motion to recommend approve of this item?
Uh, Ottoman Mosley. So, moves all those in favor, say Aye.
Opposed? No. And in favor of the chair of the ayes. Have it.
Thank you.
That's the rest, That's all. Okay.
Um, at this time, I'm gonna ask that the,
the individuals here for the appointment to RTA board,
please, uh, come up in, I'm gonna have all you guys sitting,
but we we're gonna address in, if the body doesn't mind,
we're gonna address each one separately,
but we're gonna have 'em all presented in, in front of us.
Ladies and gentlemen, don't look so excited.
You guys got it? I'm excited. I know you. All right.
All right. Good morning. Page two.
Item one is a mayoral appointment, a mayoral ordinance
for the appointment of our first Dennis j Moderno.
As a member of the RTA Board of Directors, uh,
a Amendment 2 0 2 4 0 0 1 3 5 3 9.
Appointment of Dennis j Moderno as a member
of the Regional Transportation Authority Board of Directors
for a term effective immediately
and expiring July 1st, 2027 to succeed Deborah Pay,
whose term has expired.
All right, so, uh, Mr. Moderno, go.
May I address the body? Go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning, chairman Mitchell,
vice Chairman Vasquez
and members of the City Council's Transportation Committee.
I'm Dennis Monero, one of Mayor Brandon Johnson's nominees
before you today for consideration as a board member
to the Regional Transportation Authority, the RTA.
For those who don't know me,
I'll provide a little background about myself.
I was born in the Philippines,
and when my family came to the us we moved
to Chicago when I was three years old,
living in the uptown neighborhood where I attended,
attended Brennaman Elementary in the 46th Ward.
One of my favorite childhood memories was taking the red
line with my dad to watch the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
I attended college at the University
of Illinois at Urbana Champaign,
and then went to law school at Indiana University.
I came back home and practiced law in both the private
sector and government.
My career eventually led me
to become Deputy Buildings
commissioner for the City of Chicago.
I also served at CTA, where I worked as Deputy Chief
of staff, and later became the CTAs
Chief Administrative Officer.
In that role, I managed about a thousand employees
who oversaw several functions of the CTA, such
as the HR department, purchasing warehouse,
and supply chain, strategic planning,
employee relations, and media.
For the past several years, I've been the executive director
of a nonprofit organization
that assists immigrants and refugees.
I grew the organization from about a hundred employees
to just over 400 employees in the city and suburbs.
When I left earlier this year,
and now I'm helping launch a new nonprofit.
My prior board service includes serving as the president
of the Asian American Bar Association of Greater Chicago,
and serving as a national board member for the Federation
of Filipino American Chambers of Commerce.
In my career, I've had a unique opportunity
to apply my skills to matters that are important
to me, such as immigration.
I'm thankful to Mayor Johnson
and honored that this possible appointment
to the RTA Board truly represents an opportunity for me,
an immigrant and a proud active member
of the Asian American community
to be immersed once against in something.
I absolutely love public transit.
If I'm approved, I pledge to work tirelessly to advocate
for a safe and equitable transit system
that will provide reliable service to all,
and particularly to the most vulnerable in our population.
Thank you again for this opportunity to meet with you all.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Ro.
Um, do we have any, uh, questions for this, uh,
appointee from, uh,
um, vice chair?
Are you yielding to? I, I? No doubt. Okay. Alright, Aman,
Uh, Dennis, uh, thank you for being here today,
and thank you for stepping up.
In fact, all of you, um, I have the same question
for each one of you actually.
Uh, three questions.
Um, in your conversations with the mayor,
what policy concerns were articulated by the mayor?
Um, in particular, I'd also like to know
what your thoughts are about the possible merger
and what your plans are
to help close the massive budget gap.
Um, which as of I believe it was May stood at $735 million,
and each one of you should be
able to address each one of those. Thank you.
Sure. Uh, I'll, uh, go ahead
and with the first, uh, what, uh, I, um, have spoken about
with, um, initially with, um, CPZ and,
and also with several other members
of the mayor's leadership team, is the, the desire
for the mayor to continue to have a robust, reliable,
efficient, safe,
and equitable, uh, transit system.
How can we get, uh, more riders to continue, uh, uh, to get,
uh, to pre pandemic levels, which we,
we've already nearly attained.
How, how do we like, build on that momentum?
And then how do we, uh, look at opportunities
to like increase equity, uh, for our, uh,
overall real system?
And, and honestly, it's, it's a pretty inspiring, um, uh,
message that I've received from the mayor's office.
Uh, regarding the second question, I,
and gosh, my, my wife is gonna say that I'm already like,
uh, uh, like failing in my memory.
No, it was the merger And then the, uh, budget. Okay.
So thank you. So, uh, what, you know, I, I've heard, uh,
a bit about the, the merger, uh,
the consolidate the potential
consolidation on the news, right?
And from, uh, I know that Eina Delgado, who I, I consider a,
a, a, a good friend and,
and someone I respect a lot is pushing it on the house side.
And, uh, Senator Villa on the, on the Senate side, I,
I don't know all the particulars yet.
I, I'm really, uh, chomping at the bit to, um, get briefed
by Leanne Redden, the executive director, uh, at RTA, uh, i,
I also know and respect Leanne.
Uh, so, uh, I, I'd say
that the devil's in the details, right?
Um, what, what's that gonna look like?
I think that for all of us as Chicago residents,
if there is a merger and there might be some, uh,
efficiencies that are gained, well, uh,
how much control do we, uh, lose
or not in terms of the, the overall strategy
and vision of what the system's gonna look like.
Uh, I saw an op-ed piece that popped up on cranes that, uh,
from the, I think the president
of McHenry County this morning was saying that they,
they wanna have and continue to have, uh,
more control on the overall system.
And, and so I think that whatever
that's gonna end up looking like,
I think there's gonna be a lot of conversations.
I will say this though,
I don't wanna see it like being c like ideally like CTA
against metro against pace, right?
Like, how do we grow the transit pie?
How do we get everyone, uh, not just the, the, uh,
the great city council and, and, and the mayor's leadership,
but like, how do we get legislators in the city and suburbs
and downstate to realize that the success
of Chicago is a success for,
for everyone in the state of Illinois?
And how do we, uh, like really get substantive funding
for transit that will make this whole system work?
So, so that's what I would really push to advocate for.
Excellent. Thank you, Dennis. Thank you, chairman.
Alright. Thank you. Um, MCC Conway, or are we gonna,
Are you gonna, uh, have each
of the five, or are we just started with Mr. ero and
Yes. Okay.
Okay, great. You know, I I, at the outset,
I will say this at least to all the nominees,
I wanna thank you all for being here.
And, but I think it's clear to everybody
that the general way this would have been done was
for you all to have been nominated
before the last council meeting,
and then we'd have a chance to get to know you
and get a sense of any
of any particular issues in your candidacies.
Uh, but that said, your candidacies are timely,
if not even tardy, frankly.
Um, the RTA board urgently needs experience leaders
to navigate critical issues, most notably,
the budget issues involving the extension of the red line,
which I hope you're all familiar with.
Uh, but, you know,
a recent close vote at the RTA board a few weeks ago
could have cost us $2 billion in, in federal funds on this
because of the, the lingering vacancies.
So, uh, it's important that we have knowledgeable members
who can make these, these strong financial decisions.
And based on the recent mass shooting on the CTA,
I don't need to tell any of you about this ongoing safety
issues and reliability concerns amongst, uh,
public transit here.
But, um, I cannot reiterate enough how highly unusual it is
to have your candidacies this soon.
This, this committee was notified at 12:33 PM on Friday
about, about all of your, about all of your nominations.
Uh, and it's my understanding
that you all weren't given much
notice, uh, more than that either.
And what hangs over this process is that this is somewhat
eerily similar to what happened with the Board
of Education a few weeks ago,
where the entire board was pushed out on a Friday,
a new board was appointed on on Monday.
And it's pretty clear that no background check was done
there because, and
because of that, we now have a current president
of the Board of Education is someone
who has been permanently banned from practicing law in the
state of Ohio for misusing client funds.
And I quote from the Ohio, Ohio Supreme Court here in his,
in his disbarment, where it was quote, for, also for
engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit,
or misrepresentation.
So I'm gonna guess a background check
was not conducted in that.
'cause I give the mayor's office some credit there,
if they had known that they probably don't appoint this
person to head up an agency that had a nine
and a half billion dollars budget last year, for example.
So as a result of, of this truncated process
and overhanging that I at least want
to tell you at the outset that, um, it's important
that we conduct a, a thorough hearing.
And I hope that, uh, you'll be patient in that.
Um, so one thing just to follow up on, on, uh,
Allman Waga packs, uh, question is, uh, Dennis,
a little more open-minded, open-ended.
What type of things do you think the RTA could
change or do better?
Well, and, um, and also, by the way, uh, I didn't get
to answer your last question, Alder,
alderman waga back about the, the fiscal cliff
of the 730 million.
Um, so I, I'll, I'll, and, and it kind of goes,
and I'll, I'll try to dovetail both answers,
both questions into one answer.
Um, when I, um, moved from buildings to CTA in 2 0 0 9,
uh, I was, uh, told, Hey,
we have a $300 million deficit, right?
And so, uh, and I'm like, whoa, holy crap.
And it's like, for next year?
And they're like, no, this year.
And, and it was all hands on deck.
And I honestly did felt like I didn't sleep
for the next three months as we tried to avert, uh,
that fiscal cliff then.
And we ended up having to, uh, do so many things we like,
uh, like froze hiring.
We, uh, uh, like cut off, um, merit raises
for non bargain for employees.
Uh, we, we tried to do every little thing, right?
We tried to negotiate with our, our, our, our, our allies
and labor about what they can do
to offset any kind of increases.
Uh, we still end up having to lay off a thousand employees,
and it felt then like a mass execution, right?
And so, and,
and the impact to, uh, citizens who rely on getting to jobs,
uh, you know, someone who lives in Pilsen
but may work in
an Amazon warehouse in Hoffman Estates, like,
how will they get to their job?
And so it was really difficult.
And so, uh, to your point, like,
we're gonna be hitting the ground running, spending a lot
of time trying to like ring the alarm bell to everyone, that
everyone, not only the citizens of Chicago,
but every legislator, uh, in, in our area of the suburbs
and downstate need to look at transit
and how do we equitably fund it, uh, as,
as quickly as possible.
So that, that's what I would be pushing for.
Um, I, I think that, uh, for
the executive director, li Ann Redden, uh, you know, they,
they have created a study on the importance of transit.
How do we escalate that?
So everyone is talking about that, uh, on their lips and,
and calling up their legislator saying, yes, I need,
I want you to fund transit.
And, and that's something that I
would be really pushing for. Yeah,
I think I, uh, that's all the questions I have, Mr.
Mond. That's a, that is a fantastic a, uh, answer,
and I appreciate your prior experience in dealing
with a similar situation.
Alright, thank you. Um, I wanna, I'm, I'm,
because of the urgency
and haste in which this was presented,
I'm allowing a lot of latitude.
I do wanna remind the members of the committee, though, out
of committee today, you still have an opportunity to talk
to the individuals prior to city council.
Uh, okay. So I just wanted to remind 'em that, um, I, again,
I, I I will allow you guys,
'cause I, I understand, um, we're putting our stamp on this,
so we wanna make sure we have our questions answered.
All right. So with that said, I have,
uh, Ottman Fuentes.
Okay. Thank you, uh, Dennis, for being here
with us today and all of the candidates, uh,
that's taken their time for this appointment.
Uh, Dennis, could you tell me, uh, in your opinion, uh,
what you believe is the reality of CTA today?
I think we're a good system, a very good system
that can be a great system.
Um, and, and I really would love to see, uh, I was, I,
you know, I like we can be Tokyo, we could be Seoul Korea,
we could be London.
I was talking about this with Alderman Waga waga pack.
Like my daughter lived in London for six months,
and you know, you rush to meet the train.
And then, and then it's like, oh, we missed it.
And she's like, relax, dad.
Like, there's another train coming in three minutes.
And there literally was another train
coming in three minutes.
And, and, and it's cool
to see grandmothers riding it at 11 o'clock at night.
Like, like people are riding the system all the time.
And I think that we have such a great, uh, already headstart
with what our rail and bus has.
And so can we thoughtfully build on that?
Can we educate the public to like, want to like ride more?
Um, you know, like, like,
and like, I, I love, like, for example, the, the Green line
Damon stop the, the new one, right?
And so now I could take the 50 Damon bus from my house,
and then I switched on it,
and I took that to, um,
to the Chicago Sky Angel Reese playing Caitlyn
Clark at Indiana Fever.
But I, I walked
by all these people like parking in the parking garage, uh,
near Wintrust Arena.
And, you know, I, I don't, I don't think a lot
of people think about being able
to ride the system as much as they should.
And so, so it's educating not only legislators,
but it's also educating the general public
that we've got a good system
and then can we, uh, increase the funding that will allow us
to become a great system.
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Can you talk to me about
how you would utilize your fiduciary duties to sort
of grapple with the financial cliff that we are seeing,
but also make investments so that we can ensure that bus
and rail systems are safer?
And then what does making those systems
safer look like for you?
Yeah, I, I mean, an, an example of
that are like the slow zones, uh, which are not sexy.
When, when I was at the CTA,
the chief infrastructure officer, uh,
Chris Buchel would always wanna sp have every extra penny
spent on, um, on making sure
that the rail ties were getting repaired
because we, uh, not only is there heavy usage in our, uh,
like, like our rail system, but we've got the freeze
and thaw cycle of Chicago, right?
Like our hot summers and our cold winters.
And that really deteriorates the track, right?
And so when you see that the blue line
or the brown line is running slow, it's more often
that the track underneath it has to be,
uh, replaced to some degree.
And so, uh, when you look at the annual operating budget
of CTA, like whatever, it's 2 billion plus, uh, that,
that they have, that's operating,
but that's not even like,
like addressing the capital investment.
And so that's again, another conversation that we all, uh,
I encourage all the city council
and our state legislators
to talk about are we putting in the necessary capital
investment so that we can get rid
of things like the slow zones.
Uh, so that, uh, that, that, that makes, again, like to,
to getting that dream of like, Hey,
there's another train coming in three minutes
and it's on time and not being slowed down by a slow zone.
Whereas a train, uh, the train operator has
to like go at 10 miles an hour
because they're going through miles of slow zones on,
on like the red line.
That that's something that's important for us to like talk,
have, have that active, uh, conversation about.
Uh, I, I think that my personal style is I really like
to work with everyone.
And like, I, I love, I I, I really think
that a skill I have is being able to listen and, and,
and authentically listen.
And then how do we like behind, uh,
close doors without trying to embarrass people,
like really look
and say, Hey, what about this solution or that solution?
And then, uh, and then like, have it so
that there can be wins for everyone together.
Thank you. I appreciate that. My last question, chairman.
Uh, what do you find to be the responsibility of RTA, uh,
board members to grapple
with homelessness, uh, in our systems?
Sure. Uh, well, you know, the RTA is in charge
of regional transit.
And, and I, I, I, uh, in preparation for today, I listen to,
uh, the, um, uh,
RTA monthly board meeting for earlier in October.
And I know that they talked about funding, uh, uh,
the service boards, um, for, uh, not only, uh,
law enforcement for, but for social services.
And, and, and I think that's a really important component.
I know that the CTA has, uh,
been piloting many social service programs to, um, deal
with the homeless problem that, that we're afflicted
with on bus and rail.
And, um, you know, I I, I saw it today.
There was unfortunately a, a, a gentleman was
sleeping on the Damon Blue Line stop, uh, you know,
like on the middle of the track, which just like,
like wrecks wrecks you as a person that,
that not violent at all, but they're sleeping on the track.
'cause they know that, that, uh,
pardon me, they sleeping on the platform.
'cause they know the platform is, is is a safe place,
but it's like open air, right?
Um, but, but while we all see this, anyone
that rides the CTA regularly, um, you know,
can we really ramp up that social,
those social service programs to find, uh,
like respectful housing for, uh, those and, and,
and as well as other services for those, uh, people that,
uh, are afflicted with mental illness.
Thank you, Dennis. Thank you for being here.
Um, I Rodriguez,
Thank you Mr. Chair.
And you, um, represent,
I think a lot of what we're looking for,
um, in appointments.
So I absolutely will be, um, looking forward to supporting,
um, the whole host of folks.
I did wanna mention, uh, to the committee
and just the general public that I've, um,
regarding these appointments,
I received communication from state legislators both in the
Senate and House with significant interest on all
of your candidacies.
And, um, I think what I'm getting at, it's this, uh,
endeavor and many endeavors that we have in the city
of Chicago really require, uh, significant multi-level
of government thinking and engagement.
And I was very happy to get those calls
and talk to some friends this at the state, uh, Senator
of Bilam and representative mom amongst others, um, both
of which who, um, you know, have a very similar mindset
as far as, um, growing the pie as you stated, Dennis, as far
as being creative in solutions.
Um, and part of those solutions I think are collaboration.
So I wanna make sure that you all take that spirit
of collaboration, um, um, to this board.
And I want to call on my colleagues, um, um,
to continue in this endeavor
to approach these issues collectively at multi levels
of government, uh, between the county, city, state,
uh, and even federally.
And I look forward to supporting your,
your nomination. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, uh, vice chairman, um, best guest.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for allowing me to, to kind of play clean up.
Um, I didn't wanna ask questions
that our colleagues may already, um, would be asking.
Um, so Mr. Madero, thank you.
Uh, and, and I I will echo, uh, my colleague, uh,
den Conway is concerned that it kind
of moved a little quickly finding out about the nominations
on Friday to then come to a vote today.
Um, but that being said, I do appreciate that each
of you tried everything you could to reach out to us
to at least have those conversations.
Um, and, and we know that it's
necessary and urgent to do so.
So I, I do appreciate that.
Um, so I won't kind of repeat some of the questions
that our colleagues had asked, uh, that I also,
um, had questions with.
Uh, I wanted to drill in a little bit more about your
experience at CTA, um, uh,
as I'm looking your chief administrative officer
and senior vice president as well as Deputy chief of staff,
how do you feel CTA has, um, changed
and improved, gotten, maybe has areas
of improvement from when you were at
CTA to what you're seeing now?
Um, I, I, well, one, I have to give great kudo
to all the staff at CTA for continuing
to provide regular transit
through a worldwide pandemic, right?
Um, and, and, um, uh, durable Carter, who,
uh, I know from when, when I joined CTA, uh,
dural, actually soon
after, um, in his, in my first year there, uh,
accepted the position to be the Chief Counsel
of the Federal Transit Administration.
And, uh, I was selected to like, go into dural slot
and durable trained me on so much.
And, and I can say this emphatically, I I mentioned this to,
uh, chairman Mitchell, uh, over the weekend.
Uh, there are really true, truly few people in the country
that know transit as well,
public transit as well as durable.
Uh, and, and,
and there are a few people in the country that know the ins
and outs of federal, uh, uh,
the federal process as well as durable.
Uh, can there be ways in which
we can see the system get safer?
Can we like address things?
Like, I, I would love to see the pilots that they're doing
for social services as Alderman Ententes was asking about,
like, can they do that times 10?
Right? And, and, and doing it yesterday.
But, but, but those are are things that I know that I can,
and I appreciate that there are so many competing interests
with such limited funds that it's often, you know, like,
like to give an analogy to the Bears yesterday, right?
Like some, some of my friends are like saying like, like,
fire, the coaching staff fire the offensive line, right?
Like, well, which is it? Right?
And, and so, uh, like, what, what do we need to do?
And so there's so many fires that you are, are trying to,
like, do, do we, do we need to, like they,
do we need another wide receiver?
Do we need another, uh, uh, offensive line?
Do we need defensive tackle, right?
And so, so those are the things that they are beset with
that like, when they are historically underfunded.
Uh, and that, that's where again, you're, you're like,
you, you, it's hard to critique my former colleagues
and teammates there unless we get them the proper funding.
And, and so I view my role if, if appointed
to the RTA board is how do we help the RTA get to the CTA,
the necessary funding so they can really click.
And so we can be truly one of the greatest, uh,
transit systems in the whole world.
Sure. No, thank you for that.
Um, also, again, have to commend your courage
and even having an analogy really
to the Bears, all my colleagues are up here.
Uh, yeah.
Especially while we have to vote on you, my friend.
Uh, so, um, no, but thank you for that.
I guess, um, one, I appreciate the context there, right?
I think there are a lot of things
and challenges that we see.
One because of covid, uh, clearly the infrastructure part
of CTA is a whole different, uh, it's its own beast, right?
You're talking about redline extension, everything else.
I think the thing that I've seen that I, I,
I hear from more improvement in is more the customer service
part of that role that you can get the funding
to do these infrastructure projects.
But if you're not valuing the people that work,
if you're not listening to the actual customers
and aren't improving the service
and reliability, it ends up being like a self-fulfilling
prophecy if the funds aren't showing up.
Right? So I, I guess, um, to kind of, kind
of follow up in a different, uh, question related to your,
uh, experience at CTA,
could you list like some notable accomplishments
that you had during your time at CTA?
I think when I think about reliability
and service, like, that's kind of
where I wanna hear more from.
And just wondering kind of your take,
Uh, some of my personal accomplishments.
Yeah. Um, okay. Well, I'll, I'll,
Huh Well, I'll, I'll bring up what Alder
and Mitchell asked me about over the weekend.
Um, so I, I was one of the folks
that helped develop train tracker for the city.
Uh, so, uh, when, when you, like, are at the rail station
and you see that the train the next,
when the next train is coming,
uh, I helped invent that, right?
And, and when I moved to the CTA, um, from buildings, um,
uh, I, the, the number one compliment
that we would receive was the bus tracker.
And the number one complaint was,
why are you knuckleheads not have
something for the trains, right?
And we didn't have money to like put in, uh,
GPS in every rail car.
'cause the rail cars aren't connected to each other.
And we didn't have enough money
to like put in a signaling system to read the GPS, right?
And, um, but one day I, in like, I think my first
or second week on the job, I went to the control center,
which used to be at Randolph Racine.
And I noticed that in the, in a room like this, on one wall,
there was, uh, like the big electronic train, uh, grid.
And there were blinking red lights for where the trains are.
And, and it would be like, uh, you know, like
if you were my supervisor, he'd be like, operator, ero,
why are you still at Argyle?
Uh, when you should be all the way at Howard by now?
And I'd be like, well, supervisor Vasquez, I'm, uh,
I'm helping a disabled passenger.
Uh, and so I, you know, like, who's in a wheelchair?
And so that's slowing me down.
And, uh, and I'm going, well, wait a second.
They know where the trains are
because of, uh, these little, the electric circuit.
I'm like, well, why don't we call it estimated arrival time?
And, uh, we did an algorithm for a hundred thousand bucks,
uh, that essentially made it, uh, train tracker.
So that, that's why you'll see that train tracker says
estimated arrival time.
And, and sometimes it's good to like get new blood in, uh,
to then be like, to look at something and, and, and, and,
and that, that's something that, that's fun
to do. Um, right. So,
Yeah, no, again, that it's things like that that to me,
uh, har, uh, made me feel heartened about like your
nomination, because it is, it is not only about the funding,
not only about infrastructure, but it's about that kind
of minutia and getting under the hood.
I think it's gonna help improve those things.
So, um, I I, my last question for you Sure.
Because if, if not the transportation, uh,
I'll call 'em family would kill me, is can you talk
through like what CTA can be?
Uh, and you know, BRT, if I don't mention bus rapid transit,
these folks are gonna kill me out here.
Or high speed rail in looking at like Lake Shore Drive,
that's also come up as well as the Lake Shore Drive plan.
Just want to get your, that's one about all vision.
Uh, get to wanna get your take on like what CTA can be, uh,
and what RTA can do to help get them there.
Um, That will be his last question. Good. That's good.
Yeah. That, that was like a compound question there.
So they're, they're like separate,
He's sneaky. Like
I, I Mean, like question mark at the end,
I, I, you know, I, I think that, uh, if, if appointed,
what I'd love to do is like sit down with the head heads of
the service boards with, uh, Leanne Redden,
with Kirk Dillard, the chairman of RTA, find out like,
what are all the like dreams that they've got.
Uh, obviously one big component that, uh,
that we wanna make sure is like,
are we servicing the most vulnerable
populations in the region?
Are we doing things that can be, uh, like sustaining for
that population that can't, like readily switch to a car?
Right? So, so with that type of, uh, task, like, it's
so fun to dream, right?
It's so fun to dream about, uh, those type of things.
And I would welcome any conversation with you and,
and other leaders about what,
what those dreams could look like. Okay.
Thank you very much. Thank you, chairman.
All right. Uh, Altman Moore,
Thank, unfortunately,
I apologize. We have about,
we have two committee critical meetings going on finance,
and I had to be at both, so I, I know I missed some things.
Um, I don't know everybody's name
and I don't know if everybody, um,
We are still on the first, the first one. Oh, we
Still on the first one? Mm-Hmm.
Oh, okay. Well, um,
They're beating me up hollering.
They're beating you up. Okay.
So I appreciate, um, what you said, um,
about, um, Doraville and for the, the sake of time.
Um, did have all of you all reached out to Doraville?
'cause I don't wanna ask a million
more questions to everyone.
When, when you find out you had been appointed to everyone,
is there anyone that did not reach out to Ville?
Everyone reached out to Ville. Okay.
So that, that was, that's important.
I, and I appreciate, well,
I think everybody shook their head
and said, you didn't reach out to doable.
Okay. Make sure you reach out.
Um, if you didn't reach out to doable,
make sure you reach out.
Um, to him, it's important that if, um,
you are going on this board that you, uh, speak with him,
know, um, what he's trying to do
and know, um, um, his vision, like, uh, uh,
like you just said, um, no one is that I know is, uh,
is brighter, um, in this area, um, of transportation
and as someone, um, that we need here.
And, um, I think we can work together
and along with this administration to make sure
that we're serving, um, the city.
So make sure, uh, we reach out, um, um, to him.
Now, I think it was one of my colleagues
as I was walking out, ask about the, um, merger.
And I don't want to repeat that, but,
and it may be answered it in this part of question.
I just wanna know, how do you think such a merger would
impact the CTA and our,
and our ability to still have a voice in that?
Because as a city council, we can call
do in like we did, um, and things like that.
I'm not sure. Um,
and I'm hoping we still can have
that ability if a merger was to take place.
So tell me your, would it be good for CTA,
not only just financially, but in terms of, uh, from a, uh,
standpoint of having the ability to,
uh, represent our residents?
Um, um, well, can you speak to that?
Sure. Alderman Moore as, as I mentioned, uh, previously,
um, we haven't had an opportunity like, uh,
to be fully briefed by the director, the executive director
of the RTA on what is being proposed.
And, uh, as I said, uh, the devil's in the details, right?
And so, um, what will be, uh,
how much control will Chicago have to make sure that, uh,
the service that we know
and we all agree should go to vulnerable populations?
Uh, will that still get addressed in any other kind
of future iteration?
So, so I, I don't have enough information, honestly,
right now to like, form any strong opinion one way
or the other, but I do welcome, uh, getting, uh,
a full briefing and then having a lot of conversations, uh,
with all of you about my, my thoughts on it.
All right. Well, you've been an asset to this city, uh,
for many years, and I truly appreciate, um, the work
that you've, um, done and the value that you added.
So this is definitely an appointment I support. Thank
You so much,
Lee.
Thank you, chairman. Uh, good morning everybody, uh,
to all of our nominees.
Congratulations. Um, Dennis, good morning.
Good morning. Other women. Um, I, uh, I'm not a member
of the committee, but, um, I, I know a couple of you
who are, uh, up for appointment here today, so I wanted
to come and, um, ask a couple
of questions and say a few words.
Um, I've known you a long time, Dennis, uh,
not in the context of your work with the city,
but I know, uh, I'm fully aware of your history, uh,
with the city of Chicago
and all of the positions that you've held.
Um, I know you best through your, um,
contributions when we were first board members together,
a Chinese Mutual Aid Association, um, an organization which,
uh, you led for a very long time
and you led, um, in some serious, like,
change for the positive.
Um, how, how much, uh, how much of a financial size wise,
uh, did did the organization grow under your leadership?
Uh, we went from 4 million
to 15 million million annual operating budget.
Um, and I'll note also that, uh,
Chinese Mutual Aid now is also, uh, is an,
is is an SB uh, SBDC.
Yes. We're a small business development center
and, uh, apex Center.
So we help, uh, small businesses, uh, become
M-B-E-D-B-E-W-B-E
and then also, uh, get, help them get, uh,
federal contracts.
What do you think that, um,
your experience at Chinese Mutual Aid, uh, will,
will help you, uh, with, in this role
as a member of the RTA board?
Um, I, I think having been in the nonprofit
sector for so long, it's taught me a lot of things.
It's taught me humility, uh, uh, and grace.
It's taught me to like even increase my compassion.
Um, it's also taught me community organizing,
which I think is gonna be an important piece for all of us
to persuade, uh, everyone in the region,
the legislators downstate, that transit is something
that's really vital and I important and increasing funding.
Uh, so yeah, I, I got so many great memories and,
and lessons learned from my experience in that sector.
That's great. Um, and also I think that your ability
to bring people together is going
to be really key in a role like this.
Um, there is so much that needs to be done.
Um, obviously, you know, you, you're fully aware, um,
of the, of the fiscal cliff that, uh,
transportation is facing.
Um, and I'm, I'm really pleased with this appointment.
Um, I have no doubt that you're gonna do a great job, um,
with all of your background
and the, just the person who I know you are,
and as I know my colleagues have seen, just
with your answering questions today,
and I'm sure during your conversations, um,
you're gonna bring your whole self to this
and you're gonna be representing everybody in the region,
uh, not just one party to this.
And I think that's what's required of ev of all of you.
Um, uh,
and it's un also not lost on me that you are, uh,
a high profile, uh, Asian American that's being appointed.
Um, and, and that means something to our community as well.
So I wanna get that on the record as well.
Um, you'll have my full support, um,
for your confirmation for the city council. Thank you.
Thank you for your leadership and your friendship.
Uh, thank you Aman Lee. Uh,
Any more questions from the committee members?
Um, I had a, a good conversation with, uh, Mr. Monero.
So I, I do not have any further questions,
and he assured me that I can call him at any time if I did
have some subsequent to this meeting.
Uh, can I get a motion to recommend approval of this item?
Chairman Va, vice Chairman Vasquez. So, moves on the motion.
All in favor say aye.
Those opposed No in opinion of the chair.
The ayes having Congratulations Mr. Monro.
Um, page two, item two is a mayoral ordinance
for the appointment of Jarson Medina as member
of the RTA Board of Directors.
Um, appointment 2 0 2 4 0 0 1 3 5 3 8
appointment of, of, uh, Jaron Medina as a member
of the regional Transportation Board of directors
for a term effectively immediately,
and expiring July 1st, 2028 to succeed.
Alexandra Holt, whose term has expired,
Mr. Medina.
Well, thank you for this opportunity.
I, I was talked briefly this week about this opportunity
and, um, my heart is,
and my heart desires has always been
to serve the city of Chicago.
So I want to take the opportunity, first of all, thank you
for even just giving me the considerations, be here in front
of you guys and talk to you guys.
And, and just to meet you, if all I can give is just
to meet you from today, is has been a blessing.
Well, my name is Erickson Medina, minority
of the people call me in, in the Humbolt Park community.
Pastor Jado. I currently serve
as a pastor in New Life Covenant Church
for their Spanish campus.
I was born, I wasn't born in the States,
I was born in Puerto Rico.
And my family arrived to Chicago.
And I still remember that day, February 11th, 1995.
I was 11 years old, and I remember, like, if it was today,
I didn't want to leave the island.
And what I can remember, my father being a pastor as well,
um, you know, he had to go back to work.
He now had this calling, came
to state, had to go back to work.
And for, for a few, he was doing bivocational ministry.
And my mom was a stay at home mom.
And as long as I know my mom never driven,
never taken in any driven cla dr.
Uh, driven classes. And she would take me in the
bus from two different places.
I still remember our address. We lived in 17 0 0.
We, uh, north Monticello, Monticello, and CIA,
and 95.
That was a really hot corner.
And, and one of the things that helped us to get around
was the North Avenue bus
that we would take from Central Park to the clinic.
We would go to different, uh, offices.
Um, we would go on Kimball to the Armitage Produce
and our message and Kimball.
And we would just get our, all of our things that we needed.
So, something that I experienced in growing up in Chicago,
I went to Stove Elementary School,
graduated from Foreman High School,
and I was, I was fortunate enough
to always live within blocks away from the school.
So I always walked to school.
But after I graduated college, I was 21 years of, uh,
21 years of age.
And I landed a good job.
You know, at that moment it was in Buffalo Grove for, uh,
Baxter, uh, healthcare.
Um, and I was a technician for the IV pumps,
and I was servicing those IV pumps,
and I had reliable transportation.
And as soon as I got my job,
I lost my transportation ability to get
to work from the city to Buffalo Grove.
And if it wasn't for, uh, the metro
that I was taking from the Cumberland
and Grand all the way to Buffalo Grove,
I think I would've not kept,
I would've not been able to kept that job.
It was that job on that job that I was able to, um, uh,
finance and have, uh, the ability
to have our first daughter.
And because I always go back to that metro in that,
in public transportation, and I rely on that.
I rely, this morning I came here on public transportation
just because it's, it's faster.
I don't have to deal with traffic, I don't have to deal
with, you know, uh, the nonsense in, in, in the community
or in parking.
But I remember just using constantly.
So something that I would bring
and preparing for this meeting, something I would bring
to the table would be the experience on, as a writer, myself
and the people that are still struggling in our communities.
And they depend on this type of services.
And before we make business, uh,
and educated business decision, I would like to always put
in front are people that are struggling,
that are independent and dependable on the services.
So, with that being said, I wanna just thank you
for the opportunity to be in front of you.
Thank you. Um, questions, um, Ottoman, WaPo.
Yeah. Uh, thank you, Mr. Medina.
The, the questions I had were the same as the same
before, past,
Sorry, I'm sorry. The same pastor.
Oh, yeah, my bad. Um,
so I know you haven't really had time to talk
to anybody in the administration in extensive detail about
the merger, about the fiscal cliff,
but what, uh, what would you bring to the board
in terms of experience, um,
to directly address those issues?
And I, look, I understand, uh, those are,
they're not weighted questions.
They're questions that we brought up with a prior appointee
who, whose pushback was unfounded
and frankly insulting.
So what I really want to hear from, uh,
every nominee today is how do you dig down deep
and figure out how to fix that issue?
Whether it's as a group of five,
whether you lean into dentists
and say, Hey, you've got the experience,
or you lean into the other
folks at the RTA who've been there for a while, you know?
'cause I think they've,
everyone here has brought up pretty important issues from
homelessness to the, the major funding gaps,
but really need to speak, hear specifically from you
how you're going to address these issues.
Yes, sir. And thank you.
That was a very important question.
Um, and I do appreciate the clarification on that,
and I think that's something that I will bring to the table.
I, and in my leadership skills, I can bring, uh,
where I can bring people together.
And that's something that I have as a skill.
And if I don't have any type of skill,
I'm gonna rely on others in the committee that are going
to be able to make better than me.
But, uh, for the consolidation, I think one, one thing
that I will like to, to to see proof of is the, uh,
the effectiveness of this consolidation.
Does it, you know, I haven't seen that, you know,
haven't looked into that.
Um, the data, the numbers, uh, the studies shown behind why,
why is this important for the office
or for the administration?
And, and most importantly, I'll always ask this question,
and because of my personal values,
I bring this personal values to the table is,
will this change, uh, the service to the people?
Will this change bringing consolidation?
Will this change the service to the people?
Will this benefit the people, the writers,
the everyday writers that are in the bus,
in the blue line, in the red line?
Or would this benefit a sector of the government
or a committee or state level or city level?
Um, those are the things that I would like to, to see.
Now, knowing and looking at numbers
and doing a little bit of research in the time that I, that,
that I was able to have, I understand that 84%
of the ridership, uh, in the region are in the CTA.
And that's a very, uh, a big number.
So with that being said, I, I don't wanna lean one way
or the other before seeing all the numbers,
but I think at the core value of my personal belief,
who is it gonna benefit more?
Because if, if it's a business decision
and taking away service from the people, then I'll, I,
I will like to have more information on that
before I make a decision.
Okay. Thank you. No, you're welcome. Thank you.
Good. No cleanup. Other members,
Conway, ot, and Conway.
So in, in addition to that, what, what type
of things do you think the RTA could change or,
or, uh, measure?
Um, I haven't,
I haven't had much time to, to talk
or to, to be at, at the board.
When I get on the board, I would love to, to sit
and like, like, like, you know, I wanna sit and,
and talk and ask questions.
And if there's something that I have that I,
if I don't know, I'm gonna ask questions.
I would like to see both things.
But I, um, I believe I think about culture,
one of the questions on the table.
Culture is important that,
that we can bring as a change.
I will, I would love to see, uh, as dealing with people,
you know, dealing with people is difficult.
I was talking to a pastor friend of mine
and he said, the more I, the more I deal with people,
the more I love my dog.
And, and, and it is just
The side that was good use.
It is yours whenever you want to use it.
Um, so culture, when I mean about how can we as a committee
and as a team bring the change that I'm coming to work
and it's my first week at work
and I'm excited to service the people to have a smile,
but have the same culture ability that the 30-year-old
or the 30 year veteran still has at the same time coming in
and change that type of culture.
I believe, uh, the John Maxwell says that we need to learn
how to walk slowly through the crowd, and is the leadership
and committees are having meetings
and not knowing what is the need of the employees, then
how can we, how can we change culture without knowing
what is the need so we can service the people better?
Know? You mentioned, uh, you'll go in there
with a questioning mentality.
What, what, uh, are some
of the first questions you'll asking?
So what is not only
because I know the question on the, on the,
on the board right now at the table is, uh,
the budget and, and other things.
Um, not only what we're gonna do, how are we gonna,
you know, how are we are going
to manage this budget going forward?
Uh, but what, what, what is the temple?
What is the temperature of the employees
that are in the CTA for, for them to come
and bring, um, the true change?
Because I don't think change can happen just
with one person, one leadership.
I think it's a little bit deeper than that.
And, and, and,
and bringing the type of, bringing the type of environment
around the entire, uh, organization
for them to, to feel like I,
not only I have a good paying job,
but I, I I I love coming to work.
And how can that translate to good service?
How can that translate to good service, good culture,
translate to good service?
I recognize that your point, you,
you've just got nominated for this very recently.
So, uh, as a question for you,
have you ever attended an RTA work team?
Never. That's all I got. Thank you.
Thank you. Ottoman. Uh, vice chair Vazquez.
Thank you. Thank You very much, pastor.
Um, uh, one, I appreciate your sincerity and candor.
I know we spoke last night.
Um, uh, again, uh, I kind of don't take issue
with anyone being nominated.
I take more issue with a process that's kind of
expedient in a way that we wish CTA was,
I wish that was moving quickly.
This should have been a little more thought out.
And so I got some challenges there.
But what I do appreciate is like being
able to speak to your experience.
I think we, we wanna have people that are part of the board
that are gonna be on the ground
of people experiencing it, right?
Not the others won't. But I think to have that kind
of focal point is important.
Um, so I, I got a couple of questions, uh, related to that.
So first I'll start with the question I ask a lot of folks.
Um, how often do you ride the bus train metro when
you're not just coming downtown?
So if I go to a Cubs game, just jump on the,
on the Addison bus.
Um, so thank God that now we have two cars for some time,
but before at least three, four years ago,
I will drop off my daughter to school, come back home,
leave the car for my wife, then jump on the blue line
so I can get off on California and, uh, Milwaukee,
and then walk to work where I work right at,
right there at the office on New Life.
So that's how, that's how I was more as be, you know,
three years ago, I was more constant.
Now is the convenience.
Like, I don't want to look for parking here in downtown.
I don't want to, you know, look,
just take the bus or take the train.
Yeah. Yeah. So it, it could be regular,
depending on how busy I am. Yeah.
And, and the reason I I, I, I asked
that question is I think there's a lot of folks
who are very passionate about public transit that, um,
we had, uh, we had somebody here last time we were looking
for nominees that I asked the same question,
and they kind of were like, well,
as a child I was on the bus and train often.
Now as a man, I don't need to.
And I think that like, it may feel
that people have the convenience
to grab, to get in their car.
A lot of people don't. Yeah, right.
They have to get to work using public transportation. Yeah.
And so for me, if it's gonna be someone who's like tapped in
and talking to community,
it can't be just hearing the problems out.
It's also experiencing themselves. Yeah. Right.
Like when someone's waiting 30 minutes, 45 minutes for a bus
and train to show up, you can hear about it from somebody
going through it, or you can go through it
and understand why it will uproot your life.
Mm-Hmm. Right. And so, um, I think maybe to tweak
that question, um, if you were to be nominated as board,
is there a commitment to how often you would be riding bus
and train to actually feel that?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I will, if, if I'm nominated,
my nomination will be accepted.
I will intentionally, intentionally on, on a weekly basis,
will go on the bus.
Just because since I knew I was coming here to today,
yesterday, coming outta church, now, my eyes, you know,
who's waiting on the bus stop.
And, and I saw people from my church
that they were there waiting at the bus stop.
So now I know that there's some people,
and I'm just, you know, talking on our Wednesday Bible
study, a person, like, you know, gosh, I can't show up
because the train didn't come on time,
and by the time I get off on California and, and Milwaukee
and walk to church, it is just, it's gonna be eight o'clock.
Why go? So I'm understanding, you know, those type
of struggles of the efficiency of the service
that needs to be provided.
So, um, yeah, my commitment will be not only
to just go on a train
and just to, to talk to, to, you know, to the commuters and,
and maybe get a, get a, a a a a sense of
what is the public saying about the service.
Okay. Because I think our answer is there.
Um, thank, thank you for that. I, I, I, I appreciate that.
Um, how do you, how do you intend,
um, sorry, I got a question for the chairman first
because I, I didn't ask this last time it occurred,
but how much do each of the nominees get,
should they be in the RTA?
Like how much do they get annually? 25,000. Alright.
So you're getting $25,000 a year for a position.
Um, that to me isn't just somebody getting $25,000.
That's a, that's a job. Right?
What do you intend to do to earn that 25,000?
And it's for everyone. Mm-Hmm.
So I don't wanna make sure it's saying, but if,
if your job is to make sure you're hearing it from the
ground and you're in the community Yeah.
How do you, how do you, how do you make that occur in a way
that says, you know what, that's $25,000 worth of work.
Yeah. That got got us that kind of information.
Yeah. Ultimate, um, to be honest with you,
at the beginning when I received the phone call, uh,
I sit also at as a faith-based
liaison for the 14th district.
And Reverend Evans called me about, Hey,
this is something you're in interested about.
Yeah. I, I told him, would this impulse or post
or take me away from what I'm doing at the 14th districts?
I kind of work. And I kind of said, wait, it's not,
it's, I'm not working there.
I'm servicing there. And so I don't mind servicing.
That's what I said to him. He's like, well,
this will not just be serviced.
I think this would be a salary.
So I said, just to answer your question, I said yes
to this position without even
knowing that there was a salary.
And I was willing just to do it just for service
because that's my heart to it.
It's always been my heart to serve.
If, if I can serve at any, any position, as in my faith,
if God is opening the door for me to serve at any capacity,
who am I to say no to him?
So I said yes, before there was even a salary involving it.
Sure. And I didn't know the number
until you said it right now.
So thank you for that information. Nice.
Hey, you got a puum up. Look at us.
So, yeah, I didn't ask, I didn't ask
how much, I didn't ask salary.
I didn't ask. I'm just here honestly with, to serve.
I had a, I had a man in, in our, in our community.
I don't know if you guys met him or if you met him,
uh, Chupa.
He was an older man selling PAA around the,
the Humbolt Park when I was, I think eight years ago.
He was denied. He was denied the senior card
because he didn't have an id.
So I took him to the alderman's office,
which is on North Avenue at that time, Joe Moreno.
And, and, and I demanded like, we need to get this guy,
he's been in the community.
Like he is the mayor of Humbolt Park. Like, literally.
And he would just go around yelling chupa.
So, uh, we helped them with that.
We helped them with the ID issue.
And, and so my, my heart has always been to service.
So when I heard about this,
I didn't ask, didn't ask the salary.
I didn't ask for how much. I didn't even look for it
until now that you said. Sure, sure.
Um, I, I, I'll be, I'll be frank, that kind of,
I appreciate that we're getting to meet
starting last night till today.
And I think some of the answers you're giving,
um, are helping me.
But, because if we would, I mean,
after we spoke yesterday, I don't know
that I could support your nomination,
but I kind of spoke to why it has nothing to do with you.
Yeah. And more about how the process is playing out.
And so the answers you're giving me
actually are moving me in a way that I can't move
to support at this vote.
But we've got time between now
and the council meeting vote that I would like to partner
with you to figure out what a plan looks like as far
as it relates to actually getting the
community input necessary.
Because I think you come with a sincere heart.
Um, there's a Chicago kid in you that I feel,
because you're willing to take somebody to,
to ward office to get that kind of support.
And so I would like to partner with you to figure out what
that interaction, what that community engagement should look
like, so that you get that kind of information
because you're gonna talk to neighbors
that I think other people won't.
Mm-Hmm. And that is super important in this role.
So, um, although I would be like, like to be marked
as a no on this vote between now
and council, I wanna have that conversation with you
and some of the advocates who are,
who are passionate about it in a way
that I believe based on your answers today, can move me
to a Yes when it gets to council.
Roger that. Yeah. Thank you.
Uh, that's all I have, chairman. Sorry.
Alright. Um, any more questions for, uh, disappointing,
um, alderman Rodriguez moves.
Do pass on the motion. All in favor, say aye.
All opposed? No, no.
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it,
it will be noted for the record that Vice Chairman Vasquez
and Chairman Mitchell both No on this
appointment. Mr.
Chairman, if you could add me as a no as well on
That. Okay.
Conway A? No.
Okay. All right.
Next we have page two.
Item three is immoral
or mayoral ordinance for the appointment
of Natasha e Jenkins as a member of the RTA Board
of Directors Appointment
2 0 2 4 0 0 1 3 5 3 5.
Appointment of Natasha e Jenkins as a member
of the Regional Transportation Board, uh, authority
direct board of directors
for a term effectively immediately,
and expiring the first July 1st, 2027 to succeed.
Thomas j Coddle, whose term has expired. Ms.
Ms. Uh, Jenkins.
Um, good morning, uh, chair Mitchell, vice Chair
of Vazquez, members of the committee.
Thank you for this opportunity and thank you for your time.
Thank you for considering me.
I am a Chicago born
and raised, grew up here my entire life.
Grew up on the south side of Chicago.
Uh, my grandparents, uh, had a building.
Um, they came here through the Great Migration,
my great grandparents,
and we had, um, property in Inglewood for almost, uh,
was in my family for a hundred years.
Um, so I'm very familiar with, uh, this city.
Um, my mom raised me
as a single mom in Bronzeville community.
And, um, when I was in high school, I got a scholarship
to go to a private school on the north side of Chicago.
So that's quite a trek, uh, commuting from Inglewood
and Bronzeville, taking multiple buses
and trains, um, to get to
and from school early in the morning.
And then to get back, uh, while I attended high school.
Um, I also had a paper route, uh,
and worked at UPS while as a, uh,
teenager and as a young person.
So, public transportation has been a part of, uh,
what I know for a very long time.
As well as the challenges being a young woman, having
to take the trains and buses.
I'm very aware of the safety issues that have we've had
to face, um, for, for quite a long time.
Um, and I, you know, went away to college
and broadened my horizon, studied in dc, was able
to ride the metro in DC to Capitol Hill, to intern for,
uh, Congressman Bobby Rush.
And in that experience, I was able
to have transposed the differences between Chicago and DC
and our transit system.
Um, and as a kid from the hood, it was like, this is nice,
you know, in dc.
And so, coming back home, uh, it was very important to me.
It has been very important to me to be about service
and as well as I, uh, build my, my career
and professional trajectory of, I've always been, um,
akin kin to service and taking on service oriented roles.
Um, in that vein, I have served
as an assistant attorney general for the state of Illinois.
I have also, um, served as a former attorney
for the Chicago Transit Authority, um,
where my focus has been labor
and employment where I've worked for people, um,
getting things done as well as I've had experience on the,
um, working for the state of Illinois, uh,
working in a capacity, um, where I had to serve
agencies under the governor's purview.
Um, in addition to that,
I have had experience on the labor side.
I served as the, a general counsel
for a local teamsters union.
And so that was, and it was during the pandemic.
So during that time, it was very imperative that, um,
I utilized, uh, skills, leadership skills, negotiation,
skills management,
and just downright people skills, going out into workforces
and getting to understand what people needs are
and how to translate that to formulate, uh, policy
and advise manage management side on
how we can have policies
and procedures at play that work for people.
Um, now I serve as a senior attorney, uh, for the law firm
of Clark Hill, where I represent both public
and private sector entities, um, and labor and employment.
And I've also done a stent with United Airlines.
So transportation logistics is in my background.
Um, that's what I bring.
I am first generation college grad,
first generation law school.
Uh, so I bring, um, a lot of sch uh, skills,
but I feel like I have not only the intellect
and the educational background
to be successful in this position, but also the grit.
And this is my city.
I love this city and I want us to make this work.
We have a lot of challenges.
The RTA is going to face a lot of challenges with all
of things that we just discussed with safety,
with the fiscal cliff that we have to go in
and be mindful of,
and how that impacts, um, our, our ridership,
not just in the city, but also in the suburbs.
My mom is now in park forests and I've had to ride the metro
and figure out our, we have issues with connecting systems.
Um, and so those are the things that I wanna look at.
And like I said, for me, safety is paramount.
Um, so with that, I, I welcome any questions.
Thank, thank you. Thank you for that. Uh, alderman Moore.
Yes. Let, lemme say this.
Um, your, um, yes, your resume is impressive.
All of that is good. And I have no doubt
that you're gonna add, um, value.
But what I'm excited about is, along with what pastor said,
um, you are a servant.
Um, I remember, um, when I was running for Alderman
and I had to go before the I-V-I-I-P-O
and this lady, they,
she thought the people in the crowd thought she
offended me, but she didn't.
She said, wait, I thought you was already somebody.
Meaning she thought I was already elected
because of my involvement in the
community and in, in the service.
She said, I didn't mean to know.
I just thought you were all right.
That's something I can say about you.
You have, you are in the rooms,
you are in the places you are serving,
you are doing the things that you supposed to, um, do.
And I can say the same thing about, um, Dennis
and Pastor, what is your name again?
Errickson J. And forgive me because I've seen you in places.
I I, and if I have not seen you in enough places,
I've enough people have said your name in terms
of what you do.
Um, a lot of us, when we're dealing with this situation
or what's going on, and sometimes about processes
and you, they may not like the timing.
We may not like the timing,
but, uh, with the exception of you two,
and I'm sure I get to know you two, you three, uh,
I already, you know, know by your works.
And, and, and it is one thing, people can say something,
but the, the works of people, um, the heart of people, um,
means a whole lot.
And, uh, one, I could say about you three, from
what I've seen and what I've known, what I've heard,
you are no rubber stamps to anybody.
And then to your point, um, not looking for this,
but 25th, didn't even know
that's how I was when I was older.
I didn't, when I was, when I,
I was, I didn't even know how much they made.
Yeah, I've been al I had already been doing this
'cause I've, I said, y'all paying me for it.
I was doing for free anyway. You know?
And so when we get people like that, those are the people
that we want, um, in this seat.
And so, uh, um, Natasha, without hesitation, um,
when we talk about not only we talking about equity in terms
of just equity, what the, uh, mayor has done here in terms
of representation is what we're talking about,
um, in this city.
Uh, putting people in place
and for what this city looks like.
But not only just putting people in place,
putting qualified folks in place
and people you can be, you gotta have,
I I always say you have to be qualified
and you have to have the heart of people.
'cause there are people that have the heart,
but they're not qualified.
There are people that's qualified and don't have the heart.
And, and definitely as I get to know you two, um,
I have no doubt that these three are,
and I'm sure, um, the mayor has thought along the same path.
Uh, I, I don't think he would've made a mistake
and just selected three out of five.
I think he was thinking along this line in, in total.
So, um, I definitely, um, support you
and all good come outta Inglewood, Natasha,
and I, I appreciate, um, um, you for taking on,
um, um, this assignment.
'cause you got a, um, busy load as it is.
Um, you, you, you do, you're doing some great work.
And so serving this capacity will be a great asset, um,
for, um, this city.
And I, and I'll be shocked and surprised
and disappointed if anybody on this
committee didn't think so.
Alright. I appreciate that. Thank you.
Thank you. Uh, next we have Alderman Conway.
Uh, uh, thank you, uh, Ms.
Ms. Jenkins and certainly would echo a lot of the, a lot
of the, uh, comments from my colleagues based on your
remarks and fantastic resume.
Um, uh, to follow up on the questions
that Altman Wapac was asking,
and I'll kind of briefly summarize them.
Uh, he, um, if you would have any remarks on
what you think about the merger and if you,
I know you did talk about the budget shortfall a little bit,
if you wanted to add to any either of those,
uh, anything to that?
Sure. One thing I wanna make sure
whatever decision myself,
and, you know, if I'm in, in the role
and the, uh, the other members of the board, that one thing,
my voice will be about equity.
Um, I will look at the data, look at what's been raised.
There's CM a, there's all these reports
that give us information.
I know we're gonna go through an orientation
where they're gonna brief us about more information,
but I wanna make sure for me, um, that
whatever decision is made, that we make a decision that, um,
doesn't, that doesn't leave out individuals who are
seniors, who are reduced fair riders, who
represent the largest population.
Um, I, you know, CTA HA needs to make, we need
to make sure the CTA leadership continues
to have a voice if a merger is done.
Um, because there is, that's where a, it,
it's the largest ridership base.
Um, and so those are the things, type of things
that I'll be looking at to make
that decision once we get more information about that.
Um, as far as, I think there was another question about, uh,
plans to close the de uh, the $730 million deficit
and what we think about that
and how I think we need to be creative.
Um, I think that we need to look at technology.
I'm a millennial, so it's important to me
that we look at efficiency and climate control
and how our buses are being run
and our trains are being run.
And if we are doing it in the most economically efficient
way, um, but we also have to talk
to our stakeholders downstate, um,
look at the federal funding, make sure they're,
I'm real big when I come into a situation,
I'm a problem solver by trade as, you know,
um, where's the waste?
What, how can we be more efficient?
Um, and then talking to the workers,
because workers, as we know,
they're on the ground, their boots on the ground.
So they can give us a key insight in being creative in
how we can collaborate, um, and look at grants
and look at all of our funding structures
and make sure they're, you know,
and we hold each other accountable to make sure things are,
um, going in the, and,
and we come up with a holistic plan that doesn't,
we can't put it all on a ridership, um,
because we're, we're serving the most vulnerable people, um,
that are, are commuters.
Oh, that's, that's great. And, and, um, and,
and I don't just
'cause I've asked it to all the other people,
and maybe you've already addressed it,
but what type of things the RTA could change or do better?
Um, so I, you know, today
for instance, I had some issues, uh, with my Metro card.
And so it's very important on the, um, app.
Um, and so technology
and integration, we need to look at that to do better.
Uh, pretty much as I was explaining my background
to you guys, I then recalled,
I'm always traveling from the north side
to the south suburbs to downtown and everywhere, just
because that has just been my life going
to high school all the way up north,
then my parents move south, and, um, everything in between.
So I wanna make sure that we're connecting our services,
our technology is connected in a way that makes it easy
and efficient for individuals to hop from the Jeffrey to
the L to the metro,
and we can get around, um, more effectively.
That's what I wanna see, you know,
as a person in the community.
Um, I wanna make sure our, the systems,
and I don't want us to fight.
I want us to, we, there's gonna be some hard conversations
and some negotiation, but we serve CTA Metro and pace.
We gotta collaborate and come together
and try to get some stuff done so
that we can start making ourselves,
if my colleagues said look like Tokyo
and other places that, um, are, have a,
a world approval for their transportation system.
So ba So based on that, would it be fair to say
that you're in favor of the merger
At this point? Without
looking at all of the data?
I can't say that I'm in favor for or against,
and I don't wanna make that position in a silo.
Okay. Um, but you do think there should be some
consolidation of the systems based on the multiple systems
that you have to use and the
complications you just discussed?
I think that we need to do a better job.
We need to work together to figure out how
to resolve the deficit.
I think that we need to look at the data
and look at the strategic, like the five year strategic plan
that RTA has, um, see, look at improvements
and then, um, come up with the,
the best solution from there.
So, but you do think that there should be at least more
communication between Metro and the CTA?
I mean, you've said that, right?
Absolutely. Communication is key.
I I definitely think that all of our, uh,
writer our boards need to be able to be, I mean,
just from a safety perspective,
we don't want incidents happening in a city.
Um, and we can't, uh,
get leadership can't connect with each other.
Great. Thank you Mr. Vice Chairman.
That's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Thank
You very much. Um, I've
got, I'll round out, um, some questions myself.
Um, first looking at the resume, there's clear,
extensive like, experience related to not only, um,
being on the labor side of things,
but also being on the admin side of things.
And so, um, on the one hand, that's great, right?
You're able to have the, the context from
both sides of the equation.
Um, but the question I have is, you know,
where do you stand when you look at those kind of issues?
So for some of us who obviously came in
through labor, right?
Support Mm-Hmm. We might view management as being kind
of the ops or whatever, right?
Um, as opposed to, I think you've got experiencing from both
of the angles, but where you might say, um, we're trying
to conserve, refine efficiencies other people might
interpret as layoffs or not getting benefits, right?
So how do you straddle that line?
How do you view bringing that experience to RTA?
So I would take a balance approach.
Um, ironically when I, um, went over to the labor side,
it was during a pandemic and people were dying
and my heart was for those workers.
Um, and I had to be in conversations
with my old bosses at CTA about how we were going
to keep the workers safe.
Um, what type of, you know, memorandums
and policies that we would put in place.
It's not negotiation time yet.
So what do we do right now to keep workers safe
and to, um, and,
and then make sure if the workforce doesn't come to work
or they're sick or dying, then we can't keep our buses
and trains moving.
They're the heartbeat of the system.
Um, and so having those conversations on both sides
and bringing balance to the conversation is something
that is that I highlight that when, when it comes
to problem solving and getting things done, um, we have
to look at it from both sides and not as a lawyer.
I say not everything needs to go to litigation.
Sometimes you have
to look at things from a common sense approach.
Um, I resolved a lot of matters and I still do in labor
and employment, uh, through conversations,
through negotiations without going to arbitration
or going to, uh, court or
before administrative body even even reaches that.
And, you know, I have a reputation for
that on both sides. Yeah,
No, I, I appreciate that. And,
and thank you for answering the
question through the chair.
So not directly right now, I'd love to also find out
what opportunity CTA has
for improvement when you're talking about the relations
with its labor force.
Right. I think sometimes we don't get
as much information from a TU as to like what needs
to be improved, even though we hear from the workers
about certain challenges.
And so seeing it from your standpoint would actually be
very, um, interesting and, and, and would help us out.
Um, I'll ask the same question I, I asked, uh, the pastor,
uh, aside from coming to downtown,
'cause I think most people are
taking public to get to downtown.
How often are you riding CTA train, uh, you know, metro?
Everything
In this remote climate?
I can be honest, I'm not riding it as much, um, anymore.
I am teaching my niece
and nephew, uh, I took them to the Chicago Classic.
Um, and so I'm teaching them how to ride the trains
and buses and teaching my nephew things about safety, um,
and how to look out for his little sister.
Um, and so, and then my mom is in the suburbs, so I've had
to, uh, go back
and forth to take my mom to doctor's appointments.
But, um, I haven't been riding it as often being in a,
working late hours and being in a remote environment. Sure.
And, and, and thank you for that.
Um, I do appreciate
that in everything you've been answering,
it's really centered on like the humanity
and the people that are affected by it.
Um, I guess as my last question,
is there a commitment you're willing to make as far as
how often you'll be riding it?
Should you be appointed?
Absolutely. I was just actually having conversation
with my family about, so now I live near 47th Street
and I said, you know, if I get this appointment, one
of the things that I'm just gonna be a spokesperson about
safety because coming home late at night, uh,
from downtown for instance,
and the work, the late hours that I work,
I have a concern about coming under the vioc on, you know,
47 or 53rd to,
I don't have a issue riding a metro when I get off,
I wanna make sure that we take a look at
safety, that's metro.
That's not even, that's not CTA,
but we need to make sure those areas are well lit and clean.
Um, and so that's something that I'm gonna look into
because it's more convenient for me to be able
to get on at 47th Street and, and get downtown quickly.
Yeah, no, thank you for that answer.
I think kind of something I was mentioned
before, like if we want customers to come back,
if we want people to feel confident,
it is those things, right?
Even when it's right there more convenient,
someone will find a different way to get anywhere
because of just that one little block.
And so I think really taking that account is important.
So, um, those are all the questions that I have.
Uh, does anyone wanna move? Do pass? Yeah, move. Pass.
So, so moved, uh, by Alderwoman Gutierrez.
Uh, thank you for that. And uh, we'd actually like to call
for a recess for about five minutes.
Oh, sorry. Move due. Pass. Uh, any, sorry.
Uh, those in support, aye. Anybody opposed?
Okay, so it's moved. This is great. Thanks.
Uh, and so we would like to call for recess
and we'll do for seven minutes.
Thank you.
The chair.
Way to be done.
Way to first. Yeah.
My drink.
Yeah. People be like, can you speak? We don't wanna lose.
So yes. Saying thank you.
It helped me out. Um, interviews that are like,
because 2007,
yes, I give up, bro.
Let's, so we're done.
That's what I, no, this you can't,
you can't, you gotta reach this.
Oh, they all say that. Oh yeah, you do.
But the 2027 for all of y'all. Yeah.
Well one doesn't but this one, two of them, they're med.
One for Nora, name three another name.
I mean, technically I think that could work.
Why don't we, I mean,
at least it's consistent for the whole process.
My brother that gotta get on time machine. Pick it up.
Alright. What's that? I was saying it was my brother.
He was the private sector, like, alright, thank
You guys. Um, um,
for bearing with us, we had the, uh,
some little bits, some business we had to take care of.
Um, at this time, I'll, I'll, I'll, uh, defer to,
uh, alderman Conway.
Uh, thank you Mr. Chairman.
I I would like to, um, uh, propose a series of, of, um,
votes here that would essentially
swap the potential terms of, of Mr.
Monero and Mr. Medina.
Uh, as it's currently written, uh, Mr.
Eros term would end in 2027, while Mr.
Medina's would end in 2028.
Uh, so the first, and I'm gonna take them, um, separately,
uh, separately, but starting with, starting with, uh,
and essentially the series of motions, we'll swap those two.
So first off, we'd like a, um, would make a motion
to reconsider, uh, reconsider the vote on Mr.
ero.
All those in favor, uh, reconsider and vote.
Aye. Aye. Those opposed?
And so the, then the second motion would be to substitute,
uh, to put in as a, a, a substitute here
that we would be appointing Mr.
Monero to fill the, the
expiring term succeeding Alexandra Holt.
And with the term expiring July 1st, 2028.
So moved. Although in favor say aye. Aye.
Those no before
Chairman Irving? Yeah.
Why are we amending the terms of the people coming in?
Well, we, um, if I, I could say, mm-Hmm, Jim,
so we have some of the, some of the, uh,
terms expire in 2027.
Some of the terms expire in 2028.
So, um, we, we have, uh, the motion here is
to have Mr.
Monero serve the longer term versus Mr. Medina.
And it has this, okay.
Alright. Wait a minute. Never.
Nevermind. We already take, we, we already days.
So process is working guys. Yeah. All right.
Mike's fault.
Uh, So I made the motion for the substitute.
Mm-Hmm. And,
And, and then I would make a motion, uh, again on Mr.
Montero's candidacy. Yeah.
Which of course passed unanimously previously.
So I move, move for a vote on Mr. Montero's candidacy. So
All those in favor say aye.
Aye. Those opposed? No.
Any opinion of the chair? The ayes have.
All right, Conway? Yes.
And then I also make a motion to reconsider the, um,
the candidacy of, of Mr. Medina.
Uh, again, the purpose of this is to adjust the, the length
of his term, uh, for the expiration, um,
to succeed that of, uh, Sarah Pang
and having a term expiring July 1st, 2027.
So I make the motion to reconsider the vote on Mr. Medina.
So moved by au uh, Ottman on the motion.
All those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed? No.
Any opinion of the chair? The ayes have Mond Conway.
Yeah, so I'd make a, and I'd make a motion to substitute,
um, substitute
the, uh, the nomination Mr. Medina to, uh,
to fill the ex the expired term of Sarah Pang
into a, a term that would end on July 1st, 2027.
So moved by Chairman Va, vice Chairman Vazquez,
although in favor, say aye.
Aye. Those opposed? No. Any opinion of the chair?
The ayes have. And,
And then, uh, would call for a call for a vote on Mr.
Medina's candidacy.
Uh, and would like to be recorded as no on that
Any exception.
So moved.
So moved by Autumn Ententes. All those in favor say aye.
Aye. Those opposed? No, no, no, no. Independent chair.
The ayes have will be reported out in the next city council
meeting, um, with the exception of ba uh,
Basquez Conway and Mitchell.
Oh, I'm a Yes. He's a yes. Okay. He's
A yet. All right.
Um,
Is, uh, thank you all for enduring that procedural move.
All right. That's fine. Okay.
I thought Natasha was
Natasha. We voted
and we reset that
She's the vote. She's good. Okay. Yeah.
All. Okay. All right.
Page two, item four is a mayoral ordinance
for the appointment of Nora k Ryan as a member
of RTA Board of directors.
Um, appointment 2 0 2 4 0 0 1 3 5 4 0.
The appointment of nor of
nor, uh, Kay Ryan as a member
of the Regional Transit Authority Board of Directors
for a term effective
27. The
dates right.
Effective 20 July effective meeting in expiring
July 1st, 2027 to succeed Christopher
to Su to succeed Phillip k Fuentes, whose term has expired.
Can I get a motional? No, no, no, no.
We have to let her talk.
Ryan, you have the floor. Thank
You Everybody. You ready?
All, I guess you already sold everybody.
I mean, we're, we can just sue the vote, right?
Skip ahead. Okay. Good afternoon.
My name is Nora k Ryan,
and I'm the assistant to the President
for the Chicago Federation of Labor.
It's an honor to be here today
before all of you, as you consider my name nomination
to the RTA Board, I wanna begin by saying,
public transit is a critical public service
that connects families to their workplace, school,
healthcare, and their daily lives.
According to the Economic Policy Institute,
transportation ranks among the largest monthly expenditure
for families of four on par with food, childcare,
housing, and healthcare.
Maintaining reliable and safe public transit is critical
for the working families
who power nearly every sector of our local economy.
Therefore, finding a solution
that fully funds transit must be one of our top priorities.
A little about my background.
I've been with the Chicago Federation of Labor for 11 years.
What makes me a good candidate
for the RTA Board is my extensive labor experience.
The CFL represents 300 labor organizations
who in turn represent half a million workers across
Chicago and Cook County.
These workers include the folks at CTA Metro and pace.
When I started at the CFL in November of 2013,
my first assignment was working
with then CFL President Jorge Ramirez,
and the Jobs to Move America Coalition
to bring rail car manufacturing back to the city of Chicago.
The CTA put out a bid for an put out, an invitation for bids
that began to begin upgrading the city's rail car fleet.
When the IFB failed, we worked closely with the CTA
to add language known as the US Employment Plan
to a new request for proposals format.
The US Employment Plan allows agencies
to consider job creation, access to jobs
for disadvantaged communities, workforce training,
and other related economic development factors.
When evaluating and awarding contracts
for rail car purchases, with this language added,
the CTA was able to bring manufacturing back
to Chicago's rightful place on the south side.
Throughout my time at the CFL, I have worked closely
with labor unions at our various transit agencies across the
region that advocate on behalf of their members.
We are lucky to have one of the, we are lucky
to have the most skilled workforce in the country.
And as we work to fi fix the issues looming across all
of our transit lines, including the impending fiscal cliff,
we will need to get the input of organized labor to ensure
that there will be a plan that works for everyone.
In 2023, I worked
with the Chicago Metropolitan Metropolitan Agency
for planning to create the plan of action
for regional transit.
It was a report with recommendations on ways
to invest in a stronger
and more financially secure system
across the Northeast region.
I attended the larger steering committee meetings
with CFL President Bob Reer,
and I sat in on one of the subcommittees.
Throughout the process, I was able
to hear many different perspectives on the issues facing our
public transit systems as well as the ideas to fix them.
I agree with Cmap P'S call
that the Illinois General Assembly should increase state
funding for transit and
nor Northeastern Illinois for CTA metro and pace,
because they are essential to the region's economy.
Fully funding our public transit agencies
to increase the economic mobility
of workers in our region needs
to be our number one priority.
Any reforms to the current structure
of these agencies must be done in a thoughtful manner
that supports the workers who operate these lines
and the public, our transit system serve.
We must work with all stakeholders to deliver a solution
that addresses the impending fiscal cliff
and prioritizes maintaining a safe
and reliable transit system for all.
Thank you.
All right. Thank you. Uh, Mond Conway,
Uh, Ms. Ryan, you, you did, um, address this a little bit,
but wanted to, um, hear from you further on
what you think about the proposed merger Mm-Hmm.
Uh, and the consolidation of, of transit, uh, organizations,
as well as, um, further information regarding the,
the potential budget shortfall.
Yeah. So, uh, as far as the merger is concerned,
through my work on, with Cmap on the part report, um,
I think that, uh,
merging all the agencies would not be the best idea
because it would take too much away from the workers
and the, and the riding public to be able
to have their voices heard.
And that's gonna be the most important thing in all of this.
Like, we can't build a system that doesn't work
for the people who are gonna ride it.
If no one's wants to ride it, then, you know,
we can add all the train stations we want, we can add all,
all the different lines that we want,
but if no one's actually gonna ride it
because we're not listening to what they're saying, then it,
the whole thing is gonna be useless.
So I think that keeping all three separate
and independent is, uh, is the way to go.
Do you, do you think that there should be more integration
between say, Metro Pace and CTA, even if it's not a formal?
Yeah, I mean, there, there certainly could be more
conversation between the three as to, you know,
what's working, what isn't.
Um, you know, one of the things that, uh,
throughout my work, um, as I, you know,
over the last two years as I've been working on this fiscal,
fiscal cliff, um, I'm not sure if, if you all know this,
but, uh, at CTA, there are 14 unions that represent members.
There. At Metro, there are 12, and at pace there are seven.
So, and a lot of those unions cross over between, you know,
two of the different areas, maybe
all three of the different areas.
And so Labor has a lot
of insight on what's actually happening, right?
Because their members are the ones who are doing this work.
Like, if you wanna know what
that Ashland bus line is all about, talk to the,
talk to that bus driver.
They're the ones who knows where all the potholes are.
Hello. Whoever just walked in,
Gonzi, that's just back.
So it, like, if you wanna know what's actually happening
on that bus line, talk to that bus driver.
They know where the potholes are that they have to slow down
for, which takes some time.
You know, they know where the stops are,
that they're gonna pick up the most people.
That then causes two
and three buses to back up together, you know?
So it's like, we're not gonna get out of any
of this mess if we're not actually talking to
and listening to what labor has to say.
Like, I'm in constant communication with a TU president, um,
Keith Hill of 2 41 and Penny McCook of 3 0 8.
You know, so it's like, I've been talking
to them about a lot, talking to all the unions, a lot about
what we need to do to fix this system.
But do you, you, so it doesn't sound like you think there
should be any more integration between Metro and the CTA?
No. I mean, I like, you know, could we look at,
at merging the faires?
Sure. You know,
but like bringing all of them under one big body.
No, I don't think that that's the way it would work
Now. Do what,
um, what types of things
do you think that RTA could, could change for, uh, what,
what do you think, what type of things do you think
RTA could change or do better?
So I think one thing would be providing resources
to each of the transit agencies.
And I'm not just talking money, I'm talking like being able
to do, you know, um, reports for them
or like, give them, give them stats
on what's working and what isn't working.
And also like being able to be the, you know, talk to each
of the agencies and,
and, you know, help them collaborate together.
'cause while each agency is doing their own thing,
somebody needs to be the one to kind of bring them together.
And so I think that like the RTA could just be that voice.
All of them need to have their own strategies,
but the RTA needs to have the overarching plan for everybody
Now. Um,
it's, it's, you touched a little bit on this.
It's, it's clear that you have extensive
experience in labor.
Um, uh,
but how do you think that feed you, you feeds to your, uh,
leads to experience regarding transportation?
You did mention some work on cmap,
but I don't see any resume
that maybe you could speak more to.
Yeah. So, um, and that's the thing.
I think, and, and all of this is gonna be
about building consensus.
And so it's being able to talk to each of these unions.
I have, you know, connections to every single union
that is at all of these agencies.
And I can pick up the phone, call them,
they'll answer my call and be able, you know,
and we can kind of talk through things like over the summer,
um, I spent, I was the labor liaison
or the labor advisor for the DNC convention.
And so a lot of what I had to do there was I had
to bring together labor and major corporations to sit down,
work together and figure out how
to make this convention work for everybody.
And so, you know, I do have a lot
of experience in being able
to build collaboration, bring people together.
You're not always gonna get what you want.
That's what negotiations are all about.
And so, you know, but we just have to make sure
that everybody has their voice being heard.
Okay. That's, I'm not, I'm not sure I agree with you
that more integration isn't necessary among the systems,
but I appreciate your, uh, your thoughtful approach.
And that's all the, that's all the questions I have.
Vice Chairman Vazquez, definitely. Uh, thank you.
I actually have, yeah,
I wanna follow up pretty much on that line of questioning.
So, um, I think for me, looking at like, let's say the city
of Chicago's budget, right?
You've got 36 different departments.
If we had 36 different budget negotiations
for every department, it wouldn't necessarily make it
better, right?
As a, as a body, we look at all these different departments
and we make one negotiation for the total budget.
So I think, um, not to be simplistic about it,
I just do think that if we're talking about a system
that's meant to connect people mm-Hmm.
To places to the people that they love to where they go
to work, there is a value, I believe,
in connecting the three different systems
that actually are supposed
to connect all through the state, right?
So if, if CTA connected the metric connected to pace,
and they all spoke to each other,
you would find more efficiencies in
traveling all across the state.
You'd also increase the people from state coming to Chicago,
finding easier pathways in.
And so I think there is definitely a value in figuring out
what that kind of consolidation looks like.
But I do recognize in all fairness,
that if there's any negotiation that occurs
where Chicago isn't able to speak for the people of Chicago,
Correct? Yeah. And
we're all screwed. And that's exactly it. Yes.
I mean, and like all, you know,
isn't that what the RTA does?
Right? Like the TA each, each group needs
to have their own voice
and be able to operate independently, do their stuff,
but the RTA should be the one bringing them together
and making sure that where there can be efficiencies
or where things can come together, such as fair integration
or whatever that, that we can work together to do it.
But like to, you know, to blow away all three of them
and just be like, okay, one monster board each one,
ha you know, we're all just gonna
work in all of this together.
It's like, that's just gonna be chaos.
You know, there's so many, there's so many intricacies
to each of the various lines.
I mean, just even look at, you know, like the equipment
that they have, we don't even have the same train lines,
or sorry, the buses, like between PACE
and CTA, they don't even have the same buses, you know?
So like right there, you're already working
with two different systems.
And so I think that are there ways to come together
and work together Sure.
But like making it the, the center point
and just, you know, blowing up the whole system to do
so. No, I don't agree with you.
Yeah. Yeah. And, and I, I res I, I'm somebody
who respects fairness
and wanting to hear every different take on a board, right?
Mm-Hmm. I think as we're seeing with CPS, for example,
I don't want people that are all gonna agree on a thing
and maybe co-sign on a $300 million loan
that I believe they're responsible.
I want people to debate it back and forth.
So for me, having a difference of opinion isn't a thing
that's gonna get me to go, well, we shouldn't,
I think it actually makes the conversations better, right?
Because, um, to your point, it could very well be
that the way it consolidates
or connects isn't through a formal
agreement of like a Right.
Correct. Yes. And that's what I think,
that's why I think it's important.
That's why the negotiation about even
legislation's important.
And so I think what I value is having that labor voice
to be able to identify things that we
as legislators just aren't gonna know.
Mm-Hmm. Right. So your, your conversation with those, um,
are what's important to me as far
as you serving on the board.
So although, and I talked to other folks in labor,
I think we have a lot more conversations to have
to figure out what right looks like.
The fact that we are able to engage
and heal different, um, perspectives are important to me,
and that's why I'm in support. So, thank you.
Thank you. Mm-Hmm. That's, oh, okay. That's all I have.
Chairman. Sorry.
Re Sure.
Thank you, gentlewoman.
Um, you know, um,
I read this book called Good to Great Mm.
Um, um, by Collins.
And, uh, version one was on the, uh,
the business community,
but he came out with subsequent versions.
Uh, the second was around the nonprofit world,
and he distinguished, uh, what great meant
for various sectors, um, are very independent of each other,
uh, and also made the assertion that there are some
business practices, um, that are actually counterproductive,
uh, and shouldn't be adopted by other sectors.
Um, look, I'm not an expert on this consolidation effort,
so I don't want to, uh, go too far over my skis here.
However, I do wanna make the case that
this consolidation word is kind of sexy,
but it needs a lot of dissecting Mm-Hmm.
Before you go all in.
And the fact is, my colleague was saying
that the situation right now is dire,
and do we wanna make it worse by not consolidating?
And I said, you may make it worse by consolidating, correct.
Right? Yep. So, you know, I think many times in society,
and look, capitalism one, I'm all in.
Um, but the fact is, is that that doesn't mean it's perfect.
And the fact is, in our society, we believe in, um,
we don't believe in a strict
capitalist way of going about things.
We believe in government intervention
where it makes sense for equity.
We, uh, and, and damn it makes sense for folks
who are in social security, right?
Um, so let's be fair here,
and let's have a wide lens on this topic
of consolidation
and bring people into the conversation
versus automatically assume, um, that that's a best case.
'cause by the way, consolidation even in a business sector,
has proven very problematic at times, uh, particularly
for working class people.
Mm-Hmm. So I just wanted to, uh, um,
just offer that opinion.
And again, I don't want to get ahead of my schemes.
Maybe it is a great, the, the, the best thing to do,
but, you know, I am a bit skeptical,
and I'm very happy you're bringing
that perspective, uh, to this debate.
I don't got anything else. You're, I got,
I got your back. So for
It, uh, all right. Now, Ottman Gut.
Thank you, chairman. Hmm.
Yeah, I just wanna also to speak, uh,
with my strong support to Nora.
Uh, we know, uh, that she's been working with labor unions
who represent workers at the three, uh,
transit agencies for nearly two years.
And the issues surrounding a fiscal cliff that she mentioned
and solutions to make the system equitable for all
who rider our system.
So I believe that Nora will be a strong advocate
for our writers, the workforce in our communities,
and as a member on the RRTA board, uh, to build,
she will build consensus around creating a system
that works for everybody.
And that's what we need in, in our board.
Um, so I do wanted to commend also to all of you guys, uh,
for stepping forward for our city and serving in this board.
And I'm happy to continue to work
and collaborate all together
to better our communities and our city.
Thank you.
Great. Uh, I have no questions.
I enjoyed our conversation yesterday.
Uh, um, um, the appointment
of Nor Korea as member of the Regional Transit Authority
Board of Directors for a term effectively immediately
expiring July 1st, 2027 to succeed.
I just want Phillip k Fuentes, whose term has expired.
This is an amendment to the letter received from the mayor
office on the motion recommended approval.
All those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed? No.
Any opinion of the chair the ayes have.
Alright, last
but not least on the, um, uh, uh, page two.
Item two is a mayoral, uh, ordinance for the appointment
of Thomas G Rack.
Okay. Terrick Terrick as a member of the RTA Board
of Directors Appointment
2 0 2 4 0 0 1 3 5 3 6.
This appointment of Thomas g uh, Terrick as a member
of the Regional Transportation Authority Board
of the Directors for attorney,
effectively immediately expired July 1st, 2028 to succeed.
Christopher c Melvin.
This is an amendment to the letter received from the mayor's
office before entertaining motions.
Any questions from the, uh, oh, you know what?
I'm gonna just in, I'm gonna just take
for granted. Alderman Conway.
Nice. Yeah. I, dang, dang.
Been a long day. And I spoke,
I'm happy to, I'm totally happy to skip it,
but I wanna say one, you
Know what, pretty Solid, but it's,
I do have to thank my wife.
Before I ask questions, I just wanted
to say, Tom, thank you to my wife.
If you want the statement, I'll,
I'll, I'll go through it quickly.
Good afternoon, chairman Mitchell, vice Chair Vasquez,
and distinguished members of the Transportation Committee.
I'm truly humbled to appear today
before you as a nominee to the Board
of Directors of the RTA.
First, I want to thank my wife
and my two children who are always supporting me
and spending more time than anyone ever should.
Listening to me talk about transportation and transit
and why it is important to everything that we do.
My family has deep
and personal connections with public transportation.
My grandfather came from Croatia about a hundred years ago,
and found his first and only long-term job working
for the Chicago Surface Lines,
which was the streetcar operator
that the CTA acquired when it was created in 1947.
While working as a laborer,
my grandfather lost his eyesight in one eye
during an accident, trying to repair a streetcar line.
And despite this injury, my grandfather continued working
for years with a steady, well-paying job
that helped him raise six children
as a widowed father in a 900 square foot
apartment in Bridgeport.
My father also worked for railroads for almost 40 years, uh,
all of the time he was in the workforce,
including at Rock Island, which was acquired
by Metro in 1982.
My father's turned 89 years old, uh, this Friday.
And every weekend he comes
and, uh, sees us by taking the red line
or the Halsted bus for me.
Uh, I've been lucky to work on transportation for 25 years.
13 of those were on Capitol Hill, uh, most of that time.
As the senior policy advisor
for our senior Senator Dick Durbin,
I was working on transportation budget
and infra infrastructure issues.
And when I came back home from DC I worked
as the Deputy Executive Director of cmap,
the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.
And six years ago, I was asked by the civic committee
of the commercial club of 140 7-year-old institution
that is dedicated to making the Chicago region the best
place to live, work, and do business,
and was asked to lead their transportation infrastructure
work, which is what I do now.
I'm also a trustee of a nonprofit foundation headquartered
in Manhattan called Transit Center, which supports research
and advocacy to improve transit in the biggest
cities in the United States.
I've had the privilege to work on a lot of big
and small transportation policy planning
and funding issues over my career,
and I'm absolutely excited for the opportunity
to bring those experiences to the RTA board.
I believe very deeply
that you cannot have a global city without a safe, reliable,
frequent, fast, and connected transit system.
It's one of the Chicago region's biggest competitive
advantages, and it helps us retain
and attract business, lower the cost of living,
and give access to opportunity to so many of us,
I believe we have a strong system today,
but we're facing a pivotal moment with the expiration
of federal emergency dollars in 2026.
This fiscal cliff
and how we approach it will have
consequences for a generation.
I think it's an enormous challenge,
and it shouldn't be time for us to think small,
but think big, seize the moment,
make transit the first choice that people take,
make when they need to get from point A
to point B anywhere in the region.
If confirmed. I promise to work closely with all
of you on the committee, the entire city council
and stakeholders, to ensure that the work
of the RTA is in service of the people of Chicago
and the surrounding region. Thank you.
Alright, so, uh, Ottoman
Conway. Yes.
Uh, Mr. Katar, your, your resume's very concerning
because I'm concerned you may actually be overqualified
to be in R-T-A-R-T-A board,
but I'll ask the same questions of you that I, I asked of,
uh, gee, by the way, tough room here.
I was. I was trying to give the man a compliment,
but anyway, um, so you touched on the, uh,
the budget shortfall a little bit.
I didn't, I didn't know if you would've more
to say on the merger of the systems, as well as, uh,
expound on what you said
regarding the budget shortfall. Sure.
Uh, first and foremost, I think this is a really rich
conversation that you've all had,
and you really have the right approach, in my opinion.
I think the reform movement really starts
with the recognition that the system
that we have today is the byproduct of something
that was put into law by the General Assembly 40 years
ago, 1983.
There's a whole lot that's changed since 1983,
and yet we're still using handshake agreements that folks
who were elected then made behind closed doors
to distribute a lot of our funding.
Uh, 58, 34 8, if you ever hear that, that's the percentage
that CTA metro and PACE get for capital funding.
It's not law, but it's the same thing we've been doing
and using for 40 years to really be discerning
and to look deeply into whether
or not the way that we govern, fund,
and operate the system should be exactly the same as
what it was 40 years ago, is the essence of
what the reform movement is, is all about.
And you all asking those questions, what are the outcomes?
What are we trying to achieve, I think is a huge opportunity
for us to really lead.
You know, we learned a lot about,
Natasha said she takes the 47th and 53rd Street, uh, stops.
You know, Metro has a third of the stations in the city
of Chicago, paces, paratransit, you know,
well over a majority of those paratransit trips start.
And in Chicago, this is one region,
and Chicago is really the heart of it.
And I think as the General Assembly starts to tackle this,
we're really in the first quarter, it's a four quarter game,
and we're gonna have to really dig in deep.
And I promise that I wanna bring your
voice into that discussion.
So, and, and along those things, what, you know,
at a high level, what types of things do you think
that the RTA could change or do better?
So, you know, one, I want to give a lot of deference
to Leanne, the CEO and the rest of the board members.
It's a totally different perspective, you know, from the
outside to when you get inside,
but I think that it's time to lean in, you know,
the moment's pretty clear of where we're at, that we need
to really sort of step up for the riders
and give them the service that they need.
Issues like safety, reliability, cleanliness, and comfort.
The RTA plays a role,
and I think that they should play a stronger role.
A lot of what we talked about today is coordination.
There's just a lot of small ball that's happening,
and I think it's time to play at the major leagues.
We look at something as simple as the bus vision.
You know, everybody's pretty excited that CTA is, you know,
looking at the stops and the routes.
Again, some of those are older than 40 years.
Some of 'em are 50, 60 years old.
I think it's important and it's good governance
to really look at these and question,
does it make sense for today?
What did we learn about the pandemic?
What did we learn about essential workers?
At the same time, PACE is doing a bus vision.
Both of them happen to have the same contractor
because they both had two separate RFPs,
and then at the end, were just sort of lucky
that they got the same person.
That's something that's obvious
that we should be doing together.
The RTA should raise their hand when we know those things
are happening and say, use us.
Let's bring this together. There's plenty of pay service
that is all through the city of Chicago.
There's plenty of CTA service.
CTA serves at least 38 suburbs.
Their statutory geography is much bigger.
And again, how do we make sure
that we give the riders the connections, the service,
the destinations that they need?
That should be first and foremost,
we should be doing that stuff together. Would
It, would it be fair to say that you think there's some
opportunity for integration between CTA metro and base then?
Absolutely. Across the board.
You know, it's not just fair integration.
It's not just, you know, looking at capital projects.
I think the service coordination is a, is a place to get
to eventually, you know, really looking at
where are people trying to go
and how can we use all of the assets that we have.
I think one of the really instructive examples
that we had was the Metro Fair Fares pilot.
It took the routes of the Metro Electric and the Rock Island
and lower the prices in the city and the suburbs,
and ran the trains more frequently so that people who used
to have to pay $13 to get downtown
who were choosing the CTA bus
to train taking an hour could get there in like
14, 15 minutes.
You know, what happened during that experience is
that CTA decided not to participate in that pilot program.
So, you know, sort of claiming that every person
who would go to Metro,
you would lose funding from a CTA bus.
Cook County showed a lot of leadership
and said, we'll reimburse you, you know,
if we're fighting about what transit system you're taking,
we're doing transit wrong.
And so I think there's a lot of opportunities that are like
that, that the RTA should lean in and lead up.
Right. That's, that's all I have, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
All right. Uh, alderman Moore, followed by
Chairman va, vice Chair Vazquez, followed
by non-member Timmy Knutson.
And oh, before that Alderman, uh, alderman Lee.
Not committee either. I just wanna non committee. Okay.
I told you I didn't have any questions,
and I don't, it's just more of a statement.
And I, I was gonna save it to city Council,
but when you're feeling something
and it's real, you don't stage it as city council.
You just say, Just want
to really give, um, um, again, the mayor,
kudos for selecting this group.
I am feeling this. And I really think, um, I listen,
you wanna be knowledgeable about things,
but sometimes also when you just truly feel something is
right, um, it almost makes me want to cry
because of what he assembled here.
And I think you all are gonna do the people's work, um,
together, after I've heard from you, Nora,
and now hearing from you, um, as I look, um, Mr. Medina, um,
when I think about the people side, you know,
everybody don't have to be a prof.
You want some qualified folks,
but you also gotta, again, get people that's out there
with the people and, and, and care
and have the heart of the people, like I said,
and I, I know you have that.
And then, uh, that labor component in here so
that we can take care of the work.
'cause I think all of you all bring something different
and a and a knowledge background, as Conway is saying, no,
it, it is good to be overqualified.
'cause we need people in here that know, um, this, um,
information and that can share,
but also you all are strong enough can probably
go anywhere you want to go.
And, and I think that's
where your independence is gonna be at,
because you can be loyal and, and follow a vision.
And I think the mayor has a vision for this,
but you also are gonna be smart enough to know
and say, Hey, this is not right.
This is what we believe is right.
And, and I'm trusting this team, um, to do that.
I feel that I'm excited about this. I really am.
And I think we are gonna get to the point where we can get
to in serving our constituents.
So I, I just couldn't save that for city council
because it's real right now, um, for me.
And I, and I just wanna, um,
commend the mayor, um, for doing this.
And I want him to take a note of this, um,
not only in equity, as I said before, but in knowledge base.
And these are the things we want
to see in this city across the board, not just
as CTA, but everywhere.
Uh, what I don't feel or see in here is politics.
You understand what I'm saying? I don't feel or see that.
I see these are people who really care about the city
and who have the capacity, um, to move what we need
to move forward, um, in CTA.
So, uh, again, I just, uh, appreciate.
I just wanted to say that and appreciate
and say I thank the mayor for selecting all of you all.
And I just want, uh, I needed to note that
because I want him in this administration to look at this
as we're doing things across the entire city.
This is example of
how we can move forward and, um, work together. Thank you.
You up? I guess I am up, yeah. That's it, Mr. Vice chair.
Nice. I'll let you take it from here. Uh, okay.
It'd be unfair for me to just go next on the mic.
So let's go to everybody else first
and then I'll round out who else is on.
I think Tim wanted mention. So yeah, alderman Knutson,
Thank you. Vice chair.
And I'm non-member,
but I, I hear I came to support my constituent,
Tom Co Tom Erak.
Um, really strong choice.
And it's been great to hear from all of you.
You know, I've been aware of, uh, Natasha
and Dennis's work for some times and reputations,
and it, um, seems like a really strong board.
So, you know, alderman Moore said it a lot better than me,
but I, I think that this mix of skillsets
and um, kind
of vision strategies is important for city boards.
And I commend the mayor for focusing, um, in on it,
especially with, with this group of appointees
that I have no doubt will pass with flying colors.
So not that much needs to be more set on Tom,
but he's a very strategic thinker.
He cares deeply about transit,
really the first reason we met.
Um, we do a lot of transit oriented development in the area.
He lives in a very dense area of the city
and the ward that's very fit for
that thinking away from cars.
Um, and Tom has always helped me think
with vision on those items.
So I say thank you and, and strong recommend.
Thank you very much for that. Yep. I
Think I was next Vice chair. Yeah,
Alderwoman Lee. Thank you.
Um, and like, uh, alderman Knu not a member
of the committee, but, uh, could not not be here, um, to,
uh, to lend my voice
and support my, uh, resounding support for one Tom Kaar, um,
who spends a lot of time in the 11th ward too.
We're just gonna adopt him there.
Uh, but no, I like Alderman Conway said, uh,
do your resume speaks for itself.
I feel like you live, eat, breathe, uh, transportation.
Um, I can't think of a, of a better candidate at this point.
Um, no offense, Dennis or any, anybody else here.
Uh, but you've made this your life's
work and, and it's obvious.
Um, it, I'm surprised
that you weren't already on this board, to be honest.
Um, uh, but you are somebody who is a, an available resource
to all of us as elders.
Um, I've known that since I started.
I think you and I met over at Shiva Chichi
or something, uh, at, at the, at VECA GPA in the ward.
Um, but from day one, you have, uh, for me at least, been,
uh, an incredible resource.
Uh, you always pick up the phone when I call you.
Um, you're always willing to, to share information
and to give me your perspective on things.
I think you're gonna bring, uh, a really great perspective,
uh, and, uh, the kinda leadership, uh, that we need.
And for the en uh, the entire slate of candidates here,
diversity is important, right?
We, we don't need everybody thinking one way.
Um, so, uh, on, on that, I, I cannot argue the point
that this is, this is an incredibly, uh, powerful slate
of, uh, of candidates.
Um, and Tom, you're gonna do great.
I have no doubt about it.
Uh, thank and thank you for your willingness
to serve in this capacity.
Uh, I don't know if anybody has mentioned that, uh,
previously, but, um, it's not a small thing
to serve on a board like this, uh,
especially at this critical time.
Um, there, there are big things that need to be worked out.
Um, and it's going
to take everybody rolling up their sleeves
and really listening, um, to the needs
of the community while balancing, you know, what we need to,
to try to advocate for, um, in terms of, uh,
funding from various, uh, branches of government
to make sure that we have the kind
of world-class transportation systems that, uh, frankly,
our, our residents deserve.
So, thank you very much. I have no questions.
Just accolades. Thank you. Thank you.
Jeremy Vasquez. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes.
Uh, okay. Um, keep moving. I have questions.
Uh, um, first,
although a number of us have kind of, um, you know,
vocally said there was a bit of a challenge as
to way the process was going through
that we found out on a Friday to figure this out on Monday.
I am glad that we're taking the time here
to have these conversations with each of you.
Um, I'm pretty excited as well about what this board can do,
uh, and what you all in this position can do.
So, um, I just want to, Nora, you
and I had the conversation related to the labor side, uh,
in hearing Tom's case.
I'm actually now got questions about that
because I think when we talk about reform,
we talk about consolidation, um, there's a lot
of different things that can be meant by
that terminology, right?
It's like when people say efficiency
and they wanna say things that work better,
but it leads to cuts and it leads to layoffs
and it leads to people losing benefits, right?
Just to make things cheaper or connected.
So I think I I I'm on the other side
of the coin in this conversation as to, yeah,
we want the system to work better,
we want that coordination.
But is there, no pun intended, a red line for you related to
how deep you would have to make changes in a way
that affects people that are the workers?
What does that look like when
you're kind of weighing it through?
Yeah. There, there's certainly not a red line.
I think, again, that approach of being, you know, thoughtful
and really sort of, um, deeply interrogating this, the,
the general assembly really hasn't done this in 40 years.
I have to give credit to the Illinois State Transportation
Chairman around Val.
You know, he's had seven hearings.
Uh, I've participated, I've seen all of them.
I was a, um, a witness at 1 35 plus hours
of hearings in the house.
They're just, uh, sort of in the middle
of their working group.
They're doing this seriously.
I mean, if you look at the previous reforms,
they were rushed 2008, 2014,
sort of what can we put together?
This crisis that we're facing
with the fiscal cliff is actually one where we know it's
around the corner and we sort
of have time to think through it.
The CM a P part report, they put 12,000 hours of staff work.
They had consultants and national experts, a steering group
that Nora participated in.
Uh, we did as well, as well as many others.
So we've got a good body of work
to kind of work around from.
I think the other premise to remember is
that we wanna invest in this system
more than just plugging the hole.
You know, the, the call
for the CM a P part report was one and a half billion dollars.
The fiscal cliff right now is estimated at $730 million.
And we're probably gonna have to re-estimate
that that number is old.
I think that's an RTA thing
that we should do right off the bat.
But investing more means that we're gonna have
to have more people working on the system.
But I think, you know, before we really sort of get to
that point, we've gotta think about making the case
to the general assembly.
And I think one of the handicaps and sort of the, the issues
and challenges that we've had is that we, we haven't done
what our peer metros have done to sort of really
just scrape everywhere we can for savings.
Not sort of, you know, on the workforce side,
but just the small stuff.
You know, like is there joint procurement?
How many Adobe Acrobat licenses do we have
between all four agencies?
You know, make a concerted effort that you're trying
to have a savings plan.
We've seen this in New York, 400 plus million dollars,
very transparent, accountable plan.
We've seen it in Philadelphia, we've seen it in Boston
before they went to their state capital.
We've been way behind on that.
And so let's lean in and figure out where those savings are.
So when we go to the general assembly, can say
that we've made everything that we can.
And then also on the revenue side, you know,
how can we raise revenue first
and foremost, put more people into the
system and riding the system.
That's safety and reliability and frequency.
But also, let's really look, you know,
comprehensively at things like the, the land
that we have available around transit stations
and not just at CTAs land.
Let's look at Metro. Let's look at pace,
let's look at the other municipalities.
We want to create a virtuous circle
where we're developing affordable housing,
dense commercial opportunities, businesses, uh, offices, so
that people take the system there.
It's easy, it's fast, it's affordable,
and people are taking the system
because things are built on top of it.
You know, we should be doing an analysis
of what's out there, do a market
analysis, what makes the most sense.
There's so much that I think we haven't done
that the General Assembly is gonna ask us to do anyways.
And they have, through these hearings, let's listen to them
because it's them who we are asking for the investment.
The state only picks up 17% of the operating costs
for the transit system as a whole.
That is, again, a total anomaly relative to our peers.
That number's way higher when we look at New York
and our other peer cities.
But we've gotta build the case.
They're gonna ask us, did you do everything first?
I don't think we can answer that
truthfully that we have yet.
Yeah, no, IIII appreciate that.
I think you hit that on the head, like if you're asking
for the state to put more skin in the game, they're asking
for that kind of, um, ability
to have accountability into what's going on.
So, um, thank you for that.
I, I will respectfully differ on, on the red line.
My red line is not having people laid off,
not having folks that are working out here.
I think to your point,
and we've seen in the city level when it comes to contracts
for our technology, there's plenty of efficiency to be found
before you even get to labor.
And so I think that it's a real fair conversation to have.
My next question I have is, um, what's your opinion
of the CTA Redline extension project?
Um, you know, that's got a big price tag on it,
but the value of connecting different parts of town
and folks that have never been connected.
Yeah. When we talk about the south
and west side, not having the investment it needs,
you need the right transportation there to be able
to connect it so people understand that they wanna develop
and like make that the level investment that's necessary.
Where do you stand on the, our redline project itself? Sure.
I, you know, I think the redline extension is a really
instructive example to, it's a lens to look
through a lot of these same issues.
You know, the Red Line extension had been on plans
for decades, just hadn't moved.
One of the reasons that it hadn't was
that the federal government that has something called the
New Starts Program, where they pick up half of the cost
of the program, you know, back about 15 years ago, each one
of the agencies went to Congress
and asked for money for each one of their own projects.
So think about, you know, the metro star line.
Think about the, um, yellow line out to Old Orchard,
the orange line to Ford City
and the Red Line all the way to hundred 30th Street,
you know, Congress and the feds had given them each just
enough money where they could plan
but not prioritize which one to do first.
So we've done none.
And the problem was so severe that when the
engineering funding was appropriate, they couldn't use it.
'cause there wasn't a plan to prioritize
and just do one project.
So we probably lost 20 years
by having everybody just get a
little and then doing nothing.
I think the RTA should play a really big role
in prioritizing that.
The second piece is that I think we're not incentive
to think to, we're not incentivized
to think together in the 1983 system.
So while everyone's really excited to get to the edge
of the city in hundred 30th Street
and extend the red line, we're not thinking about the fact
that we're crossing the Metro Electric
tracks at hundred 18th Street.
You know, and instead of thinking about a station
that connects so
that you really increase the access regionally,
we're thinking about building it high enough so
that the metro train doesn't hit the tracks.
You know, it doesn't hit the CTA train.
Totally different mindset.
And then if you go to the Terminus at hundred 30th Street,
and if you hit a home run far enough,
you'll actually hit the hole in the ground
where the South Shore Nick d Track, uh, station used to be.
'cause the tracks are still there. How do we look at even
opportunities to think about interstate connections,
because that's really, you know, a, you know,
that's a grand slam for what the red line could be.
And I think that there's still opportunity, it's not built
yet to think about how can we build this in a way
that really integrates and expands the amount
of destinations, uh, everyone can get in that geography.
Awesome, thank you for that.
Um, I just got a quick comment.
Um, I think our colleagues have brought up the idea
of like, qualifications a lot.
And so I just wanted to kind
of correct the record a little bit.
I don't really view it as qualifications.
'cause qualifications means somebody qualified you
to be in a room, right?
Like the old mikva adage of who sent whom.
And I think there's a lot of experience
that people are bringing in that's separate from
what you see on a resume, is actually gonna bring
what we wanna see at the RTA board.
And so I say that with the pastor here.
I think part of the conversation we were having,
there's a large part to play that has nothing
to do with what's on a resume.
And that's why I do wanna partner with you.
So I, the reason I wanna say that is like, there's plenty
of people before I got to office that would've been like,
that guy's not qualified
and what's he doing wearing a
hat in the middle of the room or whatever.
But it's less about what people see on the outset
and the amount of work and passion people have.
And I think that's clear with everyone here.
I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna be pretty
excited watching these board meetings.
I wanna see the debates between like, the effect on labor
and what a consolidation looks like,
because we're not gonna know what the right answers are,
but for those conversations having happening in the public.
And so, um, I I'm extremely excited.
I also wanna commend Mayor Johnson.
Like I said, we may have some pushback on the process,
but I think looking at the folks here,
I can understand why we're gonna be in a
better, better position going forward.
So thank you for everything you're doing
to step up and thank you.
That's all I've got, chair. Thank you.
All right. All right. Well thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, uh, Tom,
and thank you for everybody in dealing with, uh,
what we had to go through today.
Um, can I get a motion record and approve of that last item?
So move au in Fuentes on the motion.
All uh, au and Gutierrez on the motion.
All in favor say aye. Opposed? No in dependen of the chair.
The ayes have it.
There being no further business before this committee.
Can I get a motion to adjourn by the same roll call vote
as was applied to determine quorum Alderman, uh, Rodriguez.
So moves on the motion. All in favor say aye.
Those opposed No. Any opinion of the chair?
The ayes haven't. The meeting on committee,
the meeting on the committee on Transportation
public way is now adjourned.
Thank you.
Thank you honor. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it.
Grant condolences.
Don't, please don't take appointment.
Jessica, please don't take it.