It’s been just over three years since I moved from the Chicago area, but I see not much has changed. When push comes to shove regarding mass transit, it continues to be “the heck with the suburbs” and “let’s give everything to the mismanaged CTA.” I say this in response to the story about the Regional Transportation Authority plan to transfer $74 million from Metra and Pace to the CTA (“RTA may transfer $74M from Metra, Pace to CTA,” Aug. 21).
Transit is important to the whole Chicago area. Each Metra train keeps many cars off the road. If Metra wasn’t there, Chicago-area traffic would be much worse than it already is. Plenty of people rely on Pace’s services to move around the region — to go to work, school, medical appointments and other activities.
While the CTA’s services are essential, they are no more essential than services offered by Metra and Pace. This is especially true for the many individuals with disabilities who rely on the region’s paratransit services, which are operated by Pace. RTA officials should not play games with money and punish the suburbs to kiss up to the city.
Everyone needs to feel the impact of potentially devastating transit service cuts, whether they are in the city or suburbs. Maybe that will force the governor and legislature to come up with a regional solution that keeps transit operating and funds the full amount of transit service the Chicago region deserves.
The RTA should not be taking money away from Metra and Pace to prop up the CTA. Everyone needs to work together and come up with real solutions, not play games that pit the suburbs against the city.
— Ray Campbell, Springfield
Pace’s paratransit services
The Rideshare Access Program (RAP), offered by Pace as part of its paratransit services, has benefited me tremendously since I started using it in January. RAP is a lifeline for me and many others who use it to get to work, medical appointments, grocery shopping, social activities and other places.
The Regional Transportation Authority voted last week on a budget that will make not only cuts to RAP but also to the Taxi Access Program (TAP). The cuts would reduce trips to just 30 a month in addition to raising the fare from $2 to $3.25. This will be devastating to many people with disabilities who depend on these trips.
Thirty rides per month would leave me and others with fewer options; we will miss work, doctors visits and many other activities. People with disabilities who use RAP and TAP will face limited affordable transportation options due to our marginal financial resources.
The RTA made the decision with no input from the disability community, the people who will be most directly impacted. The RTA board of directors needs to do the right thing by not raising the fare and not making cuts to the RAP and RAP services.
— Curtis Harris, Chicago
City’s housing shortages
The Tribune has published opinion pieces about housing shortages that urge local deregulation as the solution. The most recent was Miguel Chacon’s op-ed “Chicago aldermen are making the housing shortage worse” (8/25). Mainstream Democrats have taken up the charge under the “Abundance” banner.
To me, it’s remarkable how detached this campaign is from reality. Restrictive zoning and construction codes have been with us for generations. They serve a variety of goals. Some are beneficial (fire prevention and neighborhood stability); some are not (racial exclusivity, the upholding of political power structures). Housing regulations are not sacrosanct, to be sure. Yet they are, demonstrably, not the main drag on new home construction.
The biggest event affecting real estate in recent history was the 2008 market crash. After the bubble burst, the banks, insurers and other economic interests behind that catastrophe ran as far from real estate as they could. It took many years for construction to recover. That long trough in the industry left an enduring shortage of new homes, which in turn caused a feverish bidding-up of existing properties.
In our zeal to blame local politicians, community activists and bureaucrats — the softest targets imaginable — let’s not forget where the main cause lies.
— Paul W. Mollica, Chicago
Listening to constituents
I disagree with Miguel Chacon‘s op-ed that Chicago aldermen are making the housing shortage worse. In fact, Chicago aldermen are doing exactly what they were elected to do, and that is to listen to their constituents and vote according to their wishes.
I understand the frustration pointed out in the op-ed. Elected officials “claim to be staunch supporters of affordable housing” and pass ordinances outlining their demands, but when the projects fail to get support from the community, the aldermen listen to the voice of the people they represent and veto the project. They are saying one thing but doing another.
Chacon is a real estate broker. The more housing that is available, the more money he will make. Instructing aldermen to work with the “development community,“ rather than the neighbors who would be affected by these developments, is condescending and self-serving.
People are tired of the government telling them what to do. Obviously, many citizens of Chicago do not support the mandates put in place by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration. I am proud of the residents who are speaking up in opposition and making their voices heard. It gives me hope that the our representatives are listening.
I applaud Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez for his honesty and courage in stating that if the community is opposed to the project, then he is, too.
— Cathleen Bylina, Chicago
Unsupported stereotype
In the Aug. 22 editorial “Illinois moves goalposts on reading, math, and science,” the Tribune Editorial Board makes some good points. The comment toward the end — “Under these lowered thresholds, more kids will be considered proficient in reading and math than last year. That’s good for administrators who want to pad their own grades. But it doesn’t serve anyone else” — is wildly inaccurate, maddeningly uninformed and simply insulting to school administrators who, despite factors beyond their control, attempt to help all children achieve their maximum potential. What does “pad their own grades” even mean?
I was in school leadership for over 20 years and have never met a single administrator who felt good about the state lowering standards for kids or about having their own record enhanced by students achieving at a low bar.
This editorial simply reinforces an unsupported stereotype that school administrators care only about their own personal record. That is simply untrue.
— Jay Brickman, St. Charles
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https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/26/letters-082625-rta-cta-metra-pace/
