I got the email below from my District rep. touting how he voted for the State Bailout of the CTA. Gov Blagoyevich almost fubar’d the whole thing by tossing in free rides for seniors at the 11th hour. This is all well and good for some folks; but I don’t want to wind up paying $5 each way so everyone else can ride for free. It’s bad enough I can barely get to work on time with transit the way it is, but if the doomsday scenarios had occured I’d probably have to leave 2 hours early just to be on time.

I’m tired of this fine line our government walks with getting a budget settled for transit needs of the city. Privatize the damn CTA and be done with it. The City and State have shown without a shadow of a doubt they cant handle running Chicago’s Mass Transit system efficiently and at a reasonable cost to riders.

Dear Neighbor,

This afternoon the Senate and House reconvened to consider the Governor’s amendatory veto of House Bill 656, which creates a long-term funding solution for mass transit. Last week the Governor exercised his amendatory veto power to include free mass transit rides for senior citizens as part of HB 656. After much deliberation on the matter, the Senate and House voted to approve the measure, averting the mass transit system shutdown scheduled to take place on January 20th.

I was proud to sponsor and vote for this legislation which will provide a long-term funding solution for mass transit in our state. Now our residents and visitors will be able to enjoy mass transit without service cuts or massive fare increases.

Sincerely,

John J. Cullerton
State Senator
6th District