After appointing an influential West Aspect pastor who will not be a transit knowledgeable to the CTA board, Mayor Brandon Johnson nominated one other well-connected West Aspect pastor with no transit experience to the Regional Transportation Authority board.
The CTA board is accountable for overseeing the transit company and, in principle, acts as a verify on the transit company’s government director and president Dorval Carter. In apply, the board members have tended to supply nothing however reward and assist for Carter. That is even because the president has come underneath elevated scrutiny as CTA service ranges proceed to lag, and the company struggles to rent and retain drivers. Whereas Illinois governors appoint three out of seven transit board members, Chicago mayors appoint the remaining 4, giving them management of the bulk. We’ll focus on how RTA board appointments work in a bit.
The appointments should be confirmed by the Illinois Normal Meeting and the Chicago Metropolis Council, respectively, however that has tended to be little greater than a formality. When Johnson nominated Michael Eaddy, who pastors on the Individuals’s Church Of The Harvest COGIC, to the CTA board, the Council confirmed Eaddy with out a single ‘no’ (plus one absence) on April 17.
Throughout the identical Council assembly, the mayor nominated Ira Acree, a long-time pastor at Austin’s Larger St. John Bible Church, to the RTA board. The appointment must clear the Council’s Committee on Transportation and Public Approach, which is at the moment scheduled to fulfill on Might 8 at 11 a.m., earlier than going earlier than the total Council later that month for remaining approval.
The CTA’s troubles have led to renewed dialogue about who will get appointed to the transit company’s board. As Block Membership’s Manny Ramos not too long ago reported, out of fifty appointments to the CTA board prior to now 40 years, solely three had skilled transportation expertise. Whereas each Eaddy and Acree have data of neighborhood advocacy and combatting racially pushed systemic disparities, the shortage of transit experience subject persists.
Acree advised Streetsblog that he was “not at liberty” to debate the appointment till the council confirms him, however he mentioned that he appeared ahead to speaking in regards to the appointment and his priorities as soon as he clears that hurdle. Acree’s supporters argued that, whereas he might not be a transit knowledgeable, he’s acquainted with systemic points affecting the West Aspect, together with disparities in transit entry.
The RTA board
Whereas the RTA has a much less direct influence on CTA companies than the CTA board does, it nonetheless performs a key function within the Chicagoland transit ecosystem. It divvies up state and federal grants and different varieties of funding and units transit planning priorities for all the Chicagoland area. It technically has the ultimate phrase on CTA, Metra and Tempo budgets though, in apply, its approval is normally a formality.
Though the CTA board’s steadiness of energy is tilted in Chicago’s favor, the RTA board is extra of a three-way balancing act between the Metropolis, Prepare dinner County, and the collar counties. There are 15 RTA board members, plus the chair who’s elected by the remainder of the board. The Chicago mayor appoints 5 members, the Prepare dinner County commissioners who signify the suburban districts appoint 4, the Prepare dinner County board president appoints one, and the chair of every collar county’s board of commissioners appoints one.
Chicago mayors solely get to nominate one member to every of Tempo’s and Metra’s boards. Due to this fact steadiness of energy at these companies is generally between Prepare dinner County and the collar counties.
Acree can be appointed to an RTA seat vacated by director Thomas Kotel, the Recording Secretary of Chicago-based Pipe Fitters Native Union No. 597. His board bio mentions his lengthy file within the development trade and managing union pension plans, however no transit expertise. Earlier than then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed him to the RTA board in 2017, Kotel served on the Public Buildings Fee of Chicago, which indicators off on main development initiatives for the Metropolis of Chicago and its “sister companies” such because the Chicago Park District and the CTA.
Whereas Kotel’s development expertise might need been related to RTA-funded transit capital initiatives, the opposite 4 Chicago-appointed administrators’ transit expertise is extra tenuous. Director Phil Fuentes, a Richard M. Daley appointee, is a McDonalds franchisee. Director Alexandra Holt, one other Emanuel appointee, is an government on the Artwork Institute of Chicago who beforehand labored for the Chicago Mayor’s Workplace in varied capacities. Fellow Emanuel appointee Christopher Melvin heads the Melvin & Co. buying and selling agency. Sarah Pang, one other Emanuel appointee, is an government at CNA insurance coverage agency who beforehand labored for the Richard M. Daley administration.
Equally, the suburban RTA appointees have little to no prior transit expertise. Nevertheless the present board chair, former state senator Kirk Dillard, is a long-time transit advocate.
The query of political affect
Acree pastors in Austin, the West Aspect neighborhood Johnson calls residence. The clergyman co-chairs the Leaders Community, a coalition of West Aspect religion leaders. Acree has been advocating for social justice and towards systemic inequities for round 30 years. When Austin and a number of other different West Aspect neighborhoods have been flooded in July 2023, he was among the many religion leaders who urged the Metropolis to behave faster to supply support for the affected residents.
The Leaders Community pushed for an investigation into whether or not the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Larger Chicago delayed briefly reversing the move of the Chicago River to Lake Michigan so as to spare the Loop and the North Aspect neighborhood on the West Aspect’s expense. MWRD denied that allegation. (This actually wasn’t the primary time in historical past that the Chicago River has been reversed.)
Acree is not any stranger to politics. When Mayor Johnson stepped down from the Prepare dinner County board, Acree was one of many a number of West Siders to use for the emptiness. Though he was one of many six finalists, the appointment went to a different Johnson ally, Chicago Academics Union member Tara Stamps. She was a former candidate for alderperson for the West Aspect’s thirty seventh Ward, which incorporates elements of Austin.
As Block Membership beforehand reported, after Michael Eaddy initially endorsed then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot within the 2023 basic election, he threw his assist behind Johnson within the runoff.
Stamps’ opponent within the thirty seventh Ward race, Ald. Emma Mitts, is now an ally, and a serious West Aspect political participant. On April 25, Ald. Mitts was appointed to the Democratic State Central Committee, the governing physique of the Democratic Occasion of Illinois, filling the seat left vacant by Prepare dinner County Clerk Karen Yarbrough’s dying. In an interview later that night time, Ald. Mitts advised Streetsblog that she would welcome having a West Sider on the RTA board. She famous that Johnson is a West Sider, Illinois Senate President Don Harmon is from the neighboring suburb of Oak Park, and Illinois Home Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch lives in west suburban Hillside.
Ald. Mitts argued that having West Siders and west suburbanites in any respect ranges of energy makes it simpler to have an effect on significant change on the West Aspect. “West Aspect goes up. If we preserve coming collectively, all of us coming collectively, having working relationships, it may be nothing however excellent news.”
Very long time West Aspect activist Mary Gardner, who additionally utilized for Karen Yarbrough’s former Prepare dinner County Clerk seat, is a parishioner at Acree’s church. She argued that as an RTA board member he can be a powerful advocate for addressing transit entry disparities between predominantly Black and predominantly white communities.”
“He’ll deliver a eager sense of consciousness, not simply to the plain disparities,” Gardner mentioned. “He’d be an awesome sturdy voice that can advocate, not only for the higher companies, however companies which might be equal to what different communities contemplate regular. I imply, to me, I’ve seen him strolling, [I’ve seen him a] couple of instances on the practice as properly. He is anyone who will deliver lived experiences to that seat, if he is confirmed. I believe he can be an awesome selection, an awesome voice who may converse on the behalf of the West Aspect citizenry.”
Streetsblog readers, do you’ve gotten any ideas on who could be a good selection for the RTA board so as to assist create a more practical and equitable Chicagoland transit system? Tell us within the remark part.
Learn the Block Membership article right here.
