By Jennifer Lyng
Special to Inside
Last Wednesday evening, Carol Brown, Chairman of the Chicago Transit Authority, and several CTA staff members faced a hostile audience in the auditorium of Lane Tech High School. They were there at the invitation of three North Side aldermen to discuss the proposed construction plans for the Brown Line, which will involve the temporary closure of many stations.
Approximately 500 commuters, local business people and concerned residents listened to Brown apologize for "missteps and miscommunication by the CTA." The CTA finds itself in the position of having to cut over $150 million from the project's budget due to poor engineering estimates, with $22 million of these savings coming from the temporary station closures. Making matters worse, the CTA then appeared to wait months to disclose these adjusted plans to the community. Residents were assured of no Brown Line station closures when the construction project was originally announced.
The audience was not interested in apologies. Not only concerned about access to the train, many small businesses are worried about remaining viable without the foot traffic provided by their respective Brown Line stops. A long line of local politicians and angry business owners demanded that the CTA go back to the drawing board and find a way to keep their original promise.
The Greater Rockwell Association was well represented in the crowd. Five new businesses have opened near the Rockwell stop since the planning process began. Zach Maiorca, owner of Bloom Yoga Studio, opened his doors in November 2004, believing CTA assurances that the Rockwell stop would not shut down.
Rich Forsythe, owner of Ruff Haus Pets, a pet supplies and grooming shop located at 4652 N. Rockwell St., says that "there is a connectedness among all the businesses at the Rockwell stop. If even one business fails due to the possible year-long shut-down, all of us will be affected. We drive business to each other."
The goals of the Brown Line project are to increase ridership capacity by allowing for 8-car trains, to provide full accessibility to all stations and to bring all stations into a state of good repair. The CTA must accomplish these goals on-time while staying within the budget of the Full Funding Grant Agreement, which is supplying the federal funds for the project. The project is to begin in September and must be completed by 2009.
Brown spoke of possible mitigation for local businesses, but could not or would not give specifics. Official emcee of the evening Reverend Abrahamson, Pastor of St. Luke, not far from the Brown Line, helped sum up the evening well when he said, "We don't know what mitigation means, but we do know what hurt means." |
