In case you didn’t feel like showing up: Trib reporter Jake Sheridan names and shames the absentee alders who sank today’s CTA hearing at City Hall

“Somebody once told me the [CTA] is gonna roll me
I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed
She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb
In the shape of an ‘L’ [train] on her forehead”

– “All Star” by Smash Mouth, 1999

Sadly, this morning most members of City Council’s Committee on Transit and the Public Way were conspicuous by their absence for the mandatory quarterly presentation by the Chicago Transit Authority. Since fewer then half of them bothered to show up to 121 North LaSalle Street, there was no quorum, and the hearing couldn’t take place, per the City of Chicago’s Rules of Order.

Tribune City Hall Reporter Jake Sheridan broke the embarrassing news on Bluesky and Twitter. The late Chicago mayors Richard J. Daley and Harold Washington were surely rolling in their respective graves.

If a sufficient number of alders had showed up, it’s likely CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen would have given as impressive a presentation as she did last July. Of course, the stakes were higher back then, when Chicagoland transit was teetering on the brink of a fiscal cliff. That was before the Illinois General Assembly passed a $1.5 billion funding bill in the wee hours of October 31, aka The Halloween Miracle. But back in July, City Council members surely felt more of an urgent need to show up for the hearing.

At any rate, Leerhsen is a breath of fresh air conpared to her predecessor Dorval Carter, whom most local leaders agreed held the CTA president job way past his expiration date. His frequent failure to appear at such City Council meetings was analogous to his agency’s dreaded “ghost buses.”

Returning to today’s fizzled-out committee meeting, the Trib’s Sheridan noted which alderpersons actually did some leg work today, and those who preferred to work from home, if at all.

It’s good that the committee’s Vice Chair Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th), Dorval Carter’s most vocal detractor, made an appearance. If he hadn’t, Commuters Take Action, the grassroots groups that helped beat the drum on the need for a new CTA prez, would have revoked the ghost bus costume they gave Vasquez to troll Carter on Halloween in 2022.

So the alders who didn’t show up live or online (like 39th Ward rep Samantha Nugest did) today were Brian Hopkins (2nd), Desmon Yancy (5th), Michelle Harris (8th), Jeylu Gutierrez (14), Michael Rodriguez (22nd), Jessica Fuentes (26th), and Scott Waguespack (32nd). I supposed one might cut them some slack, since this week was spring break for Chicago Public Schools.

I haven’t yet scoured social media to see what people had to say about this morning’s depressing committee turnout. I’m guessing there’s some painfully funny stuff out there.

Update: 3/28/26, 10 AM: See some of the highlights at the bottom of this article.

But the following quote-tweet of Sheridan’s post caught my eye. Patrick Gilsenan’s cartography shows that there was equitable distribution of alderpersons who arrived at City Hall, ideally via buses or trains, and those who may have instead hit the snooze button.

Some public transportation advocates might argue that the alderpeople who didn’t bother to attend their own transit committee meeting should be excommunicated from the City Council. If that happened, they’d definitely be qualified for Ministry.

Update 3/28/36, 10 AM: Here are some notable responses to Sheridan’s post.

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