Talking with A Four Star Podcast about bike safety issues in the wake of CDOT Planner Riley’s O’Neil’s tragic death
Last month, I discussed transit issues on Grant Horne’s new program, “A Four Star Podcast: Chicago, But Better, produced by Fox 32 Chicago. We had a great conversation, ranging from last October’s “Halloween Miracle” that saved local public transportation from a transit cliff, to SBC’s “guerrilla urbanism” attempt to deter smoking on the CTA via Chicago hotdog-themed fliers.
Just in case my appearance on a Fox program raised any eyebrows among Streetsblog’s largely progressive readership, let me remind our followers that Fox 32 Chicago, the local outpost, is not the same animal as Fox News’ national programming. For example, here are some recent Fox 32 segments:
• “CTA’s 2026 Pride Train returns to Chicago Red Line”
These local reports lived up to Fox’s promise to present news in a “Fair and Balanced” manner. But I’m not that the Fox mothership would have run these kinds of factual stories about sustainable transportation and LGBTQ initiatives.
In addition, when I’ve spoken with podcast host Grant Horne, he’s been very well-informed about local walk/bike/transit issues. And he seems to have a genuine interest in the topic.
All right, with that out the way, here’s the show I recorded with Horne yesterday.
It focuses on bike safety issues in the wake of the tragic death of Chicago Department of Transportation Complete Streets Planner Riley O’Neil in a bicycle “dooring” crash on June 5. We also talked about Mayor Brandon Johnson’s missed opportunity to nominate the next permanent CTA chief, and what it was like traveling to last Thursday’s Obama Presidential opening ceremony car-free.
The segment starts with my comment about the fallen CDOT planner. “Looking at the obituary for Riley O’Neil, he’s going to be laid to rest in Graceland Cemetery,” I said. “And a lot of famous and influential Chicagoans are buried there – people who really influenced our city in positive ways. So I think it’s sort of nice that Riley O’Neil will be with other people who helped make Chicago a better city.”
Here’s how the rest of our discussion went:
Explanation of the O’Neil case: 00:30
Chicago, Bike Grid Now! memorial and protest events: 2:45
Opposition to and support for Complete Streets: 3:30
Factors contributing to fatal crashes, and how to prevent them: 10:30
What exactly are Complete Streets project?: 15:30
How to prevent dooring crashes: 17:00
Can we get everyday Chicagoans to embrace Safe Streets redesigns?: 22:30
Strategies to improve bus service: 26:15
New state “e-moto” legislation: 32:00
Mayor Johnson missing the train on nominating a permanent CTA chief: 36:45
Why should Nora Leerhsen be made the permanent CTA president?: 50:00
What’s getting better on CTA, and what needs improvement: 55:45
What it was like getting to the Obama Center opening without a car: 100:30
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