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• More coverage of the Red Line station opening (Block Club, CBS, NBC, WGN, FOX, Mass Transit, Urbanize, Rail Age, Railway PRO, Daily Northwestern)

Livable streets advocates were well represented at yesterday's community meeting on "The Grant Park Framework Plan – Chicago’s Front Yard Reimagined" at the Maggie Daley Park fieldhouse, 337 E. Randolph St. And they walked away happy, because the proposal includes putting a deck over DuSable Lake Shore Drive downtown to help make the the Third Coast more accessible and attractive.

• Evanston Now: "Illinois Governor JB Pritzker says 'I feel very confident we’re not going to let transit fail in Illinois.'"

After yesterday's celebration of the five new Red Line stations in Edgewater and Uptown at the Argyle stop, I buttonholed State Sen. Mike Simmons and State Rep. Hoan Huynh (pronounced "Hahn Win") for updates on the transit fiscal cliff. The Illinois General Assembly failed to pass a public transportation funding and governance reform bill before the spring legislative session ended on May 31, so Chicagoland is now at risk of Draconian cuts next year.

• Capitol Fax's Rich Miller: "New sales tax revenue will help mass transit, but there's still a long way to go" (Sun-Times)

View yesterday's Streetsblog photos of the four new Red Line stations here.

"CTA Customers Enjoy Ceremonial 'First Ride' on the New Red, Purple Line Elevated Tracks" with stops at Bryn Mawr and Berwyn"

By Ellen Steinke

Thanks Obama! If you're psyched about the four new ADA-accessible, aesthetically pleasing Red Line stations that opened in Uptown and Edgewater this morning, give a hat-tip to the 44th president, a former Chicagoan.