John Greenfield

• New Illinois Policy op-ed in Daily Herald: proposed driving fees to fund transit are unfair to suburbanites, even though they'd prevent Metra and Pace cuts

This post isn't completely within Streetsblog Chicago's wheelhouse, but I thought many of our readers would enjoy it, so I recently wrote it up, mostly during an evening at my after-hours office.

It's getting down to the wire as Illinois legislators try to pass a transit reform and funding bill during their fall veto session, which wraps up next week from Tuesday through Thursday. If they don't approve such legislation soon, the result could be major service cuts and layoffs for the CTA, Metra, and Pace.

As we approach the the end of October, things are getting eerie. I'm not talking about spectral Halloween decorations. (Sorry, I wound up squeezing two different holiday references into this post.) Rather, I'm referring to the haunting possibility that state legislators may go home from their fall veto session, wrapping up Tuesday through Thursday of next week, without passing a transit reform and funding bill. That could result in service cuts and layoffs, which would indeed be frightful.

• "We need to get through the next two years at least with a [transit] funding mechanism,” said GOP Rosemont Rep. Brad Stephens (WTTW)

The police chief provided information about the movements of the truck driver and bike rider before the crash, and said the department is trying to meet with IDOT.

• After semi driver fatally struck boy, 13, on bike near Manhattan Metra station, mayor posted, "Our children deserve safe streets, protected crossings" (NBC)

Tragically, a speeding hit-and-run sedan driver fatally struck a woman on foot early Sunday morning in West Englewood.

• UChicago municipal finance expert Justin Marlowe explains, "What caused Chicago’s transit funding crisis—and what could fix it" (UChicago News)

Whether the subject is traffic safety or transit funding you can almost always count on the right-leaning Illinois Policy Institute think tank to get the story wrong when it comes to livable streets issues.