John Greenfield

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

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.

This post incorporates content from Streetsblog Chicago Cofounder and Advisor Steven Vance's development data website Chicago Cityscape.

• Curious City: "From the Garfield Park Conservatory to Navy Pier, who will win? Car, bike or public transportation?"

Tragically, this month there have been two different incidents in which drivers fatally struck vulnerable road users on or near Chicago's Halsted Street.

• Chicago Reader: "CPD touted a beefed-up surveillance center that grants authorities real-time access to tens of thousands of [CTA] cameras." 

In case you can't tell from Streetsblog Chicago's homepage, beating the drum on the region’s impending transit budget crisis is our top priority right now. After all, if the state legislature fails to pass a funding and reform bill this summer, the likely result will be roughly 40 percent service cuts and 3,000 layoffs. That would be disastrous for the region and counter to SBC’s mission: Making Chicagoland a safer and more efficient, equitable, environmentally friendly, and enjoyable place to get around.

• Congress for the New Urbanism looks at Better Streets Chicago's efforts to transform DLSD from an expressway into a boulevard

• More coverage of the Save Transit Rally (ATA, Block Club, CBS, NBC, Fight Back! News)

Public transit riders, workers, and advocates showed up in force for Saturday's Save Transit Rally at Daley Plaza, calling on state lawmakers to pass a bill to address Chicagoland's looming $771 million transit fiscal cliff. They demanded a special legislative session in Springfield this summer to prevent a projected 40 percent cut in service and some 3,000 layoffs, similar to what's currently happening in Philadelphia.