Note: Streetsblog Chicago does not endorse candidates. However, we do call out political figures who oppose lifesaving transportation initiatives in an effort to win votes.

It appears the previously claimed identity of Maria “The Megaphone Lady,” a political figure and the loudest opponent of Brighton Park’s Archer Avenue traffic safety project, was as phony as a three-dollar bill.

But let me start out by saying a few positive things about Maria. After writing about her role in the Archer demonstrations for many months, my sense is that she’s overcome some challenges. She’s living her life with a lot nerve and audaciousness – “chutzpah” or “ganas” if you will – which I can’t help but respect. And I got a chuckle last July 4 when she wore a t-shirt that said “Megaphone Lady,” the nickname that I coined for her back in January.

That said, Maria has done some very shady stuff in her role as an Archer protester, as well as an assistant and Flavor Flav-like hype person for Claudia Zuno, a 12th Ward aldermanic challenger.

Zuno, front, with Maria holding the “No Parking, No Customers” sign at a February protest. Photo: John Greenfield

Zuno participated in the weekly protests in front of or near progressive incumbent Ald. Julia Ramirez’s office for months before the challenger announced her candidacy last February. In May, Juan Rangel, CEO of the “moderate to conservative” lobbying group Urban Center essentially admitted that the Archer rallies, which he promoted with press releases and mass texts, were a strategy to defeat Ramirez.

Demonstrators at the December 22 protest near Ramirez’s office Photo: John Greenfield

Back to Maria.You may ask, what has she done that’s been less-than-transparent?

Last name changes

First of all, as I’ve previously discussed, the Megaphone Lady has gone by a few different last names. In reports by NBC Chicago, the Chicago Tribune, and Fox Chicago, her quotes are credited to “Maria Martinez.” That’s also the surname she used on her business cards for Zuno’s campaign.

But she goes by the handle “Maria Yzabel” on the “Archer Guardians of Brighton Park” Facebook group.

And after she testified at a City Hall committee meeting as “Maria Moctezuma” last June, I conducted some online detective work and found evidence that her legal name as of May 2025 was “Maria Isabel Moctezuma.” I’m not going to share the materials I found here. But I’ll just say that everyone makes mistakes, and people should be allowed to move on with their lives afterwards.

Still, if you’re going to be a public figure, handing out business cards while promoting a candidate, or speaking to news outlets against projects that prevent deadly crashes, it’s unethical to use a false name.

What neighborhood does she actually live in?

Moctezuma founded the “Archer Guardians of Brighton Park” group, and news reports during the past year have stated that she lives in that community. For example, the April 2026 Fox article I referenced refers to her as, “Maria Martinez, a Brighton Park community member.”

The May 2026 Tribune article I mentioned calls her, “Maria Martinez, of Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood.”

Moreover, in addition to founding the Brighton Park-oriented Facebook group, Maria Moctezuma, posting as “Maria Yzabel,” left at least one comment there suggesting that she lives in the community and the 12th Ward. In the below post (edited for brevity) in a discussion about a bike crash in the nearby Gage Park neighborhood, she calls out Alfredo Valladares Jr. from Gage Park Cyclists, based in a neighborhood directly south of Brighton Park. Valladares co-organized weekly counterprotests in front of Ald. Ramirez’s office to show support for the Archer project.

“Why is he so concerned with #BrightonPark?” Moctezuma wrote. “It’s not his neighborhood, nor his alderman.” The obvious implication is that Moctezuma has more skin in the game because she lives in Brighton Park.

However, documents indicate that Moctezuma was living miles from Brighton Park during the December 2025 to June 2026 protests, and probably still does.

Again, I’m going to take the high road and not share the May 2025 materials mentioning “Maria Isabel Moctezuma.” But they state that her address was in the 60s on Central Avenue in the Clearing community area, directly across the street from the west fence of Midway Airport. That’s more than 3.5 miles from the western boundary of Brighton Park and the Archer project area.

But is it possible she’s moved to Brighton Park since then? Almost certainly not.

I knew Moctezuma has been working for Zuno, collecting signatures to get the candidate on the ballot. So I filed a petition request for the municipal election with the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. Here’s a screenshot from thedoc they sent back. I blurred out some personal info, such as the exact four-digit number of Moctezuma’s address.

So as of September 19, 2026, Moctezuma was still living at the same address as in May 2025, in the 60s on Central Park, across from Midway Airport.

Therefore, we have strong evidence she allowed news outlets to believe she lived in Brighton Park, and implied that was the case on social media, when it wasn’t actually true.

A dramatization of the view from Maria Moctezuma’s front window: The Midway Airport scene from the Chicagoland-set 1992 movie “Wayne’s World.”

Reactions from Archer projects supporters

So how do folks who worked hard to keep the Archer Guardians from killing the traffic safety project feel about Maria Moctezuma being less-than-honest about her identity?

Again, she attacked pro-Complete Streets rally co-organizer Alfredo Valladares Jr. for not living in Brighton Park, when that was also true of herself.

The Archer project supporters at their final rally in June 2026 including co-organizers Alfredo Valladares Jr (front) and Gil Campos (waving). Photo: John Greenfield

“I wasn’t there to support the Archer project because I live in Brighton Park, but because I traverse the neighborhood on Archer every day,” Valladares told me in response to Moctezuma’s snarky Facebook comment about him. “I’m just wondering why she’s so concerned about Brighton Park if she lives miles from the neighborhood and doesn’t know firsthand about the benefits the infrastructure is bringing to the neighborhood.”

His rally organizing partner Gil Campos, a lifelong Brighton Park resident, echoed those sentiments about Moctezuma. “She has been there from the beginning, protesting against bike lanes along Archer Avenue in Brighton Park,” he said via text message. “It really upsets me that she’s caused so much trouble riling the community, even going as far as creating a the facebook page ‘Archer Avengers’ [the supporters’ nickname for the Archer Guardians] where they post false narratives and information about MY neighborhood to turn everyone against each other. Makes me wonder who is putting her up to this.”

This Facebook post by Urban Center CEO Juan Rangel, about Moctezuma’s boss Claudia Zuno, basically answers that question.

I plan to share this article with all my Chicago journalism colleagues who’ve referred to Clearing resident Maria Moctezuma with words like, “Maria Martinez, a Brighton Park community member.” And hopefully if she ever gets interviewed for a news story again, she’ll be more honest about where she lives, and who she is.

If you appreciate Streetsblog Chicago’s reporting and advocacy on local sustainable transportation issues, please consider making a tax-deductible donation here. Thank you!

• NITA little help keeping track of all the plans, meetings, and surveys about Chicagoland transit right now? ELPC’s Lena Guerrero Reynolds has posted a handy thread.

• “Metra study details how to achieve regional rail vision”

• Metra: “Bridge lift to close Rock Island Line the weekend of Nov. 13-15”

• “Chicago Avenue Bridge Reopening Delayed To Next Spring As Alderman Reilly Fumes” (Block Club)

• “5 Candidates File To Run In 27th Ward, Challenging Burnett Family’s Decades-Long Hold On Seat.”

• …Incumbent Ald. Walter “Red” Burnett III, appointed after dad stepped down, had cold feet about Grand Avenue safety project, has voiced support for new Green Line stations.

• “Why e-bikes [presumably actually electric motorcycles] are causing Buffalo Grove Park District to scrap project” to paint basketball court (Daily Herld) 

• “Should New Airbnbs Be Limited In Logan Square, Humboldt Park? Residents Can Weigh In On Ballot” (Block Club)

• “Owner of Elmhurst Metra station’s coffee shop charges with selling meth.” Maybe he should switch to decaf? (Daily Herald)

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How’s it going, my fellow two-wheeled transportation fans? Last Saturday was another gorgeous fall day in Chicago, so I decided to serve myself one more hearty slice of the half-a-deep-dish-pizza that is our city sort of resembles, in what will probably be my penultimate recon session for SBC Bike Lane Fest 2025-26.

Regular readers of this series already know my methodology. If you are one of them, you can skip over the following explainer in italics, which is cut and pasted from last week’s post about the Far Northwest Side.

This website’s Map of 2025-26 CDOT Bikeway Installations, shown below, is based on the Chicago Department of Transportation’s Bikeways Installations Tracker spreadsheet. That document has not been refreshed since July 17, 2026, but I’m generally trying to stop by the sites of projects that are listed as “Upcoming Construction” or “In Construction,” as well as ones that have been “Installed,” to check on their current status.

In addition, you can take a look at CDOT Existing Bike Network Map, to get a sense of how the new facilities fit into the network. However, that map shows all bikeways that have been installed in modern history, while SBC’s map just shows the newer ones.

This latest excursion included parts of the Irving Park, Avondale, Austin, and Logan Square community areas on the Northwest and West sides. I covered the area bounded by Irving Park Road, Narragansett Avenue, North Avenue, Western Avenue, and the Kennedy Expressway. One project I already wrote about within this zone is the Long Avenue Neighborhood Greenway in Portage Park.

What follows basically a rundown of my travels on Saturday within that district, generally in chronological order. Actually let’s start with a snippet that’s not in in this area, since it’s a little north of the Kennedy. But I forgot to include it in my Mid North Side travelogue last Wednesday, so I snapped some photos on Saturday as I pedaled southwest from SBCHQ in Uptown.

Grace Street Neighborhood Greenway in Irving Park

Belmont Avenue protected bike lanes in Avondale

CDOT previously installed game-changing protected bike lanes on Belmont for about a mile between the Blue Line station at Belmont/Kimball Avenue and Campbell Avenue. This recent project between Kimball and Milwaukee spreads the love west another half mile or so. I’m pretty sure I previously posted on social media a handlebar video of riding the new, at least partially finished, segment, but just in case, here’s the whole enchilada. (And if you want literal enchiladas on this stretch, I recommend Taqueria Mazamitla, 3610 W. Belmont Ave., visible in this clip at 2:00.)

Milwaukee Avenue PBLs in Avondale and Irving Park

This new stretch of Milwaukee bikeways between Belmont and Addison Street is where PBLs resume on the “Hipster Highway” northwest-southeast commuting route. This segment is north of a gap in protection between Belmont and Wrightwood Avenue / Logan Boulevard. I’ll discuss that issue further later in this post.

Avers and Hamlin avenues greenway couplet in Logan Square

These adjacent, parallel north-south streets lead between Diversey Avenue and the Bloomingdale Trail, aka The 606.

Bloomingdale Avenue Greenway in Austin

This runs between Laramie and Narragansett avenues as sort of a western extension of th Bloomingdale Trail, although it’s not possible to ride directly between the two bikeways.

Milwaukee Avenue non-protected bike lanes in Logan Square and Avondale

As I previously mentioned, this is the gap in protection between Wrightwood/Logan and Belmont. It only got paint-only, dashed “Advisory Bike Lanes,” rather than physical protection, making tit he only stretch of the Milwaukee “Hipster Highway” between Irving Park Road and Kinzie Street to lack PBLs, other than the very-retail-dense stretch between North Avenue / Damen Avenue and Division Street / Ashland Avenue in Wicker Park.

Why is this the case? Back in 2022, CDOT proposed building protected lanes on this stretch, which would have required car parking space conversions. But unfortunately Chicago’s “aldermanic prerogative” tradition, the de-facto ability of alders to veto infrastructure projects in their districts, came into play here. Then-35th Ward alder Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, currently the Chicago Park District superintendent, was generally bike-friendly and signed off on protected lanes in other parts of the district. But he ultimately feared that the proposed street redesign would negatively impact businesses, so he put the kibosh on the PBL plan.

For the record, a recent CDOT report found that while Chicago bike lanes have reduced crashes on their corridors, they have had a neutral or positive effect on retail sales. In fact, the study found that on the nearby stretch of Milwaukee between California and Western avenues in Logan Square, where CDOT did a parking-to-PBLs project, “sales tax revenue steadily recovered, increasing by 66 percent following the pandemic.”

New protected lanes on Kedzie in Logan Square

George Street Greenway in Logan Square

Rockwell Avenue Greenway in Logan Square

This segment is part of a low-stress route proposed by students from West Town Bikes community bike shop, 2459 W. Division St., connecting it with the Bloomingdale Trail, Logan Boulevard Skate Park, Logan/Western, and The Garden Dirt Jumps in Clark Park.

Here are the previous Bike Lane Fest 2025-26 posts:

• “It’s time for Streetsblog Chicago’s Bike Lane Fest 2025-26“

• “Is the Wellington Greenway a victory for cyclists, and a Waterloo for bikeway foes with a Napoleon Complex?“

• “Take a virtual walk on the Winnslie Parkway Expansion, and ride on the Ravenswood Avenue Greenway“

• “SBC Bike Lane Fest 2025-26: Far South Side, including Roseland, Pullman, South Chicago, South Shore, and Greater Grand Crossing“

• “SBC Bike Lane Fest 2025-26: Far North Side, including Lincoln Square, West Ridge, Rogers Park, Edgewater, and Uptown“

• “SBC Bike Lane Fest 2025-26: Far Northwest Side, including Albany Park, Forest Glen, and North Park”

• “SBC Bike Lane Fest 2025-26: Mid North Side, including Irving Park, Avondale, North Center, Logan Square, and Lincoln Park”

• “SBC Bike Lane Fest 2025-26: Mid and Near South Side, including Washington Park, Grand Boulevard, and Douglas, plus downtown”

If you appreciate Streetsblog Chicago’s livable streets reporting and advocacy, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support our work. Thank you!

• During argument between 2 men on ‘L’ platform, one stabbed the other in the neck and back, critically injuring them, Wed. around 8:25 PM at Blue Line’s Division Station (Fox)

• Man, 37, arrested after CPD releases images of suspect attack that seriously injured woman, 27, on 10/13, around 3:30 PM at 95th/Dan Ryan Station (Fox)

• “City Wants Your Feedback On How To Improve Irving Park Road” (Block Club)

• CTA: “Lake Street Bridge West Leaf Reconstruction Complete, Green and Pink Line Service to Return to Normal Thursday Morning”

• “Amtrak Protesters Vow To ‘Stop Ishbia In His Tracks’ As Developer Appears At Charity Conference” (Block Club)

• Elianne Bahena, the chief of staff for generally walk/bike/transit-friendly outgoing Ald. Rodriguez (22) is running unopposed to replace him. (Block Club)

• “The Great Train Robbery”? BNSF service delayed after freight train looted, including boxes of skin care products, next Western Avenue (ABC)

• “A Conversation with Senator Sara Feigenholtz & NITA Board Chair Tom Kotarac” Mon., 11/16, 6:30-8:30 PM, Third Space, 716 W. Addison St. Register here.

• Metra and Lyric Opera are teaming up to offer free rides to shows between 11/20 and 11/29.

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During mayoral hopeful Susana Mendoza’s speech today at City Club of Chicago, she lived up to her quip that “God has gifted me with endless energy.” The current Comptroller of Illinois, a former state representative and City Clerk of Chicago, was quite spirited during that talk and afterwards at a press conference. She focused on discussing her solutions to what she called our city’s financial, public safety, and leadership crises.

Mendoza also said some interesting things about transit, including a detailed discussion of public transportation in Taiwan, as well as her idea to expand the Chicago Riverwalk south and west to Chinatown and Little Village. I may report what she said about those topics in the near future.

But for starters, let me share an interesting exchange I had with the candidate about a subject that is of particular interest to Streetsblog Chicago readers. You may recall that in early August, Mendoza appeared today on WBEZ’s “Ask the Candidate” series, hosted by Sasha-Ann Simons.

When a caller asked Mendoza about strategies to reduce car dependence, she responded by expressing frustration with traffic jams, and then mentioned “a lot of bike lanes that are very controversial in the city.” While she noted that she rides bicycles herself, she argued that “the bike lanes make sense in certain areas, but not in all areas.”

“And that’s a conversation that I know is a touchy one to have, but I think it’s an honest one that we have to have.” the candidate said on the radio. “Because, for example, what we saw with the debacle of the bike lanes on Archer Avenue. It used to be like a shortcut for a lot of people – a fast-moving throughway, and now it became a parking lot.”

She was referencing the recent Complete Streets project on the corridor in Brighton Park, which included pedestrian improvements, and bus boarding islands, new turn lanes for drivers, as well as protected bike lanes. Obviously, the question of whether a retail-lined street in a dense residential neighborhood should be “a fast-moving throughway” is subject to debate. That’s especially true since Brighton Park, has seen many more collisions than the average Chicago community.

I wrote about that topic in August, but I asked Mendoza directly about the issue during today’s presser. The transcript that follows here is edited a bit for clarity and brevity.

“On WBEZ, you called the Archer Avenue traffic safety project ‘a debacle,'” I noted. “Can you reassure voters that if you are elected, you will support projects that create better conditions for walking, biking, transit, and driving?”

“For sure,” she replied. “Let me just say that 140-character posts are difficult, because there’s nuance in every decision that the City has to make, or a human has to make.”

One of SBC’s previous tweets on this matter, featuring a quote from the local City Council member Ald. Julia Ramirez (12th) defending the Archer project.

“I think that wasn’t a tweet, that was an interview I did where I talked about it,” Mendoza clarified. “Why? Because I was out there talking to business owners on that strip, and I also used to represent that area of the city when I was a state representative. So it’s not a foreign community to me. It’s frankly my prior community, where I still go, I still eat there, and I eat it with my own eyes.”

“And so there are going to be people who think that’s the greatest thing that every happened,” Mendoza continued. “And then there are the people who live there, who work there, who own businesses there, who have seen it in a much less pretty set of glasses.”

“I didn’t get into the weeds in this [WBEZ] interview, but if there’s one person in this city who really takes this issue of rider safety seriously, it’s me,” Mendoza shared. “My brother-in-law Ben [Szostak] was killed while riding his bicycle training for a decathlon.”

“It completely changed our family dynamic,” Mendoza added. “It breaks my heart thinking about it, so I’m not going to talk about it much more, because I get emotional about it. But having said that, of course, public safety matters, and making sure that we have safe streets for our cyclists matters.”

“But there’s nuance in all of this,” she continued. “Chicagoans need to know that I’m going to be a mayor who’s been personally impacted, in a very negative way, by the loss of a beloved family member who was riding his bike, not in Chicago, [but] it doesn’t matter where it happened.”

“It matters that we have to have safe streets for our cyclists, but we also have to have a balanced approach to how we deal with this,” Mendoza said. “And just because you feel very strongly about one thing, doesn’t mean that everybody else in the community feels that same way and that your voice is any more important than the others. So my job is going to be to do what’s best and what’s right in every community, and what works in one community might not necessarily work in a different community. There’s nuance to these decisions.”

“I’m sorry about your brother-in-law,” I responded. “Now, the weekly protests against the Archer project were promoted by Juan Rangel, who was a political ally of yours.”

When Mendoza first ran for mayor in 2019, the Chicago Teacher’s Union pointed out that as a state legislator, she voted for a $98 million subsidy for the UNO charter schools network, of which Rangel was CEO. Mendoza voiced support for the funding, the largest taxpayer-funded grant for a charter network in Illinois at the time, by lauding UNO’s work in her district. After the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Rangel with fiscal wrongdoing, he resigned and paid a $10,000 fine.

Rangel currently leads the pro-charter school lobbying group Urban Center, which publicized the “Archer Guardians” protests in or near project supporter Ald. Julia Ramirez’s (12th) office, starting last December and lasting six months. Ramirez’s aldermanic challenger Claudia Zuno was a regular rally participant before she announced her candidacy in February. In May, Rangel told the Tribune that he had talked to Zuno, a family friend, about running against Ramirez long before he promoted the Archer demonstrations. That basically confirmed that the six months of protests were a political strategy.

Back in August, I wrote, “So that provides a clue on where Mendoza might have gotten the idea to disparage the Archer protected bike lanes on WBEZ.”

At today’s press conference, I asked Mendoza if her previous support for Rangel’s charter school network had something to do with her calling the Archer project a ‘debacle.'”

“No,” she answered. “I had never even spoken to Juan Rangel about this issue. So, number one, people shouldn’t lob allegations that they have zero evidence to be true. So, no, I don’t ask people for permission on having an opinion on issues that I feel strongly about, and I definitely won’t as mayor.”

“What you need to know is that I do care about rider safety. I myself am a cyclist. My husband is a cyclist. Our little boy is going to be a cyclist. And I almost got plowed down by John “Quarters” Boyle [a convicted “Hired Truck Scandal” felon] on my bike and chased that guy down.”

“I love that story,” I said.

Video Mendoza shot of Boyle fleeing a crash scene, via Block Club Chicago.

“So trust me, I want rider safety as well,” Mendoza continued. “But, again, I don’t take my marching orders from anybody. Let me correct that. The only person who tells me what to do is my 91-year-old mother. And she’s going to tell me to do whatever I need to do to lead this city.”

“So I think that there’s a lot of strong emotions on both sides of this argument or this debate,” Mendoza added. “I have an open mind. But I also think that the groups with very strong, intractable beliefs have to also have a little bit of an open mind and find some common ground where we can work on these projects together.”

“So I used a word,” she said. “Don’t hang me over it. It was a debacle to those people who told me that language. They think it was an absolute debacle. I articulated that in an interview. And in the same way also heard people when they said, ‘Hey, don’t call it a debacle.’ In fact, somebody reached out to me about it on an email and I walked them through my reasoning and I said, ‘Probably a bad choice of words, but for the people who saw their business traffic come down, what do you say to them?'”

“Now, there was also a sewer and water main project there that caused a lot of the congestion and took away parking,” I noted.

The utility project on Archer in Brighton Park eliminated parking and turn lanes, and narrowed the mixed-traffic lanes, for several months. Photo: John Greenfield

“Sure, now there’s traffic,” Mendoza responded. “I have to deal with traffic every day coming from the North Side to my job at the comptroller’s office [at 161 North Clark St.] And that is just like the fifth season in Chicago. There’s always going to be traffic because of water main improvements, or the Kennedy’s getting redone, or we’re filling potholes. That’s different than the arguments that were made very clear to me, again, not by Mr. Rangel, but by the people who live or work in that community. And, again, it’s a community that I have a lot of experience in because I used to represent it.”

I appreciate Susana Mendoza taking the time to thoroughly answer my question, and maybe we should give her the benefit of the doubt that she was being transparent here. But assuming it’s true that the traffic safety project she disparaged on WBEZ just happens to be the same one being used as a political wedge issue, by the man she helped win a $98 million grant, that’s quite a coincidence.

On a related note, this weekend, Gage Park Cyclists, which helped organize the rallies in support of the Archer project, and the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, are holding Dia de los Muertos-themed rides to honor traffic crash victims.

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• CTA: “Chicago Transit Board Clears Path for California Blue Line Station Accessibility and Modernization Project” by approving $39.9M contract funded by IDOT and TIF money

• CTA: Don’t blame us! “CDOT: Additional Time Needed for Lake Street Bridge; CTA Green and Pink Line Service Changes Continue”

• “Editorial: Kennedy Expressway mess demands approval for the O’Hare Flyer” (Tribune)

• “Lakefront Trail Getting ‘Much Needed’ Improvements From 63rd Street To Foster Avenue Beach” (Block Club)

• Walk/bike/transit-friendly Ald. Matt Martin (47) is running for reelection unopposed (Block Club)

• “Work Finally Begins On DuSable Park, Nearly 40 Years After Land Was Set Aside For It” (Block Club)

• Is riding transit your favorite sport? Harebrained sells pennants for public transportation fans!

• Friday 10/30 is Chicago Critical Mass’ Halloween Ride, 6:00/6:30 PM Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington. We’ve heard rumors that a ride may be proposed to “The People’s Bridge.”

If you appreciate Streetsblog Chicago’s livable streets reporting and advocacy, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support our work. Thank you!

At today’s CTA board meeting, directors pushed back on the agency’s first use of a “consent agenda,” bundling garden-variety action items into a package that can be OKed with a single combined vote and one motion. Those board members were concerned about whether the public and directors were getting enough time and context to understand items being bundled together for approval.

Later in the hearing, Acting CTA President Nora Leerhsen reported improved rail service, the agency’s highest monthly ridership since 2019, and early results from the newly launched Safe Ride Specialist program, including two people connected to shelter beds during the first days of deployment.

Members of the CTA board (left to right): Oswaldo Alvarez, Michael Eaddy, Neema Jha (vice chair), Lester Barclay (chair), Ann Kalayil, Tom Kotarac, and Nedra Sims Fears (behind CTA Chief Planning and Innovation Officer Molly Poppe, in the red jacket).

The meeting began with public comments, including concerns about bus reliability, accessibility, and delays in paratransit certification.

One commenter, who said he is rehabbing a property near CTA tracks, talked about the difficulty he’s had scheduling the required CTA flaggers for ComEd work near rail right-of-way. He said cancellations have delayed permanent electrical service and are costing him about $15,000 per month in lost income and interest. He called the scheduling process an opaque “black box,” using a contractor management term, and asked the CTA to improve coordination and accountability.

Housekeeping business

The board then moved into its first experiment with a consent agenda, a procedure that allows multiple routine resolutions, ordinances and contracts to be approved together unless a member asks to pull an item out for separate discussion.

Chair Lester Barclay said the goal was to make meetings more efficient while preserving board oversight. But several directors questioned whether the approach could instead make CTA business less transparent.

Director Tom Kotarac praised a related change. For what he said appeared to be the first time, the online CTA agenda linked directly to ordinances and background documents before the meeting rather than making the public wait to get the links until after a vote.

Still, directors focused on how much time people had to review that material. CTA staff said agendas are generally posted 48 to 72 hours before meetings, and that Tuesday’s agenda had been posted Saturday morning.

Vice Chair Neema Jha noted that effectively gave members of the public only one business day to work through a large amount of material. She also called for clearer summaries explaining the significance of lengthy attachments rather than expecting readers to decipher pages of technical documents. “There’s a ton of stuff that I think we can go into,” she said.

The board ultimately voted to move the consent agenda later in the meeting rather than immediately approving the bundled items.

Service performance, crime, and ridership

Leerhsen’s president’s report followed, beginning with service performance.

Rail service delivery exceeded 91 percent of scheduled runs in September, its highest level in 12 months, Leerhsen said. The CTA now has 886 qualified rail operators, slightly above its pre-pandemic level of 880. Bus service delivery reached 99.4 percent, although Leerhsen stressed that sending scheduled buses onto the street does not mean riders experience perfect service once congestion and other disruptions intervene. She cited the recently announced Michigan Avenue bus lane as an example of the street infrastructure CTA says it needs to make scheduled bus service translate into reliable trips.

Leerhsen also reported that major crime was down about 30 percent systemwide compared with 2025. She said the decline follows an already downward trend and credited coordination with the Chicago Police Department, Cook County Sheriff’s Office and the CTA’s growing set of non-police safety programs.

Ridership is also continuing to recover. September was te CTA’s highest-ridership month since 2019, Leerhsen said. Marathon Sunday was the busiest Sunday on the system since 2019, while rail recorded its highest Sunday ridership in 25 years.

Safe Ride Specialists

Much of the discussion then focused on CTA’s Safe Ride Specialists, non-law-enforcement outreach teams that began deploying this month on parts of the Red, Blue and Green lines. The pilot brings together four community organizations, and the workers include mental-health clinicians, peer-support specialists, crisis-intervention workers, and violence-intervention specialists.

Leerhsen said seeing the teams in person had changed her understanding of their role. “This is an element that changes the chemistry of the system,” she said, describing specialists de-escalating situations and bringing “a sense of calm” to stations in the early morning.

At Roosevelt, she said Metropolitan Peace Initiatives workers also focus on the broader “hospitality” of the station, greeting riders, maintaining a visible presence and intervening before problems escalate.

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CTA Chief Planning and Innovation Officer Molly Poppe said the agency is tracking 35 performance indicators for the one-year pilot, including referrals to services, safety incidents, service disruptions, and rider perceptions. 

Some results came almost immediately. Housing Forward connected two people with shelter beds during its first two days of deployment, Poppe said. The organization has access to six initial shelter beds and can help people transition into longer-term housing.

Street Samaritans initially spent most of its time proactively approaching people, Poppe said. Within several days, some riders began approaching the workers themselves after seeing them repeatedly on the system. The teams sometimes begin by offering food or other basic assistance before discussing services, allowing workers to build trust over repeated interactions.

Board members pressed the CTA on how the pilot locations were selected, how success will be measured, and whether the program could eventually expand. Staff said locations and hours were chosen using incident data, rider complaints, and the type of intervention being offered. Downtown Red Line stations, for example, were selected in part because of concentrations of youth-related incidents.

The specialists are contractors rather than CTA employees, but the CTA trains them. Officials emphasized that their role is supportive, not punitive. And this is one reason CTA publicly posts when and where the teams can be found.

Kotarac noted that the pilot could help inform the regional transit ambassador program required under the new Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act.

Rider surveys

The CTA then turned to its rider surveys, which the agency now conducts twice a year after finding that quarterly results changed too little to justify the previous frequency. Poppe said the surveys show a significant post-pandemic change: For the first time, riders are using the system more for personal business and errands than for traditional work commutes, strengthening the case for more midday, evening and weekend service.

Safety remains one of the weaker areas of customer satisfaction, and staff said the next survey (launching this week) should begin capturing rider reactions to recent investments, including increased policing and Safe Ride Specialists.

Jha urged the CTA to present raw numbers alongside percentages and to drill more deeply into individual rail lines and bus routes so riders can connect systemwide performance statistics with their own day-to-day experiences. Leerhsen agreed that future reports could provide more route-level examples.

Financial report and Blue Line upgrades

The meeting then moved into its financial report. CTA officials said revenues through August were running close to budget, aided by stronger-than-expected ridership, while operating expenses were about $7.9 million below budget for the month.

Board members also returned to the long-running need to rebuild the Forest Park Branch of the Blue Line. Barclay argued that the project should remain a major regional funding priority, noting that the line serves not only Chicago but western suburbs and O’Hare.

The meeting reflected a CTA board still working out how it wants to exercise oversight under the region’s new transit governance structure. The organization is not only asking whether service and safety indicators are moving in the right direction, but also how much information riders and board members need to decide whether the numbers match their experience.

If you appreciate Streetsblog Chicago’s reporting and advocacy on local sustainable transportation issues, please consider making a tax-deductible donation here. Thank you!

• “This Dia De Los Muertos, [Gage Park Cyclists and Little Village Environmental Justice Organization] Will Honor Slain Cyclists, Neighbors Killed In Traffic Crashes” (Block Club)

• Ex-The Straight Dope columnist and transit planner Ed Zotti: “My colleagues and I would like to propose [a vision for reshaping the region’s future]: integrated regional rail.” (Crain’s)

• River Foresters opposed to O’Hare Flyer are pushing for improving Metra NCS Line, which requires riding the airport’s people mover, an an alternative (Wednesday Journal)

• “Feds Finally Agree To Environmental Review Of Proposed Amtrak Facility In Bridgeport” (Block Club)

• “The wheel deal: Cycling program gets a thumb’s up from junior high school students” (Daily Herald)

• “Workers Rally Outside Austin CTA Seat Manufacturer To Demand Better Pay, Working Conditions” (Block Club)

• “Does Chicago need a permanent festival site? Voters asked to weigh in on ballot.” (Sun-Times)

If you appreciate Streetsblog Chicago’s reporting and advocacy on local sustainable transportation issues, please consider making a tax-deductible donation here. Thank you!

Tragically, Streetsblog readers are familiar with Elizabeth “Lily” Grace Shambrook, 3. On the morning of June 9, 2022, she was riding in a child seat on the back of her mother’s bicycle as her parents rode on Leland towards the shoreline. An illegally parked ComEd truck blocked the bike lane, causing the crash that took the girl’s life.

Earlier this month, alders cited Lily’s case as a motivation for Chicago’s Smart Streets pilot, which enables camera enforcement of bus and bike lanes, and bus stops. Her story helped other City Council members understand why keeping these facilities clear is a crucial safety issue, and they unanimously voted for the ordinance to make the program permanent and expand it citywide. That will help protect other Chicago children.

Saturday’s event was intended as a celebration of Lily Shambrook’s brief, but meaningful, time here. “Though Lily’s life was far too short, her spirit, joy, and love for her community will forever be remembered,” the announcement said. “We hope you’ll join us alongside Lily’s family, friends, and neighbors as we celebrate her beautiful life and ensure her memory remains a part of the neighborhood she called home.”

The weather was beautiful on Saturday morning. More than 65 of Lily’s loved ones, friends of the family, and supporters gathered at the southeast corner of Leland Avenue and Dover Street in Uptown’s Sheridan Park enclave, next to a colorful parkway garden. Many of them rode bicycles there.

“Beyond just renaming a street, we are here to celebrate a life and a neighbor,” said 46th Ward representative Ald. Angela Clay. “I’m so happy to see that there are so many tiny neighbors out here with us today, because I think that that speaks to our community and how we show up for each other, and most importantly, how we show up for our babies.”

After calling for a round of applause for Lily’s “beautiful family,” the alder read a proclamation that was adopted by Mayor Brandon Johnson and the City Council. “Whereas Elizabeth ‘Lily’ Grace Shambrook was born in Chicago in 2019, the beloved daughter of Kate Snow and Tim Shambrook, and older sister to Elliot Shambrook,” the document stated. The father held the boy in his arms during the reading. “Whereas Lily will be fondly remembered as a kind, smart, and funny girl who, who was quick with a smile and a wave, and was a pleasure to all who knew her.”

“Lily was a regular on the streets of Sheridan Park, traveling all over the neighborhood on foot, in her stroller, and on her bike,” the statement continued. “Leland was a road that led to so many adventures for her: her route to the beach, the bus, the train, and daycare. Lily was always up for an adventure, visiting sites across our city and its surroundings, directing her gaze and learning about the city, telling her parents things like, ‘Not Welles [Park], Dada, Winnemac [Park],’ and she guided her own travels.”

“Lily’s adventures taught her so well about her city, so that she would request to stop at the Buckingham Fountain on the way to see the dinosaurs at the Field Museum,” the proclamation continued. “All the meanwhile, asking for her stroller to be laid back so she could see all the tall building along the way.”

“Lily is dearly missed by not just her parents and younger brother, by all of her family and community,” the document concluded. “Be it resolved that we, the mayor and members of the City Council of the City of Chicago, do hereby honor the life and legacy of Elizabeth ‘Lily’ Grace Shambrook, celebrate the life she lived and her love for Chicago, and extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends, and all who were touched by her life.”

The attendees applauded. Clay invited family and friends of Lily to speak.

“I just want to say thank you for everybody who came out at such short notice,” Tim Shambrook said, addressing the crowd. “I’d like to say thank you to the alderwoman. Right after everything happened, the [April 2023 aldermanic election that elected Clay] happened, I walked into the office with a full head of steam and talked to Anna [Gaebler, the director of infrastructure at the time] for about two minutes. She’s like, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve got to figure this out.’ And she called me into her office about a month later, just to show me what [the Chicago Department of Transportation] wanted to do, and it was it was a very healing moment to actually see that the bump-outs [to prevent illegal parking near intersections] and the greenway were actually going to be taken care of, after so many years of not being there. So it was really nice to see the City quickly jump in and do something about it.”

Next, Shambrook reminisced about being “a COVID dad,” spending lots of time with Lily during the pandemic. “We’d go out all the time, and we’d run around this neighborhood,” he said. “We’d go up and down Leland and we’d go to the beach. I could sit there and dig her out a little two foot hole. I’d sit back and read a book, and she’d just play in the sand on Montrose Beach. Or going out to the Metra Station to visit grandparents, ’cause they all lived just off of there. Leland was definitely a highway for our family in terms of getting back and forth, and it still is. We took the Leland Greenway all the way here from the new house.”

“It’s nice to know that out of the loss that we suffered, the City has actually answered some of the some the things that advocates have been asking for for so long,” Shambrook continued. “It’s crummy that it has to take the death of a few little children in two weeks – three kids. I think it was [State Rep.] Kam Buckner who said, we lost a little Black boy, a little Brown boy, and little white girl all in the same month. And it’s just not acceptable. We’ve got to make some changes within the system.”

On June 2, 2022, a week before Lily’s crash, an SUV driver fatally struck Raphael “Rafi” Cardenas, 2, as he rode a mini scooter into a Lincoln Square intersection. And on June 16, a hit-and-run driver fatally struck Ja’lon James, 11, while he was walking in North Lawndale.

“It’s really neat to see the changes that have happened,” Shambrook added. “I hope it goes citywide. I hope that we don’t have a horrible referendum of yay or nay in February [during the mayoral and aldermanic election.]”

“I know that you touched briefly in the resolution on one of the bike rides Lily and I took about a week before her third birthday,” Shambrook said to Clay. “She and I had spent a lot of time going around the city and going down to Art Institute and looking for certain things, looking for circles, squares, certain colors, or that type of thing. We went for bike ride the week before her third birthday, looking for big things on the lakefront. We found the big green man, the big blue windmill, the big white anchor, and the big Ferris wheel.”

“And when we were underneath the big Ferris wheel, I said, ‘Hey bud, let’s go have our snacks under the big dinosaur.'” Shambrook mentioned. “She said, ‘No, Dad, I want to go to Buckingham Fountain first.’ And I was thinking, ‘Wow, we’re seven miles from home, and you know that Buckingham fountain slots between Navy Pier and the Field Museum. We must be doing something right.’ And I also think it’s the having kids outside of cars, having kids on bikes, strollers, taking transit. They learn so much more about their city than being ferried around in a car. And I just hope that our city continues to get better with making travel options available, instead of just relying on cars so much.”

“We miss her dearly,” Shambrook said.

“We do,” seconded Kate Snow.

“But this little guy’s keeping us on our toes,” Shambrook replied with a laugh. “Filling our cup.”

“Thank you everyone, for coming,” Snow added. “It means so much to us.”

Ald. Clay then asked the crowd to “take a deep breath together as a community to honor this beautiful baby and to also send her family some love” by projecting positive energy. After a count, the group exhaled together.

“We appreciate you for sharing your baby with us,” Clay told Lily’s family. “We appreciate you for being amazing neighbors with us. We will make sure that Lily’s legacy lives on.”

After that, the family pulled the sleeve off the sign, and “Lily’s Greenway” became a permanent feature of the Uptown community.

If you appreciate Streetsblog Chicago’s reporting and advocacy on local sustainable transportation issues, please consider making a tax-deductible donation here. Thank you.

• Woman, 40, found lying in the road critically injured after CTA bus driver struck her Sunday around 9 PM, in 2500 block of North DLSD in Lincoln Park (Sun-Times)

• 5 people injured, 2 seriously, after crash involving pickup turck and CTA bus in West Englewood (ABC)

• GoFundMe launched for Webster’s Wine Bar employee Tele Villalobos, 65, injured after another driver struck his car earlier this month on I-90 (Block Club)

• CPD releases images man accused of aggravated battery at 95th/Dan Ryan Red Line station October 13 (ABC)

• Woman, 26, pleads guilty to random glass bottle attacks at Lake Red Line station, Macy’s in October 2025 (WGN)

• “Ride the CTA? You may notice this new security enhancement on your commute” (NBC)

• “First part of new tollway in Chicago suburbs opens to traffic” (NBC)

• SBC contributor Igor Studenkov: “IDOT developing state-wide intercity bus plan” (Cook County Chronicle)

• …Igor has a Substack called Chicago Media Journal that brings to mind Robert Feder’s previous coverage of the local journalism landscape.

• CTA: “CDOT Announces Two-Day Extension of Lake Street Bridge Replacement Work”

• “NITA has unprecedented power to develop land near transit. How could this change your neighborhood?” (Sun-Times)

• “Drivers Have Blocked A Bike Lane By The Main Post Office For Years — Despite Free Parking Nearby” and it’s slated for protection (Block Club)

• “Holiday Club Demolished To Make Way For Uptown Apartment Building” across the street from Sheridan Red Line station with 91 apartments, 38 parking spots (Block Club)

• “Debate Over Human Waste In Public Spaces Triggers Call For Public Restrooms In Rogers Park, Uptown” (Block Club)

• “Editorial: Surprise! The suburban mall isn’t dead after all, and Gen Z is leading the rescue mission.” (Tribune)

If you appreciate Streetsblog Chicago’s reporting and advocacy on local sustainable transportation issues, please consider making a tax-deductible donation here. Thank you!