With apologies to The B-52s, turn your watch back about 34 years. That’s when triathlon racer Jon Boub was badly injured on a training ride when his front wheel got caught in a bridge gap on Saint Charles Road in west-suburban DuPage County. That was because a Wayne Township road crew had removed the asphalt filler from between the wooden planks, making it unsafe for cycling.

But the bridge gaps weren’t a hazard for drivers. So in 1998, the Illinois Supreme Court decided that the township wasn’t responsible for the crash because the cyclist was a “permitted” rather than “intended” user of the road.

That set a harmful precent for decades, absolving municipalities from liability for injuries to bike riders on streets that aren’t officially designated as cycling routes. It also discouraged local governments from protecting people on bicycles by building infrastructure for them.

Then in June 2019, Clark Alave fell from his bike after cycling into a pothole at the northeast corner of Leland and Western avenues, by the Western Brown Line station in Chicago’s Lincoln Square. Frustratingly, in December 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court reaffirmed the Boub V. Wayne decision. It once again ruled that the municipality wasn’t responsible for the rider’s injuries because he wasn’t on an official bike route.

Now there’s an opportunity to right those wrongs. Illinois House Bill 2454 seeks to overturn Boub V. Wayne by amending the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act. The bill “provides that a person operating a bicycle is deemed to be an intended user of every roadway and portion of roadway on which bicyclists are permitted to ride.”

Ride Illinois Executive Director Dave Simmons gave Streetsblog his take on why it’s so important to pass that legislation. He said Illinois is the only state with a distinction between roads where bike riders are only “permitted” users and ones where they are “intended” users.

“Somehow, and I’m doing my sarcastic voice, somehow, 49 other states can manage to get by and are not being bankrupted by bicyclists or other vulnerable road users who are suing them left and right,” Simmons said. “We know why this is still in place in Illinois… but it just seems that in this day and age with with the examples from the other 49 states, and the fact that it’s really impacting how some some people can get around… whether that simply might mean that someone’s less interested in going somewhere on a bike, because they know if they get in a serious crash, their recourses or the actions they could take are limited.”

On February 25, Chicago, Bike Grid Now! organizer Nik Hunder broke the news that former 45th Ward alder John Arena had recently been lobbying against HB 2454 on behalf of the City of Chicago. This publication fumed about that finding via the Streetsblog Chicago Social Media Juggernaut.

A spokesperson from the Mayor’s Office soon reached out, and provided a statement noting that Chicago’s investments in Complete Streets infrastructure have recently helped bring about a nine-year low in traffic fatalities. But they argued that HB 2454 would do more harm than good for Chicago bike safety.

“By exposing municipalities to sweeping liability and potential changes to roadway standards, the proposal would result in millions of dollars in new annual costs, burdening taxpayers and requiring the City to divert funding from future bicycle safety infrastructure investments,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The City is committed to increasing pedestrian and commuter safety and remains open to continued conversations with advocates and the legislation’s sponsors.”

Simmons wasn’t buying that argument. “So the concern from municipalities is that if the legislation passes, there is a potential that there would be unforeseen financial implications, and that’s just because when budgets are built, they know there are not going to be a surprises from bicyclists who get seriously injured or killed,” he responded. “So, it’s mostly a financial argument. I’m not saying that that’s not valid, but there are other considerations here.”

“I agree the City of Chicago’s done a really nice job [with building bike infrastructure],” Simmons added. “There are multiple suburbs have done a really nice job. That doesn’t always mean that infrastructure is going to exist where someone you know wants to go. So until bike infrastructure is truly ubiquitous and leads people everywhere they want to go, that argument doesn’t fully hold up.”

In addition, Hunder and fellow Bike Grid organizer Charna Albert recently published an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune addressing the situation. They said that the City’s estimate of millions of dollars in new annual costs doesn’t “track with reality” because between January and September of 2025, the City of Chicago paid nearly $666,000 in claims and settlements for bodily harm caused by poor road mantenance. They argued that, since motor vehicles account for 60 percent of all Chicago trips, and bikes make up about 2 percent, if the vehicle claims were scaled to bicycles during that period, they would make up only about $22,000 in costs.

“By asserting that this figure is truly in the millions, the City admits the conditions of its infrastructure are poor and considered a liability or has grossly overstated the true potential legal costs,” wrote Hunder and Albert. “Neither of these explanations is an acceptable reason to oppose liability.”

“Both of these figures, however, pale in comparison to the total economic damages caused by vehicle crashes. Using Chicago Police Department public reporting and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s WISQARS model, [SBC cofounder Steven Vance’s real estate data website] Chicago Cityscape estimated $1.78 billion in damages caused by auto-on-auto accidents and $177 million in auto-on-bicycle injuries.”

The Bike Grid organizers argued that if the City of Chicago had a commitment to investing in a robust, low-stress bike network, the new bill wouldn’t be needed. “But when the city fails to build a connected network of safe streets and maintains no liability, someone will get hurt. And they already have.” Here they linked to Streetsblog’s report of the June 2022 bike crash that took the life of Lily Shambrook, 3, caused by a ComEd trucker illegally parked in a non-protected, paint-only bike lane on Leland Avenue in Uptown.

The bottom line is that state legislators should ignore the City of Chicago’s lobbying and pass HB 2454. The additional expenses of creating a grid of safe biking streets are well worth it, compared to the cost of lives needlessly and tragically lost.

On November 12, SBC launched our 2026 fund drive to raise $50K through ad sales and donations. That will complete next year’s budget, at a time when it’s tough to find grant money. Big thanks to all the readers who have chipped in so far to help keep this site rolling all next year! Currently, we’re at $23,690 with $26,310 to go, ideally by the end of March.

If you value our livable streets reporting and advocacy, please consider making a tax-exempt gift here. If you can afford a contribution of $100 or more, think of that as a subscription. That will help keep the site paywall-free for people on tighter budgets, as well as decision-makers. Thanks for your support!

– John Greenfield, editor

The post Never mind the lobbyists: Ride Illinois and Bike Grid say it’s essential for state legislators to pass law designating cyclists as “intended” road users. appeared first on Streetsblog Chicago.

• Person died after being struck by Yellow Line train Thursday around 12:30 PM by Niles Center Road near Skokie, police say gates, signals were working (WGN)

• Suspect stabbed man, 37, in arm around 11:58 PM on Grand Red Line platform in River North, no one in custody (ABC)

• “CTA vows to move forward with Red Line Extension Project despite federal funding uncertainty” (CBS)

• “State Senator Mike Simmons says – biking gets you outside and moving!” (Chicagoans Who Bike)

• Woodlawn’s Blackstone Bicycle Works got a USA Cycling Everyone Rides Community Impact Grant.

• “A proposed building with 54 supportive housing units for single women, office space for support staff” (Chicago Cityscape)

• Ride the Green Line! “CTA Will Get You to All the St. Patrick’s Day Parades and Annual Dyeing of the Chicago River”

On November 12, SBC launched our 2026 fund drive to raise $50K through ad sales and donations. That will complete next year’s budget, at a time when it’s tough to find grant money. Big thanks to all the readers who have chipped in so far to help keep this site rolling all next year! Currently, we’re at $23,690 with $26,310 to go, ideally by the end of March.

If you value our livable streets reporting and advocacy, please consider making a tax-exempt gift here. If you can afford a contribution of $100 or more, think of that as a subscription. That will help keep the site paywall-free for people on tighter budgets, as well as decision-makers. Thanks for your support!

– John Greenfield, editor

The post Today’s Headlines for Friday, March 13 appeared first on Streetsblog Chicago.

As I previously discussed, at Tuesday’s Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety meeting, 12th Ward representative Ald. Julia Ramirez received a torrent of abuse during the lengthy public comment period. The tirades came from residents, merchants, and political enemies who called her out for signing off on the Chicago Department of Transportation’s Archer Avenue traffic safety project in Brighton Park. (My nickname for the right-leaning folks using this issue as a political hook is the “Make Archer Great Again” [MAGA] posse.)

This initiative is controversial because it involves converting mixed-traffic and parking lanes to make room for turn lanes, pedestrian infrastructure,  bus boarding islands, and protected bike lanes. And, granted, the half-finished roadway is kind of a mess right now, because CDOT hasn’t yet added street markings, concrete curbs, and flexible posts to help residents navigate the new street design. It hasn’t helped matters that there’s a massive utility project going on just southwest of the ward office.

“This is not a city of neighborhoods or a city that works for everyone,” testified a woman named Carmen at the hearing. “Currently it’s only serving for the special interests that are influencing Ms. Julia Ramirez… Let me just remind you aldermen [names a few alders present] you have a choice to vote on the expansion of bike lanes. Please don’t do it. It’s killing businesses across the city of Chicago.”

The most notable example of a Chicago business owner claiming that parking conversions for protected bike lanes forced them to close was Alan Gillman from an Ace Hardware on Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square. But another possible factor in declining sales may have been the shop loudly playing anti-immigrant talk radio in a heavily Latino neighborhood.

“[The Chicago Department of Transportation] is basically a special interest group that’s being funded basically by not the city of Chicago residents or the property tax payers like myself,” Carmen insisted. “It’s being funded by so-called non-for-profit organizations, OK? That is our tax money.”

Obviously, that’s a nonsensical, self-contradictory statement. But if it’s true that these shadowy organizations are bankrolling CDOT, is there any chance this Illinois Illuminati could kick Streetsblog Chicago some cash as well? (I kid.)

I imagine that after sitting through over a half hour of criticism, including understandable concerns about street redesign and construction headaches, plus tin foil hat conspiracy theories, Ald. Ramirez felt pretty exhausted. So when the meeting was over, I buttonholed one of her sustainable transportation-friendly peers who has also had to deal with pushback for a similar Complete Streets project, to ask if he had any advice for his embattled colleague.

In late 2023, Ald. Matt Martin (47th) oversaw the installtion of concrete–protected bike lanes on the 0.5 mile stretch of Clark Street, between Irving Park Road and Montrose Avenue in Lakeview and Uptown. Although, like Archer, that initiative involved parking conversions, the east side of the street is occupied by Graceland Cemetery, so there was little parking demand there, and that project was fairly uncontroversial.

In March 2025, when CDOT proposed extending the protected bike lanes about 0.75 miles north of Montrose to Winnemac Avenue, at the south end of the Andersonville strip in the 46th and 47th wards, Martin also supported the idea. However, this time he faced a much stronger backlash against parking conversions, because that part of Clark has more retail. That was despite the fact that the transportation department found that on an average weekday, less than 30 percent of on-street car parking spots were in use.

Still, the usual Not In My Back Yard commentators were fiercely opposed to the proposal. Inside Publications’ Ronald Roenigk, the self-proclaimed “King of Nimbyland,” wrote a front-page diatrible against the idea with the alarmist headline “Privileged bike paths to spread further on Clark St., Montrose to Winnemac the next victim.” Somehow, he believes bicycle (and e-scooter etc.) facilities are “privileged” but car-only routes like the Kennedy Expressway are not.

Similarly, the Uptown Update blog railed against the proposal in a post titled, “Hope You Don’t Like Driving and Parking!” Is there anyone who really enjoys driving and parking in a car-clogged city like Chicago?

Ultimately, Martin and his 46th Ward colleague Ald. Angela Clay decided to move forward with the initiative despite the naysayers. The project is largely completed now, and while some aspects of the new corridor could probably use some fine-tuning, the protected bikeway is getting good ridership, and the backlash appears to have largely subsided.

After Tuesday’s committee meeting, I asked Martin what he thought was the “special sauce” that allowed this project to successfully move forward, despite some initial negativity. I hope his story will serve as a light at the end of the tunnel for Brighton Park’s long-suffering alderperson. This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.

John Greenfield: That was some testimony we heard today! So do you have any advice for Ald. Ramirez? You have a ward where you’ve done parking conversions for protected bike lanes. You’ve probably also gotten some pushback from neighbors and merchants about that. So, do you have any thoughts about what she should keep in mind moving forward?

Ald. Matt Martin: Every community is different, so far be it for me to tell her, you’ve got to do X, Y and Z, because she’s going to know her community best, certainly better than I would. What has worked well for me is that we’ve had a lot of lessons learned, especially along Clark Street when we started early on. Part of it is residential abutting the cemetery. We had community meetings, and then we received some constructive feedback in terms of the actual design.

[Ald. Ramirez and CDOT have also hosted community meetings about the Archer plan, and some 500 residents provided input.]

That was really helpful when we did the second leg north of Montrose. We were able to share that constructive feedback with CDOT. We were able to have community meetings and also go door to door, because the part that’s north of Montrose, it’s almost like it flips on a dime, in terms of how mixed-use it is with commercial on the first floor. So going business-to-business several times to say before any plans are near final, “Here’s what the design looks like. What do you think? Let’s talk with you about this.” Our office paired with the 46th Ward and CDOT to do that outreach, and that was helpful.

[Archer project supporters have acknowledged that, while the 12th Ward and CDOT offered opportunities for the public to provide feedback on the proposal, additional door-to-door outreach would have helped prevent pushback. On the other hand, the Archer project area is almost three times as long as the second phase of the Clark initiative, and only one ward is involved, so doing that kind of outreach would have been far more time consuming.]

To be clear, we continue to hear from both residents and businesses with questions and concerns and are continuing to work through that as best we can. But I think early-and-often is the sort of outreach that has worked well for us, and we want to keep it up.

JG: What kind of reactions have you gotten to the second half of Clark north of Montrose to Winnemac?

AMM: I think on balance it’s been positive. Look, like anywhere else in the city, we have people who are really excited. We have some people who are questioning, who are frustrated. So for me, it’s trying to understand, okay, if you’re excited, why? It’s a little bit too soon to say, but are we starting to see improvements in terms of reduction in crashes involving bicycles? Reduction of speeding ? Are we seeing increases [in cycling]? Because we saw all three of those happening on the corridor south of Montrose. So I’m hopeful that we’ll continue to see those sorts of outcomes north of Montrose.

We’re continuing to talk with businesses, and for some it seems to be working out okay. For others, they still have some questions, especially around deliveries or ride-share drivers, so we’re trying to think creatively about how we address that.

So it’s been a good learning experience, but I think, on balance, it’s been a positive contribution. But we’re still in those early months, so let’s see what happens in a few months, once the weather’s really warm in a consistent way, and see what utilization looks like. And see also as maybe consumer habits change with some of those first floor businesses, what their experiences are.

[Martin’s story suggests that when the Archer initiative is finally completed, not everyone is going to be thrilled with it, but Ramirez should hear a lot fewer complaints. And perhaps the folks rooting for her aldermanic opponent will stop staking out her workplace every Monday.

So CDOT, once the weather gets warm enough, how about wrapping up the Archer project by laying down the thermoplastic, curbs, and posts? Thanks in advance!]

Read CDOT’s FAQ about the Archer / Kedzie traffic safety projects here.

Materials about Archer Avenue can be found here.

Materials about Kedzie Avenue can be found here.

Read Streetsblog Chicago’s writeup of Round 1 of the dueling Archer rallies, 12/8/25, here.

Check out our article about Round 2, 12/15/25, here.

Read SBC’s coverage of Round 3, 12/22/25, here.

Read our article about Round 4, 12/29/25 here.

Check our post about Round 5, 1/5/26 here.

Take a look at our assessment of Round 6, 1/12/26, here.

Read SBC’s post about Round 7, 1/19/26, here.

Take a gander at our article about Round 8, 1/26/26, here.

Check out our article that mentions Round 10, 2/9/26, here.

Peruse out writeup of Round 11, 2/16/26, here.

Read our article about Round 12, 2/23/26, here.

Take a look at our post about Round 13, 3/2/26, here.

Check previous discussion of Round 14, 3/9/26, plus the 3/10/26 Traffic Safety Committee meeting, here.

On November 12, SBC launched our 2026 fund drive to raise $50K through ad sales and donations. That will complete next year’s budget, at a time when it’s tough to find grant money. Big thanks to all the readers who have chipped in so far to help keep this site rolling all next year! Currently, we’re at $23,627 with $26,373 to go, ideally by the end of March.

If you value our livable streets reporting and advocacy, please consider making a tax-exempt gift here. If you can afford a contribution of $100 or more, think of that as a subscription. That will help keep the site paywall-free for people on tighter budgets, as well as decision-makers. Thanks for your support!

– John Greenfield, editor

The post Ald. Matt Martin offers some chicken soup for the embattled Complete Streets-friendly alderperson’s soul appeared first on Streetsblog Chicago.

• “Cubs Want Hundreds Of New Parking Spaces Near Wrigley Field,” neighbors point out that would encourage more driving and traffic jams (Block Club)

• CPD releases image of blue Ford Edge SUV whose hit-and-run driver seriously injured woman crossing Green St. at Lake St. 2/19 around 10:19 PM (Fox)

• CTA bus driver brutally attacked by man who might have followed him of the bus on Monday in Back of the Yards, fueling yesterday’s safety rally (CBS)

• “Man shot, killed by CPD in Humboldt Park was in vehicle wanted in Eisenhower shooting: COPA” (ABC)

• “Protesters Disrupt Park District Board Meeting as Tensions Flare Over Looming Encampment Closure” (WTTW)

• “2 Edgewater Vacant Lots On Same Block To Be Turned Into Apartment Buildings With 58 Units” (Block Club)

• Equiticity is hiring to strengthen capacity building, workforce development & Community Mobility Rituals. The jobs are now posted on their website.

On November 12, SBC launched our 2026 fund drive to raise $50K through ad sales and donations. That will complete next year’s budget, at a time when it’s tough to find grant money. Big thanks to all the readers who have chipped in so far to help keep this site rolling all next year! Currently, we’re at $23,637 with $26,363 to go, ideally by the end of March.

If you value our livable streets reporting and advocacy, please consider making a tax-exempt gift here. If you can afford a contribution of $100 or more, think of that as a subscription. That will help keep the site paywall-free for people on tighter budgets, as well as decision-makers. Thanks for your support!

– John Greenfield, editor

The post Today’s Headlines for Thursday, March 12 appeared first on Streetsblog Chicago.

It was perhaps fitting that much of the March 11 meeting of the CTA’s board was held to the chanting  and shouts from a rally taking place right outside.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, which represents CTA bus drivers and mechanics (and drivers and mechanics at Pace’s West Division, but that isn’t relevant here), called for better pay and driver safety improvements. The rally came a day after the CTA submitted a new security plan to the Trump-controlled Federal Transit Administration, which had threatened to withhold $50 million in funding if it wasn’t satisfied with the proposal. CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen told the board that many aspects of the plan were already in the works before the feds issued this ultimatum. 

The board also approved the purchase of the property at 2718 W. St. Georges Ct. to make room to install elevators and widen platforms that would make California Blue Line L’ station ADA-compliant. they also honored transit employees who got at least two commendations from riders, and some of these honorees got as many as ten shout-outs.

Five months after former director Michelle Lee left the board, her seat remains empty, and there is still no discussion about how to fill it. In September, the Chicagoland transit governing overhaul will take effect, and Mayor Brandon Johnson will need to decide who to appoint to the revamped board. There is nothing to prevent Johnson from filling the vacancy in the meantime but, so far, there are no signs he will take action.

Public safety

In early December, Trump’s FTA chief Marc Molinaro ordered the CTA to “update its Agency Safety Plan by the end of the month and send the plan to FTA within seven business days of approval by [the CTA board].” He also insisted that the transit agency develop a “security enhancement plan,” threatening to withhold funding if the demands weren’t met.

In late December, the CTA responded to the security enhancement plan demand by announcing a new “security surge plan,” including raising the average daily number of police in the transit system from 77 to 120. The FTA quickly dismissed that approach as “materially deficient.”

During its January meeting, the board signed off on an updated Agency Safety Plan.

The CTA submitted a “Revised Security Enhancement Plan” to the feds yesterday, in an effort to satisfy Molinaro’s “security enhancement plan demand.”

According to the CTA, the RSEP includes a “75 percent increase in monthly system policing hours, aggressive crime reduction targets, and expanded social service support.” Leerhsen said that those hours include a 34 percent increase in hours for Chicago Police Department’s transit unit, doubling the number of off-duty officers the CTA employs to provide security, and having Cook County Sheriff’s police ride the ‘L’ lines for 4,400 hours a month.

At the board meeting, Leerhsen said the plan includes new “missions” that CTA recently implemented. In January, the agency launched a Transit Rider Interaction Program, where teams of six to eight officers board trains and inspect railcars at “high-incident” stations. Leerhsen said that CPD did over 300 TRIP missions so far, and the crime at those stations dropped by 15 percent. 

Leerhsen said that police also ride along on bus routes that have high numbers of crimes and other incidents, and officers are stationed at high-incident bus stops. She said they choose the routes and the stops based on both data and bus drivers’ input. 

Leerhsen emphasized that the CTA is continuing “our long-standing multilayered approach” of working with social service providers to assist riders who are sheltering on the ‘L’ and/or experiencing other issues that affect their well-being. In addition to existing partnerships, the transit agency is launching a Crisis Intervention Specialists (something recommended in a guest-op by Noah Wright SBC ran on Monday) and Violence Interrupters pilot. Both deescalate volatile situations and try to connect at-risk indivuals with services. Violence Interrupters also work to, as the name implies, break the cycle of retaliation and prevent further violent incidents.

The plan also focuses on reducing fare evasions by installing higher barrier gates, another best practice Wright called for. It will also have CPD do more farecard inspection missions to prevent individuals from misusing other people’s free and reduced cards.

In addition, the agency will continue to use new data tools to study how many bus and ‘L’ passengers ride for free. Early during the meeting, CTA Chief Innovation Officer Molly Poppe said one benefit of this research is providing a better sense of actual ridership. It has already revealed that some bus routes have recovered more pre-pandemic ridership than the agency previously thought. 

The responses

In his op-ed on how to improve public safety on the CTA, Wright cited Washington D.C.’s WMATA, which has recently enjoyed its lowest crime in 25 years. One District best practice he cited was combining more fare enforcement and higher gates with a new, simple-to-access reduced-fare program.

CTA board member Roberto Requejo asked Poppe about the reduced fare idea. She responded that Metra rolled out the Access Pilot Program for low-income riders who aren’t elderly or disabled as part of the February 2024 fare overhaul. She noted, CTA and Pace don’t currently have anything like that, but she would not be opposed to the concept. 

In response to Leerhsen‘s report, CTA Board Chair Lester Barclay praised the agency’s collaboration with law enforcement entities. “The safety of our riders and employees is always a top priority,” he said. 

Requejo said he believes one issue is that many ‘L’ stations and bus stops simply don’t look safe and welcoming at night, and that he would like to see the CTA address that beyond its rapid Refresh & Renew initiative. He also wondered when the crisis intervention and violence interruptor pilot will roll out. Poppe indicated that the goal is to launch it by July. 

This led Requejo to ask if the CTA could work with social service providers to get something in place sooner as an interim measure. Poppe responded that she would look into that. 

Board member Rosa Ortiz urged the CTA to work with violence reduction and social service organizations that already serve the high-incident locations the transit agency identified. “So, for some hotspots, it would be great to coordinate with those organizations, since they already do the work,” she said.

Rally in front of the CTA HQ

By the time Streetsblog arrived at the CTA headquarters a little after 10 a.m., the bus workers union rally was already well underway. Drivers, most of whom were wearing their uniforms, held up signs with one of the chants written on them: “Respect us, protect us, pay us.” 

That slogan, along with the chant of “No more assault” could be audibly heard in the second floor Chicago Transit Board meeting room. At times, the chants were so loud that CTA Board Secretary Georgette Greenlee had to tell Leerhsen and some of the public commenters to speak louder. The chanting lasted most of the way through the meeting. 

In the lead-up to the public comment period, several union members came into the room and stood by the wall, holding up signs. The transit board doesn’t allow signs and other agitprop inside the meeting room. When a CTA employee pointed that out and urged them to take their seats, they lowered their signs to chest level, but remained standing. No further action was taken against them.

When this reporter stepped outside while the CTA board was in a private executive session, the croud gathered around Local 241 President Keith Hill. He said that the order of the demands in “Respect us, protect us, pay us” was deliberate. “If you don’t respect us, as workers, as people, as human beings – [the CTA higher-ups] have no interest in protecting us,” he said. 

Hill gave a shoutout to the workers who were recognized before the executive session, saying that they were a great representation of Local 291. And he called the rally a “warning sign,” adding, “Next time, there better be 1,000 people.” He said he was well aware the rallying drivers were taking a day off and losing money.

But Hill argued that only continuing pressure, including including the possibility of a bus driver strike, would produce results. Therefore, “Next time, I need y’all to come.”

On November 12, SBC launched our 2026 fund drive to raise $50K through ad sales and donations. That will complete next year’s budget, at a time when it’s tough to find grant money. Big thanks to all the readers who have chipped in so far to help keep this site rolling all next year! Currently, we’re at $23,627 with $26,373 to go, ideally by the end of March.

If you value our livable streets reporting and advocacy, please consider making a tax-exempt gift here. If you can afford a contribution of $100 or more, think of that as a subscription. That will help keep the site paywall-free for people on tighter budgets, as well as decision-makers. Thanks for your support!

– John Greenfield, editor

The post Inside CTA HQ, board discussed Revised Security Enhancement Plan. Outside, rallying bus drivers chanted “Respect us, protect us, pay us.” appeared first on Streetsblog Chicago.

• “CTA’s new security plan includes sheriff’s deputies on trains, high-barrier gates [called for in recent SBC guest op-ed], farecard inspections” (Sun-Times)

• Letter: “Public access to CTA bathrooms will keep L stations, trains clean” (Sun-Times)

•  CPD released image of man who allegedly punched pedestrian unconscious Monday around 7:40 PM at 47th/Ashland in Back of the Yards (Fox)

• “Momentum is building for the Englewood Nature Trail — a 1.8‑mile elevated greenway that will transform a former railroad corridor.” (Active Trans)

• CEO of Chicago Metropolitan Housing Development Corp.: “Solving affordable housing means preserving what we have, not just building more” (Tribune)

• “United-American fight for O’Hare dominance lands in FAA’s lap” (Crain’s)

• “West Side’s Peace Runners Open Garfield Park Studio, Wellness Center” (Block Club)

On November 12, SBC launched our 2026 fund drive to raise $50K through ad sales and donations. That will complete next year’s budget, at a time when it’s tough to find grant money. Big thanks to all the readers who have chipped in so far to help keep this site rolling all next year! Currently, we’re at $23,627 with $26,373 to go, ideally by the end of March.

If you value our livable streets reporting and advocacy, please consider making a tax-exempt gift here. If you can afford a contribution of $100 or more, think of that as a subscription. That will help keep the site paywall-free for people on tighter budgets, as well as decision-makers. Thanks for your support!

– John Greenfield, editor

The post Today’s Headlines for Wednesday, March 11 appeared first on Streetsblog Chicago.

As you might expect thanks to yesterday’s gorgeous weather, the vibe was good at the 13th round of weekly dueling rallies for and against the Archer Avenue traffic safety project rallies in Brighton Park in the 12th Ward. Or at least that was the case according to proponent Alfredo Villadares Jr., who’s lived just south of the project area in Gage Park for 37 years.

“Yesterday’s Safety Rally was a blast!” Villadares wrote me. “There were approximately 12-15 people on the Safe Streets supporter side and only five people protesting the project. Of those people, only two weren’t part of the Archer Avengers.” That’s his nickname for the Archer Guardians opposition group, which has a video of a pro-charter school rally on its webpage.

“The ride we held afterward was awesome as well,” Villadares added. “The temperature was ideal for a bike ride! We rode down Archer to Chinatown Square and hung out for a bit. Next week, if weather permits, we will be hosting another group ride.”

The weather was gloomier today, and so was the mood at today’s monthly Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety meeting at City Hall. The hearing consisted of almost nothing but grievances about the Archer initiative from residents, business owners, and/or political foes of 12th Ward representative Ald. Julia Ramirez, some of whom were at Monday’s protest. Ramirez, who’s not a member of the committee, showed up at today’s event because. She’d heard that project opponents would be testifying, even though the committee had no items in its agenda addressing Archer.

The project supporters usually outnumber the anti- folks at the Brighton Park rallies. But the opponents were well represented today, with a dozen or so of them showing up as a group to make public comments at the committee meeting. I was told that pro-Safe Streets folks only heard about the opponents’ plans to testify yesterday afternoon, too late in the game for the boosters to take off from work and provide positive testimony at the hearing.

Here it’s important to point out the political backdrop of the organized opposition to the Archer initiative. Ald. Ramirez, a progressive, signed off the Chicago Department of Transportation’s proposal for an AARP-endorsed “four-to-three conversion” street redesign. The half-completed project will eventually include turn lanes, pedestrian safety infrastructure, bus boarding islands, and protected bike lanes, make the street safer and more efficient for all road users.

But some neighbors and merchants are understandably upset about the ongoing construction, and other are opposed to the “road diet” and conversion of some curbside car parking spaces. Some right-leaning organizations and people have been taking advantage of the situation to try to win votes, so I call them the “Make Archer Great Again” (MAGA) posse.

Last month, Immigration crackdown supporter Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) showed up to the Traffic Safety Committee to rail against the Archer project (located outside of his district) and CDOT’s Complete Streets initiatives in general. I’ll discuss the conservative background of other anti-Archer folks in a bit.

That’s not to say that the all the complaints voiced during today’s public comment period were unreasonable. For example, some Brighton Park merchants said they’ve loss business because of more traffic congestion and fewer curbside parking spaces.

However, research indicates that converting on-street parking to protected lanes can correlate with higher sales for small businesses, since the new facilities attract non-big box store shoppers. It’s also important to remember that the Archer remix is still a work in progress, as is a massive utility project just southwest of the rally area, which deserves at least some of the blame for traffic jams and parking shortages.

Other commenters expressed concern that the Archer project is slowing down first responders. While that’s a common worry from neighbors when protected bike lanes are installed, video evidence and statements from the Chicago Fire Department indicate there aren’t any major problems. That’s not surprising, because PBLs don’t take up any more road space than parked cars.

One person at today’s hearing said they were worried about a more walk/bike/transit-friendly Archer becoming a magnet for gentrification. Again, almost all of the supporters who show up to the weekly rally have said they’re from the area, and some of them are lifelong residents, not gentrifiers. And Chicago’s goal should be to have safe street designs in all neighborhoods, so that a Complete Streets road makeover won’t particularly attract newcomers.

But the comments of anti-Archer protest co-organizer Eva Villalobos at the Traffic Safety meeting deserve special attention. In 2024 she ran for the CPS board on a pro-charter school platform, which helps explain why she came across today as a seasoned public speaker. Her campaign received over $25,000 from the pro-charter lobbying group Urban Center, founded by perennial candidate Paul Vallas and run by disgraced ex-UNO Charters CEO Juan Rangel.

Rangel wrote a flattering Tribune op-ed about Trump after the last election. Urban Center has promoted the Archer opposition with press releases and mass texts. And last month, when frequent Archer demonstration attendee Claudia Zuno announced she’s running against Ramirez for alder on an anti-Archer Safe Streets platform, Rangel gave her campaign full-throated support.

Villalobos, also a Zuno supporter, aimed her comments at today’s hearing directly at the candidate’s opponent. Early in her speech Villalobos said accusatorially to Ramirez, “You live half a block away from the office and yet you still drive there,” implying that it was hypocritical for the alder to support a sustainable transportation project.

“I’m very proud to be born and raised a half a block from where my office is,” Ramirez, who recently returned from maternity leave, later told me. She said that while she often walks to the 12th Ward headquarters, “there have been moments where, as an alderman, I have to make different events or I have to rush to City Hall, so I do have my car with me in certain instances.” For example, she said yesterday she had her new infant with her at work, and had to go to an event immediately afterwards with the child and baby gear.

By coincidence, committee chair and sustainable transportation advocate Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) was at home today taking care of a new arrival. If he had been at City Hall for the hearing, perhaps he wouldn’t have allowed things to become so heated.

“You have the audacity to claim that you do this with transparency when you have always put us to the back,” Villalobos said to Ramirez during her comments. “You went ahead and listened to a nonprofit.” This might refer the the community group Southwest Collective, which helped spread the word about public input opportunities for the Archer plan.

“You went ahead and listened to CDOT, incompetent CDOT, that could not even answer questions last month,” Villalobos continued. “You have a responsibility to listen to your residents. You’re not here for your own personal accord. We put you here!… You need to realize that you’re going to be out of here. Nobody wants you here.”

Nothing political at all there, huh?

After a tangent in which Villalobos accused Mayor Johnson of not caring about police, she went on to claim, “There’s a whole bunch of us, Archer Guardians, who are being threatened.” Again, I’m not sure what she was talking about here.

“We have businesses who are being harassed,” Villalobos said. This probably refers to Archer project supporters who reportedly politely requested that merchants take down the “2 Lanes Not 1” signs the opponents asked the them to put up. “And yet who is advocating for them. Not our alderwoman. She’s just there to say yes to what the mayor wants. And we’re tired and done with it. We want to stop this. And it starts with you.”

The large number of her political allies cheered and applauded.

After the meeting, Ramirez told me she recently met with six business owners to hear their concerns. Their establishments are mostly located on the north side of Archer between Kedzie and Sacramento, where parking has been converted. “They feel like it’s because of a lack of parking that their businesses have lost sales,” she said. “I did share with them that I have a meeting with the heads of [CDOT] and Mayor Johnson, and I wanted to follow up with them on Tuesday to let them know how that meeting went. I’m trying to figure out timeline and everything that’s on the table, and I want to be able to present to them all the options we have.”

I asked the alder for her response to all the negative feedback she received today. “There is a stark difference of certain people who want to direct their attacks about me on a personal level, and I think politically,” she replied. “And I noticed today that there are businesses that want to feel heard. So I made sure that I provided time there after the meeting to the folks that I’m mostly concerned about, and not the folks who are politically trying to run a campaign against me.”

Read CDOT’s FAQ about the Archer / Kedzie traffic safety projects here.

Materials about Archer Avenue can be found here.

Materials about Kedzie Avenue can be found here.

Read Streetsblog Chicago’s writeup of Round 1 of the dueling Archer rallies, 12/8/25, here.

Check out our article about Round 2, 12/15/25, here.

Read SBC’s coverage of Round 3, 12/22/25, here.

Read our article about Round 4, 12/29/25 here.

Check our post about Round 5, 1/5/26 here.

Take a look at our assessment of Round 6, 1/12/26, here.

Read SBC’s post about Round 7, 1/19/26, here.

Take a gander at our article about Round 8, 1/26/26, here.

Check out our article that mentions Round 10, 2/9/26, here.

Peruse out writeup of Round 11, 2/16/26, here.

Read our article about Round 12, 2/23/26, here.

Take a look at our post about Round 13, 3/2/26, here.

On November 12, SBC launched our 2026 fund drive to raise $50K through ad sales and donations. That will complete next year’s budget, at a time when it’s tough to find grant money. Big thanks to all the readers who have chipped in so far to help keep this site rolling all next year! Currently, we’re at $23,377 with $26,623 to go, ideally by the end of March.

If you value our livable streets reporting and advocacy, please consider making a tax-exempt gift here. If you can afford a contribution of $100 or more, think of that as a subscription. That will help keep the site paywall-free for people on tighter budgets, as well as decision-makers. Thanks for your support!

– John Greenfield, editor

The post Archer Guardians anti-Safe Streets protesters turned today’s Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee meeting into a campaign stop appeared first on Streetsblog Chicago.

• Police fatally shot driver fleeing in stolen Mercedes after he struck, injured woman, and hit CTA bus, CPD squad car Monday evening in Humboldt (ABC)

• “CPD’s No Chase Policy Should Not Be Admissible In Court: A policy written for safety has some unintended consequences” (A City That Works)

• After man, 18, charged with shooting, injuring 2 men at 79th Station, Violence Interrupters leader says, “There’s a chance we could’ve de-escalated that” (Fox)

• Amtrak’s Pilsen river bridge became stuck on Monday afternoon, leading to travel impacts for passengers on the Metra Heritage Corridor line (NBC)

• “As Obama Center nears debut, signs emerge of a changing neighborhood” (Crain’s)

• “Hundreds March On Trump Tower For International Women’s Day: ‘We Aren’t Just Fighting For Ourselves'” (Block Club)

• Chicago Critical Mass Facebook account created a video montage of local female bike riders for International Women’s Day

• Equiticity is hiring to strengthen capacity building, workforce development & Community Mobility Rituals. Contact careers[at]equiticity[dot]org.

send their cover letters and resumes to careers@equiticity.org, and put the position title in the subject line..

• “Meet The South Side Irish Parade’s ‘Traffic Cop On 103rd,’ Keeping Marchers And Floats In Line” (Block Club)

On November 12, SBC launched our 2026 fund drive to raise $50K through ad sales and donations. That will complete next year’s budget, at a time when it’s tough to find grant money. Big thanks to all the readers who have chipped in so far to help keep this site rolling all next year! Currently, we’re at $23,377 with $26,623 to go, ideally by the end of March.

If you value our livable streets reporting and advocacy, please consider making a tax-exempt gift here. If you can afford a contribution of $100 or more, think of that as a subscription. That will help keep the site paywall-free for people on tighter budgets, as well as decision-makers. Thanks for your support!

– John Greenfield, editor

The post Today’s Headlines for Tuesday, March 10 appeared first on Streetsblog Chicago.

By Noah Wright

This piece also runs on the website A City That Works, a newsletter about public policy in the Chicago region. As a guest op-ed, it does not necessarily reflect Streetsblog Chicago staffers’ perspectives on this issue.

Here’s Streetsblog Chicago’s recent discussion of public safety issues on the CTA, including an interview with Active Transportation Alliance Campaign Organizer W. Robert Schultz III. 

Noah Wright is a board member at the Chicago Growth Project. He has over a decade of experience in quantitative research, analytics, grantmaking, teaching, and management.

A series of horrific incidents have rocked the CTA over the last few months. Crime rates per passenger trip have remained stubbornly higher than their pre-pandemic level. And in a well-reported story earlier last week, the Sun-Times found that aggravated assaults and batteries on the system hit an all-time high last year.

The Federal Transit Administration has threatened to cut millions in CTA funding unless safety on public transit improves. The CTA has responded with a  “Security Surge” to deploy more police and private security. At the same time, the recently-passed Northern Illinois Transportation Authority bill reorganizing regional transit requires the establishment of a transit ambassador program and enables the formation of a new transit police force.

In other words, fixes are on the way. But I’m afraid that some transit advocates, and the CTA itself, are missing an important parts of the problem. 

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. There will always be bad faith attacks from people who want you to believe that you take your life into your hands every time you set foot on a train. This could not be further from the truth: transit is still much safer than driving. You’re about 25 times more likely to die in a car than on a train.

But these bad faith attacks get something right which transit advocates overlook at their peril: the CTA feels unsafe. That matters. It’s hurting ridership. And we desperately need a better set of answers.

What makes the CTA feel unsafe

To understand better we first need to understand the psychological concept of “felt safety.”¹ A situation may be relatively safe (again, you’re very unlikely to die on the train), but it can still provoke a stress response. This is not a trivial distinction: Stress responses are physiological phenomena, and in extreme cases such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, they lead to mental and physical health problems. Felt safety is not purely in one’s head, it is very real. Ask any regular transit rider.

I ride the CTA regularly, but not nearly as much as my partner. She commutes two hours each weekday on the blue and red lines. At this point, she’s used to mentally ill individuals talking or shouting at nothing, men using the emergency doors to walk between train cars or hold up station departures, and cars reeking of tobacco, cannabis, or human waste.² Those are not bad days, those are the norm.

Here’s what the bad days look like: in 2025, she was spat on, flashed, and watched a man pull the emergency door release to exit a car directly onto the tracks. She’s witnessed multiple people smoking crack or meth, including during rush hour. In a particularly memorable incident, she watched a man wake up and start to vomit into a moat of sand surrounding him. CTA workers, unable to move him, had simply left him where he was and sprinkled sand around him to absorb a prior round of vomit.

These are legitimate reasons to feel unsafe. Although she was (thankfully) never physically harmed by any of these events, telling someone like her that “transit is safer than driving” feels like gaslighting. You might be less likely to die on the train than the highway, but what are the odds that someone you don’t know starts smoking crack in the front seat of your car?

Felt safety is a ridership issue

In the CTA’s most recent biannual survey, riders reported the factors that would make them feel safer on the train. The top three factors directly indicate that my partner’s experience of open drug use, unsafe behavior, and passengers in obvious distress is not an unusual one.

Riders consistently reported “personal security” as one of their lowest points of satisfaction with CTA trains:

People don’t use transit if they don’t feel safe using transit. A majority of riders in the 2025 Biannual Survey explicitly state that they take the train less now due to their dissatisfaction with train attributes:

Note that that survey just counts the riders who are still trying to use the system – riders who have given up entirely aren’t counted in this data at all. The drop-off also corresponds to the fall in ridership post-COVID. In 2018, 61 percent of riders were satisfied with “personal security on train.” That number had fallen to just 46 percent in 2025.

It’s also worth noting that Black and Latino riders suffer the most when safety is neglected. They’re less likely to have alternatives when transit becomes dangerous or unpleasant. A CTA focus group asked Black transit users from North Lawndale “what is the worst part of riding the bus or train?” Respondents explicitly called out smells, smokers, loud or mentally unstable people, cleanliness, and felt safety.³

Tax-deductible donations from readers help Streetsblog Chicago continue to advocate for better walk/bike/transit in the region. Thanks for your support!

How to improve felt safety

But as for how we go about making people feel safer, only one solution seems to have been proposed so far. The security surge, the ambassador program, and the transit police force are all variations of “more cops and staff”.

“More cops and staff” is not nothing. CTA riders reported “more police” as the #4 biggest factor that would make them feel safer, followed by “more CTA personnel” and “more unarmed security” at #5 and #6. But “more cops and staff” alone will not make people feel truly safe unless they actually address open drug use, dangerous behavior, and obvious, visible distress. And if they do so in overly aggressive or escalatory ways, their efforts risk making some riders feel less safe. We don’t just need staff – we need effective enforcement.

So what does effective enforcement look like? I take my cues from the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, a system of similar size and scope which just reported its lowest crime rates in 25 years. Because WMATA has similar ridership levels to the CTA, we can compare incidents directly, and it’s not even close:

Source: Safety & Security Major Event Time Series | FTA

As I made clear above, crime is not the same as felt safety. However, felt safety is not directly measured in official statistics, and I’m willing to bet that a system that does a better job preventing assault, probably also does a better job preventing other dangerous behavior. Furthermore, WMATA’s ridership recovery is among the highest for transit agencies of comparable size to the CTA:

A summary of WMATA’s safety planning over the years could be its own separate article,⁴ so I’m going to focus on key enforcement strategies WMATA has implemented that the CTA currently lacks:

1. Set clear expectations, consequences, and follow-up

Reporting destructive behavior on the CTA almost never leads to any kind of action being taken. As ACTW’s Richard Day (also a Streetsblog contributor) has noted previously, the CTA’s reporting reporting systems are woefully behind peer systems. There seems to be virtually no response system for smoking, abusing emergency equipment, making excessive noise, or harassing fellow passengers. Whatever transit police, ambassadors, or other frontline staff come along with the new legislation, none of them will matter if this does not change.

A common experience reporting smoking on the CTA

When bad behavior is identified, via a reporting app or otherwise, riders need to understand how the system will respond. What are station attendants supposed to do when someone skips a turnstile? What are K9 units supposed to do when someone smokes on a car? What are the forthcoming ambassadors supposed to do when someone plays loud, amplified music?

CTA staff, police officers, and everyone in between deserves clear instructions about what they’re expected to do and when. This should include both de-escalation training, to address problematic behavior before it turns into dangerous behavior, as well as appropriate escalation patterns. If a station attendant politely calls out a passenger for skipping a fare and that passenger spits on or threatens the attendant, that attendant needs to know that they can quickly call in support from a private security guard or police officer.

These expectations need to include swift and certain consequences. The “consequences” in question do not (and in most cases, should not) have to mean jail time, or even require police involvement. The likelihood of getting caught deters crime considerably more than severity of punishment. In most cases, kicking riders out of the system, writing tickets, or issuing a temporary ridership ban will suffice. WMATA, for example, does both: fare evaders get charged a $50-$100 fee and more serious offenses can see ridership bans ranging from 45 days to a year.⁵

Finally, riders themselves need some form of follow-up about their complaints. WMATA customers are notified of the outcome of their complaint and something similar for the CTA would go a long ways toward increasing trust in the system. Even getting told “we were unable to act on this, because of X reason” would feel better than the status quo, where complaints seem to disappear into a bottomless pit.

2. Stop fare evasion with better faregates

Stopping fare evasion saves money for transit systems, but it also makes them safer. WMATA CEO Randy Clarke attributes reduction in overall D.C. transit crime to enforcement of fare evasion, noting that “not everyone who fare-evades commits crimes, but almost universally, everyone who commits serious crimes fare-evades.” Deterring fare evasion directly keeps bad actors out of the system. And when offenders are caught, it provides an opportunity to check them for outstanding warrants or weapons.⁶

WMATA ramped up enforcement actions to catch fare dodgers. It also rolled out taller faregates that made it much harder to beat a fare. And because the goal is to punish rulebreakers, rather than low-income riders, WMATA also paired these improvements with a new, easily-accessed reduced-fare program.

As a result, WMATA fare evasion went down by 82 percent, which more than covered the cost of the new gates. Crime declined and ridership increased. WMATA isn’t the only system that’s seen these benefits. When Bay Area Rapid Transit rolled out new faregates, the system reported millions of dollars in additional revenue, and also saw a dramatic decline in vandalism. That meant a massive decline in required maintenance.

The CTA doesn’t even appear to have studied this problem.⁷ And while the agency has made improvements to some of the system’s ADA accessible gates, the turnstiles used through most of the system are easily stepped over or pushed past. Secure faregates paired with credible enforcement is a no-brainer. It’s also one of the only transit policies that pays for itself.

3. Employ specialists to intervene with riders in active crisis or distress

It is not the job of a transit agency to manage behavioral health. People engaging in extreme behaviors such as screaming, self-harm, exposing themselves, and expelling bodily fluids need to be removed from trains and buses. And it is neither realistic nor fair to expect train drivers, gate attendants, ambassadors, or even police to serve as social workers and paramedics at the same time.

WMATA addressed this problem by creating a new category of employee, a “crisis intervention specialist“, to serve as first responders for these types of incidents. Crisis intervention specialists are trained in deescalation and working with mental health issues (you can see the job requirements here), emphasizing a “gentle approach” that complements the presence of police, who accompany specialists for safety.

Other transit agencies, such as the MTA of New York City, have developed their own crisis intervention programs. As I write this, the CTA is soliciting and reviewing proposals for something similar. But whatever form the program takes, we should not settle for another “let’s make the smoke less harmful” solution. This has to be coupled with enforcement, for the safety of the specialists and the riders themselves. People in crisis need to be taken off of trains and buses and to the help they need.

Towards a better CTA experience

We can’t get to felt safety, much less comfort and ease, without effective enforcement. Acting CTA President Nora Leerhsen has a lot going for her over her predecessor, but her seeming inability to discuss the issue of enforcement has me concerned. Mayor Brandon Johnson notably refused to comment for a recent Sun-Times article on how he’d like security on transit to change. Saturating the system with officers, security guards, and ambassadors without clear enforcement strategy is a recipe for more personnel sitting on their hands or looking the other way rather than engaging with problems or rulebreakers.

WMATA CEO Randy Clarke emphasizes that the success of his safety plan lay in its multifaceted nature. Ultimately, it took WMATA years of comprehensive safety planning and implementation to recover so much of their ridership, and the same will be the case for us. So let’s not waste time avoiding solutions that have been proven to work just because they are difficult.

We have plenty of cause for optimism: crime is down nationwide, we have a billion dollars in new funding, and a major systemwide reform plan is underway. Now, we need to deliver a system that is, and feels safe to ride.

¹ It is related to but not quite the same as perceived safety. One can perceive that a situation is unsafe but not feel it – think of someone with extensive training responding cooly to a bad situation, i.e. a fighter jet pilot seeing evidence of a mechanical problem in their aircraft and methodically addressing it. The important distinction here is that a lack of felt safety triggers a physiological stress response.

² She has nicknamed tunnel transfer tunnel between the Jackson red and blue line stops “the piss tunnel” for its ever-present smell.

³ Literally – “Sometimes I don’t feel safe at night” reported an anonymous rider of the 82 bus.

⁴ Though if you’re interested, there’s a very user-friendly overview located here: https://www.wmata.com/rider-guide/safety/

⁵ It’s also worth noting what happens when agencies *stop* enforcing the rules. When New York stopped kicking people out of subway stations in February due to the snowstorm, transit crime jumped 18.5%. That doesn’t mean New York should’ve kicked people out into snowbanks, but it underscores the very strong link we know exists between rule enforcement and safety.

⁶ When New York started cracking down on fare evasion in the early 1990s, one in six people caught had an active warrant out for their arrest.

⁷ Notably, the MTA issues quarterly data on fare evasion for both buses and trains.

On November 12, SBC launched our 2026 fund drive to raise $50K through ad sales and donations. That will complete next year’s budget, at a time when it’s tough to find grant money. Big thanks to all the readers who have chipped in so far to help keep this site rolling all next year! Currently, we’re at $23,352 with $26,648 to go, ideally by the end of March.

If you value our livable streets reporting and advocacy, please consider making a tax-exempt gift here. If you can afford a contribution of $100 or more, think of that as a subscription. That will help keep the site paywall-free for people on tighter budgets, as well as decision-makers. Thanks for your support!

– John Greenfield, editor

The post Riders deserve to feel safe on the CTA: Steps to a safer transit system appeared first on Streetsblog Chicago.

• Anti-Archer rally promoter Juan Rangel, who left UNO Charters after alleged financial misconduct, rails against “the chaotic reign… of Johnson” (Tribune)

• Driver, 53, cited after striking woman, 65, and child, 5, crossing street, seriously injuring the senior, Sunday around 1:15 PM near Illinois/McClurg (ABC)

• CPD: Argument led to shooting of 2 men, causing serious injuries, arrest of 3 men, Sunday around 12:54 AM at 79th Red Line station in Chatham (ABC)

• CPD released images of suspect in robbery and attempted robbery after 7 AM near Cermak-Chinatown and 47th Street stops (CBS)

• “Stuck train horn [near Chicago/California] disrupts West Side residents’ sleep overnight, Metra says” (CBS)

• “$100 million Touhy Avenue improvement project breaks ground in Des Plaines,” reportedly including plans for bike-ped upgrades (Tribune)

• “Ald. Manaa-Hoppenworth gave DPD the green light to move forward with landmarking with the Bryn Mawr Historic District”

• “Chicago sees the ‘missing middle’ as sweet spot for addressing the city’s housing shortage, repopulating neighborhoods” (Crain’s)

• “As Morgan Shoal Overhaul Plan Moves Forward, Neighbors Can Still Weigh In On Army Corps Plans” (Block Club)

• “City of Elmhurst Named a Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists”

• “Chicago-area woman organizes annual International Women’s Day bike ride for solidarity” (WBBM)

On November 12, SBC launched our 2026 fund drive to raise $50K through ad sales and donations. That will complete next year’s budget, at a time when it’s tough to find grant money. Big thanks to all the readers who have chipped in so far to help keep this site rolling all next year! Currently, we’re at $23,352 with $26,648 to go, ideally by the end of March.

If you value our livable streets reporting and advocacy, please consider making a tax-exempt gift here. If you can afford a contribution of $100 or more, think of that as a subscription. That will help keep the site paywall-free for people on tighter budgets, as well as decision-makers. Thanks for your support!

– John Greenfield, editor

The post Today’s Headlines for Monday, March 9 appeared first on Streetsblog Chicago.