Metra gets an earful from aldermen
Chicago aldermen on Monday laid the groundwork for Metra to get $850,000 in tax-increment-financing funds to engineer improvements to seven grade crossings in Fulton Market, but not before giving the commuter rail agency an earful about neighborhood neglect.
During a Finance Committee meeting, a parade of aldermen demanded to know why Metra is talking about upgrading the seven crossings — and building a new Fulton Market Station — on the Near West Side while property owned by Metra outside the Central Business District is in such sorry shape.
“I’m glad to see you’re making an investment near downtown. But I’m not gonna support this with a `yes’ vote until I see Metra do better in my own neighborhood,” said Budget Committee Chairman Pat Dowell (3rd).
Ald. Susan Sadlowski-Garza (10th) said the Metra stations in her Far Southeast Side ward “look like crap,” forcing her staff to pick up the garbage and whack the weeds.
“We have these beautiful, shiny things on the North Side. And on the South Side, we can’t even get them to clean up the trash. … The 87th Street Metra station … is a pig pen,” as is the 93rd Street station, Sadlowski-Garza said.
Read full article on the Chicago Sun Times website.
