Other than a handful of state employees, highway workers,
Medicaid vendors, commercial truck owners and poor people, almost nobody out
there in Voter Land has really paid much attention to the state's budget
problems.
Sure, they know the troubles exist, but it's mostly an
abstract concept. The vast majority have very few direct contacts with state
government, and those few state services haven't been noticeably curtailed yet.
Their roads are still passable, their driver's licenses are still up to date,
vast numbers of senior citizens aren't getting tossed out of nursing homes,
their schools, while obviously struggling, are still open.
This lack of regular contact with state government is a
big reason why I figured that Governor Rod Blagojevich could almost guarantee
his re-election (barring any high-level indictments) by keeping his "no
general tax hike" pledge. If a traffic light fails, people blame their
local government, even though state funding for a repair hasn't arrived as
promised. If a school budget runs into the red and forces a tax hike, they
blame the school board, even though they may know in the back of their minds
that the state may not be holding up its end. Etc., etc.
However, the Chicago Transit Authority's latest fiscal
crisis is connecting millions of people in Chicago and Cook County with the
state's budget problems in a very real way, and they're starting to take
notice.
The CTA provides about 400 million total rides a year on
its vast network of trains and buses. About a third of its riders don't have
their own cars, and even if they do have private transportation not many
regular CTA commuters are capable or willing to fork over the $20 to $30 a day
it costs to park downtown these days. To top it all off, cab fares are about to
go up 12 percent.
This month, the CTA threatened massive service rollbacks
to deal with a $55 million deficit, and, in the process, set off a media
firestorm in the metro region. The worst cuts were the elimination of express
bus service to areas far from the Loop, which will force thousands of commuters
to ride buses that stop every block or so for miles on end. Lengthening times
between trains during rush hour will also be a problem because the delays will
most likely create jam-packed stations and compartments. Regular riders are
left to wonder how they'll possibly cope with the new and unwanted stressful
change in their lives.
Downstate and suburban legislators don't always fully
appreciate the value of the city's public transportation network. Imagine, for
a moment, it was suddenly announced that the government could no long afford to
maintain all the roads in your area and some streets would have to be closed
and some important main arteries would be narrowed to just one or two lanes.
Sure, you could get around the problem and find a way to make the best of the
situation, but you wouldn't be happy at all - especially if a mouthy Chicago
legislator was quoted in the local paper saying your town should just start
charging people to use the streets and they'd be reopened.
As always in situations like this, the question everyone
asks is, "Who do we blame for this mess?" Luckily for the CTA and
Mayor Daley, who really should share a large burden for this situation, the
fickle finger of fate is not pointing at a handy local figure, but directly at
Governor Blagojevich.
It was the governor who promised to bail out the CTA in February
by charging a new sales tax on computer software. That interjection by the
governor essentially put all the responsibility for coming up with a solution
on his shoulders. So far, he's not having a whole lot of luck, but if he
doesn't come through with the money - software tax or no software tax - he'll
wind up wearing the CTA's tattered jacket.
This one issue won't make or break the governor's
re-election chances. But it has finally provided us with a major contact point
between a large swath of the general public and the state budget, and that
means solving the problem has become somewhat more important than most of the
other (far more expensive) budget crises. And, this time, the guv won't be able
to pass the blame off on someone else if he can't follow through. In local
politics, unlike the statewide level, if you promise to fix something you're
expected to actually fix it.
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Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political
newsletter. He can be reached at capitolfax.blogspot.com.