Illinois

[Hungary Jack]

I do ride the CTA and have few complaints about it.

Did they ever fix the "slow zones"? Reading the brochure explaining why we would need to travel at 20 mph after being diverted to bus, I got the impression that they let the tracks fall apart, but instead of fixing them just decided to drive slow over the bad spots.

The slow zones are due to bad ties in the railbed. Some of it is due to natural wear and tear, but recent problems are due to the CTA having bought a bunch of defective ties that lasted half their expected lifetime.

The CTA in recent years has not been able to balance its operating budget, let alone finance major capital projects. So vital maintenance and repair work has been postponed. There has been some new capital funding lately, and repair work is being done to eliminate slow zones. The CTA also embarked on a major expansion of station capacity on the Brown line (my line) which will enable it to run longer trains (8 cars vs. 6) to carry more passengers into the Loop.

Still, estimates suggest that the CTA needs $5-6 billion in capital investment. The state passed a tax plan (county sales tax went up 1%) to fund the RTA (CTA parent) operating budget, but the capital issues remain. I wonder if Mayor Daley thinks winning the Olympics will force the federal or state government into underwriting some bond issue to deal with all the capital issues.

[G. Keenan]

I hope rising gas prices will increase ridership and help the budget a bit.

Still, for a system that is much maligned it works pretty dang well. One of the things I love about it is how late it operates. The Red Line runs 24 hours and the others run until 3 AM or so.

The Tube in London stops running at like 12:30 AM. That's ridiculous.

[cardinalkarp]

I hope rising gas prices will increase ridership and help the budget a bit.

Still, for a system that is much maligned it works pretty dang well. One of the things I love about it is how late it operates. The Red Line runs 24 hours and the others run until 3 AM or so.

The Tube in London stops running at like 12:30 AM. That's ridiculous.

I think the Metrolink in STL stops even earlier than that but it probably has something to do w/ the fact that not many people ride it.

[Sutter'sBeard]

The most dysfunctional and corrupt money grabbing God forsaken state in the union.

Yesterday we get a bill for missed tolls, something like 10 or so going back to June of 2007. Apparently the fine folks in Springfield couldn't get the computer system up an running and everything got backlogged. Once they finally got the system running it puked out gobs of "missed" tolls, although I'm certain that some of our were not missed at all.

The amount of missed tolls added up to like $12, but they tack on a $20 fine per missed toll. Total bill: $283. After spending over an hour trying to get through on the phone we were finally able to get them to just take it out of our IPASS account, but for about an hour I wanted to go down to Springfield and punch some cartoon faced governor right in the nose.

The kicker is that we have the I-PASS card, but somehow they didn't register it with the other vehicle. Sporadically for whatever reason the cards do not register, and everytime we had this happen in our car that they did not have registered it silently recorded it and collected them for over one year.

I am so sick of this state, I had to jump through hoops to get my fishing license printing out through the crappy Illinois DNR website. Never again will I use that (Wisconsin DNR site by contrast is as slick as a whistle and have used it several years without a hitch).

Here at work, we have had to go through these involuntary unpaid weeks off for which we are eligible for unemployment. You ought to see that joke of a system, they sent a rep out to our place to explain how it worked and he was the rudest person I have ever met in my life. Not only that, he gave us a ton of wrong information and half the people I work with now have claims in the system that have errored out.

For how many years now have I been driving on I90 from Madison to Illinois. Perfect roads, no problems. Then, "Welcome to Illinois" and barrells and tractors and piles of gravel and lane closures. Everything except one key ingredient: WORKERS! I don't know that I've ever seen anyone actually working on those roads. And to add injury to insult, you throw all of your loose change in a basket which causes a huge backup and traffic jam for the privelege of entering this abomination of a state. Or, take your chances through the automated system only to be handed a bill for $20 per trip through almost a full year later.

And, no trout.

I gotta get out of here.



I hate Illinois with a passion.

Your just mad at Illinois because Wisconsin women are plump and you have those little itty bitty trout . Many also have mustaches . Not the trout, but the women. Illinois would dominate in a cage match.

[Hungary Jack]

Since Pat Quinn and his crony capitalist Democrat cohorts jacked up the state's personal income tax and corporate tax rates, the state has been losing jobs and residents to nearby states with less onerous tax regimes and more sane fiscal practices.

Now the state legislature is scrambling to retain big employers like Sears and the Merc with special tax packages. What is the point of passing a tax law if you are going to pick it apart with exemptions and special favors to special interests?

The Dems in this state are so [expletive] clueless and Republicans are just blithering ineffectual idiots. God save Illinois.

[Cronos]

God save Illinois.

I have my doubts even he could save it.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

To be fair, the Sears/CME thing wasn't really a result of anything the current legislature did.

[stlouie_lipp]

Good for us.

Illinois has been given the lowest credit rating of any state in America by Moody's Investors Service.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi- ... 5781.story

[sighyoung]

Good for us.

Illinois has been given the lowest credit rating of any state in America by Moody's Investors Service.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi- ... 5781.story

I thought this quote was touching.

Gov. Pat Quinn's office said it was "encouraged" that two of the three agencies decided not to lower the Illinois rating.

[Freed Roger]

Since Pat Quinn and his crony capitalist Democrat cohorts jacked up the state's personal income tax and corporate tax rates, the state has been losing jobs and residents to nearby states with less onerous tax regimes and more sane fiscal practices.

Well, the jobs aren't heading North into Koch's/Walker Whore-Land Wisconsin. They lead the nation in job losses.

Illinois is [expletive] up. But at least you don't have these phony "balance the budget" carpetbagger criminals (Several of Walker's aides have been arrested, charges of "child enticement" and stealing from veteran's groups, to other [expletive].

Meanwhile they divide the state (civil war) and follow the Rick Perry model of gutting public education and health care. Basically, aiming to destroy the way of life (good education, community cooperation, etc) in that state, for the sake of tea party power grab.

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/g ... 963f4.html

Wisconsin's economic engine is proving a stubborn one to jump-start, with the state's 14,600 jobs lost in November the highest number nationally, according to an analysis of preliminary federal unemployment data released Tuesday.
"The monthly figures were used by the governor to boast at a press conference in June when they showed gains, primarily in tourism, before his budget passed," said Barca, D-Kenosha. "Since that plan took effect in July, the numbers have fallen every month."