CTA Mismanaged

[Busjack]

I was eventually going to start this thread based on the story on the home page, but since others gave me the opportunity, here goes:

They are playing political games with the citizens of chicago that deserve better transit than their getting. Shame on the CTA. I also noticed when Terry spoke, eyes began to roll, i guess there is bad blood out there for him big time. This meeting was like a thanksgiving fest gone all the way bad or as someone stated, a bad sunday church service

What you don't realize is that transit in Chicago is not run by transit professionals, but by politicians. Forrest Claypool was a Cook County Commissioner who twice tried to win Board Presidency and lost.

At least CurrentZ realizes what I have been saying for about 10 years. Certain consequences happen when Daley, and even more so, Emanuel disregard the statutory qualifications for members of the CTA Board and Executive Director, and appoint only political hacks.

As art points out, all Claypool proved to be was an unsuccessful foil to Stroger and Berrios. The Tribune loves him for that, but that doesn't prove much. And even Hilkevitch has wised up. Terry Peterson was one of Daley's convenient operatives who formerly was the face of the Chicago Housing Authority, the main thing that it achieved being tearing down the high rises and moving the gang problem to outlying residential areas.

I got sort of a laugh out of Kevin's posting on the home page:

A future article will discuss how Claypool intends to "right the financial ship" of the "mismanaged" transit agency.

I'll wait for what Kevin has to say, but especially with what Claypool has said up to now about blaming the deficit on work rules instead of the Quinn borrowing scheme, and saying that it is cured through smoke and mirrors (like CTA doesn't have to give a pay raise, forgetting that an arbitrator probably will award a retroactive one) shows that he has less of a clue than Dilbert's pointy headed boss.*

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*Today's is as in point as any.:lol:

[sw4400]

(like CTA doesn't have to give a pay raise, forgetting that an arbitrator probably will award a retroactive one) shows that he has less of a clue than Dilbert's pointy headed boss.*

No company wants to give you a pay raise these days... I had to wait two years for my raise and retroactive pay(one lump sum check) while the Union and Jewel took about two years to negotiate a new contract. All we got was a lousy 25-cent increase in pay. But it got close and heated enough that our union sent out strike authorization ballots to the members in the event of total breakdown of contract talks, which intermittently occured.

[Busjack]

No company wants to give you a pay raise these days...

The difference is that I don't think that Jewel has in its contracts that if they don't come to a new contract, it goes to arbitration. That has been a tradition in the transit industry even back to the streetcar days, and is reinforced by the state Public Labor Relations Act.

Of course, despite what Huberman said, CTA employees may legally strike under that Act. Police, fire, and paramedics can't strike, but must take any new contract to arbitration in the absence of an agreement. What might have turned out to be the biggest screw job (and maybe 5750 can better speak to that) was the report that the union was holding out for arbitration when Daley offered them 3%, and the arbitrator only gave them 2%.

Also, Jewel has other problems in its cost structure, but since SuperValu is in private enterprise, I'll leave them to deal with that. On the other hand, in the CTA's case, either they straighten out their mismanagement, or as past history shows, either the taxpayers pay or service gets cut

And, my only relevant point was that Claypool is a fool if he thinks he can balance a budget by holding out in contract negotiations, when the arbitrator will undoubtedly award retroactive pay. And you confirmed that you got retroactive pay.

[Busjack]

I'll wait for what Kevin has to say, but especially with what Claypool has said up to now about blaming the deficit on work rules instead of the Quinn borrowing scheme, and saying that it is cured through smoke and mirrors (like CTA doesn't have to give a pay raise, forgetting that an arbitrator probably will award a retroactive one) shows that he has less of a clue than Dilbert's pointy headed boss.*

_____

*Today's is as in point as any.

Well I have read the second installment, and to put it bluntly, it was basically what I expected.

Basically, it is the same old "we sure hope the Republicans don't keep holding up the transportation bill." without a real path for getting the money. He also seems clueless to the past: Neither the Pink nor the Brown Line projects were other than "overhaul[ing] existing infrastructure," but they were funded as New Starts. And, at least they got built, as opposed to the indication that it probably would take 3 more transportation bills to get the Red Line 130th extension through all the consultancy stages left, as we discussed yesterday in connection with the "unfunded" project for the 95th St. terminal.

Then there was the predicted garbage about the deficit was due to the work rules, not the Quinn bailout ending, even though the budget about said that.

Then he hemmed and hawed about 74th St., indicating that he was only looking for proposals, instead of intending to follow through on one. I suggested about 8 years ago that what the CTA Board should do is fire all the management and bring in a contractor, such as what was done in Las Vegas or Phoenix. That includes replacing Claypool, too. Maybe CTA has the guts to get rid of 3 garage supervisors, but not the vast number of political hacks--including Claypool.

[jajuan]

One detail that caught my eye as far as the home page story goes is reference of Red Line extension going to 115th rather than 130th. Did that mean CTA is scaling back the extension or planning on doing it in two separate parts?

[Kevin]

One detail that caught my eye as far as the home page story goes is reference of Red Line extension going to 115th rather than 130th. Did that mean CTA is scaling back the extension or planning on doing it in two separate parts?

That was a typo. Sorry about that.

[Busjack]

Tribune editorial today that Claypool hired two questionable Stroger aides for higher up positions at the CTA.

Now, I thought that the big deal in the county election about 8 years ago was that Claypool was the competent alternative to the Strogers.

But now, besides not having the qualifications to run CTA, Claypool is hiring people in his "enemy's" camp, regardless of a conclusion whether he is engaged in corrupt patronage like any other politician around here.

The editors then mention the Metra mess, but don't seem to come to the explicit conclusion that CTA and Claypool aren't any better.

[rotjohns]

I haven't been in Chicago long enough to know the past CTA Chairmen. I only go back as far as Huberman with Mosley-Brown as his right hand girl. But no one that I've seen to this point have been too good as far as handling the CTA over the last 10 years at least. And the mayors Daley and Rahm are the ones selecting them. Has there ever been a Chairperson from outside of Chicago? It's the case for Police and Schools, although that isn't saying a lot either.

[Busjack]

I haven't been in Chicago long enough to know the past CTA Chairmen. I only go back as far as Huberman with Mosley-Brown as his right hand girl. But no one that I've seen to this point have been too good as far as handling the CTA over the last 10 years at least. And the mayors Daley and Rahm are the ones selecting them. Has there ever been a Chairperson from outside of Chicago? It's the case for Police and Schools, although that isn't saying a lot either.

People, like King Richard I Daley respected the statutory guidelines enough to appoint a CTA board of competent business persons and let the board appoint an Executive Director with transit experience.

Some of the books mention Ernie Banks on the board, but he also was a car dealer, and thus qualified.

Executive Directors, such as Krambles, came from within but were qualified. After King Richard II took over, Alfred Savage was appointed as CTA President, but he led transit agencies in Toronto and Buffalo. Since your question was from outside of Chicago, he is the last one who qualifies.*

The string of political hacks under the Daley Administration starts with Robert Belcaster, who was forced out when it was revealed that he was speculating in Ballard stock while CTA was testing its fuel cell bus.

I think you also have Carol Moseley Braun (the former U.S. Senator) confused with Carole Brown, the former employee of Lehman Brothers, former CTA chairperson, and current member of the Task Force.

Even during the time of Carole Brown, with George Ryan making appointments to the CTA Board, the appointees were qualified and actually thought they had some duty as board members to set policy. However, Carole Brown obviously was acting under some political influence, as she took up blogging to spread Kruesi's "tax hike or Doomsday" message, and to say that she was satisfied with Kruesi. Then she said she was "delighted" that Daley suggested Huberman, but never said that Daley appointed him. She also distanced herself from endorsing Daley's pet project of the Airport Express.

The total breakdown of the CTA board was a result of (1) Blago appointing his assistant, Sheila Nix, solely for the purpose of protecting free rides, and (2) Daley and Quinn appointing board members that did not meet statutory qualifications, nor seem to understand the duties of board members of any organization.

However, the delusion that CTA is the sole domain of Emanuel and Claypool is his puppet is exclusively Emanuel's.

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*I think you confused Chairperson with Executive Director, since members of the CTA Board must be residents of the statutory bounds of that municipal corporation, which is Cook County east of 12000 West.

[strictures]

Some of the books mention Ernie Banks on the board, but he also was a car dealer, and thus qualified.

Banks wasn't a real car dealer, he just licensed his name.

He was appointed by Gov. Ogilvie, but he almost never showed up for board meetings & finally resigned after the newspapers made a stink about it.

[rotjohns]

Thanks Busjack for the Brown clarification. I also realized that I was here when Frank Kruesi was running CTA. I know he was there for a long time, was he the longest tenured?

[Busjack]

Thanks Busjack for the Brown clarification. I also realized that I was here when Frank Kruesi was running CTA. I know he was there for a long time, was he the longest tenured?

Kruesi was about 9 years (and I wonder what he had on Daley, to stay that long, since the CTA Tattler said that there were 6 designated by Daley).

However, Krambles's book (page 10) says that McCarter was 17, O'Connor was 9 (those were the first two). After that it was 2 or 3 years.

The all time short one was Mosena, who apparently was brought in after the Belcaster mess just to implement the Booz-Allen cuts, then suddenly got a job running the Museum of Science and Industry, leading to Kruesi.

The short tenures of Huberman and Rodriguez were basically because near the end, Daley was just shuffling the deck to fill the holes in many city and "sister" agencies. For instance, no way was Huberman competent to be schools superintendent, but Arne Duncan became Secretary of Education.

[andrethebusman]

You got that right... Things started going downhill the day the position was renamed from "General manager" to "President". Until Belcaster, the GM was still basically in charge of running the place, and as such had to have some idea what he was running. Alf Savage, as a case in point, was probably not the greatest at running the place, but at least he realized what he was running and behaved accordingly. Even Dr Paaswell, the "transportation theoretician" who had a very short tenure and ended up at UIC if I remember, teaching others how to run a transit system, at least recognized it was a transit system. The more recent types, I have to really wonder. Krusei for instance was a really odd case. Started out not understanding anything, developed at least a sense of trying to help the "customers", but he went whole hog to mess with the employees. He is still reviled at the operating level to this day. As far as Claypool is concerned, at least he has not messed around with the day to day operations too much. Day-to-day decisions are now made mostly at what would have been considered second-tier level, such as by Superintendents of Shops, Schedules, etc with very little micromanagement from Claypool. Personally I can't see this situation changing unless there is a major change in the local political order, and a "general manager" operating position is set up and "president" becomes a purely political-liaison position, which it almost has become already.

[Busjack]

You got that right... Things started going downhill the day the position was renamed from "General manager" to "President".

....As far as Claypool is concerned, at least he has not messed around with the day to day operations too much. Day-to-day decisions are now made mostly at what would have been considered second-tier level, such as by Superintendents of Shops, Schedules, etc with very little micromanagement from Claypool. ...

The first gives rise to the inference that the reason they changed it to "President" was to avoid the qualifications in Section 27 of the MTA Act regarding the "Executive Director."

On the latter, Claypool probably doesn't have the qualifications for micromanaging, but it similarly appears, from the Lincoln Avenue bus incident that he is apparently implementing stuff by putting the collar on others (in that case the Northwestern University Transportation Center), not listening to anyone (and apparently not even attending Board meetings) and essentially saying "if you don't like it, elect someone else for mayor."

I'm also not sure when the Board decided that it was a mindless rubber stamp, but there is no doubt that it is one now.

[Busjack]

This reference seems to go here:

At the bottom of a Hilkevitch column about general grousing about the state budget, there was an item that Rauner appointed two of the three governor's appointees to the CT Board. For a change, both appear to meet the statutory requirement that "Members of the Board shall be residents of the metropolitan area and persons of
recognized business ability" (70 ILCS 3605/19). Let's see if that shakes things up.

[andrethebusman]

McCarter and O'Connor were career employees of CTA and previously ran Cleveland Transit System in the case of McCarter. These were guys who knew the system backwards and forwards, and while they did indeed "micromanage", they knew what they were doing, and in fact it was their job to make decisions about day-to-day operations. They were not serving at the whim of politicians, but were assumed to be there until they would retire. The current crop are "professional managers", whose every job since leaving college has been to run something, first something small, then something bigger, then bigger again, without knowing anything at all about what they are running, and when they screw up and the politicians need a goat, they move on (usually get promoted after a fashion). McCarter made the actual decisions about route changes and streetcar conversions. Claypool doesn't have a clue where the buses run. Second tier (and garage level) management is now running the place day to day. For instance, there have been several albeit relatively minor route changes in recent years that are totally undocumented, as they were initiated at the garage level, and very possibly downtown didn't even find out about them for years. Case in point - routing the Ashland bus NB thru the Orange Line station terminal. Nobody knows when that happened. 74th Garage just did it one day and never told anybody higher up. Eventually 567 found out, thought it was a great idea and made it permanent, but it was somewhere between several months and almost a year later. This would never have happened when there were real General Managers. Garage Superintendent would have had to get prior OK. Now, why bother 567 with trivia?

[strictures]

Here's a bit of mismanagement that's been going on for years.

SB Red Line trains are stopped at both Belmont & Fullerton so that SB Brown Line trains can catch up & people can transfer. This, despite the fact that the Red Line is the backbone of the system & carries almost 45% of the people riding the rails.

And another one: The Howard Tower will let two SB Red Line trains block both SB tracks there, thus making it impossible for SB Purple & Yellow trains to flip back & go North. Why? No one knows, but it's such a regular occurrence, it makes riding North from Howard an extra long trip for no discernible reason.

[jajuan]

Here's a bit of mismanagement that's been going on for years.

SB Red Line trains are stopped at both Belmont & Fullerton so that SB Brown Line trains can catch up & people can transfer. This, despite the fact that the Red Line is the backbone of the system & carries almost 45% of the people riding the rails.

And another one: The Howard Tower will let two SB Red Line trains block both SB tracks there, thus making it impossible for SB Purple & Yellow trains to flip back & go North. Why? No one knows, but it's such a regular occurrence, it makes riding North from Howard an extra long trip for no discernible reason.

Yeah those are head scratchers. But NB Red Line trains do this also as well as Brown and Purple Line Express trains doing the wait to catch up move for Red Line trains as well if they got to Fullerton or Belmont first instead of the Red Line trains.