LVEJO - Public Transit (C.T.A.) Events Page

The Chicago Transit Authority will hold three job fairs to recruit applicants interested in joining the agency as part-time bus operators. CTA is planning to fill more than 400 part-time bus operator positions this year.

Eligible applicants should have strong customer service skills. Applicants must also pass all other required testing in order to be eligible for hire.

In order to apply, all applicants must have a current Illinois Class “B” Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) or permit with the necessary three endorsements: knowledge, passenger and air brakes. The permit must be valid throughout the hiring and training process. CDL permits can be obtained by passing a written exam through the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office. The fee for a CDL permit is $50.

In addition, applicants must obtain a two-page court purposes driving abstract from the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office. Abstracts may be purchased from the Secretary of State’s Office for a $12 fee. Applicants must also provide proof that they are at least 21 years of age.

For those applicants that are hired as part-time bus operators between April 1 and July 1, 2008, and successfully complete 90 days of continuous employment, CTA will reimburse one $50 testing fee and one $12 court-purposes driving abstract fee for first-time Class “B” CDL permit holders with the proper endorsement.

Starting pay for this position is $17.46 per hour with the potential to increase to $26.86 per hour.

Job fair attendees will have the opportunity to speak with CTA Human Resources personnel about the position and the benefits package available to part-time bus operators. Interested applicants also can apply online at the CTA web site at www.transitchicago.com.

RESIST TRANSIT DOOMSDAY
Say NO to the Nov 4 fare hikes, service cuts, and layoffs on CTA & Pace.
Help organize to Stop the Jan 2008 Service Cuts!

How can the CTA, and the Mayor continue to waste millions on the Pink Line, and talk about the 2016 Olympics
as they attack workers with layoffs and riders with higher fares this week? How can the State let Chicago transit collapse under mismanagement and underfunding?

Contact LVEJO to help organize a riders’ union to get safe, on time, affordable transit for all.
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Download Flyers for: RESIST TRANSIT DOOMSDAY

¡Alto a los Cortes de Servicio y Pases de Paratransporte!
¡Alto a los Aumentos! ¡No a los Despidos! ¡Que abran las Cuentas! ¡No de nuestros bolsillos!

¿Cómo puede la CTA y alcalde malgastar tantos millones en la Línea Rosa y hablar de las Olimpiadas de 2016, cuando ahora mismo atacan a trabajadores con despidos y a pasajeros con aumentos de precio? ¿Cómo puede permitir el Estado el desplome del transporte de Chicago can mala gestión y falta de fondos? Contacte a LVEJO para ayudar a organizar a una union de pasajeros para conseguir transporte seguro, a la hora y económico para todos.

Union Workers & the Riding Public Rally for Transit
We demand our right to work with dignity!
Public transportation for all!
Download Flyer in English and Spanish: RDA_o29_rallyflier_bilingual_102507 (half flyer)

On October 29, Congressman Dan Lipinski and Mayor Daley will meet to plan the 2016 Olympics while the Chicago regional transit and paratransit systems collapses in 2007. We will rally in response to this meeting to say that GETTING PEOPLE TO WORK SAFELY, ON TIME & AFFORDABLY is more urgent than the Olympics.

Rally Cosponsors: Rider Driver Alliance, Sustainable Chicago 2016, ATU Local 1028, Chicago Jobs With Justice, Citizens Taking Action, Committee For A Better Chicago, Concerned Citizens of Paratransit, Independent Movement of Paratransit Riders for Unity Vehicles, & Equality (IMPRUVE), Little Village Environmental Justice Organization.

Contact: 773-762-6991, publictransit@lvejo.org / Paratransit: 773-416-7366, 773-779-1856

Trabajadores y Pasajeros Manifestamos para el Transporte
¡Demandamos nuestro derecho al trabajo con dignidad!
¡Transporte público para todos!

Manifestación - Federal Plaza
219 S Dearborn - Monday, Oct 29 th, 11am

El 29 de octubre, el Congresista Dan Lipinski y el alcalde Daley se van a juntar para hablar de los juegos olímpicos mientras los sistemas del transporte público y de paratransporte se derrumban. Nosotros manifestamos a decir que LLEVAR A LAS PERSONAS AL TRABAJO SEGURO, A LA HORA, & ECONOMICAMENTE es más importante que las Olimpiadas.

Co-patrocinadores: Alianza de Pasajeros y Operadores, Chicago Sostenible 2016, ATU Local 1028, Chicago Trabajos Con Justicia, Citizens Taking Action, Committee For A Better Chicago, Concerned Citizens of Paratransit, Independent Movement of Paratransit Riders for Unity Vehicles, & Equality (IMPRUVE), la Organización de Justicia Ambiental de la Villita

Contacto: 773-762-6991, publictransit@lvejo.org / Paratransporte: 773-416-7366, 773-779-1856

This July marks the 130th Anniversary of the Great Uprising of 1877. This was a massive and bloody nationwide railroad strike. Thursday, July 26, 1877 was the Battle of the Viaduct in Chicago. 10,000 immigrant workers fought for their rights against the State, the railroad barons, and hired thugs. Over 30 workers were killed. Join LVEJO, transit workers and transit riders in a rally to remember railroad struggles of the past and discuss the future of transit.

Meet at Plaza Tenochtitlan, at 18th, Blue Island and Loomis. From here we will march to 16th and Halsted, the site of the Battle. 6:30 pm Rally & Vigil.

Bring signs and candles to light for the dead. There will be some speakers and an open mic to speak.

LVEJO and Partner Organizations coordinating and speaking
at Chicago Public Transit Conference:

LVEJO Public Transit Update #1
LVEJO Noticias de Tránsportes Públicos #1 (El español sigue abajo).

Contents

1. New Public Transit Organizer at LVEJO.
2. Pink Stinks! New Pink Line means Blue Line cuts.
3. CTA Board Meeting 6/14, 2pm.
4. New Public Transit Organizer at LVEJO.

Hello Public Transit Allies,

Michael Pitula here. I am the new Public Transit Organizer for Little Village Environmental Justice Organization. Currently at LVEJO, we are working with communities on the 54/Cermak Branch of the Blue Line to keep and improve our service. Our efforts have centered around keeping the 54/Cermak Blue Line, and resisting the CTA’s Pink Line and Circle Line plans. We are also interested in broader discussions and action to improve existing lines and extend rapid transit to underserved neighborhoods. We support extending the Red Line to 130th St. and building the MidCity Transitway.

2. Pink Stinks! New Pink Line means Blue Line cuts. On June 25 the CTA will begin a six month experiment cutting 54/Cermak Blue Line service from about 100 trains every day to just 17 trains each weekday. That’s just one Blue Line train every ½ hour between 5:30-9:30am and 2:25-6pm, Mon-Fri.

All other hours, 54/Cermak trains will run on the new Pink Line route. They’ll make stops from 54/Cermak to Polk, continue north to Lake St., stop at Ashland & Clinton Green Line stations, then operate clockwise, making stops around the Loop elevated, and back to Lake for westbound service to 54/Cerrmak. The Pink Line will mean many of us will need more transfers.

Cermak riders will get slower weekday service and lose Blue Line weekend service. The Pink Line will also cost the cash-strapped CTA $5 million a year to run that it doesn’t have. You know what that means – more service cuts and fare increases on the way! This is an injustice! Berwyn, Cicero, Little Village, North Lawndale, the Near West Side, and Pilsen fought hard to get a new Blue Line: Now the CTA wants to take it away from us! Join us to stop the Pink Line, and to restore Blue Line night service!

See the attached flyer for more info and please distribute widely!

3. CTA Board Meeting this Wednesday, 6/14, 2pm. LVEJO attends the CTA’s next board meeting this week. We will be testifying at this meeting and need riders’ and community members’ support. The CTA is our public service. We need to demand that the CTA include the riders in the decisions about our trains.

Greg Longhini
CTA Board Secretary
567 W. Lake Street, Chicago, IL. 60661-1498
Telephone: 312-681-5022, Fax: 312-681-5035 , Email: glonghini@transitchicago.com

Sincerely,
Michael Pitula
Public Transit Organizer
Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO)
2856 S. Millard Ave. Chicago, IL 60623
Phone: (773) 762-6991 Fax: (773) 762-6993 publictransit@lvejo.org

Contenido

1. Nuevo Coordinador de Tránsportes Públicos en LVEJO.
2. ¡No a la Rosa! Nueva Línea Rosa significa cortes a la Línea Azul.
3. Junta de la Mesa Directiva de la CTA, 14 de junio a las 2 de la tarde.

1. Nuevo Coordinador de Tránsito Público en LVEJO.

Hola aliados de los transportes públicos,

Me llamo Michael Pitula. Soy el nuevo coordinador de la Campaña de Transportes Públicos en la Organización de Justicia Ambiental de la Villita. Actualmente en LVEJO, estamos trabajando con las comunidades a lo largo de la ruta 54/Cermak de la Línea Azul para mantener y mejorar el servicio. Nuestros esfuerzos se enfocan en mantener la Línea Azul 54/Cermak y en resistir los planes Línea Rosa y Línea Circular de la CTA. Estamos interesados también en conversaciones y acción más amplias para mejorar las líneas existentes y extender los transportes rápidos a los barrios ignorados. Queremos extender la Línea Roja hasta la 130 y construir la Vía de Tránsito por Medio de la Ciudad (MidCity Transitway).

2. ¡No a la Rosa! La nueva Línea Rosa trae cortes a la Línea Azul. El 25 de junio la CTA va a cortar el servicio Línea Azul 54/Cermak, de 100 trenes cada día a sólo 16 trenes de lunes a viernes. Serán sólo un tren de la Línea Azul cada 1/2 hora de 5:30-9:30am y 2:25-6pm, días laborales. Todos las otras horas, trenes 54/Cermak seguirán la ruta Línea Rosa. Pararán en las estaciones entre 54/Cermak y Polo, continuará al norte a Lake St., parará en las estacines Ashland y Clinton de la Línea Verde, entonces opera en sentido del reloj, parandose en el elevado del Loop y de vuelta a Lake para servicio al oeste a 54/Cermak.

La Línea Rosada significará que nosotros tendremos que pagar más transferencias. Todos tendremos servicio más lento y perderemos el servicio fines de semana en la Línea Azul. Además la CTA está en crisis financiera pero la Línea Rosa le costará $5 millones por año que no tiene. Sabemos lo que significa eso – ¡más cortes de servicio y aumentos del precio del billete vienen pronto! ¡Esto es una injusticia! Las comunidades a lo largo de la Línea 54/Cermak luchamos duro para ganar una Azul nueva. Júntese con nosotros a parar la Línea Rosada y para restaurar el servicio de noche de la Línea Azul.

Véase el volante incluido para más información y favor de distribuir ampliamente.

3. Junta de la Mesa Directiva de la CTA, este miércoles, 14 de junio a las 2 de la tarde. LVEJO asiste a la próxima junta de la mesa directiva de la CTA. Vamos a testificar en esta junta y necesitamos que los usuarios y vecinos no apoyen. La CTA es nuestro servicio público. Necesitamos demander que la CTA incluya a nostoros los usuarios en las decisiones sobre nuestros trenes.

Greg Longhini
CTA Board Secretary
567 W. Lake Street, Chicago, IL. 60661-1498

Teléfono: 312-681-5022, Fax: 312-681-5035 , Email: glonghini@transitchicago.com

Sinceramente,
Michael Pitula

Organizador de Tránsito Público - La Organización de Justicia Ambiental de la Villita
2856 S. Millard Ave. - Chicago, Illinois 60623
Teléfono: 773-762-6991 - Fax: 773-762-6993
Email: publictransit@lvejo.org

The CTA's Violation of Our Civil Rights

LVEJO Youth and Staff protesting against CTA cuts and
rallying for an Audit of CTA books 2005

We believe the CTA's Silver/Circle Line Plan is misusing federal funds you secured. We consider the CTA's Plan to stop direct service to the Eisenhower stops, downtown subway, northwest side and O'Hare Field a direct civil rights violation.
Because most of the $482 million is federal funding, the CTA Board & its staff must pay attention to The United States Department of Transportation's (U.S.D.O.T.) final 1997 Environmental Justice Order. This Order was required under President Clinton's 1994 Environmental Justice Order requiring every cabinet level department to develop an environmental justice order and plan. The 1997 U.S.D.O.T. Order, still in effect, directs agencies to incorporate environmental justice into their activities. The Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration issued a joint memorandum in 1999 titled "Implementing Title VI Requirements in Metropolitan and Statewide Planning." In it, the administrators announced that compliance with the Title VI Civil Rights Law is required , and non-compliance would mean that all federal funding for the region could be withheld.

The Transportation Equity Act (TEA) says the communities should participate in planning for transportation. This did not happen with the decision to create the Silver Line, which is phase I of the Circle Line. It has not happened with the Circle Line, which will be the most costly public works project in Chicago since the building of the expressways and airports. Who will the Circle Line serve??

Further, based on the Monday, May 17th, 2004 U.S. Supreme Court Decision, the CTA's Plan will violate the ADA at the Polk St. station. Over 3,000 people every day use the Polk St. station as employees, patients and students of UIC, Stroger, Rush and the V.A. The station is ADA compliant because of its elevator. The Forest Park Blue Line Medical Center stop is not ADA compliant even though the CTA calls it "accessible".

It does not have an elevator. The only ramp the CTA calls accessible is the Damen Ave, entrance. The ramps are too steep and there is a post at the bottom of the ramp. If the disabled who use wheel chairs lose control going up or down they could be severely injured. There is only a CTA attendant Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Please join us in completing your important work to bring better public transportation to the residents of Chicago's southwest side and to those who live throughout the Chicago region who work and/or have families in our neighborhoods.

Next year is the 50th anniversary of the historic Montgomery Bus Boycott. If Rosa Parks came to O'Hare Field, Union Station or the Greyhound Bus Station in Chicago to make a historic visit to the area of North Lawndale where Martin Luther King stayed when he lived here, she would not be able to get there directly on the Douglas L train after 2004!

LVEJO Staff and Volunteers joined Campaign for Better Transit, Neighborhood Capital Budget Group and residents from all over Chicago to Demand Mayor Daley Not Hike up CTA Fares.

Our web page posted information stating that the CTA board approved $33 million to be taken from the $482 million Blue Line Project to rebuild the Paulina Connector as the first phase of the Circle Line Project.
That information was taken from a January 8th, 2003 CTA press release on their web site and the January, 2003 Metro Commuter newspaper which both had the same quote:
"Contracts for work on the Cermak (Douglas) branch Blue Line Reconstruction Project will be modified to include the $33.8 million cost of renovating the 'L' connector. The work of restoring the connector is substantially the same as that taking place on the Blue Line project, except that there are no stations on the connector, which would be an extension of the Cermak branch itself."
We called the CTA PR Dept. on Tuesday, 2/4/03 to verify that the above statement meant that the $33 million was indeed coming from the Blue Line Construction funds. We were told that is what it meant.
Today we got feedback from our email saying that the funds did not come out of the Blue Line's $482 million. However, no one could tell us where the funds were coming from.
So today we did further investigation by speaking with 6 different people from the CTA. The first 3 said they were not sure where the money was coming from. The next 2 said the money was not coming from the Blue line's $482 million, but from other capital funds which they could not identify.
Finally at 5 p.m. today we spoke with Paul Fish, head of CTA capital investment.
He was the only person of the 6 who could tell us where the $33 million came from:
This year's funds to buy new rail cars. The new rail car project has been delayed due to difficulties with the specifications and bids on the cars. He clarified that money cannot be taken from the Blue Line for other projects because of the way the agreement was drawn up.
We suggest that everyone reading this page consider if this is money well spent? Are there other CTA needs like rebuilding/building stations on the Green Line at Halsted, Damen, Western, etc. that were torn down and never put back or on any other items that we see every day when we take the train or bus? Who exactly is the Circle Line going to be serving? Were there any community public hearings on this decision?
We suggest you look at the Campaign for Better Transit Web site for some other ways the $33 million may be spent:
http://www.bettertransit.com/03recs.htm
We apologize for the incorrect information that we sent out yesterday regarding the CTA taking the funds from the Blue Line Project.

However, the second issue of service still remains.
The CTA says service will be improved to Pilsen, North Lawndale, Little Village and Cicero by rerouting trains over the Paulina connector to the Green Line. Although no exact rerouting plans have been made the above rerouting is how the CTA explains the need to rebuild the Paulina connector now. When asked how someone from our 4 communities would get to Whitney Young, UIC, the main post office, etc., the head of CTA planning said they would build a new station at the medical center where people could transfer down onto the Forest Park blue line into downtown along the Eisenhower.

This is not increasing service.
The CTA says by using the Green line and loop el, frequency will be increased to 7.5 minutes or less on the Cermak line. This sounds good, but frequency can be increased in other ways also on the existing route without putting people through the inconvenience of having to transfer 1-2 times to get to the same place they get to now without transferring.
We look forward to hearing your opinion.