Thursday, February 26, 2009

Transit Officials Go Before Lawmakers To Explain Deficits

WBBM-AM:
Armed with as many uncertainties as answers, top officials from the CTA, Metra, Pace and the Regional Transportation Authority go before an Illinois House committee meeting at Chicago's Thompson Center Monday (1 p.m.) to discuss their rapidly deteriorating tax funding.

RTA Chairman Jim Reilly is expected to tell the Illinois House Transportation Committee, chaired by State Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston), that he is even more worried about 2010 and 2011 than he is by the current year, despite a shortfall projected at $155 million at the CTA alone.

"They've added some discussion of the emerging problem of deficits over the next couple of years," he said. "That's what they want to know about."

RTA officials admit discussing the faltering economy with CTA, Metra and Pace officials in November nd December, but did not notify them formally that they would receive less-than-anticipated 2008 tax revenues until Feb. 12.
Also in transit news, the CTA seeks to unload a quarter of their HQ space:
About four years after moving into its new downtown headquarters, a shrinking Chicago Transit Authority is stuck with more space than it needs in an increasingly tough office leasing market.

Because of job cuts, the Chicago Transit Authority has recently added a floor to the space it has on the market at 567 W. Lake St., bringing the total to 105,000 square feet, or a fourth of the 420,000-square-foot building. But the pool of potential tenants is limited to other government agencies or qualified non-profit groups, a CTA spokeswoman says. The restriction does not apply to a buyer.

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. is now marketing the top three floors of the 12-story building; each floor is 35,000 square feet. The 10th floor just came onto the market because of staff reductions, the agency spokeswoman says.

Fifield Cos. developed the building for the CTA in 2004 but does not own the structure. The project, which totaled $94.6 million, was financed by the city’s Public Building Commission.
I wonder how much money they can make from this transaction.

1 comment:

  1. I hope they can figure out a stopgap fix for the financial situation. It seems pretty clear that, this time, it's really not their fault, but rather the tanking economy. If it weren't for the new taxes missing their projected revenues by a huge margin, they'd be fine.

    ReplyDelete

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