An upset U.S. Rep. Timothy Johnson, saying he's unhappy about not being consulted by city and mass-transit officials, has come out strongly against a proposed expansion of Illinois Terminal to accommodate a "park-and-ride" child care facility.
And that opposition will likely kill the tentative project, which was dependent on $2.3 million in federal funding that Johnson's office had helped to secure.
And:
The city and MTD would have paid $30,000 each as a local match, with the rest of the funding coming from a $240,000 federal planning grant.
The child care facility would have accommodated between 100 and 125 young children. MTD Managing Director William Volk had talked about the possibility of including the facility in a much larger 80,000-square-foot addition to Illinois Terminal, plus adding a new parking deck.
But Johnson appears to have effectively vetoed the project.
In separate phone calls Monday night to Champaign Mayor Jerry Schweighart and MTD Managing Director William Volk, the Urbana congressman said he made clear his strong opposition to the project. And without Johnson's assistance in obtaining federal funding, the project is effectively dead.
In a phone interview, Johnson accused Volk of "empire building" and said the expansion would create a publicly funded entity competing directly with local private developers offering commercial space for rent in downtown Champaign.
"They can't do it without federal money," Johnson said about the MTD. "I can assure you I'll do everything I can not to finance it."
Johnson said he was unhappy with how the original park-and-ride concept and location had changed over the past five years, some of which he said happened without his being consulted.
"Quite frankly, I'm getting blamed and Sen. (Dick) Durbin is getting blamed for something I know nothing about and I'm opposed to," Johnson said.
Originally, the park-and-ride facility was proposed for the University of Illinois Research Park. Delays in getting the project off the ground led the developer of the research park, Peter Fox, to build his own facility, called Chesterbrook Academy, that opened in August 2007 at 2001 S. Oak St., C, without any federal assistance.
(Disclosure: I do political work for Congressman Johnson.)
That is alright Gordy,,,,,he really came thru this time:)
Good job Tim. +1 for Rep. Johnson.
+2 for Johnson since he also voted against the bailout, which most economists at all levels point out was not the best approach and is being proven as I type.
Pattsi Petrie
"Empire building" - awesome!
Johnson has a point about the idea of driving everyone's cars into the center of the city so they can take the bus. That doesn't make much sense.
Finally, someone with enough courage and clout to stand up to Volk's latest money grab. Thank you Tim Johnson! Strong and decisive.
(I sure wish the CU-MTD would be more of a watchdog and less rubber stamp). Maybe this will help.
Curious hits the nail on the head. P&R's don't make much sense for this community because of the few people who come from outside city limits to work downtown, but if they did, they should be situated on the periphery. Like (a) the old Hobby-Lobby lot on Church St (b) the Fed-Ex facility north of Marketplace Mall (c) by the Urbana Wal-Mart and (d) between the airport and Old Church on Dunlap.
In fact, I haven't figured out yet why the Country Fair stop couldn't be turned into a P&R right now. There's not nearly enough business there to use the entire parking lot. (Personally, since I live in that neighborhood, I'd rather see gentrification and revitalization, but that's just MHO. Dollar General, Odd Lots, Deals, ew!)
Anonymous--amen to that, and I wish that the City Council would follow suit, instead of rubberstamping every idiotic idea that the City Manager or staff recommend.
I haven't figured out yet why the Country Fair stop couldn't be turned into a P&R right now.
Hmmmm - private property maybe?
Is the emperor wearing no clothes?
Good work, Tim Johnson.
Hordes of people DO come from outside of city limits to work at U of I, though. Tuscola, Mahomet, etc. Forgetting about the daycare for a moment, if there were to be a true Park and Ride I'd put one near I-57 with easy frequent access to the 5/50 Green line. (Possibly adding to the Green to make it happen.)
Another logistic that has not been mentioned--setting a child care facility at the park and ride poses an issue for parents if one has to get to the child quickly for whatever reason. With the present design of the C-U MTD service, getting anywhere in the community quickly just can not happen. So I pose the question--how many parents would be willing to drop off a child at a day care at the terminal building or at the edge of town or wherever, park the car, and ride the bus to work? If the buses ran every 10-12 minutes, this would not be a logistic consideration.
Pattsi Petrie
Great job Rep. Johnson. I hope you are around when Volk in 2014 when, according to CUUATS, Volk will again go after Federal $'s for his "light rail" system for CU. Although he maydecorate the request with words like "Constrained" or "Guided" transportation system.
Good points. Made me think of a good use for Willard Airport. That should be an MTD park and ride facility. Investment required: zero dollars. Getting the first actual passenger on the Air Bus: Priceless.
And it would keep all the morons from Tolono and Pesotum who drive in the left lane of 45 all the way from Tolono to Windsor off the friggin road.
Does anyone know if Volk (MTD) still pays Schlickman and Associates out of Chicago every month for "consulting and lobbying in Congress" to acquire the $212 million the CU-MTD was seeking from the feds for the trolley?
There are taxis for crazy emergencies. People leave their kids at daycares visited via transit all over the place world wide.
I'll admit, I don't drive, but it's never bothered me or made me worry terribly about what will happen in some emergency, if it's a true emergency with the kid 911 should have been called on the scene, if it's slightly less but *I* need to get there (or to some other location) ASAP, I call a taxi.
Same story for the "but what about the one day I need to take off work for an errand all of a sudden?" question.
Tip of hat to JOHNSON....now, maybe we can do something about the horde of cash the MTD has stashed away.
Does anyone know if Volk (MTD) still pays Schlickman and Associates out of Chicago every month for "consulting and lobbying in Congress" to acquire the $212 million the CU-MTD was seeking from the feds for the trolley?
When did this start? When did they make the last payment you are aware of?
Have the Volkster and Johnson typically been on the same side? Does Johnson typically go along with Volk/MTD stuff? Or has this situation caused Johnson to flip on Volk?
No matter the history, I'm glad that Johnson has taken the right side in this conflict.
Kudos Tim Johnson!!
"Does anyone know if Volk (MTD) still pays Schlickman and Associates out of Chicago every month for "consulting and lobbying in Congress" to acquire the $212 million the CU-MTD was seeking from the feds for the trolley?"
I believe Schlickman and Associates would be paid out of the MTD budget item "Professional Services" which is listed at $600,000.00 for 2009.
on the radio news, Volk thought the plan was still a good one, providing day-care service to mass transit users.
My response: a lot of business plans can look pretty good when you get $2 million of free capital. If he thinks it is such a good idea, he should invest his own money and make a nice profit on it.
Give me two million where do you want to go?
I'm a little confused. Is Volk in the business of providing mass transit, or is he in the business of fixing the lives of people who ride buses? Sometimes they don't have easy access to grocery stores, either. Maybe he wants to open up a grocery store in some of the empty space at the Illinois Terminal, you know, to support bus riders.
Actually, a mini mart in the Terminal might not be a bad idea.
"Actually, a mini mart in the Terminal might not be a bad idea."
Food bank would be a better fit.
"Food bank would be a better fit."
Because I'm such a generous soul, I'm going to assume that this was a genuine attempt to wrestle with a perceived problem, rather than the snarky elitism that might be misinterpreted from the bare language on a page.
In all of this conversation about the proposed plan, several questions have not been asked. It is my understanding that the reason for the day care to be located at the terminal is to assist low-income, non car owning individuals to take children to day care in a more efficient time saving manner. What has not been explained is the data showing the need and expected use for this type of facility. Maybe in actual fact based on the residencies of the majority low-income population, the terminal might not be the efficient place for the day care. Further, there has not been any cost indicators so the public can evaluate just how reasonable this might be for the low-income residents. Maybe part of the federal funds can be used to subsidize the child care cost. If my understanding is correct as to the targerted population, then providing a low-cost grocery or pantry would make sense along with a resale shop and other provisions that would minimize or eliminate tripping for the residents. As to calling a cab to reach a sick child or emergency, this may not be feasible if the population is low-income unless as part of the over all plan there will be built in provisions for half-fares for the cab or some type of car sharing for low-income. Maybe a next step is to build more low-income housing closer to the immediate downtown, near the terminal, to minimize further the travel time factor and tripping. What all of us need is more robust information about the plan for park and ride and day care. This might reduce a lot of the speculations.
Pattsi Petrie
Maybe part of the federal funds can be used to subsidize the child care cost.
Except that these are federal transportation dollars, sought by the CUMTD.
As pointed out, this was not a well thought out or data-driven project. It was a (Volk speaking) "Hey, I screwed up and didn't do a park and ride with the federal money for THAT specific project but now, how can I keep it and scam Champaign for more local tax dollars to build more empire where I really wanted it."
And $ 600,000 for lobbying to Congress? Wow, as Dr. Phil says, "How's that workin for ya?" They didn't even talk to our congressman at Courier Cafe. :)
If MTD throws away that much money on fruitless lobbying, imagine how much they waste in other areas...
Why are you assuming that only low income people use the bus? Ditto for the guy making "food bank" comments, it's normal people there using the bus, not all are rich (some are!) but it's not some sort of service for the indigent.
Add to that, if you don't maintain your own car and pay insurance and gas and all that comes with it, you save FAR more money than it costs you to hail a cab a few times a year. If you planned ahead to live carless, you live on a bus route, so having services downtown (or at major transit hubs) is convenient, be it child care, groceries, or whatever.
Honestly it seems people are living in some alternate universe than the one I inhabit, sometimes.
BUT - sure, having services downtown, while a great thing, is NOT the same thing as a "park and ride," so I'm not implying that the original grant should have been given.
/happily ride, never park
To Akibare--clarification--there is no assumption that only the low-income population rides the bus. A possible thought behind the choice of the terminal for the day care is to service low-income folks who do use the bus for transportation because all of the buses go to the terminal. And if there people are watching every dollar they have, then hailing a cab is not much of an alternative as compared to your example of someone who chooses not to have a car and is thus saving car payments, car insurance, and car maintenance. Big difference. I do not think that the day care idea is to exclusively service low-income, but to plan for transportation convenience for those with no car and dependence on the bus. As we plan for anything, it is always good to plan to be able to service the most as equibly as possible.
Pattsi Petrie
The problem is that even if you consider the park and ride to be a good idea...
...Volk and MTD throw away all their credibility from the outset by allowing the City of Champaign to piggyback the rediculous 70,000 sqft commercial real estate on top of the proposal.
This just makes them look like a taxpayer-money laundering operation.
They lose trust when they do this, it gets worse every year. No real local accountability, they show a lack of respect for the intelligence of taxpayers, they lose our trust in return. And on and on and on.
It is obvious from your post akibare your do not drive and you ride the MTD buses for most of your travel. However I would estimate over 25% of the property tax payers in CU cannot use the MTD to get to work. Volk went after the property tax dollars of the outlying areas knowing most would not be able to use the MTD. In other words the MTD would not increase costs only revenue. Living in an outlying area it takes me about 7 minutes to drive the five miles to work. If I was to take the bus, I have to call for a bus to pick me up as I am within the district but there are no regular bus routes. That little bus takes me to Country Fair where I transfer to another bus which drops me within walking distance of my job. Taking the bus to work for me has ranged from 40 minutes to 71 minutes. Like my neighbors, I am not willing to give up than much time in my life with little or no cost benefit to ride the MTD. So now we pay through property taxes for your service. It is nice to hear someone gets some use from this public entity. Volk has done a great job of getting taxpayers to fund his MTD empire building while keeping costs minimal and control nonexistant all the while he pads his own pension.
it's normal people there using the bus--Akibare are you using the bus? :)
"When did this start? When did they make the last payment you are aware of?"
Schlickman and Associates were hired in 2004 and I believe their salary at the time was $13,000 a month. Sounds like they have expanded their services somewhat if Oil Man has gotten the right info. $600,000 a year. Wow. I remember Volk talking on WDWS about the trolley and he was asked if it's such a good idea, why not put it to an all-county-wide referendum and let the voters decide if they want to build a $300 million dollar trolley from D-town Urbana to D-town Champaign to Research Park. Volk stammered that there was no plan to let voters approve the trolley. What Volk and Costello consistently want to do is have the approval of the trolley come down to just 17 votes. 17 votes is all they need for the majorities of the Urbana City Council, the Champaign City Council and the U of I's Board of Trustees to approve the building permits and whatever land acquisitions are needed and whatever money the MTD will be begging from the cities and the U of I. Their hope is that Schlickman and Associates will convince the Department of Transportation in D.C. to approve the $212 million and then raise the rest from the cities and the U of I, with the threat that if we don't use the $212 now, we lose it. Despite the vigorous disapproval for the trolley voiced on WDWS, Volk and Costello have quietly kept pursuing the federal money for the trolley. The reason for not getting this federal money already is the cost of the war, and Tim Johnson's preference we fix existing automobile roads first. What's particularly annoying is the arrogance of Costello and Volk. They remain convinced a fixed rail system in the middle of traffic with 150 people on it is going to reduce traffic congestion, despite the proposed fixed-rail route does not serve 35% of their ridership, that being minority neigborhoods. The goal, they say, is to get 30% of C-U commuters to use something besides a car. Right now we are at about 20-25% of those traveling to work, don't drive a car. The most cost efficient way to get this done, (not a bad goal by the way) is to expand bike routes and make bicycling safer and more efficient. But then, where's the personal empire in building that? Volk and Costello would not be able to sit atop a bike route flexing their muscles.
"I believe Schlickman and Associates would be paid out of the MTD budget item "Professional Services" which is listed at $600,000.00 for 2009."
Is the entire $600,000 for professional services for the lobbyists? I'm thinking that MTD may have hired other professionals out of that budgeted amount. Not that I think any tax money spent to lobby elected representatives is money well-spent.
To Anonymous @ 10:39A--expanding bike routes certainly is one way to increase mobility options. Another would be to spend some of the proposed federal transportation dollars toward increasing frequency of buses, especially during daytime hours, put smaller buses on the outlining routes, redesign the bus routes so there are more transfer options and thus reducing, potentially, travel time (an example given in a previous post), and provide an all weather and all person alternative for travel, which bikes do not. I agree with the above post that the bus scheduling and route designs are a possible deterant for usage. I have mentioned before that I live between the two main routes; yet, it takes over 45 minutes for me to get to Market Place and over 60 minutes to get to east Urbana. This is a discouragement to choosing the bus over a car. And if, indeed, Champaign continues with this policy to decrease salting side streets, then imagine the challenge of walking along them to get to any bus.
Pattsi Petrie
The goal, they say, is to get 30% of C-U commuters to use something besides a car.
that really is the heart of the problem. The goal should be to get 100% of C-U commuters to work quickly and efficiently. And that should be a goal of the cities, with the MTD being but one tool.
Merged Champaign and Urbana with the MTD being part of that city instead of its own independent entity would make that goal alignment easier. Sadly, I don't see that ever happening.
The $600,000.00 budget item comes from the CUMTD's website for the 2009 budget. It's doubtful this is all for one vendor.
Unfortunately rsw, there are only taxpayer cost savings advantages to be gained from a merger of cities adjacent to each other. There are however very pronounced political advantages to keeping them as separate governments. Illinois being a good political job generator is the reason we still have Bloomington-Normal, C-U, LaSalle-Peru, Rock Island-Moline-East Moline-Silvis to name just a few.
Honestly, when is the last time anyone hailed a cab in C-U?
They don't work that way in our fair cities. You call the cab company and wait 45-90 minutes for the cab to arrive.
Cab wait times vary dramatically, often with the time of day. Mornings, especially if you work a weekend job can be pretty awful. 15 minutes and under times aren't unheard of during less busy parts of the day. Really sucks when you have an unexpectedly long wait time, even after calling around, and you have to get to work though.
--
Glock21 Op/Ed
Pattsi - if someone is honestly watching every dollar they have, taking a taxi a few times a year IF you need it (what kind of "emergencies" are you thinking of?) is FAR FAR FAR cheaper than maintaining a car, insurance, and gas over the year. FAR cheaper.
Again, I think I'm maybe living on another planet or something.
But if you think they can't handle day care in the central city via bus, where would YOU put it? So that it benefits most people?
Services need to be in central city, if you want to serve people on transit. Suburbia is just crazy talk if you are talking people without cars. I lived in a suburb (in California) for 6 months of my life, it was free rent even but still not worth it with all the crazy hiking and insane timetables it wanted, I said no and moved downtown (paying rent!) where transit was reasonable. Never again.
MTD annual pass for an adult with NO reduced anything special is $235 per year for unlimited rides. You CANNOT run a car for that amount. Just cannot.
And the MTD pass is crazy cheap, quite frankly. In California 20 years ago I paid $50 for a bus pass per month. In Japan it was similar - but in Japan of course most people take transit and so your work or school covers a good portion, if not all, of the cost absolutely standard benefit. I eventually got my pass covered by work in California, after arguing that they paid $50 for parking passes for the drivers in the building that had my same job classification.
Personally I like to be able to sleep on my way to work listening to my iPod.
I've never had to wait more than 10 mins for cabs to arrive in CU, either. I call them, they come to my house, no problems.
Yes, Run4cvrlib, I use the bus. I have used the bus (and trains, in advanced countries) my entire life, and I have not had any problems doing so, nor have I noticed that the passengers resembled the stereotypes that I so often see posted by a certain segment of people on American websites.
You may think what you wish of me, but let me ASSURE you, I am in NO danger of ever needing to rely on a food bank anytime in the near future. Far from it.
But let me say - there's something called planning. Obviously if you live in some suburb in the ass end of nowhere and out of the blue someone tells you to take the bus, it's not reasonable. I am not claiming otherwise. Similarly truly rural (i.e. you actually farm) people will similarly drive.
But if you planned ahead, it's entirely possible to live a regular (or "upscale" if you so wish it) life and not need to drive anywhere in a personal vehicle. The key is planning ahead. People who are on the opposite end of the scale thinking they don't want to need to afford a car, similarly plan ahead. They rent places on buslines. Such has it always been.
But hey - I never have to worry about driving home when I go out...
akibare... it's easier to live the no-car life in the larger cities with better public transportation and demand for it. C-U is good for public transportation, but it is fairly typical in its rural midwestern culture of wide spaces and available parking for most residents. It's more a pain than a convenience to use public transportation here... speaking as someone that has gone long periods of time using it as my primary mode of transportation both as a student for convenience for one of the lousy-for-a-car hotspots and as someone who just had no other option due to poverty. It was nice when I had a car when I needed it as a student... it was a real pain in the butt, primarily due to time, when I wasn't a student and needed to reach places that had plenty of available parking for everything in my life.
If I lived in Chi-town, or New York or Boston... I probably wouldn't have a car. It'd be more of a pain than a convenience. But here or in LA or other car-centric cities. No way I'd want to live without a car unless I had to. The odd situation here is as a student or if you happen to live on a convenient route, it works. Odds are for most people, there isn't a convenient route to justify using it as a primary mode of transportation.
--
Glock21 Op/Ed
To Akibare @ 11:04 P--I agree with you that using the bus and a taxi once in awhile is much less expensive than owning a car and the allied expenses. Nonetheless maybe the reason a person does not own a car is because they can not afford to do so. That every penny counts and maybe gets counted twice, medications are cut in half or not taken, use of food stamps is routine, lost a job, no health insurance--under these circumstances even using the bus for transportation may be stretching the budget. You write that the cost of the annual pass is crazy cheap. That may not be the case for everyone. From what you write, it does not appear that your budget is similarly tested.
It is good to centrally place services--hub of the wheel theory of design. Yet if I live in far NW Champaign placing a day care at the terminal may not be best. Since there is no data available as to the service needs, there is demographic data, one really can not second guess the best place for a child care facility. A lot would depend on the targeted populations, reduction of tripping, etc.
Pattsi Petrie
Out here in Royal, obviously, we can't live without the car(s). When I still lived in C-U, though, I went from 1984 to 1997 without owning one. Didn't miss it, didn't need it. In fact, one of the reasons I moved back to C-U from Chicago Heights in 1984 was so that I could sell the car.
At least since I first came here in 1974, for decades now C-U has had one of the absolute best mass transit systems for a town its size that I have ever seen anywhere. Lots of routes, and really good distribution of coverage. Bloomington-Normal (at least when I was there in 1980-1981) didn't even come close. And PACE/RTA (suburban Chicago) was almost totally useless when I was up there from 1981 to 1984.
I frequently disagree with the way MTD deals with public policy or new initiatives, but at its core, they provide one of the best value services for the money that I can imagine.
Mass transit is great in areas where there is sufficient population density and sufficient "attraction" density. When I had an apartment in Lincoln Park 2000-2004, I rarely used my car. The loop was within walking distance (45 min), but was easily accessible by bus and heavy rail. Shopping (Whole Foods, Best Buy, Container Store, World Market, Treasured Island) were a short ride away on the North Avenue bus. Transit was not only convenient, but the wide variety of users also made it very entertaining - well, except for the time I sat on a urine-soaked seat.
Small markets like Champaign will never have sufficient density to justify the frequency and coverage which are necessary to have a truly useful network - one with low travel times (wait + travel) - across all of C-U. I'd like to see MTD focusing on some specific goals -- serving niche markets, if you will -- rather than trying to build an inappropriate, high-cost system which winds up discrediting small-market mass transit.
I'm pro mass transit. That doesn't make me pro MTD, however.
Transit Good. MTD Bad.
My $.02.
I (obviously) live in CU, don't have a car, don't need one, don't miss it. I've lived in California without a car, if you live in the right neighborhood it's entirely doable. Again, let me repeat myself - you don't "happen" to live on a bus route. If you're a transit commuter, you PLAN AHEAD to be SURE you live in the right places. Surely there are places that can't really be acheived, but CU is not one of them by any means.
I agree with Kevin - for a town this size, the transit is quite good and it keeps getting better.
But, I'm off topic. The original issue I was responding to is the idea that having child care placed to be accessible to transit and not cars (a center in a downtown or hub where people would not be driving to start with - they'd arrive by bus , which is why I was clear that would NOT be a "park and ride[1]") is somehow untenable because people won't be willing to leave their children in a child care that they reached via bus or must return to via bus, because of the anxiety about nebulous "emergencies."
People use such childcare all over the place, all the time, and their kids survive. Those few cases (WHAT emergencies, exactly, are we talking about that won't be handled by 911 long before you even get there?) people take taxis if the transit isn't fast enough.
Ah, but they might be too poor for that. First we had the assumption that it's only poor people who ride mass transit (just look at the "food bank" comment upthread). Well, it's not. So sure, some people might be too poor to take a cab a few times a year? If that's the case, they sure as heck won't be affording a CAR, which is FAR more expensive even if you assume the car itself was a free gift.
So now it's people who can't afford the bus OR the car. Always, we're pushing on these edge cases. Such people, most likely, are going to mind their own kids in their own homes, so why are we talking about them in relation to child care again? Certainly those people are not going to ask for child care centers built on the edge of town that they would have to - wait for it - DRIVE to, now would they?
If they can't afford a car OR the bus, how are they getting to work? Perhaps they walk to work, or bike. Okay. So where, exactly, should their child care be located? Small centers throughout the neighborhoods? Great, I'm sure lots of people would like that. It probably will cost quite a bit, though. Leave the kids with a neighbor? Also great - but then, why are we talking about those people who won't use the child care, when discussing the location of the child care center? Odds are they work downtown or in a hub anyway, so they can take the kid with on foot or in a bike trailer, same way they get to work. I would imagine the bikers/walkers would prefer the childcare be there in that same downtown or hub, rather than on the edge of town. I'll go further out on a limb here and suggest that they probably rent, and as such, have probably moved somewhere that is served by transit, because they know they're not driving anywhere. When you know you can't afford to drive, you don't move somewhere with no bus service, if if you're not buying a yearly pass.
Perhaps child care could provided at all workplaces. That would indeed be awesome, but again, expensive.
Note too that transit hubs don't have to only be downtown. Anywhere that is a big transfer point with lots of buses works. Here in CU downtown is obviously a big hub, but somewhere like Market Place Mall is coming along also (lots of buses go between downtown and the mall, and there are lots of retail jobs up there).
And yes, the bus pass is crazy cheap, compared to the cost of similar services in other cities. But it doesn't change the calculation ONE IOTA, which is that it's still FAR CHEAPER than driving, which is the alternative under discussion. And either way, we don't design for the absolute edge cases anyway.
[1] Though the "park and ride" (which would be on the edge of the urban area, I agree with everyone on that) would have the same issue, if you left the car on the edge of town with the kid, you still have to take the bus to get back to the kid.
To Akibare @ 12:36 P--another clarification--I have lived in this community long enough that a bus system did not exist. So when I state that I happen to live between two of the main bus routes, this is an accurate statement. Your assumption that one picks housing to be transit oriented is fine as long as one is in a position to be moving. But to assume that one sells a residence to change to be transit oriented when and if a bus system comes to a community probably does not make good planning sense. :-) I am impressed that you existed in LA sans car since mass transit there leaves a great deal to be desired, especially when one knows the history of LA mass transit. The streetcar system covered all of LA with many transfer points. The same used to be the case for San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland. Oh, if only we were smarter back then. :-)
Pattsi Petrie
I have lived in this community long enough that a bus system did not exist.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure CU has had bus service since 1925. And prior to that (dating to the turn of the century), there was a trolley system.
Making a choice on housing should include an assessment of transportation costs. Most people have not done this and when the price of gas goes up they are hurting. We were very deliberate in choosing a house in a location with access to transit in SE Urbana. Additionally, we wanted to be able to walk and bike to many destinations. Our dependence on cars went way down. The average household in this country spends, on average, $7,633 per year. We spend $3200.
The more sprawl in your community the more you spend on transportation as discussed in this article: http://articles.latimes.com/2003/jul/23/nation/na-transpo23 Add in the fact that people who walk, bike or use transit for some of their household trips also weigh less and are healthier and you can see there are a lot of reasons to consider location and access when you decide where to live. There is a wide range of housing prices in Champaign and Urbana that are located in areas with good access to transit. If one considers the costs of living in a house over a 10 year period and calculates the savings realized from not having to use a car for all your trips it is substantial. In our case it is at least $44,000 and more if you calculate in the decreased costs of healthcare associated with more active lifestyles. This is a piece from the article shown above.
The five-county Los Angeles metropolitan area came in 16th nationally, with the average family spending $8,104 a year, or 17.9% of expenditures.
Ranked last is the densely populated, transit-friendly New York City metropolitan area, where the average family spent $7,295 or 15.1% of its household budget on transportation.
Overall, the cost of buying a car accounted for about half of an average family’s transportation spending, while gas, insurance, maintenance, vehicle license fees and finance charges made up most of the rest, the study found. Spending on transit amounted to 1.6%.
For those who read the article, yes I know they found an academic to make a pro-auto statement. What she does not say is that if poor households had access to jobs and good transit they would be much better off.
We are lucky to have options for transportation. Many of us have availed ourselves of the opportunity and realize what a great transit system we have here. It is not perfect, but nothing ever is. The park and ride daycare would provide parking for those workers who have to drive into town from Royal, Tolono, Rantoul or other villages and work at the university or elsewhere. Giving people the opportunity to park, drop their kids at daycare, take the bus to work, and back would reduce congestion on campus. Having daycare in the downtown is clearly needed. We lost affordable daycare for low income people in this area when the Urban League shut the daycare they had operated. In case those of you without kids have not been paying attention, parents who are working are struggling to find affordable daycare.
To ThoughtPolice @ 1:19 P--yes, the interurban once existed with an interlocking of buses, but long ago. No, a bus system did not exist until approximately 1970 and then it was a bit shakey for a number of years. Actually, my faculty advisor was one of the individuals who was a mover and shaker to get mass transit back into C-U. One can read the history at http://www.cumtd.com/aboutmtd/history/ A bit of the back story not included has to do with the fact that my faculty advisor withdrew support for the mass transit because of a major philosophical difference concerning the manner in which it was developing related to the original goals and directions of those who worked to form the district. Some of those philosophical differences might still be playing themselves out. :-) As Paul Harvey used to say "and here is the other side of the story."
Pattsi Petrie
the document to wihch you link says there was another bus service until 1970, upon which MTD time was create to control. so if you moved here in the last 100 years, there was a bus service when you moved here
Yes, there were buses before 1970 - a private line, in fact, that was so hated that people voted to create the MTD with something like 78% vote in favor. You can see it in the papers of the time. CU City Lines, IIRC. If it was so terrible in its later years though I suppose I can understand if someone would say "there was no service" :) And I do agree things would be better now if only all those old urban streetcars hadn't been ripped out, in LA and elsewhere - heck, I wish the old Illinois Terminal were still running!
(I have some pretty cool old postcards showing the streetcars going under the viaduct on University. Gotta love eBay.)
I do not claim that people should be selling houses to move, but I'd wager that most of the super poor don't own houses to start with, they rent, and most of the low-income renters I've known (including myself once upon a time, though I wasn't quite so badly off) moved fairly regularly. When the moves happen, you pick apartments that are close to work, close to the supermarket, or close to transit, if you know you won't be driving.
But again - the discussion should not be on solely that segment of the population to start with. Transit riders are not only the super poor in the community.
I agree with Anonymous 2:44 that where a park and ride WOULD be helpful (separate from only "daycare for transit riders") would be somewhere on the border of town where people who come from the various "bedroom communities" around here enter CU proper, and on a busline with frequent service. So, maybe one on the west side connecting to the Green, or the like (some drivers would know better details, but I do have coworkers who come from Tolono, they say they use I-57).
Busses have been in CU for a long time. This is from the MTD web site, http://www.cumtd.com/aboutmtd/history/Buses.aspx
I rode the old green busses in the late 1950s when I lived on the west side of Champaign to Holy Cross School, I was on one when it hit a car head on at Springfield Ave. and Elm street, very exciting for a kid in the 1st. grade.
"but I do have coworkers who come from Tolono, they say they use I-57"
That would be difficult. There is no I-57 interchange in Tolono. They would need to drive south to Pesotum which is just as far as driving north to Champaign on Route 45. Maybe you meant people who live in Tuscola. A park and ride day care center by the new Curtis Road interchange might make some sense for people coming from southern communites.
I remember when they got the brand new red white and blue MTD buses in 1976. They had one in the 4th of July parade to show them off. Can't belive they'd be getting brand new buses already if they just started the service in 1970. I know I rode buses from southwest Champaign to campus every day from 1974-1979. But I don't remember thinking it was a new service. I previously lived in a neighborhood in Urbana that did not have nearby buses so drove to campus. Since then I've had a job that requires me to have a car handy. Wish I could ride the bus to work.
To Anonymous @ 4:19 P--yes, I am that 100 year old little ole lady wearing tennis shoes riding the bus. :-)
Pattsi Petrie