I’ve long thought about doing Metra with a tripod but there’s no way I don’t get yelled at by a conductor for doing it on a crowded train. Honestly though I should do like a full yellow line run.
AKA ninjadude752 Opinions are my own, and do not represent any group. President of Northern Illinois Urban Activists https://linktr.ee/northilurbanactivists
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I’ve long thought about doing Metra with a tripod but there’s no way I don’t get yelled at by a conductor for doing it on a crowded train. Honestly though I should do like a full yellow line run.
You guys are doing good work out here
Per IL Senate GOP Caucus request, here are some of our receipts showing, while other key politicos (except Villivalam) got $$$ from road builders, Curran's spiked during transit funding talks. If GOP wants to submit a rebuttal statement, we'll add it to our post. chi.streetsblog.org/2025/09/15/w...
Also from today - Brown Line sounds to sleep and study to
You don’t know how much I’d love a full video of this with the announcement and everything.
The police will call you about photos you post to private chats. They will do this almost immediately, it seems www.kenklippenstein.com/p/charlie-ki...
Karina Villa protecting her constituents by literally running ICE off the streets in West Chicago and yelling to residents to stay inside their homes.
Just 4 weeks until the October veto session! This Saturday, September 20th there are TWO transit town halls to learn about how transit is essential to all Chicagoans, learn how to get involved, and ask any questions. Join us at the Den Theatre or attend at Truman College on the North Side at noon!
Amid these ICE raids, something folks should understand about the Chicago suburbs is that a lot of stereotypes about the era of white flight from the city do not apply. A lot of these folks were priced out of Chicago and many commute to work here. They are part of the same social fabric.
The taxes bad thing always baffles me. I get it, you don’t want to see your money go away. However, you do want running water, electricity, paved roads, and more right?
Their tech support just told me to try a different browser. Dude that’s the first thing I tried.
Dawg why does action network have so many problems? I literally just go and modify the description and now I get a 500 error when trying to view my group what
They don’t have the power to do what they’re threatening on a grand scale. But they want us to think they do.
VROOM VROOM 😭
So did they strike by right out of this?
Next speaker is "for affordable housing, and gravely concerned and against Envision Evanston. When you say the whole city, you're losing your focus" (NOT IN MY BACKYARD NOT IN MY BACKYARD NOT IN MY BACKYARD)
Man Blue City NIMBYism goes hard. I think we should send them off to argue with ICE agents, they wouldn't need to know immigration law or anything, they'd just make shit up and could probably beat the average meal team six ICE agent.
Long but hopefully fulfilling transit nerd thread incoming: I want to talk about that I’m super proud of, and which is a culmination of things we’ve done in the past as well as things I’ve seen elsewhere that I wanted to bring home to Chicago: New digital at RPM stations that we hope to expand!
I dunno you see the stuff JD Vance is saying?
yeahhhh this whole union thing is cooked, it's gonna fracture under its own weight
Unlike PA, we have Dem majority in both chambers, so let's ensure we prevent cuts (& ideally expand) by passing public transit funding in Oct! Shared economic, equity & environment benefits at stake! Let's also fund public education!
YEAHHHHHHH
Politicians playing cute with revenue sources ("well, the money doesn't *really* run out until April", "let's just capture rainy day fund interest", etc.) need to be scared straight into the crisis we're already in.
Help us raise awareness so we can save transit at the Des Plaines Metra Station, from 4-7pm on September 16th! Find more information and RSVP at the link below: actionnetwork.org/events/des-p...
And as someone who’s gone and talked to riders about the fiscal cliff, this is something I’ve heard from people! I’d like a little book of cliff Metra schedules to hand out at events.
Ultimately, I think a map like this will stop us from going over the cliff. Mainly, 40% service cuts is hard to visualize, or you can hand wave it as “not that bad”.
This has got to be fake. The Kirk I know would never pass up on a chance to punt.
a question I often find myself asking these days: "are these the moves of a movement that feels that it's winning or one desperately afraid that it's about to lose everything?"
It’s crazy there isn’t to be honest. We don’t need the empire builder to stop there, just the Hiawatha.
Personally I’d describe the vibes in Jefferson park as rancid (tollway) moreso than in edgebrook. I like the little retail row right off of the train station
Wait there’s a model train store in the city? I’d be lying if I didn’t like the vibes in edgebrook or forest glen but like it feels closer to oak park
Than riding metra I mean. This can just happened to be in the way.
There’s no greater pleasure.
Having spent a lot of time living in both the city and the suburbs, the suburbs feel so much more isolating afterwards. You don’t naturally or spontaneously do things, you need to plan. And that sucks!
I also think making our suburbs more like cities is a worthwhile investment, but our cities need good investment first. We’re actively seeing the results of what happens when you reduce social interaction (like in the suburbs)
“You can save Chicago” We don’t need saving, asshole.
I went downtown with my camera today and left work at golden hour, so here's a thread of some Chicago beauty, because I love this city. 🧵 First, the shot that took me waiting ten minutes for a train, and then getting a bonus bus
Not “professional”, we do it just for the love of the game, baby
What’s wrong with the second ADU ordinance in Chicago? A lot, starting with these first two points Read all 10: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/dsdgj...
I know that fun station house anywhere. Clarendon Hills?
Yeah it’s weird. It’s a thing metra should copy for their other lines as well
Wait. He actually did? Hahahahahaha
One-third of Chicagoans can't afford cost of living Over the last 10 years: 🏘️ Housing costs ⬆️ 45% 🥕 Grocery costs ⬆️ 28% We MUST build more housing
They should really do what some other apps do and, at least on iphones, have it show so you can just easily click on it. Also let me add passes to my apple wallet.
oooooh south chicago branch!
A transit funding town hall will be held on Saturday Sept. 20 with City and State legislators: Senator Ram Villivalam, Ald. Clay, Ald. Hadden, Ald. Martin, Ald. Vasquez, Ald. Manaa-Hoppenworth, Senator Feigenholtz, Senator Simmons, and Senator Guzman. Register here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Yes, do this. "You cannot arrest someone because they are Hispanic" is worth fighting for. It's worth shutting down the government for. And it's worth attracting attention to.
Parking... Right next to the red line. Ok "Save Edgewater"
Leader Delgado said that the transit oriented development provisions in the reform bill are some of the most exciting things for her @abundanthousingil.bsky.social
We are witnessing a Tory Taylor masterclass
Hey there’s also an unrelated Bryn Mawr on the Metra Electric South Chicago branch
Know your rights, Illinois. Stay safe and stay informed.
You really do have to wonder what it will take for a major news network to take him both seriously and literally, a standard they applied to any past president.
Finally on the train after tha abysmal boarding procedures at Union Station here in Chicago. I don’t want airport style boarding, it’s not a plane.
Well I may have gotten here too early. Now I wait in the @amtrak.com great hall here in Chicago for my train.
On a trip to [REDACTED]. First, I’m talking this crazy Milwaukee North train that skips a bunch of stops into downtown.
The most NCS coded non-NCS line (I don’t actually know I’ve never ridden it)
I’d think 3 business days.
“Dangerous Precedent cuz they don’t agree with us!” Says the Chicago tribune. Thanks to groups like @abundanthousingil.bsky.social for actually getting us there
This is a real photograph of Washington, DC this week, where the United States president has ordered military occupation in peacetime, and ordered the display of colossal portraits of himself. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Awesome! I filled it out. Once Chicago legalizes ADUs, I'd love to start fighting for them in the suburbs.
I don't live in the city of Chicago. Can I fill that out. Also, first ADUs in Chicago. Next, the state!
RAHHH FISCAL CLIFF MENTION
The transit fight is in the suburbs, y’all! We need your help reaching folks. We’re having tons of fruitful conversations — letting people know for the first time that this is not just a City issue, but that it will also affect their Metra trips. And we need to reach many more.
Pritzker: "It breaks my heart to report that we have been told ICE will try to disrupt community picnics and peaceful parades. Let's be clear -- the terror and cruelty is the point, not the safety of anybody living here."
ICYMI, great letter in the Sun-times by Humboldt Park resident Michael Davis in response to recent calls to preserve the car-centric status quo in neighborhoods like Uptown and Edgewater. "If you keep designing cities around cars, people will need them."
elect people who will reduce the housing shortage – www.chicagocityscape.com/blog/elect-p...
If you know *anyone* who lives in the 15th Ward of Chicago, and who doesn't suck, please encourage them to begin preparations to run against this ass in the 2027 election.
Nobody rides the train - it’s sold out! www.hsrail.org/blog/chicago...
Pritzker: "When did we become a country where it's ok for the US president to insist on national television that a state should call him to beg for anything? Especially something we don't want. Have we truly lost all sense of sanity in this nation that we treat this as normal?"
Texas loaded busses with desperate migrants and dropped them off in Chicago like trash in the middle of winter. We welcomed them into our communities. Now Texas is sending its National Guard to terrorize them on our streets. In our neighborhoods. What the fuck.
Now would be a fantastic time for IDOT to declare emergency repairs on IL-137 and various other state roads in the north shore
Why this matters: the biggest immediate threat to our communities right now remains the alphabet boys, who have *already* told us their plan to unleash Border Patrol. And while JB can conceivably put up a fight against the TX Guard coming, no local elected can stop the feds. Please understand this.
🫡 Week of 9.1 Volunteer Opportunities ➡️ Sep. 6: Save Transit canvassing at Wheaton Farmers Market ➡️ Sep. 6: Community Blocks booth at Lifescore Block Party ➡️ Sep. 7: Save Transit canvassing at Geneva Festival of the Vine Sign up at the link in our bio! 🔗⬆️
Pritzker: "He has no idea what's he's talking about. There is no emergency that warrants deployment of troops. He is insulting the people of Chicago by calling our home a hellhole, and anyone that takes his word at face value is insulting Chicagoans too."
can't solve the problem it was designed to solve (to be a high-capacity tokaido shinkansen bypass) because of airport-style boarding and the low train frequencies that result
As a lake county resident, mainly NIMBYism and banning E-Bikes Also people calling the city horrible and a den of crime despite commuting there at least once a week to work.
What sucks is he’s going to make an announcement tomorrow - most likely as a pretext to send troops into Chicago I think. Hopefully he’s a weird mess tomorrow.
Like on the Milwaukee District lines on North Avenue?
Literally letting a dog call Belichick's first game in CFB now.
Question for Chicago planning people. You can get one infill station somewhere on the ‘L’. Where do you put it? Personally, I’d do Western on the green line.
I’d say 10 personally. Make uber pay.
I *think* crystal lake is closer but you apparently can’t dial a ride unless it’s a weekday?!?
Just a little bit more funding bro, we don’t need reform, I promise we’ll make it work this time.
AND he’s on a bike? goated
Nearly 20,000 letters have been sent by riders urging legislators to reach a transit funding solution. Visit SaveTransitNow.org to tell your legislator now is the time for funding and governance reform that will ensure our transit system can not only survive, but thrive. 🚇📲
Block Club Chicago is ass yet again
Chicago/Halsted should happen regardless.
"The Chicago Transit Authority is considering shutting down four of eight elevated train lines and 74 of 127 bus routes under the worst-case scenario as it figures out how to plug a $770 million budget hole." This probably isn't "the map". But it absolutely could be. #RevenuesAndReform
The UChicago Northwestern Rivalry would’ve been crazy
Not with that attitude they won’t
NITA Board cheat sheet in case you come across any suburban politicians who are worried about "representation". Collars don't lose any seats on any of the individual boards, but they would only appoint 10 total members instead of 15 now; suburban Cook loses a few Pace/Metra seats but gains CTA seats
Lol. You know Microsoft is worried it invested a ton of money in the Titanic when its CEO starts desperately content farming to drive hype toward its shit product.
If a University of Chicago student can do an economic analysis that says bridging the fiscal cliff has a benefit-cost ratio of 168%, should be a real no-brainer for our state legislators to get behind a robust revenue package.
Comments by former USDOT Secretary LaHood. Note mention at end of article of a transit bill possibly being introduced by Illinois Senate Republicans. www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/art...
Chicago transit fiscal cliff cost-benefit analysis @dtkoslovsky.bsky.social. "Public transportation projects regularly pencil out in cost-benefit analyses, and do so especially easily in large metropolitan areas." chi.streetsblog.org/2025/08/26/a...
HUGE FLIP: Democrat Catelin Drey wins deep-red state Senate seat in Iowa, breaking the GOP's supermajority. Drey won by 11 points in a district Donald Trump carried by 11 points last year. It's another massive overperformance. The Iowa GOP should be very worried for the midterms. Our full writeup:
Doesn’t LaSalle have a lot of buses though. I think LaSalle works for like an outdoor transit mall, especially since that’s the street they’re trying to revitalize.
Yeah - I’m bothered by Metra tickets basically requiring a smartphone if your station doesn’t have a ticket machine. Even then, I’m not sure if you can get reduced fare on them easily or not (I haven’t checked).