CTA president urged to resign by Chicago City Council members
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CHICAGO - More than a dozen Chicago City Council members plan to back a resolution to remove the current Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) president.
The resolution will be introduced to the City Council by Alderman Andre Vasquez at the meeting on May 22.
Dorval Carter was appointed CTA president by former Mayor Rahm Emanual in 2015. A total of 19 aldermen are calling for him to step down or be fired.
These aldermen say they're sick of alleged cuts to service, constant late trains and buses, and a general feeling that the system is unsafe. They lay the blame at the feet of the highly-paid and hard-to-find head of the system, Dorval Carter.
"Despite thousands of rider complaints about reliability, cleanliness, and safety, multiple calls for CTA improvement by City Council, and multiple news outlets frequently reporting about the CTA’s struggles, President Carter received at least two salary increases per year since 2018 — a more than 60% increase over the eight years of his tenure to a current annual salary of $376,060," Vasquez said.
The resolution also highlights ridership that has failed to rebound to pre-pandemic levels, although there are a lot of factors that go into that.
"Chicagoans have been asking us for too long to make a change, and the number of Alders who have joined that call is growing by the day," Vasquez said. "As a result of what I believe to be failed leadership at the CTA, our public transportation has failed to come back to pre-pandemic ridership levels the way other comparable cities have."
The resolution also mentions the City Council had to pass an ordinance compelling the CTA president to testify because he kept turning down requests to do so.
Mayor Brandon Johnson could always fire the CTA president, but to this point has not yet chosen to do so, and we're not sure why. He did not take questions at a pre-planned event Monday morning. In a statement, the CTA says Ald. Vasquez has the facts all wrong.
The fact is, bus and rail services have been added, ridership is trending upward, crime rates are decreasing, and service is more reliable – all evidence that CTA’s recent efforts are working.
The resolution also follows Governor JB Pritzker's statement that he believes the CTA should have new leadership.
According to the resolution, Carter lacked transparency when it came to service cuts, hiring and the declining sense of safety for riders who depend on public transit.
The full resolution can be found here or below:
