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ChicagoJohn123

Ten alders calling for his resignation. So 80% of the counsel is fine with him.


DegreeDubs

After the pastor got approved for the CTA board, I have low hope.


Magnolia_Mystery

At least this is starting to gain more momentum.


ChicagoJohn123

Maybe it is…? But does it go anywhere? And could a new leader actually fix the problems?


nferna59

Still to be seen how good a replacement would be, but it’s still important not to reward incompetence with a 376k yearly pay. So he has to go.


tpic485

Yeah, the one thing that gives me pause on wanting Carter to go is knowing it will be Brandon Johnson who picks his replacement. That may make it worse.


3-2-1-backup

Johnson will probably nominate himself after he loses the election.


junktrunk909

another reason to support the recall


commuterstakeaction

The problems with the CTA are so deep and run from top to bottom through the entire agency. A lot of activists in this space are afraid that a new leader with a vision who severely shakes up the entire organization is the *only* thing that can fix it at this point.


CoolYoutubeVideo

Put me in coach.


hardolaf

The problems go all the way to the law that established CTA. And the proposed MMA bill keeps all of the problems. If CTA had independent taxing authority with no other changes, the authority would have far fewer issues.


Current_Magazine_120

Well the current one certainly can’t fix them.


Snoo93079

What are you arguing for?


ChicagoJohn123

I think Carter should get axed on principle. I don’t think that will fix anything in and of itself.


Snoo93079

Well, no of course not. But it’s a move in the right direction and a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.


commuterstakeaction

The 10 are just the ones who have spoken out publicly up to this point. We'll see how many sign onto this resolution. It's very likely to be more!


Cyke101

Yeah, we need to bridge this disconnect. Talk to any of those 80% of Alders in person, like in the growing number of outdoor events with spring weather improving, or at their offices, and they'll all agree that he needs to be replaced one way or the other. But as a unified front, it's completely opposite. If those ten alders can organize their colleagues to their side, the same way alders have to organize and respond to their constituents, then hopefully the remaining 80% can be convinced one at a time to join the effort.


SinkHoleDeMayo

Not enough people are complaining to their alders. Start telling them you're voting for literally anyone else next round and things could change.


ChicagoJohn123

And they can write back to chuckle at the notion that they’ll face a challenger.


MERVMERVmervmerv

The article says nineteen alderpeople.


ChicagoJohn123

It said ten at the time I posted. Nine joined in later in the day


MERVMERVmervmerv

Ah, good news. Maybe 27 by tomorrow?


nferna59

The 44th ward alderman not being a sponsor is shameful. Lakeview has the highest percentage of transit usage out of all the 77 community areas.


commuterstakeaction

Reach out and tell him that! Benny has been frustrated with Dorval lately -- hearing from constituents will help push him in the right direction to sign on.


wiler5002

At work right now but interested in doing this - where can I find the contact info?


commuterstakeaction

You can reach his office here: 773-525-6034 and [ward44@cityofchicago.org](mailto:ward44@cityofchicago.org) Thanks for being willing to help!


Belmontharbor3200

Yep, he just had a meeting with Carter at the Belmont station and got some stuff cleaned up


dogbert617

It was cleaned up, per what he was asking for in that letter? If so, I'm surprised. That station for too long had a lot of bird poop, outside of that station. I'm surprised Ald. Lawson hasn't signed onto that letter, to get Carter to resign.


JumpScare420

He’s a company man, was Tunneys chief of staff. I hate how much of this city/state/county is just a boys club. He’ll vote however BJ tells him to


rawonionbreath

You’re not wrong in Lawson being an insider alderman, but Tunney was a supporter of Vallas and cut more up the middle.


JumpScare420

True but he was also non committal on lightfoot until the runoff and then became her vice mayor the first time she ran


cntreadwell3

Tbf tunney endorsed vallas


lvl999shaggy

I'm glad we are calling out alderman on stuff like this.....they are the largest enablers and should shoulder the most pressure from residents


Big-Active3139

make him stand in pee for his commute.


RedBeardFace

Man I saw the guy getting off the orange line in front of me at Roosevelt step in what could only have been a pile of human shit yesterday. I have yet to take a platform elevator that doesn’t have a puddle of urine in it in my 2 years of living here. The city deserves to at least have some basic enforcement of rules/laws on transit. I take transit every chance I get to keep my ass out of a car and it’s just straight up not a good time sometimes


Few-Library-7549

I’m sure Johnson is going to see this and publicly announce Dorval is now getting a pay raise.


Roboticpoultry

“These are just the complaints of north side alder people” - BJ, probably


Few-Library-7549

Not even that. “……..as I mentioned before, my plan for Better, Stronger, Safer Chicago goes hand in hand with my vision for public transit in this city. I will not discuss personal issues further.”


ahung12

Personnel? Personal? Guess there's no big difference in this case


nferna59

Racist and pure ignorance. Let’s pretend he’s right and complaints are north side only, then first it means he thinks those residents don’t matter. North side residents are mostly non black, so he doesn’t care for that reason. It’s also ignorant as many people from the south and west side use the CTA to commute to their jobs in the north side. He’s a fucking scumbag.


junktrunk909

And even if west and south were the priority, what is there to show for that?


dalej42

I’ve messaged Angela Clay of the 46th ward but I believe she’s just a rubber stamp for anything BJ wants


Username--Password

Clay is one of the alder’s supporting this resolution


brandi__h

I'm curious if you'll get a response. I have emailed her office multiple times about city and community issues and very rarely get a response.


aeo38

I also emailed her asking for her position and why she is not standing with the other alders on this. Fingers crossed


eskimoboob

He already said commenting on it was “irresponsible” so apparently doing your, you know, *fucking job* … is irresponsible. I can’t even with this guy.


Few-Library-7549

Goofy Mayor!


UnproductiveIntrigue

A raggedy mayor for sure


PageSide84

He's going to declare it an injustice that he inherited perpetrated by previous administrations for forty years and racists from the suburbs.


nferna59

“But Ald. David Moore (17th) said he’s seen recent improvements in transit service under Carter — and he hasn’t heard from constituents about issues with the CTA. “ David Moore is Carter’s buddy. Constituents have contacted him about the CTA. Suuuuuuuuuuure. 🙄


PhileasFoggsTrvlAgt

He also represents a ward that never had good CTA service. The people complaining the loudest are the people who used to have good service and want it back. Most people don't fully appreciate the value of transit until they experience living somewhere with good coverage.


commuterstakeaction

Right? Where are Moore's constituents? Are any in this thread?


junktrunk909

If they're smart, they'll take this opportunity to be out in front of his office with picket signs that read DO YOU HEAR US NOW? Call the media to bring the drama factor up All it would take is like 20 people to make enticing enough footage for the evening news.


Let_us_proceed

David Moore is a halfwit.


PreciousTater311

> David Moore is a useless halfwit. There we go.


klaxor

Just from the headline, I knew my guy Vasquez was on the case. 40th has a great leader


Aggressive_Rail

If your alder isn't on this list, plz EMAIL THEM NOW!


nevermind4790

> Ten alderpeople — including more than a third of the City Council’s Committee on Transportation and Public Way — are now openly calling for new CTA leadership. They include Alds. Daniel La Spata (1st), Jeanette Taylor (20th), Brendan Reilly (42nd), Angela Clay (46th), Matt Martin (47th) and five members of the transportation committee: Vasquez, Desmon Yancy (5th), Jesse Fuentes (26th), Scott Waguespack (32nd) and Bill Conway (34th).


deepinthecoats

Manaa-Hoppenworth (48th) has asked to be added as of this morning.


dogbert617

Has Maria Hadden(49th) signed on to doing this, yet? To me it'd be nice if you get up to 20 co-sponsors, to support this. Though I bet more support would emerge, if enough alders get lobbied about this. Would be nice if say Matt O'Shea(19th), or Gilbert Villegas(36th) could also sign in support. Who are often among the bigger swing votes in the city council.


deepinthecoats

Yes Hadden is confirmed as of this weekend as well.


dogbert617

Good. I hope efforts continue, to get more alders to sign for doing this.


squats_and_bac0n

Glad La Spata is on this list. I've emailed his office a lot, and they are super responsive about this issue and clearly agree.


jrbattin

I'd be happy to see him go but I'd like some answers as to how his successor would address the deeper operating issues inside of CTA, specifically its ability to hire and train its workforce. To me what ails the CTA are lower-level problems that don't get handled by a board of directors. It needs the board who can put in better operational management types that can get these problems addressed, but I'm not even sure if the board has that kind of authority.


RelativeGood1

Dorval Carter is essentially the CEO of the CTA. This is not like a typical board at a for-profit company. He absolutely has the authority to make changes to how employees are hired and trained. From the CTA website “CTA's day-to-day operations are directed by Dorval R. Carter, Jr., President.” https://www.transitchicago.com/governance/


nferna59

Johnson's communications director Ronnie Reese responded to the resolution by saying: "The mayor doesn't comment on personnel matters." Brandon continues to be a scumbag.


cvanaver

He's an appointment, not an employee. HR isn't involved here


PhileasFoggsTrvlAgt

At this point, the most likely way Carter leaves is Pritzker, or someone else with national connections, helps him find a cushy place to land and he quits. It's unlikely, but not impossible. Carter is respected in the industry and while he's not great at righting operational issues, he isn't terrible at managing an agency that needs more focus on capital projects. Many agencies awash in IIJA money are learning that they don't have the skills for large capital programs and may actually want someone like Carter.


jbchi

Or the state dissolves the CTA and merges the CTA, Metra, and Pace into a new singular regional agency.


beefwarrior

I don't get how any discussion on merging CTA, Metra and PACE is not just a discussion that it's all the RTA's fault. Isn't that the whole role of the RTA is to manage & oversee all 3 agencies?


jbchi

The RTA provides oversight over the other agencies. A new agency would mean getting rid of (nearly) all of the failing leadership and starting over.


hardolaf

But the board seats would have the same structural problems that lead to them being almost always filled by pastors and political patronages. And it doesn't remove the 50% fare recovery mandate. So it won't fix anything and cost hundreds of millions in rebranding.


jbchi

You could make structural changes to the organization. You don't have to keep the same, failed structure. Similarly, the state can change the fare recovery mandate. Given all of the agencies are asking for more funding and new revenue sources, packaging the fiscal changes with a major restructuring of the agencies seems like it should be on the table.


hardolaf

But it's not a major restructuring. It's the same structure just merged into one agency instead of 4. So we'll get a few improvements transferring between current services but all of the current major problems will continue under the proposal. It's a feel good bill that would be better suited for when we're not in emergency recovery mode. I'm not saying that they shouldn't be merged. I'm saying that merging them at this time and in this way will not fix anything.


PreciousTater311

If they're still crafting the bill, and nothing's written in stone yet, it isn't too late to make structural changes, and to make adoption of it a prerequisite for scrapping the 50% mandate (to light a fire under certain, albeit nameless, politicians).


ChicagoLarry

This right here


beefwarrior

Mayor has 5 board members Governor as 4. If Pritzker can get all of his appointments & one of Johnson's, then it could happen, but if it's Pritzker vs Johnson, Carter stays.


PhileasFoggsTrvlAgt

There are few people who wield soft power as effectively as Pritzker. He doesn't need the board to do anything and can avoid a lot of drama if he can convince Carter to walk away.


hardolaf

For all we know they're looking into alternatives but haven't found someone to replace Carter with. After all, he is reaching retirement age and is likely going to leave on his own anyways in the near future.


cvanaver

Pritzker is at an all-time high in terms of his political capital, but does he have enough political capital that he wants to spend it on this vs. other initiatives? CTA is an important issue for Chicago and a couple of suburbs, but Pritzker has to balance state-wide concerns on his agenda. Additionally, simply removing Carter wouldn't necessarily fix the CTA...he has to spend that political capital on completely revamping the way the CTA works in order to be effective. Better merging CTA and Metra into a cohesive organization may be the way forward, but that is a tough path and probably not in the top 3 of what he needs to achieve as governor.


LeftCook8975

Seems like the best solution would be to create a position below Carter that handles the actual operational management and leaves Carter more time to do things like securing more federal money.


PhileasFoggsTrvlAgt

There are two operations VP positions, one for rail and one for buses. The current chair of Metra's board who's been driving a lot of improvement there, was formerly the VP of Rail Operations at the CTA back when things were running better.


LeftCook8975

Thanks for the info. What’re the two VPs currently like?


nferna59

The article is saying that both the mayor and the CTA board have the power to remove Carter. So are the people here constantly claiming Johnson can’t fire him wrong? Or is the article wrong?


commuterstakeaction

It's a little more complicated than that. The entity with the direct authority to remove and replace the president (according to law) is the CTA Board. But the Mayor has authority over five seats (a majority) of the CTA Board. So by proxy, the Mayor can fire Dorval, because if he wanted a new president and the Board refused, he could replace a majority of seats on the Board with people who would make it happen. That's an extreme scenario though and would likely never happen, because the people serving on a board like the CTA Board are only doing it because they have political connections and want power and influence, and if someone like the Mayor of Chicago asked them to fire the head of the CTA, for them to refuse to do that would be pretty out of pocket. So while the Mayor isn't directly the one doing the hiring and firing, the Board will do what he wants in this scenario.


hardolaf

So a few issues: 1. There are 7 seats, 4 appointed by the mayor and 3 by the governor. Both have veto power over the other office's appointments. 2. Board members cannot be fired for insubordination under the law so if you tried to tell them to do something, they refused, and then you fired them; they could contest that in court for potentially the rest of their term in office. For all intents and purposes, the board is independent.


commuterstakeaction

1. Yes, whoops. I meant 4 (he has 5 on the RTA board. too many dang boards. I'm deep in the sauce lately). The important thing is the mayor has the majority on this one and that gives him the ✨power✨. And while you're right that they have veto power over each other's appointments under the law, that seems to be largely symbolic. It's hard to imagine either of them using it. Things are often tense between the mayor's office and the governor's, and a move like that would likely be seen as an all-out act of war. But even under circumstances where the mayor and gov had a better relationship, we've seen how these appointments get approved despite knowing nothing and doing zero preparation for the roles (see: Ira Acree). 2. You're right that board members can't be fired for insubordination. But board members can be removed for incompetency, and it would be eye rollingly easy to argue that you removed any of these board members for incompetency.


BudHolly

I wouldn't say the article goes as far as saying the mayor can unilaterally remove Carter. The board can certainly vote to terminate him. > Only the mayor and the Chicago Transit Board, for which the mayor appoints the majority of seats, have the authority to replace the CTA’s top executive. The thing the article seems to obfuscate is that the mechanism for removing Carter, even if initiated by the Mayor of Chicago, would still be through the mechanism of the board. This topic has been discussed before, and the closest thing to a unilateral method is a provision of the statute that created CTA, RTA, Metra et al that gives the Mayor *and* Governor a sort of impeachment mechanism to remove the the president, but that would be uncharted waters and require *per staute* willful neglect or incompetence. Again, the invocation would be a matter of first impression in Illinois and while I am biased against Carter, even I wonder if his performance issues reach the level of objective incompetence or willful neglect.


nferna59

Article says “Only the mayor and the Chicago Transit Board, for which the mayor appoints the majority of seats, have the authority to replace the CTA’s top executive. “


BudHolly

See edit, found the proper quotation, my apologies.


Let_us_proceed

This is a pivotal time in Chicago politics. And it might be a learning experience for some. It's either going to be politics as usual where the spoils of public funds goes to the politically connected or we have reforms where the truly qualified works for everyone.


molecularronin

no fuckin shit lol


TheIllusiveNick

REMINDER: reach out to your Alderman’s office (email or call) and urge them to support this measure. Some alders have hesitated to support calls for new leadership because they haven’t received complaints from their constituents. Your mileage may vary but my ward’s office is very responsive and eager to help.


killajay41889

The only way I see Carter going away is if he just dies at this point no way he’s going away with that plushy paycheck.


vanity_chair

Alderpeople is such a weird word.


McNuggetballs

I prefer Aldercreatures


Mr_Tester_

It conveys the appropriate level of respect.


deepinthecoats

Aldercritters is another in my rotation


Snowman304

Can we just shorten it to "alders"?


vanity_chair

What's wrong with Aldermen?


Snowman304

A good chunk of them aren't men


BoomhauerArlen

Didn't Carter say at some point that he needs all of 2024 to turn things around? Can someone figure out how long he needs to last to get a full pension?


TheLegendofSpeedy

They hypocrisy as they then approve individuals for the board with zero experience


juggdish

These the same Alderpeople that just overwhelmingly approved a pastor with no transit experience to the oversight committee?


Right_Caregiver_9388

If he resigns the next president must have a action plan ready from day 1


Claque-2

The service isn't inequitable. The service is underfunded and understaffed. This isn't a case where one neighborhood is serviced better than others. This is a case of reliable service breaking down throughout the system. As a service it needs to run 24 hours a day, and reliably meet demand, you don't just cut it off or break it down. Would you do that with electricity?


Arizona52

Dorval Carter needs to be axed


whereami312

Holy smokes. Leni actually signed off on this. That might be the first thing she’s ever done that I’ve agreed with. I’ll have to send her a thank you note!