It's time for another game of What the *&^%$#@! is G-Rod Doing Now?
Okay, when did this happen?
Transit Riders' Alliance:
Act Now: No Amtrak Cuts!
"On Tuesday, June 24, Governor Blagojevich threatened to eliminate two programs that matter to transit riders. The first was the State support for student & disabled riders and free rides to seniors.* Those services are mandated. The end result would be reduced transit budgets statewide.
"More shocking, however, is the Governor’s threat to eliminate the Amtrak Illinois program. [link] This program was doubled in 2006 and has far surpassed all expectations. The Governor’s outline of the threatened cuts states that since 2007 ridership has increased 'from 42% to 67%, depending upon the line.' Trains are frequently sold out. Service needs to double again to meet growing demand.
"(To illustrate the scale of the Amtrak funding, the Illinois DOT recently received a special appropriation for roadkill cleanup that was roughly double the size of the annual Amtrak appropriation.)"
That's right, folks---we spend more on roadkill than we do on Amtrak. If you are similarly disgusted, that link in boldface takes you to a page that lets you send an email to our esteemed governor [/sarcasm], which he will probably ignore, but go ahead and do it anyway.
(So this appears to have happened sometime between the server fiasco and all my work from two weeks ago getting dumped back into my inbox. And people wonder why I'm so reluctant to cash in vacation time.)
Needless to say, people all over the state are pretty mad.
Southern Illinoisan:
Amtrak trains to Carbondale threatened with cutbacks
Bloomington Pantagraph:
Passenger train group criticizes proposal to cut state's support of Amtrak
Chicago Tribune:
Budget stalemate threatens Amtrak
Well, maybe people in Chicago are actually more ambivalent than angry about the news, given that the Trib is only copying that AP blurb and the Chicago Sun-Times isn't reporting anything at all. But there's a crisis brewing downstate (really, really downstate). More from the Southern:
Blagojevich: Cut 2 of 3 Carbondale trains
Amtrak cuts would leave only early morning train departures available
If Blago cuts Amtrak, we'd have only an after-midnight train
Everyone and their houseplant is chalking it up to yet another political stunt (what else is new?), but it's still a horrifying thought: the entire Illinois Service cut just like that. Just when we need it most. What a phenomenally stupid idea.
[Catch an Illinois Train---while you still can. Actually... what's wrong with this picture?]
*Which was his own *&^%$#@! idea in the first place! Grrrahh!!!
posted by Jennifer @ 3:12 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Wow, I had no idea. Why are trains such a frequent locus of political dick-wagging? Grr.
Because driving is The American Way, of course. Even when it becomes so blasted expensive that people stop doing it and cram onto our pathetic little joke of a passenger rail system instead.
I for one had no idea that scraping dead raccoons off the road was so expensive. I thought that's what "community service" sentences were for.
Speaking of the state judicial system, does anybody know what's up with the Thomson Correctional Center? When we passed it in '06 it was empty and you could ride right up to it without a soul around to see you. But when we passed it last week there were vehicles in the parking lot, flags on the flagpoles, and "No Trespassing" signs right by the road. (I got a picture but ended up deleting it to make room for something more aesthetically pleasing.)
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