What types of transportation do you use during an average week, and how has this shaped your view of transportation policy?

Outside of winter, I try to utilize the bike infrastructure we have in Hyde Park to commute to events, or to take advantage of the bike path along the lakefront. I tend to use Metra or the #4 Bus for Chicago Fire games at Soldier Field. I also have an electric car for the times that I need to go down to Springfield or take a meeting outside of my neighborhood. But most often a couple colleagues and I carpool and I will walk from my apartment to the capitol or downtown.

What are some transportation challenges in your district?

My district, made up mostly of the Lakefront and Southside of Chicago, struggles the most with CTA and its inconsistency. Many of my constituents need to take a bus or walk anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes to access their nearest rail option, but also need to sometimes wait longer for a bus to arrive. These inconsistencies from ghost buses and ghost trains lead to isolation from other parts of the city, making it difficult to attend school, get to work on time, or get to doctors’ appointments.

These issues aren’t just limited to the CTA, but Metra has seen a decline in ridership from the south side and south suburbs (thanks to the Metra Electric-Cook County pilot, we’ve seen a positive uptick). These low numbers over time force leadership to consider altering schedules and routes, leading to less trains running and less stations being utilized.

How can the State of Illinois address the impending combined $700 million fiscal cliff facing the CTA, Metra, and Pace in a way that ensures sustained and adequate funding for the future?

Passenger rail is an incredibly important asset for any major region, especially for one that wants to take itself seriously as a global attraction. When we compare other metropolitan areas to cities across the world, we see deliberate national and local government investment. But we don’t see that here in America. The state of Illinois will not be able to solve the impending fiscal cliff on our own and will need serious investment from the federal government. I will work with members from our federal delegation to help promote the needs of our transit agencies to continue Chicago’s growth as a global attraction for residents and people looking to do business here.

But we also can’t talk about funding our transit agencies without talking about the governance structure. These three agencies have been siloed for almost the entirety of their existence and have failed to address the needs of their constituents, instead just protecting their own self-interest.

A federal rule allows for states to flex up to 50% of federal highway funds towards transit instead. New Jersey currently flexes 15%, and California flexes 12% compared to Illinois at just under 3%. Would you make any changes to this amount, and if so why?

Yes I would support increasing our flex fund to a higher number but can’t say for certain at what percent without having longer conversations about it. I support this increase because we need to do a better job of connecting communities to their needs when they exist outside of their immediate surroundings. In my district we have suffered from food, education, and healthcare deserts forcing my neighbors into longer and oftentimes, more unreliable and unaffordable methods of transportation. Investing in our transit and providing our residents with options to help connect them with the rest of their community will only improve the quality of life of the people we serve.

The Illinois Department of Transportation (“IDOT”) plays a significant role in transportation throughout the state and in Chicago. What is your opinion on their relationship with the Chicago Department of Transportation, local communities, and the impact that has?

For too long, IDOT, like many peer agencies across the country, hasn’t truly functioned as a multi-modal transportation agency. It’s been in practice, if not name, a highway department. It’s been an impediment to local agencies such as CDOT implementing high-quality safe street infrastructure communities and need.

Unfortunately, after decades of underinvestment in the human infrastructure that makes up state government, IDOT has been woefully understaffed. I’ve been proud to support state budgets over the last five years that have begun to restore institutional capacity at agencies across the board.

I’ve been pleased with many recent hires IDOT has made, particularly in their office of planning and programming, that are working to develop and implement more data-driven policies that focus more on the safety of vulnerable road users and the impact the transporatation sector has on the environment. There’s much more to be done and I’ll continue to push the department to live up to its name and support every Illinoisans transportation needs- irrespective of mode.

How do you view the Illinois General Assembly’s role in setting IDOT’s priorities for public transit, passenger rail, and strengthening accessibility in transportation?

I am confident the General Assembly can determine some parameters and goals for IDOT as we govern passenger rail. The expectations, desires and needs people from all over the state have for public transit will vary. While the needs of the agencies in Cook County and Northern Illinois take up much of our attention, we need to start thinking about how this work can connect with people in downstate Illinois.

An example I would use is how members of the Chicago delegation work with the Farm Bureau to ‘adopt’ a County that is more rural and more dependent on agriculture as their economic engine. These programs allow us the chance to learn more about industries we don’t interact with in our day-to-day lives, so we can better understand their issues when we vote.

We should consider working groups similar to this for our transit projects. IDOT needs to work with the General Assembly to ensure all the projects they work on and we vote for, aren’t continuously siloed like we’ve seen in Chicago and Suburban Cook.

What is your position on IDOT’s current proposals for rebuilding North Du Sable Lake Shore Drive?

We have to make sure any changes we make to DuSable Lake Shore Drive ensure easier and safer accessibility to the lake for residents and protecting our shoreline. Any future plans must take into account reducing the number of cars on the road which should lead to less traffic congestion and an expansion of public transportation usage as well as make it easier to access the lake.