As the Chicago Transit Authority lurches towards another mass transit doomsday, one wonders if there is anyway to apply the brakes to this runaway train?

Austerity and economy are two words which have been permanently banished from the vocabularies of local bureaucrats and politicians. Faced with an imminent budget crisis, the only solution proposed is more government spending to bail out the profligate transit agency. The Illinois General Assembly, which cannot manage to get its own financial house in order, must rescue the CTA, once again.

Under the administration of Frank Kruesi, the former head of the CTA, money flowed like water as the transit agency embarked upon an ambitious rebuilding and construction maintenance program. Older elevated stations were to be modernized or replaced. Train platforms were to be enlarged to accommodate longer trains. Remodeled stations were to be made fully accessible to the handicapped. New technology was to be put into place.

Without being unduly cynical, one might recall how in the dimly remembered past public transportation visionaries called for reducing the length of the same rail platforms that are now being enlarged to permit eight car trains to make all stops on the Ravenswood Brown Line. How much money might have been saved if the platforms were left alone in the first place? The planners felt that lengthy platforms were an anachronism years ago when the trains were reduced from eight cars to six. Today, however, everything old is new again as longer trains are now back in vogue and the platforms must be rebuilt accordingly.

For a supposedly cash strapped transit authority, you would never imagine the lavishness of some of the newly reopened train stations. The wooden depots of yore are out. Bright stainless steel railings, decked out with the CTA logo are the norm. Beautifully polished and varnished hardwood floors can be seen inside some stations. Compass point figures cut from red and black granite are embedded in the concrete outside of some stations with the name of the stop engraved in the stone. Other brand new stations are made of concrete, steel and glass. The late Louis Sullivan would be proud of the ornamental detail employed.

Arguably, many Chicagoans can see the benefit of more decorative public transit stations and terminals in locations frequented by tourists. Visitors to the two airports or the Loop may be favorably impressed by such details and tell their friends back home. This in turn might serve to spur more tourism. But is it too much to ask that outlying stops might be assembled in a clean and workmanlike manner using simpler building materials and blue prints that yield more utilitarian structures for everyday Chicagoans to use? Kruesi and his crew spent large sums of money upon the Lake Street Green Line despite the fact that the declining number of passengers necessitated the closing and consolidation of numerous stops on this particular rail route. There are some handsome looking elevated structures in place on a line that sometimes lacks for riders as it passes through blighted neighborhoods. If you build it, will they come?

These expenditures reminded me of how the Chicago Board of Education sometimes had brass door knobs installed in classrooms which featured the seal of the board (a hand lifting a torch) on the surface of each knob. These custom made ornate door knobs and hardware items were representative of the type of spending which occurred in more prosperous times when the board of education was flush with taxpayer dollars. In leaner times, plain materials were more than sufficient to get the job done.

Recently, I observed a beautifully executed mosaic with an elaborate floral design had been installed within the last week using hundreds of individual hand set tiles. Each tile was no larger than a penny in size. How much did this cost the CTA? Did anyone consider that Chicago’s climate is not identical to those of Miami, Los Angeles or San Diego? The mosaic is on the exterior surface of an inclined ramp leading to a CTA train station. How will the tiles weather during rain and snow? Will rock salt, sand and snow shovels damage the mosaic during Winter months? How many passengers will slip and fall if the tiled surface becomes wet?

Am I being too critical? Consider the fact that almost immediately after the mosaic was installed, the city began removing all of the adjacent sidewalks leading to the station. When a light rain began to fall, commuters began to track wet mud on to the brand new mosaic. A yellow pylon was placed on the ramp to warn passengers that the tiled surface was slippery when wet. So much for interagency coordination of construction projects.

It must have looked lovely on the drafting table. But how practical is it? The mosaic ought to have been installed on the floor of a corridor inside of a school or a library rather than being exposed to the elements.
Such extravagance seems a bit out of order for a transit agency that claims to be facing insolvency.

I am not opposed to the beautification of public places. When money is scarce, however, priorities have to be made and belts have to be tightened.

Daniel Kelley is a regular columnist for The Chicago Daily Observer.