City Council committee advances plan to fund extension of Red Line to 130th Street
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The last stop on the South Side for the Chicago Transit Authority Red Line is 95th Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway – more than five miles north of the southern city limits.
But that may all be changing. On Monday, a City Council Finance Committee voted in favor of a funding plan to extend the Red Line south all the way to 130th Street.
However, as CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported, the method of paying for the project is getting mixed reactions.
Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) was the only member of the committee to vote against the plan. The reasoning is that her constituents would be paying millions for a project they would not directly benefit from.
"This Red Line is a matter of fairness," said Michael LaFargue, former president of the Red Line Extension Coalition. "These people - our community - needs it. They deserve it."
LaFargue lives on the Far South Side. For decades, he has advocated for the redline to extend farther south.
"Equity, access to jobs, faster transportation," LaFargue said.
If approved, the 5.6-mile extension – with new stops proposed for 103rd Street, 111th Street, Michigan Avenue, and 130th Street - would require a handful of city wards to put up $950 million under a newly-created tax increment financing district, or TIF.
This is the part of the plan to which Ald. Dowell objects.
"I support the extension. It's needed. It will benefit a lot of people," Dowell said. "But I want to see everyone contribute to that."
On Monday, Dowell voted against creating a new TIF district to fund the plan
She says her ward - which won't directly benefit from the project - would be forced to contribute $250 million of the $950 million needed.
"I believe that everyone should have skin in the game - not just five wards," Dowell said.
Some critics of the extension have raised safety concerns with the existing Red Line.
