I read with interest the Aug. 25 article “15-minute train to O’Hare pitched” and the Aug. 25 editorial “An express train from the Loop to O’Hare in 15 minutes? We’re on board” about a proposed O’Hare Flyer express train. A much cheaper and more efficient way to accomplish this is by utilizing existing CTA infrastructure.
The Blue Line runs between O’Hare International Airport and the Loop. By adding a few switches, an airport express train could weave between local trains and proceed nonstop between O’Hare and the Loop. System software could easily be updated to safely route airport express trains around slower local trains. The infrastructure costs to improve the Blue Line would be a small fraction of the proposed O’Hare Flyer or the Elon Musk tunnel. It could also be accomplished in a fraction of the time without significant regulatory hurdles, e.g., negotiating with the railroads and securing federal approval.
Existing CTA trains could be configured to run express. However, it would be advantageous to build new cars. The cars could be equipped with state-of-the-art suspension systems whereby they could safely travel at higher speeds with enhanced stability, noise reduction and rider comfort on existing rails. Airport express cars could have a different design/color so riders could readily distinguish them from Blue Line trains and be equipped with luggage racks and other travel-friendly features.
Existing Blue Line stations in the Loop could be utilized, which would be far more convenient than the proposed new O’Hare Flyer station in the old post office. It would be great to have a dedicated Loop station for the airport express branched off and parallel to the Blue Line, but that could come later.
Furthermore, the same concept could be applied to the Orange Line to run express trains to and from Midway.
— Paul Juettner, Chicago
Fewer stops for Blue Line
Regarding the article about a train that would shuttle flyers from the Loop to O’Hare International Airport: It sounds more doable than other ideas put forward in the past. I wonder why the city does not have Blue Line A and B lines that would make fewer stops from downtown to O’Hare. This would likely decrease the time to O’Hare, perhaps to under 30 minutes. The infrastructure is already in place, and downtown is where the tourists are.
Certainly, downtown stations need upgrades, especially for tourists with luggage: elevators that work or escalators, as well as staff members who could assist tourists.
In addition, many stations are woefully dirty and could use cleaning, repairs and a coat of paint. Chicago subway stations are among the first sights many tourists see upon arriving in the city. Personally, I love the CTA but believe it could make a far better showing and utility.
Finally, I don’t see why a 15-minute train and a faster Blue Line could not coexist.
— Paul R. Herman, Chicago
How to reduce shootings
The Aug. 2 commentary (“Four ideas that could cut Chicago’s shootings in half”) suggesting ways to reduce criminal shootings by 50% in Chicago begs the question: Why should Chicagoans be satisfied with a 50% shooting reduction in the first place? The authors, former interim Chicago police Superintendent Charlie Beck, University of Chicago professor Jens Ludwig and community violence interventionist Chico Tillman, claim four “evidence-based” ways would reduce shootings. They ignore two necessary components.
The first is to silence the “all your fault” narrative directed at young people who have nothing to do with creating the social environments they inhabit. We might as well blame them for the COVID-19 pandemic or starting climate change. It’s past time to recognize that young adults are the solution, not the problem, and any effective anti-violence strategy converts them into empowered partners who strengthen neighborhood mechanisms of accountability.
It may start with fixing broken windows, cleaning up trash-filled lots, reducing the availability of weapons and better training of law enforcement personnel, but it doesn’t start with repairing a lack impulse control. It begins more positively, by thanking young people for raising the bar of academic excellence found in a handful of public high schools and also sprinkled throughout parochial classrooms and charter school learning centers. We ought to recognize students achieving near perfect attendance despite living with housing insecurity, and it’s overdue to acknowledge nameless students who quietly steer their peers away from participating in “teen takeovers.”
Secondly, it’s time to recognize what makes the village work. Published three decades ago, a seminal research study on the origins of anti-social behavior — “The Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods” — identified “collective efficacy,” or a sense of social cohesion and informal social control, as a buffer against delinquent and criminal behavior. The study found that when neighbors know each other, support each other and hold standards of behavior for their children together, the expected occurrence of crime does not happen.
Neighbors have the capacity to influence behaviors on their blocks and in their communities, and young people can be held to accountability standards that eschew violence. The premise for prevention is to create an accountability role for everyone to play, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.
Doing so sends the message: “Your life matters to me.”
— John K. Holton, Chicago
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Priorities for pediatric care
The University of Chicago Medicine recently announced the appointment of Emily Chase as the first president of Comer Children’s Hospital. As a medical student at Comer, I celebrate Chase’s appointment. New leadership offers an opportunity for a new vision that pediatric advocates should take seriously.
Across Illinois and the nation, hospitals have been closing inpatient pediatric units and shuttering high-acuity Level 1 facilities as reimbursement declines. A long-standing question is: Who is our medical system really built for, and where does pediatric care fit?
Comer is the only academic children’s hospital serving Chicago’s South Side, caring for our region’s most vulnerable patients. Yet in its integrated health system, pediatric care must compete with adult care, which is often more profitable. Healthcare administrators often say, “No margin, no mission.” Pediatric services disproportionately care for families on Medicaid, whose reimbursement rates rarely match affluent, private-payer-heavy markets. Amid these reimbursement pressures, Comer’s new chapter should not allow margin to become the mission.
Now is the time for a strategic visioning process. Call it Comer 2035, a vision separate from the system’s broader Elevate 2035 plan that would articulate Comer’s pediatric-specific values and commitments.
I am optimistic about Chase, a proven transformative leader; the question is whether that transformation will extend to pediatric care. This moment calls on pediatric advocates to pair honest scrutiny with optimism, or we risk watching pediatric care on the South Side settle for less than our children deserve.
Chicago’s most vulnerable children too often lack a seat at the healthcare table. The University of Chicago Medicine has offered a real chance to change that. Comer’s future is bright if we advocate for it, and Chase’s leadership can exemplify what it means to be at the forefront of pediatric medicine.
— Chuka Onuh, medical student, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Handling of allegations
The Aug. 27 front-page story on the Rev. Michael Pfleger’s return to his Auburn Gresham parish (“‘The archdiocese’s process is unjust, and it’s broken’”) left me with some questions. Regarding the comment that the system is “broken,” I’m wondering if this is compartmentalization. Genuine sexual abuse has affected so many. While there may be room for discussion that we have gone to the other extreme regarding this issue, we can’t ever forget that there was a time when many children were abused and there were grave mistakes in how the abuse was handled.
I hope that the Chicago Archdiocese will continue to be a voice for those who have come forward while also finding a way to honor that one is innocent until proved guilty.
— Mandy May, Skokie
Note to readers
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