(StarNewspapers.com posted the following report by Gary Tridgell on February 6.)
CHICAGO — Metra will be receiving yet another opinion about plans for its first suburb-to-suburb line..
The South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association is preparing to send a letter to Metra objecting to the exclusion of the south suburbs from a new route connecting O’Hare International Airport and Joliet.
Most of the line would include the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern (EJ&E) Railroad tracks, a freight railroad long envisioned for commuter rail service linking the suburbs.
Matteson Mayor Mark Stricker, speaking at an association meeting Tuesday, is irked at the way Metra announced the plans at a news conference last week.
The event involved mainly northwest suburban officials. South suburban mayors, who had paid for studies about EJ&E service through their towns, had no idea an announcement was forthcoming.
“I think we are owed a sincere apology for the whole way this was brought to the public’s attention,” Stricker said. “It is sufficient to say we are unhappy.”
On Friday, south suburban members of the General Assembly are set to meet with Metra officials, including board chairman Jeffrey Ladd, about the EJ&E plans. The lawmakers have argued the new line ignores needs in the south suburbs to improve job access.
The opposition comes while Metra is trying to build support for the line, which would cost $1 billion and take at least 10 years to build.
Ladd has said the portion of the EJ&E chosen for the new service will reward Metra with the most riders, adding that it is not the role of commuter rail to cure unemployment woes.
Stricker called the comments “obnoxious.”
“It is calloused,” he said. “It is like saying, ‘Go away, don’t pester me.’ “