Politics

Transit Advocates Call for a Transparent CTA Leader Search as Board Takes No Action at Quickly Scheduled Meeting

The Chicago Transit Board took no action on the potential appointment of a new agency president at a hastily scheduled special board meeting Thursday afternoon, despite widespread concern the meeting would see directors consider Mayor Brandon Johnson’s reported pick for the role, city Chief Operating Officer John Roberson.

A former Chicago Aviation Commissioner under former Mayor Richard M. Daley, Roberson also worked at the Chicago Park District and Housing Authority, as well as in Cook County government. The news of his potential appointment was first reported by Crain’s Chicago Business.

Asked at an unrelated press conference Wednesday whether he wanted the CTA board to confirm Roberson, the mayor demurred.

“You’ve got to talk to the chair,” Johnsons said. “You know, that’s his authority to be able to call a special meeting. I don’t have that agenda. These boards … convene all the time, and I don’t have the absolute control over every single entity of government.”

CTA Board Chairman Lester Barclay made no public comments regarding the mayor’s potential pick of Roberson, a move that requires directors’ approval.

A person close to the process said a potential appointment without a transparent search process demonstrates the tension between old-school Chicago politics and the mayor’s stated pledges to work more collaboratively, adding that they hoped Johnson would take the latter approach without the potential showdown that pushing through a candidate could create.

The mayor’s potential choice of Roberson as successor to retired CTA President Dorval Carter touched off a firestorm among alderpeople, transit advocates and everyday transit passengers disappointed by a back-room process at a critical juncture for the agency.

Roberson, who has no experience working in public transit, could take the reins at a time when the CTA and its counterparts in the region are facing down a $771 million fiscal cliff next year when COVID relief money propping up their budgets runs dry.

On Wednesday, 10 alderpeople signed onto a letter calling on the mayor and the board to conduct a nationwide search.

“Such a process would help increase public confidence in city government by providing the necessary transparency, accountability, and accessibility that hard working Chicagoans deserve,” the letter reads. “After years of falling standards, we owe it to Chicagoans to find the right person who has the expertise, vision, and heart to meet this current moment.

It’s not the first time the mayor’s moves on transit have drawn scrutiny. Johnson’s nominee to serve on the RTA board, Rev. Ira Acree, withdrew his candidacy after an embarrassing City Council hearing where he said he didn’t take public transit and demonstrated an ignorance of the dire fiscal crisis facing the system.

Roberson’s public facing work on transit has been limited. He spoke at a December 2023 press conference where the Chicago Metropolitan Agency presented an extensive report on the future of public transit.

“The longstanding underfunding of transit operations coupled with the unprecedented challenges spurred by the pandemic have brought us to a critical inflection point in transit’s history,” Roberson said. “We cannot shy away from the scale of the funding needs our transit system faces. It is significant, but the value transit provides for the city and for our region is immeasurable.”

He was also reportedly involved in negotiations over the fallout of Greyhound potentially shuttering its West Loop Terminal.

Thursday’s meeting saw about half an hour of public comment, after which the board went into closed session for about an hour. They returned and adjourned without taking any further action, and the agenda for the meeting offered no details about what directors discussed behind closed doors.

Every single public commenter at Thursday’s meeting, scheduled with just over the required 48 hours notice, implored board members to slow down the process and conduct a transparent, national search that incorporated feedback from riders, lawmakers and other key stakeholders.

Kevin Irvine, who spent a decade on the CTA board of directors and currently serves on the Active Transportation Alliance’s board, said the agency is in “capable hands” with acting president Nora Leerhsen. Irvine told directors it took him years as a CTA director before he felt fully up to speed.

“At this critical time in the CTA’s history, we need the CTA to have a leader who can hit the ground running and who won’t need a crash course in bus and rail operations, vehicle and rail maintenance, capital project planning, transit union negotiations, and the complex web of potential sources of funding that are required to keep the system viable,” Irvine said.

The Active Transportation Alliance was part of a coalition of transit and community advocacy organizations that sent a letter to Mayor Johnson and the CTA board last month, urging them to conduct a full-fledged search for a new agency leader.

“Unfortunately, in the time since then, it has come more into focus that the exact opposite of a transparent and collaborative process had already been underway,” said Kyle Lucas of Better Streets Chicago, a group that was one of the signatories to that letter. “It was further alarming when this special meeting was scheduled only two days ago, leaving many transit riders feeling disenfranchised in engaging this body, particularly given that written public comment has an official cutoff date of 48 hours prior to a meeting.”

Caroline Pavlecic, a member of the CTA’s Citizens Advisory Board, slammed directors for considering a new leader without consulting that body.

“It’s disappointing that I have to be here making public comment in order to be heard on such a critical issue,” she said.

Contact Nick Blumberg: [email protected] | (773) 509-5434 | @ndblumberg

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