Chuck Sweeny: The other plan to ease Chicagoland rail congestion

By Chuck Sweeny
Staff writer

Since 2003, railroads, the U.S., the state of Illinois and local governments have been working on a rail congestion solution called CREATE. That should be the priority.

 

Posted May 9, 2016 at 6:30 PM
Updated at 2:46 PM

We live on the edge of Chicagoland, the nation's third-largest metropolitan area, with 284 communities and 9.5 million people. And it's coming this way.

Chicagoland is big and sprawling and historically prosperous for a reason: People and businesses settle in transportation hubs. And back in the 1850s, Chicago's conniving leaders set out to make their new city the nation's rail hub, luring the newfangled steam contraptions to the Windy City while St. Louis was busy tending to its riverboat trade.

The Chicagoans succeeded. But the rail infrastructure to move trains was designed in a different century — the 19th. In the age of one- and two-mile long freight trains, that doesn't work too well.

Every day 500 freight trains made up of more than 37,500 freight cars, as well as 700 Metra commuter trains and Amtrak long-distance passenger trains, have to snake through Chicagoland on the lines of six railroads. That wastes time and money.

And, according to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, or CMAP, rail freight volume in Chicagoland is expected to double by 2025.

Luckily, they're doing something about it. Since 2003 there has been a public-private partnership in place to streamline Chicagoland's rail system and speed trains in, out and around. It's called CREATE, or Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program.

CREATE features 70 projects, including 25 new roadway overpasses or underpasses to eliminate grade crossings, six new rail overpasses or underpasses to separate freight and passenger tracks, 36 freight rail improvement projects, viaduct improvements, grade crossing enhancements, and integration of information from rail dispatch systems so that railroads have the same information. It is paid for by railroads, the U.S., the state of Illinois and local governments.

As of February 2015, 22 CREATE projects had been completed, with $28.3 billion in positive economic impact from reduced travel times, fuel savings and safety improvements, CMAP estimated.

The total CREATE cost is $3.8 billion, but only about a quarter of that has been committed, CMAP said in 2015.

I'm telling you this to provide some context to the controversy over a plan by Great Lakes Basin Transportation Inc. to build a privately funded $8 billion, 278-mile railroad bypass from southern Wisconsin through Boone County and southeast into Indiana.

This, too, is designed to speed trains around Chicagoland, and if rail traffic increases as CMAP predicts, there could be the traffic to warrant it in the future. The Boone County Board will discuss the Great Lakes Basin proposal at 6 p.m. Thursday at a board retreat in the Boone County Courtroom, 1212 Logan Ave., Belvidere.

On Monday, I called railroads serving Chicagoland to get their opinions of the Great Lakes Basin bypass

Patrick Waldron of Canadian National declined to comment. However, the CN bought the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern belt railroad in 2009 to better move its trains around Chicagoland. CN touts this as its "Chicago Connection."

Andy Cummings of Canadian Pacific said CP hasn't commented on the Great Lakes Basin plan. He sent me a link to CP's white paper outlining the railroad's proposal to merge with Norfolk Southern, a transaction that, among other things, "would also alleviate congestion in the key rail hub of Chicago, where gridlock in the winter of 2013-14 hobbled the industry for months and threatened to hinder the U.S. economic recovery."

Union Pacific made its position clear: "After carefully reviewing the proposal, Union Pacific determined in July 2014 that it was not interested in moving forward with a discussion on the Great Lakes Basin bypass project, an exceedingly expensive idea with no publicly identified funding sources," said Calli B. Hite, a UP spokeswoman.

Hite said the Union Pacific "is focused on several major public-private partnerships, including CREATE, which will benefit the region and enhance efficiency for Chicago-area and regional railroad operations."

If the entrepreneurs who want to build the Great Lakes Basin rail bypass can do it, great, I'm all for free enterprise. There will inevitably be traffic for it in the future. In the meantime, rail freight is down nearly 12 percent from a year ago, according to a May 4 report by the Association of American Railroads. One big reason is the decline of the coal market resulting from cheap natural gas, which travels by pipeline.

The immediate priority in my book is to get CREATE's 70 projects completed as soon as possible. That will speed freight and passenger trains, greatly reduce road traffic backups and improve Chicagoland's economy. That helps us all.

Chuck Sweeny: 815-987-1366: csweeny@rrstar.com; @chucksweeny

Above is from:  http://www.rrstar.com/article/20160509/NEWS/160509517/?Start=2

Despite Their Unpopularity, Rauner and Trump Likely Won’t Boost Democratic Fortunes

 

Commentary/Politics - Illinois Politics
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Written by Rich Miller

Sunday, 08 May 2016 06:03

With yet another poll showing plunging Downstate support for Governor Bruce Rauner in a Republican district and the intense Republican freakout over Donald Trump’s impending presidential nomination and its impact on independent suburban women, there appears to be a growing feeling among Democrats, particularly in the Illinois Senate, that they need to get out of the way to let the other party crash and burn.

The almost year-long state-government impasse is most definitely having an impact on Rauner’s poll numbers. Bernie Schoenburg reported in the State Journal-Register last week that a Public Policy Polling (PPP) poll of appointed Republican state Representative Sara Wojcicki Jimenez’s Springfield-area district had Rauner upside down, with 37 percent approving of the way the governor is doing his job and 54 percent disapproving. Rauner won that district 58-37 in 2014, according to Illinois Election Data’s numbers. Basically Rauner’s numbers have flipped almost entirely.

Another PPP poll of GOP state Representative Terri Bryant’s southern-Illinois district near Carbondale was even worse for the governor. Rauner won Bryant’s district 60-33, but 57 percent of voters in that district disapprove of Rauner’s job performance, while only 33 percent approve. Both polls were taken April 14 throug 17 and had margins of error of a bit over 4 percent.

A PPP poll taken last August in Bryant’s district had the governor’s job approval rating at 40 percent and his disapproval rating at 51. That’s a net loss of 13 points in eight months. And, again, this is a Republican district, albeit one that has plenty of government workers.

Bryant is also experiencing a free fall, if the pollster’s numbers are correct. Last August, PPP had her at a 50-percent job-approval rating and a 27-percent disapproval rating. Now she’s at 42 percent approval and 43 percent disapproval. That’s a 24-point swing.

Meanwhile, Gallup’s daily March tracking polls showed 70 percent of women nationally had an unfavorable view of the presumptive nominee Trump. That number is surely higher in the Democrat-leaning Illinois, where independent suburban women have been the deciding factor in just about every major statewide race since 1990.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why Rauner recently let it be known that he won’t endorse Trump and won’t attend the Republican convention in Cleveland this summer, and why, as I write this, appointed Comptroller Leslie Munger is expected to make the same decisions because she’s up for special election this fall.

And you also don’t have to be Einstein to realize that the one-two combo of Rauner and Trump could spell big trouble for down-ballot Republicans.

On the other hand, Rauner’s team says it has polling that shows, by a two-to-one margin, that voters blame House Speaker Michael Madigan more than the governor for the ongoing impasse. To voters, Madigan is “the all-knowing puppet master,” explained one Rauner official last week. Madigan’s been around so long and is believed to have so much control over Illinois politics and government that he’s seen by voters as “the key to getting something done.”

So as long as this impasse is going on, Rauner’s legislative allies have a handy pivot they can use, paid for with Rauner’s cash. Whenever Democratic legislators or candidates demand their Republican opponents answer for the latest Trump outrage or their support for and/or from the unpopular Rauner, the Republicans can turn it back on the Democrats by demanding they justify their support for and/or from the obstructive Speaker Madigan (or Democratic Party of Illinois Chair Madigan, in the case of Senate candidates).

But even if yet another “Fire Madigan” effort by Republicans isn’t as effective as they believe it will be (the first two tries failed badly), many Democrats will freely admit right now that voters are overwhelmingly blaming incumbents rather than a single political party or person for the impasse – and there are a whole lot more Democratic incumbents than Republicans in the General Assembly.

Once your opponent goes down in a campaign, you never take your boot off that person’s neck. So with Rauner and Republican legislators going down and Trump about to make a big splash, there’s naturally plenty of temptation among a certain type of Democrat to keep this impasse going.

But all those legislative Democrats may wind up doing if the impasse lasts through November is distract Illinois voters from the weirdness at the national and statewide levels.

Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax (a daily political newsletter) and CapitolFax.com.

Above is from:  http://www.rcreader.com/commentary/rauner-trump-wont-boost-democratic-fortunes/

Mainstream may become publicly traded in 2018

 

 

Airtricity founder O'Connor aims to float Mainstream in 2018

Gavin McLoughlin Twitter

 

1Eddie O'Connor, Chief Executive of Mainstream Renewable Power Photo: Tom Burke

Eddie O'Connor wants to float Mainstream Renewable Power on the stock market by the end of 2018.

The company swung to an after-tax profit of €96m last year after losing almost €50m in 2014, and is now looking to raise at least €100m in equity, saying that there has been an "indication of a significant level of appetite to become part of the Mainstream growth story from third-party institutional and strategic investors.

"I think 2018 would seem to be to be a reasonable time to pitch a flotation. We'd be catholic about when the company goes. If the price is right, well then you'd consider whatever. But currently our thinking would be that we access the capital markets. This is a very very hungry business for cash," O'Connor, who founded Airtricity and is Mainstream's co-founder and chief executive, told the Sunday Independent.

The business has long been mulling a stock market flotation but delayed the plan as it went through a restructuring process that saw the business realigned to focus on developing markets. Last year, the company sold an offshore project for £82.9m.

It has not guided a price to potential equity investors, O'Connor said. PJT Partners has been tasked with leading the process.

"We've talked about raising this equity money, and €100m has been mentioned. If somebody came in and offered us €200m, we would say we could accelerate... we would welcome that," O'Connor said.

The company said it aims to have 1,000 megawatts (MW) of assets under construction this year.

It said three projects in South Africa are under construction and have been transferred to a joint venture with investment company Actis, triggering a cash payment of €28m.

Another joint venture in Chile has been awarded contracts to build and operate wind projects of 300MW.

O'Connor said the company's revenues for 2016 will "by and large" be driven by the successful completion of projects in its pipeline.

Last year, Mainstream won contracts for 1,250 megawatts of projects, O'Connor said.

"We're going to enter in to a number of other competitions. That 1,000 [that the company aims to have under construction this year] won't be all that we've won. We'll still have to build or sell another 250 megawatts from what was won last year.

"We anticipate winning the same, or possibly a lot more, of what was won last year. There are auctions coming up.

"It's not as if you live from hand to mouth, very few people would have the quality of projects that we have."

Above is from:  http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/airtricity-founder-oconnor-aims-to-float-mainstream-in-2018-34693579.html

Illinois Education Chief Decides Against Chicago Schools Takeover

Illinois Education Chief Decides Against Chicago Schools Takeover

Governor Bruce Rauner launched a probe of the nation’s third-largest school system in February.

CHICAGO, May 6 (Reuters) – Chicago’s cash-strapped public school district is not in sufficiently bad financial shape to warrant a state takeover, according to an Illinois State Board of Education staff report.

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner launched a probe of the nation’s third-largest school system in February, contending it could lead to state oversight and a suspension of borrowing at debt-dependent, “junk”-rated Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

However, the report from state school Superintendent Tony Smith, posted on the board’s website ahead of a monthly meeting scheduled for Wednesday, said CPS does not meet “any of the criteria” to be certified in financial difficulty.

“The district has not realized two consecutive years of negative operating fund balances nor is it forecasted in this model,” the report stated.

It noted that negative operating balances are possible in fiscal 2018 and 2019.

“It’s clear in our analysis CPS has financial challenges and a spending problem,” state board spokeswoman Laine Evans said on Friday. “However, at this time they do not meet the criteria for certification of financial difficulty, as defined per statute. ISBE will continue to monitor the situation and the district’s finances.

The state education board’s recommendation undercuts a series of strident remarks made by Republican Rauner in January and February, asserting at one point the school system faced a “financial disaster” that would prevent it from remaining solvent through the end of its fiscal year in June.

The staff report also comes as Illinois remains in a crippling 11-month budget deadlock between Rauner and Democrats who control the state legislature. The impasse has hit the state’s higher education and social service systems particularly hard. Illinois is the only U.S. state without a full operating budget.

Rauner’s office continued to insist on Friday that CPS is in a financial mess.

“You don’t need an actuary or an accountant to know CPS has financial problems, otherwise the district wouldn’t be repeatedly asking the state for an additional half a billion dollars. It’s clear the district is in financial distress,” said Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly in a statement.

CPS said the report vindicated the district.

“This decision demonstrates that Governor Rauner’s attempts to drive CPS into bankruptcy are misguided and wrong. While CPS faces a $1 billion budget deficit next year, it can be solved if we all work together, as we are committed to doing,” said a statement from CPS spokeswoman Emily Bittner.

The deficit is mostly due to escalating annual pension payments that will reach $676 million this fiscal year, which ends June 30. The district’s efforts to gain an additional $480 million in state dollars to pay its pension bill became entangled in the ongoing impasse between Rauner and Democrats.

CPS officials, who have maintained the district is exempt under Illinois law from state oversight, are calling for a revamp of the state school funding formula to ensure poor children are not short-changed.

The decision not to declare the district in financial difficulty could suggest recognition by the Rauner-appointed state school board that it lacked proper legal footing to take over CPS in the first place, a Democratic legislative source said.

In April, Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigan issued an opinion that the state lacks the authority to take control of the school system’s finances, including its ability to borrow to help fund operational costs.

Above is from:  http://fortune.com/2016/05/07/illinois-education-chief-decides-against-chicago-schools-takeover/

Boone County Board, community prepare feedback on Great Lakes Basin Railroad

By Adam Poulisse
Staff writer

Posted May. 7, 2016 at 9:55 PM

BELVIDERE — Boone County Board members, with the help of the people they represent, are forming an official county statement that addresses concerns about a controversial railroad project that would expedite freight service at the expense of thousands of acres of farmland.

County Board members dedicated time at four committee meetings last week to discuss and hear from the public how the Great Lakes Basin Railroad — a 275-mile route that would cut through Boone County and other areas in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin — could affect the resources and safety of their home turf.

The feedback will be sent to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, a federal regulatory authority. The board will make a final decision to either approve or deny the project, or approve with conditions, following an environmental impact study. The deadline for feedback is June 15.

“We (have) to be careful about what we say because if we say, flat-out, ‘Don’t let it happen,’ and they decide they’re going to go ahead with it, we really have no place to talk," Planning, Zoning and Building Committee Chairman Denny Ellingson said during Wednesday's committee meeting. “We want to get this right and word it in a manner that says we are opposed."

The conversations at the committee level continue this week with the Public Safety Committee at 6 p.m. Monday, Finance Committee at 6 p.m. Tuesday and City-County Coordinating Committee at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. All meetings will take place in the Boone County Boardroom, 1212 Logan Avenue, Belvidere.

"It's more opportunity for the public to speak, and it gives board members the opportunity to come up with items the Surface Transportation Board needs to look at," County Administrator Ken Terrinoni said. "It's a way to engage the public, but also a way for board members to list all the things they want studied."

It all leads up to a public County Board retreat on Thursday, during which the board will meet as a whole and use the discussion at committee meetings to boil concerns down into one statement, according to board Chairman Bob Walberg. A board resolution stating the county's opposition to the project could be drafted.

"It's very clear that the board has a definite mandate to base their decision on evidence," Walberg said. "If we do a good job offering all our concerns, then there's a chance they might say the environmental impact is limiting for the project."

Board member Cathy Ward — who serves on the Administrative, Health and City/County committees — attended all committee meetings last week. She said it's important the county use the feedback to declare an official position against the railroad.

"Our people have been extremely eloquent (explaining) the loss of farmland, the loss of property, the dangers," she said. "I'm very proud of the people of Boone County who have stood up on this."

The LaSalle County Board in Illinois and Lake County Plan Commission in Indiana already have drafted resolutions in opposition to the project.

LaSalle County cites the loss of farmland and an increase in emergency-response times as key concerns.

The Lake County Plan Commission's resolution calls the proposed railroad "unwarranted and unnecessary."

Members of the Boone County Roads and Capital Improvements Committee are concerned about railroad crossings, drainage from construction, and other issues during the construction process.

"(Drainage could) have effects on the farmers' fields but roadways, too, and their deterioration," County Board member Karl Johnson said. "That’s an important aspect that often gets overlooked.”

Organizations such as Citizens Against the Great Lakes Basin Railroad Project have formed to provide a unified voice for the opposition. The group's signs can be found throughout the area. Hundreds of residents in Boone County and beyond attended a public scoping meeting on April 19, during which they shared their disapproval with members of the Surface Transportation Board.

Ang Daniels owns a 60-acre farm at Marengo and Denny roads in Garden Prairie; she raises corn, alfalfa, soybeans and cattle. The railroad, she said, would decimate most of the property that's been in her family for generations.

She's also concerned about delays in emergency-response times if the railroad cuts through the county.

"It'll be a (safety concern) if we don't do something to stop it, or say we're opposed," she told the Roads and Capital Improvements Committee.

Adam Poulisse: 815-987-1344; apoulisse@rrstar.com; @adampoulisse

 

Above is from:  http://www.rrstar.com/news/20160507/boone-county-board-community-prepare-feedback-on-great-lakes-basin-railroad

Chicago’s Channel 32 reports: Controversy surrounds proposed rail line

By: Larry Yellen

 

Posted:May 06 2016 09:53PM CDT

Updated:May 06 2016 10:44PM CDT

An eight-billion dollar plan to steer freight trains around Chicago and through rural areas downstate is generating a lot of fear and anxiety among residents in its path.

The Great Lakes Basin Railroad would run roughly between Milton, Wisconsin and LaPorte, Indiana.

 

Controversy surrounds proposed rail line: 'We were devastated'

 

Local

Controversy surrounds proposed rail line: 'We were devastated'

An eight-billion dollar plan to steer freight trains around Chicago and through rural areas downstate is generating a lot of fear and anxiety among residents in its path.

FOX 32’s Larry Yellen talked with the man behind the proposal, and with farmers who fear its impact.

“Our reaction was stunned. We were stunned that this was coming right through our back yard,” said Valinda King.

King and her husband Jeff have a 120 acre farm in Kankakee County. About a month ago, they learned that a proposed railroad will split their farmland in half, which is the same for their neighbor, Kevin Wancho.

“We were devastated. Our family and my wife’s family has had this ground for ever and ever,” Wancho said.

The proposed rail line is called Great Lakes Basin Railroad. It would run almost 250 miles from Northwest Indiana to Southwest Wisconsin, bypassing Chicago. It's the brainchild of Chicago businessman Frank Patton, who ran a successful software company, learned a lot about networks and says he's applying that to railroads.

“We take the traffic that's going through the city, that doesn't have to go into the city. It goes around,” Patton said.

GLBT officials say it's slow moving trains that illustrate the need for another route around the city. They say a freight train leaving Los Angeles takes 48 hours to get to Chicago, and then another 30 hours to make it through the city.

“Everybody wants to stick it out in the country where nobody lives. Well, we live here,” said Keith Mussman, the president of the Kankakee County Farm Bureau.

Mussman says the railroad will destroy farms, drainage systems and local lifestyles. 

“They're saying a 100 to a 110 trains a day. Every fifteen minutes. On double tracks,” King said.

“If we have 110 trains a day, I will make an offer to acquire Australia,” Patton said.

Patton is offering $20,000 an acre for farmers willing to sell. Plus, farmers willing to put a rail spur on their property, he says,   would have access to local rail service. He admits, though, some people might have to get used to seeing trains outside their kitchen windows.

"You're gonna have a train. So some people think that's just terrible, one guy told me, "I love looking at the trains,” Patton said.

He also says that while the railway would be privately owned, it benefits the entire country. Some farmers don't buy that.

“I don't think it's for the larger good, I think it's for the larger pocketbook. I think that's the whole thing behind this, that someone's going to try to make some money off of it,” Wancho said.

Patton says the Federal Surface Transportation Board has put the proposal on its key project's list. He sees that as good sign, but the rail line is still far from being a done deal.

Above is from:  http://www.fox32chicago.com/news/local/138507567-story#

Belvidere's $2.7 million in streetscape improvements are underway

 

 

By Susan Vela
Staff writer

Posted May 6, 2016 at 4:25 PM
Updated May 6, 2016 at 5:52 PM

BELVIDERE — Traffic has moved slower than usual in the eastbound lanes of State Street as construction workers tear up crumbling brick pavers.

This week crews stamped concrete as part of $2.7 million in streetscape improvements, the city's first major road renovations since the Great Recession.

Local shop owners don’t seem to mind the approaching summer of construction toil. They’re hoping the changes will make for better business.

“It’s great to see the pavers and the repaving of State Street,” said Jarid Funderburg, executive director of Growth Dimensions, the agency driving economic development efforts in Belvidere and Boone County. “It’s going to do a lot for the curb appeal for the State Street shops. It’s something that’s needed, and Mayor (Mike) Chamberlain is getting it done. It is our downtown.”

The Belvidere City Council approved the streetscape projects to be financed with utility tax revenues as part of an $18 million spending plan in April.

The work includes:

— At a $700,000 price tag, Alliance Contractors Inc. of Woodstock will continue to replace brick pavers with stamped concrete and install ramps that comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act at intersections between the railroad and Madison Street through the end of this month.

— Northern Illinois Service Co. of Rockford will rebuild Columbia Avenue and Aspen Court with new pavement, curb and gutter, water mains and sidewalks through July for $1.5 million.

— No bids have been awarded yet, but construction workers also will repave State Street from Madison Street to Logan Avenue for an estimated $500,000, beginning in July and lasting for about a month.

Becky Tobin, the city’s budget and finance officer, said the projects were placed on hold for years because of uncertainties over budgeting. But this was the year city officials demanded improvements.

State Street was last paved in 2000, according to Public Works Director Brent Anderson.

“The economic activity for our city has improved so that we can do more capital improvements,” he said. “It will certainly improve the aesthetics in the downtown area.”

Today, there were signs, detours and one lane of traffic on eastbound State Street, between East Perry and Pleasant streets. The road hassles typically vanish during the night hours.

“We do have another exit and entrance out the back way,” said Robyn Lanning, pharmacy technician at O’Brien & Dobbins Pharmacy. “All improvements would be great for the downtown area.”

Gary Simon, The Brick Cafe and Gallery owner at 615 S. State St., said construction workers ripped out the pavers in recent years and replaced them with stamped concrete.

 

A lot of people wanted to know what was happening, and, as a result, business may have even improved.

“It looks much nicer, and it doesn’t crack,” Simon said. “It’s looking good.”

Above is from:  http://www.rrstar.com/article/20160506/NEWS/160509602/?Start=2