We were slightly astonished when we checked out the Broadway entrance of our Wilson El station. The main doors have been refinished and the ceiling has been repaired and painted. Bike racks have been added in the lobby and the walls are being repaired. The terrazo flooring has not been polished yet, but hopefully soon. Its amazing what a little elbow grease and attention can do to make a station look halfway presentable. Our kudos to Ron
Huberman. The chap we spotted sitting in the lobby warming himself up seemed to be pleased too.
We were slightly astonished when we checked out the Broadway entrance of our Wilson El station. The main doors have been refinished and the ceiling has been repaired and painted. Bike racks have been added in the lobby and the walls are being repaired. The terrazo flooring has not been polished yet, but hopefully soon. Its amazing what a little elbow grease and attention can do to make a station look halfway presentable. Our kudos to Ron Huberman. The chap we spotted sitting in the lobby warming himself up seemed to be pleased too.
They don't make public transportation stations like they used to.
ReplyDeleteI think Huberman's impact on the CTA can't be overstated. He's been amazing. From fixing slow zones to hanging signs that makes sense, he just gets it done. All this on a crap budget too. Imagine what he could do with some real funding.
ReplyDeleteThe guy is amazing. My only concern is that he's too good. He'll be on to bigger and better things too soon I'm afraid.
It was a nice surprise to see the clean refurbished station, but I only saw it because they removed the farecard maching from the Wilson entrance/exit and I was forced to go to the main entrance.
ReplyDeleteRegardless though, I am pleased about the updated station. It's also Huberman's station too.
Love it! Thanks, Ron!
ReplyDeleteSee Helen? THAT is what progress looks like.
I agree. Ron Huberman's impact on the CTA has been awesome so far. I was bitching the whole way through the CTA construction for the brown line, but now I'm eating crow. Everything is looking so much better. Trains are beginning to get faster, some of our entrances are being rehabbed (I stopped using the main Wilson entrance after a massive chunk of plaster fell from the ceiling nearly knocked a middle school kid unconscious...ever since then I've relied on the auxillary one), and they've actually begun to keep the trains a bit cleaner.
ReplyDeleteI always wondered about the CTA employees though. They're facing their own issues with pensions and tentative mass lay offs. Anyone have two cents about CTA employees in general?
If you talk to the transportation planning professionals I know (yes, I have the odd benefit of being friends with multiple people in the field), they will tell you that Ron had nowhere to go other than up. The CTA is one of the most mismanaged transportation authorities (although authority is a misleading name for an operating entity that has no actual authority) in the country. I can't speak to the quality of the CTA employees, but it is no secret that after typical gov waste, the fact that CTA employees have typical artificially-inflated wages because of union presence is one of the CTA's biggest problems. And please don't take this as a knock on unions. Multiple generations of my family have been union members. I know their good, but I also know their bad. And cold facts, however, cold are still facts, even if we wish they weren't so.
ReplyDeleteBut what do you think that little house is for by the Wilson entrance now? think they will put a person there to watch for line jumpers?
ReplyDeletewonder how long it'll take to get them back to their dirtied up state...I'll give it a month or three.
ReplyDelete