[emathias]

Is there anything that prevents the City from creating a long-term plan for transit, creating an outline of what is planned, and then methodically getting finding for the necessary studies of each and creating budget lines for each that they, over time, apply funding to and implement as finding becomes available? It seems like if they been doing that over the past several decades that they could have had several projects "shovel ready" it at least ready for bids firing the big Federal stimulus a decade ago and gotten some things done then. Certainly that was probably a once in a lifetime thing, but there are also likely to be other times with looser stimulus strings that a prepared City could take advantage of.

I all because it seems like many long-term plans aren't likely to change but don't happen because they rely on sustained political will that rarely comes about. But if it were just part of the standard way the city does business more could get done. I'm thinking of things like the West Loop Transportation Center, or the Clinton Subway, or the 1968 plan for a Monroe to Streeterville and McCormick circulator. All of those things would really benefit the City, but aren't going to happen as just piecemeal projects. But a City that was organized and dedicated to seeing them through over the long term might have a chance of seeing them implemented. If love to see all of those happen in my lifetime because I think they'd push Chicago into a solid, singularly second place for transit access after New York instead of just being in the cluster of "pretty good" American cities behind New York.

Obviously the downtown ones make the most sense from a "bang for the buck" standpoint, but it could also include projects in the outer neighborhoods to build stronger universal support. Things like the Red Line extension, or a South Lakefront solution, or connecting the Brown Line to the Blue or a Cicero line.

Big improvement projects could also for in the planning, like the RPM stuff, and Blue Line subway station rebuilds.

Is it politics alone that prevent that or something else?