CTA's chairwoman fights back with blog

From Don's Railroad Renderings, by Don R. Ingwerson. ("North Shore on Wabash Elevated Line")

Yesterday's Chicago Sun-Times reports in "CTA's chairwoman fights back with blog," that the chairwoman of the Chicago Transit Authority, a political appointee, has decided to respond to criticism of her actions and support of transit through blogging.

"After reading Internet postings that accused her of being an evil person out to kill public transit in Chicago -- not to mention loads of wrong information about the state of the CTA -- the CTA chairwoman launched a Web log of her own to fire back. "This is a way for me to answer questions and talk about what is happening at the CTA opposed to what they perceive is going on," she said of her blog, launched mid-April.

Brown admits she posted her blog on impulse and out of mild frustration. "I felt people weren't hearing me, and I needed a way to find a way for people to hear what I was saying," she said. "Blogging is what people do now. They have blogs so they can control the information." And what she's saying is the CTA financial situation is dire, proposed cuts and fare hikes really would be necessary without a bailout, and progress is being made toward getting cash from Springfield.

Still, Brown says the blog helps her communicate with riders and concerned folks to debunk CTA myths and misinformation. "I like that I can answer people's questions directly and I never had a forum to do that," she said.
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There are some interesting links to other Chicago area transit websites on her site.