CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker has joined the chorus of critics calling for a leadership change at the CTA — but Mayor Brandon Johnson said he’s sticking with his CTA chief for now.
Pritzker, speaking at a Thursday news conference, stopped short of saying he thinks CTA President Dorval Carter should be fired — instead saying there should be “new leadership” at the transit agency. Political news site Capitol Fax was first to report the comments.
“A lot of changes are gonna have to take place, there’s no doubt, at CTA. And I think that’s gonna take some new leadership and additional leadership,” Pritzker said. At another point, he said, “I know you all have tried to use the word ‘fired’ here. I think that there needs to be an evolution of the leadership in order for us to get where we need to go with CTA. So, that’s something that will be discussed.
“As you know, I have appointments at CTA, but they’re not a controlling majority. But the people who we appoint of course will be working with the others who are on the board to evaluate and make changes in management.”
Pritzker is the highest-ranking official to join local leaders in calling for change at the city’s embattled transit agency. The Tribune and Crain’s editorial boards also called for Carter’s ouster on Friday.
But at a Friday afternoon press conference, Johnson said he’s still sticking with Carter.
“It’s my job to determine the leadership of the CTA, that is my job,” Johnson said when asked about Prizker’s comments. “If people want to be mayor, they should run for it.”
CTA officials did not return a request for comment about Pritzker’s remarks.
Growing Calls For Change
The CTA has for years struggled with crime, cleanliness, reliability and a demoralized and understaffed workforce. The agency’s post-pandemic rebound has been criticized as slower than its peers in other major U.S. cities.
Alds. Daniel La Spata (1st), Jeanette Taylor (20th), Andre Vasquez (40th), Brendan Reilly (42nd), Matt Martin (47th) and state Rep. Kam Buckner have also called for Carter’s ousting in a chorus that’s grown louder in recent weeks.
Johnson promised a three-month evaluation of inherited city department heads upon taking office almost a year ago.
But he sidestepped questions Friday asking when that evaluation of Carter may be completed amid the mounting criticism.
“Right now, he is still employed,” Johnson said. “And again, I don’t discuss personnel details publicly.”
The mayor controls the majority of CTA’s board seats and has de-facto authority over its leadership, unlike in other U.S. cities, said Yonah Freemark, a research director studying transit at D.C.-based think tank Urban Institute.
“In Chicago, we can lay the blame pretty plainly on one person,” Freemark said. “If there’s someone who can take responsibility for improving the CTA, it’s Brandon Johnson.”
Progressive allies of Johnson in the City Council, meanwhile, continue to press for Carter’s ouster. Martin is the latest, saying in a social media post Tuesday he has not seen improvements in rail service since meeting with Carter in February.
“Current leadership is failing Chicago riders,” Martin said. “Mayor Johnson and Governor Pritzker should appoint a new board and a new president should lead the CTA to recovery.”
Ald. Bennett Lawson (44th) told constituents in an email Friday he sent a letter to Carter “expressing my extreme disappointment” in the state of the transit system.
“In our ward, we are experiencing poorly maintained stations, infrequent service, and unpredictable arrival times,” Lawson said. “I aspire for Chicago’s public transit to be world-class, and we are simply falling short.”
CTA Issues Remain
In calling for Carter’s ouster, Martin cited a Block Club article about CTA’s new rail schedules, which do not presently add back pre-pandemic service as the agency continues to lose more train operators than it can hire.
A Block Club Chicago investigation published Wednesday also called into question the safety of CTA workers after the agency’s 24-hour control center failed to notice or report a bus operator who had been unresponsive at the wheel for nearly an hour before her death.
Johnson said Friday he sends “condolences to the family” and that he did not know all the details surrounding the case.
“I don’t believe anybody questions my values when it comes to worker’s rights,” Johnson said.
Carter first came under fire after skipping City Council hearings about the transit issues in fall 2022, leading officials to pass a measure that now mandates his attendance quarterly.
Carter said at his first hearing in February he was getting the agency back on track, with attrition issues resolved and pre-pandemic rail service to be restored by the end of the year.
“This is the year we’re going to start to see everything come back,” Carter said at the hearing. “I’m looking to compare this transit system to London, to Paris, to Hong Kong, to the best transit systems in the world. … We have the infrastructure that’s competitive. What we need are resources and policies to make it happen.”
Other alderpeople fed up with CTA leaders said Friday morning they welcomed Pritzker’s support.
“I think the tide turned more than a year ago. I think leadership is catching up with the times,” La Spata said. “I get no pleasure from saying this, but as long as [Carter] is casting the vision and setting the priorities as the movement behind the CTA, we got a ceiling as far as the service we’re going to get to.”
Vasquez said CTA needs a new leader who is more “operations-minded.”
“We hear pretty often that folks are not satisfied with how CTA is looking and the direction it is going,” Vasquez said.
Pritzker said other changes are also needed to help the CTA rebuild, and that could include federal support to keep the transit agency afloat as it faces a “fiscal cliff.”
“It’s something the Legislature and I — and of course the city of Chicago — and we’re gonna have to consider the plan the CTA should have come forward with already, which we haven’t seen, but that may include changing fares and other things that will help us deal with what is clearly going to be a fiscal cliff here,” Pritzker said at Thursday’s news conference. “We’re also hoping that we see help from the federal government along the way.”
The Chicago Transit Board doesn’t conduct any kind of formal performance review of Carter and has rarely questioned the CTA’s leaders on the direction of the agency. The board has also allowed Carter to work for eight years without a written contract to oversee a system he reportedly rarely rides.
Yet Carter has received at least two salary raises yearly since 2018. In the eight years he’s led the CTA, his salary has climbed more than 60 percent, jumping from $230,000 to $376,065 as of July, according to CTA records.
Carter’s pay is higher than Johnson’s $216,210 annual salary and is second only in city salaries to Department of Aviation Commissioner Jamie Rhee’s $283,200.
Block Club’s Melody Mercado and Quinn Myers contributed.
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