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This Newstip edited by Curtis Black
Contact:
312-369-7783
| fax 312-369-6404
| curtis@newstips.org
Support for Red Line Extension Builds
Newstip Date: 06-29-2005
Two hundred South Side residents are expected for a July 9 walkathon to raise funds to promote a Red Line extension -- and to raise visibility for what organizers call Chicago's best-kept development secret.
Sponsoring the walkathon is the Red Line Oversight Committee of the Developing Communities Project of Roseland, whose two-year organizing campaign succeeded in getting the extension listed as a New Start project in the RTA's new 2030 regional transportation plan.
Of five major projects fast-tracked under the New Start program, the Red Line extension most clearly meets program criteria of addressing underserved, low-income communities, said Lou Turner of DCP.
The Chicago Department of Transportation has contracted for a feasibility study of the extension, looking at three possible routes as well as the option of increased bus service.
The DCP committee is supporting a route with stops at 103rd and State, 111th and State, the depressed commercial crossroad of 115th and Michigan, and 130th and Stony Island, where residents of Altgeld Gardens, workers at Ford and related plants, and students at Carver Military Academy would be served. Other proposals follow the Bishop Ford Expressway and I-57.
"Our route goes through the heart of the community, causes no displacement, and uses existing rail right-of-ways," said Turner. He said it was projected to attract 28,000 riders a day.
The walkathon will raise funds to support a drive to build political support for funding the $700 million capital project in Springfield and Washington. The walkathon starts at 9 a.m. at 95th and Indiana on Saturday, July 9.
More Info: -
Debra Strickland at Developing Communities Project, 773-928-2500
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