Transit system is Daley's first stop in Beijing

If they only knew the real story...how do you say "crook" in Chinese?

When was the last time Daley rode the subway here in Chicago?

Our fellow US taxpayers should not be made to bail out Daley's corrupt mismanagement by being coerced to spend money on local transit because of Daley' desire to have the Olympics in order to enrich his developer buddies.

My fellow Americans call, write or email your Congressman/woman and Senators and tell them to say know to this giant earmark unless Daley is indicted as part of the deal!!

Daley works well with the communists.

No doubt the King ordered us one of them $7.7 billion dollar items. No problem.. just increase sales tax to 40% and increase the County tax on gas by another $10 per gallon.

People in Chicago (including me) are stupid. We'll pay it and re-elect this guy.

J Gary wrote:

If they only knew the real story...how do you say "crook" in Chinese?

zei means theif

He's looking more like his father everyday.

Maybe the Mayor should visit our multibillion-dollar rail system once in a while too, not just those located in other countries. I have a feeling that if he were a frequent rider, conditions on the trains and in the stations would be a LOT better.

Get out of your chauffeured Lincoln, Richie, and ride with the common people once in a while.

I really hope Daley comes home and rides *our* subway and notices the differences.

So, we can comment on Daley as VIP in Beijing but not on the guilty plea of the Alderman he appointed-Arenda Troutman.

What's up with that Mr. Zell?

- 400 million dollar budget gap
- Highest property tax increase in the history of Chicago
- Crumbling infrastructure
- Corruption running rampant in city hall

What does king short shanks do:
takes a taxpayer paid holiday to China.

"one of four built since 2002"

That aint gonna happen! How long then been working on O'Hare and it isnt done yet. Reality is they can't steal all the money that fast. Thats why projects take so long.

One other question... how will those brand new/slick rail cars look on the Blue line running at 3MPH? Cool huh?

I'm so tired of people on these boards bashing Daley. He's done a marvelous job of making this a world class city.

If you have any idea what River North, the south and west loop areas looked like before he took office then you should have some appreciation for what he's accomplished and that doesn't include the things he's done to improve the tourist and film industries.

All of this brings more money into the city which has helped fund the improving school system, rebuild the brown line, extend the 'El' to midway airport and many other things.

Do private individuals make money on these deals, of course they do. It's called capitalism and if you don't like it I suggest you look at the old Soviet structure and see if you like that better.

Can things be improved? Yes of course they can, there is no such thing as a perfect system. Stop living in la la land.

If you don't like Daley then run or campaign for office the next time he's up for re-election. Just stop griping over everything he does which are all designed to make this city a better place. And yes it's designed to be a better place as he see's it. That's part of what being mayor is all about!

$7.7Billion wow what communism can buy. In America we gripe and try to get as much into the hands of our people so we could buy our luxury cars and live in far out suburbs and not have to take public trans. Let's get some federal money to help modernize the CTA. Heck we can get money to build a 355 extension through cornfields no problem but heavin forbit we try to get some money to help mass transit.

I don't get all the crying about developers getting rich. Don't they get rich off of every Government construction contract in any city? Or the corporations that are awarded federal contracts. What the little poor charitable developers are the ones making money in other cities? Chicago is the only place that gives contracts to rich developers? Why don't you start your own development company or business if you want to make money?

Daley didn't have to go to Bejing to learn this. Metro in Washington, D.C., BART in San Francisco and MARTA in Atlanta all feature quiet, modern, clean cars and clean, bright, cheerful stations. Chicago continues to buy old style El and subway train cars, rather than switching the system to new, quiet rubber tired cars. The question is why? And for clean stations, why doesn't Daley privatize the station and car cleaning instead of using CTA employees who have no incentive for working hard? The condition of the Chicago cars and stations speaks for itself.

Kindred spirits. One corrupt thug regime working well with another corrupt thug regime. When will the Trib start reporting on arrests of protesters and others in China and the denial of visas to former Olympic athletes?

American First wrote:

If this was Mayor Jessie Jackson Jr., or Mayor Todd Stroger Jr., the press and racist Chicagoans; mainly white, would be complaining voceferiously about taxpayers money being spent on the trip, and how the city is being neglected for the Olympics. However, since Daley is a white guy, and, a Irishman, and the Irish heavy populate the Chicagoland area, the few white people who complain are few. But, they all find the time to run Todd Stroger Jr., out of office. The entire press, and white Chicagolander's always have something negative to say about Todd Stroger. Daley has fleeced this city; had his family and cronies on the tax roles for decades; yet, no one reports on the Irishman. Well, have your fun now, because the Demographics are changing and we will see how you like it when the changes take place and the Mayor is Hispanic, Arab, Asian or African American or Native Indian or Indian from India?

I see you're back to offer more race-baiting comments. Thanks!

SAY NO AMERICA wrote:

<quoted text>
zei means theif (sic)

The joke is that the Chinese could probably teach him a thing or two about official corruption. It's just sad that this site is so populated by Hummer driving gated community collar county Republicans who don't understand that an investment in mass transportation will drive economic development throughout the region and promote our nation's security. Perhaps they oppose capitalism and keeping our nation safe from thugs like Saudi-led OPEC.

Amber wrote:

"one of four built since 2002"
That aint gonna happen! How long then been working on O'Hare and it isnt done yet. Reality is they can't steal all the money that fast. Thats why projects take so long.
One other question... how will those brand new/slick rail cars look on the Blue line running at 3MPH? Cool huh?

They are working on the blue line and it has improved remarkably over the past year and should be complete by the end of the year. Only a couple slow zones left.

$2.00 to get from downtown to an airport that can take you pretty much anywhere in the world in 40 min (Once everything is complete). Best deal around. Not many cities offer that in the world. Not to mention you can take it to a different airport as well for the same price.

Uh ... well, Daley's corruption and incompetence aside, Chicago really could use a better transit system.

I would rather that the system be repaired and expanded now, but if it takes an Olympics to do it, well, that's fine with me.

What a lot of people seem to be missing is the larger context of the visit. Forget Daley himself for a minute and think about the fact that the mayor of a major American city is looking at the subway system of the capital of a former third-world country and wishing he could have the same system in his city.

That says a lot about how far we have allowed our country to fall behind compared to the rest of the world. It wasn't that long ago that China and many other developing countries looked to us with envy, learning how to build what we had.

Now we're the ones wishing we could build what they have. Beijing, Shanghai, Dubai and other cities have sleek, modern infrastructure; meanwhile, our cities slowly crumble, our bridges collapse, and our highways and trains crawl along at a snail's pace.

How long do you think we can compete in a global marketplace when our workers can't get to work on time, when our goods can't get to the market on time, and when services are delayed because of traffic and inefficiency?

I don't care how much it will cost to rebuild and expand our transit system or our highway system. We need to do it, and it will only cost more the longer we wait. These aren't luxuries, these are necessities. We won't be a superpower much longer if we don't get to work fixing this now.

Whatever the Chinese have, I'm sure it's better than our ancient trains.