Mayor Johnson put it in writing on May 7 — a letter to board chair Lester Barclay — and now the state law is ticking in the background. The CTA clock isn't rumor anymore. This is Chicago Politics and Urbanism Daily. Today: Johnson trying to lock in a permanent CTA president before Springfield's new law changes who gets the say — and what that job even means once somebody has it. And whoever gets named inherits a $1.7 billion construction project between Lawrence and Bryn Mawr that's already rolling — stations closing, temp platforms going up — none of which they designed, and none of which they can stop. All week this thing felt like background noise. Now it's got a date on it. Let's get into it. Here's Chicago Tribune:
Johnson, who has struggled to make appointments for leadership positions at key city sister agencies, has allowed the city’s public transportation provider to be helmed on an interim basis for more than a year. His attempt to finally finalize a permanent leader for the CTA came just weeks before legislation that will permanently remove some of his control over the process takes effect.
The CTA president story finally has a timestamp. May 7, Johnson writes to Lester Barclay and says, basically, move expeditiously, interview the finalists, get me a name. That's not a suggestion — Springfield built the deadline, not the mayor. Let's say it plainly: the new state law makes the incoming NITA board part of the CTA president pick, advice and consent. Johnson was perfectly happy with Nora Leerhsen in the interim for more than a year, and now, right before he loses veto power, it's suddenly urgent. And whoever gets named walks into the job mid-construction — RPM Phase 1, $1.7 billion, Lawrence to Bryn Mawr, stations closing, temp platforms going up. A lot of the rider pain is already baked into a timeline the new president didn't write. Right, and the Streetsblog breakdown matters here: scheduling, staffing, maintenance — that's the president's lane. Fare policy, capital scope, the money itself? Board, City Hall, Springfield. So Johnson is racing to install his pick for the job that owns the daily frustration while the big funding calls stay somewhere else. All week we've been watching Johnson make governance moves on his own timeline — the school board CEO, Springfield asks, the three-year media tour. This one isn't that. He didn't set this deadline. Springfield did, and now he's trying to beat it. So if Johnson actually gets a permanent CTA president confirmed, what can that person really move on — and what's completely out of their hands? It's a messy setup. The CTA president handles day-to-day operations — scheduling, staffing, maintenance prioritization, safety protocols on platforms and trains — so a strong permanent leader could push hard on the stuff riders feel most: ghost buses, slow zone backlogs, that sense nothing is being managed. Acting President Nora Leerhsen has actually been credited with stabilizing operations since Dorval Carter retired in January of last year, per Streetsblog Chicago. But the ceiling is real: the biggest levers aren't the president's to pull. Service levels are fundamentally a budget question, and the CTA is staring at an almost $800 million regional funding gap — Leerhsen testified to that in Springfield last July. That money has to come from Springfield and, to a degree, from the new Northern Illinois Transit Authority, the oversight body created by the transit reform bill that passed last Halloween. And per the Chicago Tribune, that law also permanently shifted board appointment power away from the mayor, so the new president will answer to a structure City Hall doesn't fully control. Wait — if the mayor is rushing this now, is he trying to lock in his pick before that new oversight structure kicks in and starts calling the shots? That's exactly how it reads. Per the Tribune, Johnson wrote to CTA board chair Lester Barclay pushing for a permanent appointment because the new state law now requires the NITA board to give advice and consent on any CTA president — so whoever gets named before that machinery is fully up has a much lower bar. Watch whether NITA pushes back or tries to claw the process back; that'll tell you a lot about who actually runs Chicago transit going forward. From Industrial History:
Phase 1 is part of a $1.7b Red+Purple Modernization Program. The Red-Purple Bypass is also part of this project. Phase 1 will replace the existing track and stations between the Lawrence and Bryn Mawr stations. See About for an overview. During construction, Argyle and Bryn Mawr will have temporary stations and Lawrence and Berwyn will be closed.
The RPM Phase 1 project is the concrete answer to the question we've been circling all week — is anything actually being done about the infrastructure? One point seven billion dollars, Lawrence to Bryn Mawr, full track replacement, four stations rebuilt from the ground up with ADA access. Lawrence and Berwyn close during construction; Argyle and Bryn Mawr go temporary. And whoever Johnson is about to install as permanent CTA president inherits all of this on day one — a billion-seven project already in motion, stations already closing, timelines already locked. That person didn't design it, can't stop it, and is going to own every rider complaint about it. That's the jurisdictional split Streetsblog lays out: scheduling, staffing, maintenance prioritization, that's the president. The capital program scope? Board, City Hall, Springfield. Same kind of ceiling CPS principals run into when the budget comes down from above. If Chicago Politics and Urbanism Daily helps you keep up with the city, consider subscribing and leaving a quick review wherever you're listening. It really helps other people find the show.
You'll find links to every story we talked about today in the show notes if you want to dig further into the details.
That's Chicago Politics and Urbanism Daily for this Wednesday, May 20th. Thanks for listening. This is a Lantern Podcast.