Ryan Richter, AICP

Me, yapping about the benefit/cost and community mobility improvements of the CREATE Program.

Not sure if anyone has bothered to put all these things on the same map before, so here you go. The O'Hare Flyer does not compete with Metra, and as long as the Flyer says they can do it with private money and without taking capacity away from Metra, maybe we should let them.

I'm curious to find out what more robust environmental impacts will result in for mitigation effects beyond what Amtrak was already planning.

I always thought Jeff Park should look like downtown Evanston. The bus terminal could support a thousand units above it. At the time, joint development wasn't permissible, but CTA also had no appetite for thinking through what was possible (shrinking the footprint and selling MKE Ave. frontage.

The Northwest Side could really thrive in this scenario!

Nice Sun-Times coverage of NITA's development powers. I didn't realize WMATA has brought 10k housing units online in the DC area. That's incredible. Looking forward to seeing the list of transit-owned properties NITA has on the books. chicago.suntimes.com/transportati...

I'd buy some luxury watches. Not insane $100k pieces, but I'd like an IWG Mark XX and maybe an Omega Seamaster, or possibly a Breitling Navitimer. All of those are within $10k but are insane for me to buy where I am in life.

I'd hire accountants, lawyers, and financial advisors stat. Then set up trusts and maintain strict privacy. Of course, this is all a moot point since I never play the lottery.

My comment is for Metra to push the STB in the UP-NS merger to get control over the UP-N and UP-NW lines.

Learned from this United Airline captain that United builds into their schedule 30 minutes taxi time to takeoff at O'Hare due to construction.

I feel like I'm sitting on a toilet seat on this airplane. Gonna be a long ride.

Took a break from social media while I was in Scotland, but I wanted to share this picture I took from a ScotRail train over the Forth Bridge. The bridge itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a symbol of Scotland.

I thought the Republican Party was the party of personal responsibility? 🤔

Sadly, the Milwaukee Lines train frequencies are capped despite owning the lines, by CPKC, who dispatches. This is problematic in light of whatever happened with the UP-NS merger. UP is widely assumed to never give up dispatch control, same as CPKC.

This is exactly right. The choice is between continued freight rail operations without any local oversight or public railroad ownership that is far more responsive to the community. chicagocitywire.com/if-bridgepor...

All of this deregulation of the food industry started in the 1980s so we can blame a generation of Republican leadership for these consequences.

And People Over Parking Act! This is going to be a huge first meeting.

Fiscal decisions decades in the making and now we're on our 12th credit rating upgrade and the Trib just can't take the win. No one is arguing that we've solved the fiscal problems, but it's not going to be fixed immediately. www.chicagotribune.com/2026/09/08/m...

Happy NITA Day to all who celebrate!

The CN angle is interesting since they only allow Metra 10 trains per day on the NCS but are somehow going to allow 4 trains per hour on the flyer? I also assume Metra will ask for a flyover at B-12 given their existing traffic as well as CPKC. Figure another flyover at the Rockwell sub too.

Problem is...this is a $3B fix and they're bonded to the hilt on RLE. I'm genuinely curious what the debt service payments will look like post-RLE and CTA's ability to deliver on other massive maintenance/preservation projects not to mention any other rail service expansions.

On second thought, @starlinechicago.bsky.social identified the better alignment than O'Hare Flyer for reasons of cutting out the UP and CSX middlemen. NITA could then operate directly using Metra or another vendor operator. starlinechicago.substack.com/p/skys-the-l...

Interestingly enough, the most recent construction in downtown Jefferson Park (39 units at Lawrence/Laramie) is filled with airline worker crash pads.

These are big questions, in my mind. Will CTA continue to defer to CDOT and alders on service planning? Will CDOT permit NITA more authority over its public way?

Amazing. What a hero!

Otherwise the risk is studying a project to death. Then you end up with 17k page NEPA reports and $1B per mile construction costs after 50 years of "planning".

This has been my experience in government.

Cameron attended CDOT's quarterly Chicago Mobility Collaborative meeting last week in N. Lawndale. Topics included the Reconnecting the West Side project, and efforts to speed up the Blue Line's Forest Park Branch. chi.streetsblog.org/2026/07/31/c... @rtachicago.bsky.social @chicagocta.bsky.social

I kind of want to ride this.

Yes, but how the hell does a 91-pound carp get into this pond? Was it dumped from a fish tank and just took over? This Floating Wetland Near O’Hare Is Working To Improve Water Quality On The Northwest Side blockclubchicago.org/2026/07/30/t...

I'll be there. We're discussing the Reconnecting the West Side initiative. Also...free tacos! Join us.

The geography major in me is apoplectic! Blame all around: ✅ AI ✅ Incompetence ✅ Lack of responsibility ✅ Racism www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

I'm trying to avoid the rain by waiting for the 56 bus at Jeff Park to take me the rest of the way home. But even then I have a two block walk from the bus stop so I'll be hosed. Umbrella is useless in this

Republicans have been saying this for years. Their only "plan" is to eventually eliminate all traces of government subsidized medicine. That means no VA, no Medicare, no Medicaid.

I would love an advisory question to ask Chicago voters whether or not the city should have a charter. chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/20...

Come work with me! I'm also a MUPP, class of '08

Gonna be a nasty day to be out at that GS11 groundbreaking tomorrow morning.