Chicago Coalition for the Homeless to Monitor CTA

by Shannon Moriarty · 2008-11-28 10:16:00 UTC
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Earlier this week, the Chicago Transit Authority installed signs prohibiting the "continuous riding of trains," a move meant to keep homeless people from using the warm 'L' trains as shelter from the cold. The radio waves and blogosphere picked up on this story (including this blog - here's the original story), expressing outrage at the discriminatory nature of these signs and the power they gave the CTA to eject homeless people off the trains and into the cold.

Thankfully, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless picked up on this deep public concern. They announced plans on their blog yesterday to keep an eye on the CTA this winter:

CCH is currently working with the City of Chicago to track the number of people who are turned away from shelters and to address the problem of shelter turnaways through new programs, including bus service between shelters that are full and shelters with available beds. CCH will track any efforts to crack down on homeless people riding the CTA.

While it's certainly comforting to know that a powerful advocate is looking out for the homeless in Chicago, I don't think the public outrage should die down until these needless signs are removed.

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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