FTA Threatens To Cut Funds To Chicago Transit Authority After Woman Set On Fire

Authored by Melanie Sun via The Epoch Times,

The Federal Transit Authority has threatened to withdraw funding for Chicago’s public transport network if the city doesn’t “measurably reduce assaults on transit workers and passengers” and address “unsafe conditions that have contributed to increased crime.”

FTA Administrator Marc Molinaro on Dec. 8 sent letters to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, outlining a Dec. 15 deadline for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) to develop a “verifiable security enhancement plan” to be implemented in full across the CTA’s bus and rail system by Dec. 19 or risk cuts to federal funding.

The special directive also ordered the CTA to update its public transportation agency safety plan by the end of December and share that plan with the FTA within seven days of approval by the CTA’s Transit Board Committee.

The CTA is an FTA-regulated transit agency and must comply with the FTA’s safety oversight through special directives by the specified deadlines. Otherwise, it could face up to 25 percent cuts in federal funding under the Urbanized Area Formula Grants program authorized by statute 49 U.S.C. § 5307.

In the letters, Molinaro cited an attack last month in which 26-year-old female commuter Bethany MaGee was set on fire while traveling on a Chicago train, leaving her with life-threatening burns. She survived but remains hospitalized, with years of surgeries ahead of her.

Police arrested 50-year-old Lawrence Reed of Chicago the next morning. He was charged with committing a terrorist attack. Molinaro said in the letter that Reed was previously arrested 72 times.

He was on pretrial release at the time of the attack. Molinaro said in the letter that Reed was released after being charged with assaulting a social worker in August. Online court records did not list an attorney for Reed.

“Illinois is notorious for being the first state in the U.S. to impose a deadly cashless bail policy that allows alleged criminals to be released from jail without paying any money while they await trial,” the FTA said in a statement.

The Cook County chief judge’s office, when asked to comment on the case, pointed to a state law that limits judges’ ability to deny the release of defendants ahead of their trials.

Molinaro said the “preventable” attack on MaGee was not an isolated incident, pointing to “high crime rates on CTA property.”

A Chicago Transit Authority train pulls into the new Damen Ave. station just two blocks from the United Center on Aug. 12, 2024. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo

This included reports to the FTA of a violent crime rate four times higher than the national average, marked by four homicides in the past 18 months and a more than doubling of assaults against workers and riders in the last five years.

The attack “reflects systemic failures in both leadership and accountability on all levels that cannot be tolerated,” Molinaro wrote. “I will not accept the brutal assault of an innocent 26-year-old woman as an inevitable cost of providing public transportation.”

The FTA administrator said if the CTA does not quickly increase its law enforcement presence, the FTA will act, “including by withholding federal funds.”

“Transit leaders and elected officials who fail to enforce basic laws and permit disorder to erode the integrity of their systems are making deliberate choices that endanger riders,” he said.

Johnson told reporters Dec. 9 that his office will respond to the Federal Transit Administration letter.

“We do have to look at what the security apparatus looks like for public transportation,” the mayor said. “I don’t need a letter from the Trump administration to tell me what my priorities are.”

Pritzker also responded to the FTA letter at a press conference.

“This is the federal government threatening state and local government with taking away federal funds for a purpose that they’re not allowed to,” he ‌said. “We want the safest possible and most modern transit system in the entire country, and that’s what we’re prepared to implement.”

Illinois passed public transit reform that includes increased funding for public safety programs, including combating violent crime on public transit, his office said.

A CTA spokesperson said in a statement that the agency is reviewing the FTA request and will “respond within the requested timeline.” Its operations rely heavily on federal funding, particularly for capital improvement projects.

The Trump administration in October announced it was withholding $2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects, including expansion plans for the Red Line L commuter train. The project would have established stops in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. White House budget officials said at the time that they wanted to ensure funding wasn’t moving through race-based contracting.