A number of SPN member organizations have blogs. This morning I'd like to draw your attention to Sponatenous Solutions, a blog of the Illinois Policy Institute .

Among the topics recently discussed is transportation in Chicagoland, which means (what else?) a call for tax increases to fund more mass transit.

In a related commentary , the institute's president, Greg Blankenship, says that transit systems need to adjust to changing commuting patterns:

Part of the reason for these annual semi-regular crises is that ridership in recent decades has been declining due to the changing nature of Chicagoland. Today, more and more people work and commute from suburb to suburb rather than from suburb to Chicago. Census figures compiled for the Reason Foundation showed Cook County lost 18,000 jobs between 1990 and 2000 while the suburbs gained more than 300,000 jobs.

In 1990, 38,000 people living in the suburbs switched from mass transit to driving. Clearly, the pattern of demand is changing but the supply isn't. And what's being supplied isn't that great either.

Instead of paying more for less, lawmakers, city and state officials and, most of all taxpayers and businesses, should be demanding more accountability. Businesses across the Chicagoland area in the private sector do it every day and those who don't go out of business. The private sector is already running the Chicago Skyway and there seems to be very little complaining. Perhaps competitive sourcing for the entire Chicagoland mass-transit system should be considered?

And before any additional monies are allocated from Springfield, whether from new casino licenses, sales tax hikes or other business taxes, more transparency should be demanded before discussion even begins