I spent 15 years as a Chicago police commanding officer assigned to the CTA. Our No. 1 priority was criminal activity. However, throughout the entire system including bus routes, it was impossible not to run into what we called nuisance violations, such as smoking, tagging, eating, turnstile jumping and other forms of activity that for the most part called for a summons (ticket).

Mayor Brandon Johnson said that last year, over 6,300 citations were issued for smoking on the CTA. It was my experience that these citations were only effective if followed up. Each ticket issued has an appearance date.

My question for the mayor and city officials is: How many showed up for these hearings and just how many were fined for ordinance violations? If they don’t show up for that appearance, what is the next step?

Issuing tickets is not the overall answer; the fines and enforcement are. How many of those 6,300 people are repeat offenders? How much are the fines? Are no-shows issued warrants? Are those social workers or people issuing those citations ready to show up at hearings and testify like cops are trained to do?

It’s one thing to declare war on smokers and get headlines, but in order to win a war, the city has to be fully engaged, from issuing agents to hearings.

— Bob Angone, retired Chicago police lieutenant, Austin, Texas

Search for CTA leader

After a recent trip to Japan and experience with a far superior public transportation system, I am wondering why the CTA search for a new leader is a “national search.”

It should be an international search, and it certainly should go beyond City Hall.

— Donald L Shapiro, Glenview

Dedication to game

It is interesting to note that in one of the most repeated statements in Ryne Sandberg’s Hall of Fame induction speech, he starts with a reference to Harry Caray. In his speech he states that Harry was a huge supporter of his and that he told him “how nice it is that a guy who can hit 40 homers or steal 50 bases or drive in 100 runs is the best bunter on the team.” Sandburg then comments: “Nice? That was my job. When did it become OK for someone to hit home runs and forget how to play the rest of the game?”

Thank you, Ryne, and thank you, Harry!

— Fred Case, Chicago

Great players, fighters

Chicago sports fans have been privileged to watch some of the greatest athletes in history. We also have endured some of the saddest days of seeing some of those great Chicago icons suffer through the earthly battles of disease that many of us may also face some day.

When we hear the loving nicknames of “Sweetness,” “Mongo,” “Pick,” “Ronnie” and “Ryno,” we not only think about the great joy they gave us when we watched them play, but we also think about the dignity, courage and toughness they showed fighting through disease until their passing.

Many of us over the age of 60 will always remember Brian Piccolo, Walter Payton, Ron Santo, Steve McMichael, Bobby Jenks and Ryne Sandberg. We will always remember them with a smile on our face and a tear in our eyes.

May God bless them all.

— Robert Curran, South Elgin

Mayor Daley’s sirens

Reading about the so-sad passing of Ryne Sandberg, I noticed his birth date, Sept. 18, 1959, and it rekindled a memory.

It was only a few days later, Sept. 22, when then-Mayor Richard J. Daley set off the air raid sirens in Chicago to celebrate the White Sox clinching their first pennant in 40 years.

The reaction of many residents to the sirens of September would be similar to those three years later to the missiles of October, when fear of nuclear attack by the Soviet Union was a real concern.

Daley later apologized for any alarm the sirens might have caused, but if he were really prescient, he would have said the sirens also were in tribute to a baby who had been born four days earlier in Spokane, Washington, and who 25 years later would lead that team on the North Side to its first postseason play in 39 years.

— Jim Vespe, Mamaroneck, New York

Visitors to US parks

In their op-ed (“How do we help America’s national parks? Make global visitors pay more,” July 23), Tate Watkins and Sharon Suiwen Zou argue that one way of raising money to sustain operations and much-needed maintenance of our national parks is to increase the entry fee on our global visitors.

They point out that there were 331 million recreational visits to our national parks in 2024, a figure confirmed by the National Park Service website. How many of these were global visitors? They do not say.

A Google search disclosed: “Approximately 14 million international tourists visit U.S. national parks annually, according to the U.S. Travel Association. This represents more than one-third of all foreign visitors to the United States, according to Property and Environment Research Center,” which just happens to be author Watkins’ employer.

This means that global visitors make up approximately 4.23% of U.S. national park visitors. Raising the entry fee on such a small percentage of park visitors is just a drop in the bucket of the amount of money needed to properly sustain operations and continue much-needed maintenance of our national parks.

— Alan E. Krause, Oak Park

Rogue taxi drivers

Thank you very much for your editorial on taxi drivers who won’t run their meters (“Chicago’s taxicab regulations have fallen apart,” July 27). I actually prefer taxis to ride-shares, as it makes more sense to me to step out of a business right into a waiting cab versus wait 10 minutes (or more) for a ride-share that may get canceled or slowed on the way.

However, I had the same experience at Navy Pier as the editorial describes, and I refused to give in, instead taking a CTA bus. I also recently had a cabdriver randomly add a $15 surcharge onto a ride from O’Hare International Airport and then claimed ignorance when I called him out on it.

Please stay on this issue as I see these rogue drivers as a significant and embarrassing blemish on the city of Chicago for tourists and locals alike.

— Sarah Buck, Chicago

Pedicab operators

I appreciated the editorial on taxicab scofflaws. The exact same problem exists with pedicabs. There is never a posted fare, and I’ve witnessed them trolling tourists, then shaking them down mercilessly.

But cheating people is not even the worst problem. Some pedicab operators ride (and many are motorized) on the sidewalks of the Museum Campus and harbors, sending pedestrians, strollers and kids jumping out of the way.

Like the taxicab problem, enforcement is lax, and it’s just not a good look for our beautiful city.

Thank you for all your reporting.

— Joyce Izzi, Chicago

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