In addition to raising upward of $1 billion a year for public transit, the law requires a shake-up of the boards that govern the CTA, Metra and Pace. The bill creates a new regional transit oversight body, the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, which is intended to be a more powerful version of the soon-to-be-defunct Regional Transportation Authority.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All current board members\u2019 terms expire on Sept. 1, when their replacements are expected to be seated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But board members are allowed to be reappointed, and the majority of the mayor\u2019s picks already sit on one of the region\u2019s transit boards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mayor\u2019s nominees for the reconstituted CTA board include the board\u2019s current chair, Lester Barclay, an attorney who was originally appointed to the board by then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot. If approved by aldermen, Barclay would serve on both the CTA and NITA boards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barclay has previously criticized aspects of the new transit legislation \u2014 namely the increased oversight authority it gives to NITA.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder this new structure, practically all policies and operational decisions that previously received final approval from the CTA will now be subject to the final authorization by the NITA board \u2014 an arrangement that, while designed to promote coordination, risks diluting the local accountability and autonomy that have been essential to delivering responsive, community-centered service,\u201d Barclay wrote in a Tribune<\/a> op-ed last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis bill marks the end of Chicago\u2019s autonomy over its own transit system,\u201d Barclay wrote at the time, though he also said he supported the new funding derived from the legislation and \u201cthe spirit of regional cooperation it represents.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The mayor\u2019s other proposed CTA board appointees are current board member Michael Eaddy, a pastor with degrees in theology and business administration whom Johnson first appointed to the board in 2024, and Oswaldo Alvarez, a current member of the RTA board and the executive director of the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus Foundation.\u00a0<\/p>\n If OK\u2019d by the City Council, Eaddy would serve only on the CTA board while Alvarez, whom Johnson first appointed to the RTA board last year, would serve on both the CTA board and the NITA board.\u00a0<\/p>\n Johnson\u2019s other appointments for the new NITA board include current RTA board members Dennis Mondero and Natasha Jenkins. Mondero, whom the mayor is also nominating to serve on the Metra board, is a former chief administrative officer for the CTA. Jenkins is a labor and employment attorney whom the mayor is also nominating to serve on the board of suburban bus agency Pace.\u00a0<\/p>\n Johnson\u2019s final NITA board pick is Dee Atkins, the chief of community engagement and equity at Thresholds, an organization that provides healthcare and housing to people with mental health or substance abuse issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n To serve only on the Metra board, the mayor is reappointing Christian Mariano D\u00edaz L\u00f3pez, whom he first named to the commuter rail board earlier this year. D\u00edaz is an affordable housing developer who is also a co-chair at the transit-oriented development organization Elevated Chicago.\u00a0<\/p>\n And to serve only on the Pace board, Johnson is nominating Karen Tamley, CEO of the disability rights organization Access Living. Pace is responsible for administering paratransit for people with disabilities throughout the entire region, including in the city of Chicago.<\/p>\n Johnson\u2019s proposed picks come as the transit legislation takes away some of his power over the executive appointment process at the CTA, which has been led since early 2025 by an acting president, Nora Leerhsen.\u00a0<\/p>\n The law dilutes the number of appointments the mayor of Chicago gets on the CTA\u2019s board and also requires the blessing of the NITA board for the appointment of a new CTA head.\u00a0<\/p>\n Johnson gets to appoint five members of the NITA board, as do Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, whose proposed nominees<\/a> the Tribune reported on last week, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who has yet to make his nominations public. The other five NITA members will be appointed by the chairs of each collar county.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even before the new legislation, the mayor struggled to exercise control over the CTA\u2019s board.\u00a0<\/p>\n Left off Johnson\u2019s list of new appointees is current CTA board member Roberto Requejo, the former executive director of Elevated Chicago.\u00a0<\/p>\n Requejo was among the board members who seemed to push back when Johnson attempted to install his former chief operating officer, John Roberson, to lead the CTA last year. Amid public pressure from transit activists who criticized Roberson\u2019s lack of transit experience, Requejo was one of several board members who made it clear they wanted to see a broader search<\/a> for a new leader.\u00a0<\/p>\n Johnson never took Roberson\u2019s name to the CTA board for a vote and Leerhsen has continued to lead the CTA on an interim basis since.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/CTC-L-Chicago-Rainbow-PUSH12_221463486.jpg\")
Michael Eaddy, speaks during a news conference at Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago on Feb. 27, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Regional](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/CTC-L-FINAL-RTA041_263207864.jpg\")
Regional Transportation Authority Senior Deputy Executive Director Maulik Vaishnav, left, speaks to RTA board member Natasha Jenkins during a board meeting on June, 1, 2026. (Josh Boland\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n