CHICAGO CITY HALL (WBBM Newsradio) - Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is spelling out his hopes for the city's Greyhound bus terminal, while tying it to the national debate over reproductive health care.
The Johnson Administration plans to spend $50 million dollars over the next two years to buy and renovate the Greyhound station, 630 S. Jefferson, just south of the Eisenhower Expressway.
The mayor described it as a needed investment in a mode of transportation that serves 500,000 people a year ... and told reporters at City Hall on Thursday that some of the biggest advocates represent women coming from other states for reproductive services.
"These women who may not be able to have the health care services in their particular states, they can can come to Chicago," said the mayor, "and Greyhound is one of the ways that passage is made safe and equitable."
The terminal is in the ward of Downtown alderman Bill Conway, who says he didn't know the money was in the budget until he stumbled across it.
"I'm not opposed to a station, but it's worth a conversation," Conway (34th Ward) told WBBM Newsradio on Wednesday.
The mayor responded by saying his team has conversations with aldermen all the time, but he considers this a citywide initiative.
"I'm not even sure what the hang-up is," the mayor said. "I mean, we're talking about an investment in low-income families and poor people. I'm always open for a negotiation of details around anything, but we're not going to negotiate our values."
And insisted that preserving such a citywide resource trumps any potential veto from a local alderman: "That authority does rest on the fifth floor," he said, referring to the location of his office at City Hall.