New RTA chief talks suburbs, budgets and the private sector

The Regional Transportation Authority's new chairman sees public-private partnerships as one solution to the budget woes dogging public transit.

RTA directors on Thursday appointed 57-year-old John S. Gates Jr., a Chicago developer and former McPier board chairman, to lead the agency, which oversees the CTA, Pace and Metra.

He faces competition among the transit agencies for scant dollars, a scandal at Metra involving the suicide of its CEO over misconduct charges, and a need to find a new RTA executive director this fall.

"This is the kind of thing that turns me on," Gates said. "It's exciting to take on these challenges.

With limited cash, partnerships with the private sector could be the way to jump-start ambitious projects such as a proposed express train between downtown Chicago and O'Hare International Airport or the STAR line, a commuter rail line linking Northwest, West and Southwest suburbs.

"I'm a great believer in public-private partnerships," Gates said, adding as a developer he'd been involved in several. "There's an enormous amount of private sector investment funds that have been raised in this country and others, where there's a shortage of opportunities.

But, given the failure of some public-private partnerships, such as that between the Illinois tollway and its former oases operator, he added, "it's not just the money - that's the least important part of the puzzle. You need a first-class operator who's experienced and knows what they're doing."

Gates is CEO of the private investment firm PortaeCo and co-founded CenterPoint Properties Trust, an intermodal development at the former Joliet Arsenal site that serves rail and trucking industries. He is former chairman of the Metropolitan Planning Council.

RTA board member J.D. Ross, who represents Will County, said he was initially concerned about the nominating process, how it unfolded and that he wasn't told about Gates early enough.

"That led me to believe some other things might be going on that I asked about and I was told that was not the case. I'm satisfied," Ross said without elaborating.

The chairman needs 11 votes from the board, which consists of a third appointed by the Chicago mayor, a third consisting of suburban Cook residents picked by county board officials and a third selected by the chairmen of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.

A Republican, Gates appears to have the blessings of Democrat Mayor Richard M. Daley and suburban GOP leaders.

Gates replaces Jim Reilly, who left the 16-member board in May to take over as CEO of McPier, which manages McCormick Place and Navy Pier.

Gates lives in Chicago but was born in Lake Forest and does much of his business in the suburbs, giving him a regional perspective on transit needs, he explained.

"One of the mandates of the RTA is to have an integrated network; a lot of progress has been made, more needs to be done," Gates said. "We may be able to enhance connectivity (between city and suburbs) using private resources.

Regarding revenues, "there's never enough - so you have to make the hard choices and bring fairness and proportionality to it," he said.

His annual stipend is $25,000.