Chicago commuters are reeling after another brutal attack on the CTA, this time a woman doused in gasoline and set on fire while riding a Blue Line train in mid-November. The sickening image of a passenger assaulted in plain sight has ripped the Band-Aid off the lie that our public transit systems are safe for law-abiding Americans.
Federal officials have now put real teeth behind the outrage, with the Federal Transit Administration rejecting the CTA’s safety plan and warning that as much as $50 million in federal transit dollars could be withheld unless Chicago submits a stronger, enforceable plan. Washington’s ultimatum is not a partisan stunt — it’s a straightforward demand that the city stop treating commuters like collateral damage.
Prosecutors say the alleged attacker, identified as Lawrence Reed, has an appalling criminal history and now faces federal terrorism charges for the immolation attack, underscoring failures across the criminal-justice pipeline that let dangerous repeat offenders roam the streets. This isn’t the result of one bad apple; it’s the predictable consequence of soft-on-crime policies and revolving-door sentencing that endanger ordinary citizens.
Chicago’s leaders scrambled to show they were doing something — increasing transit police presence and touting a recently signed $1.5 billion transit overhaul — but federal officials said the CTA’s revisions still fell short of measurable, month-by-month crime-reduction targets. Tokens and press conferences won’t calm scared commuters; what matters is boots on platforms, prosecutions that stick, and a system that prioritizes public safety over political theater.
Let’s be frank: city hall’s decades of permissiveness created this mess. When repeat violent offenders are cycled back into the public without accountability, innocent people pay the price. Conservative readers know what works — clear laws, swift enforcement, and consequences that keep predators off the street — yet those common-sense measures have been dismissed in favor of feel-good reforms that leave commuters vulnerable.
If Chicago refuses to clean up its act, then withholding federal funds is a legitimate lever to force change; these federal dollars should not subsidize chaos. The federal government has already demonstrated willingness to freeze or pause major transit funding in the past when projects or safety standards are in question, which shows real consequences for mismanagement and ideological priorities that undermine safety.
The bottom line for hardworking Americans is simple: we will not accept public transit that is a rolling danger zone. Voters must demand that local officials put the safety of commuters first, that prosecutors stop treating repeat offenders like inconveniences, and that federal and city leaders use every lawful tool to restore order. Chicago’s citizens deserve to ride to work without fearing for their lives, and it’s time politicians started treating public safety as nonnegotiable.
