Beef up Metra Electric South Chicago Branch to facilitate quantum campus access

The development of the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park will be a "transformational time" for South Chicago, as a recent headline said in the Sun-Times.

If the quantum campus is to achieve its full potential as an institution the neighborhood can build around, it needs transit access so people can get there. That means improving a valuable but neglected asset that’s in plain sight: the Metra Electric District South Chicago Branch, which has a stop at 87th Street, a 10-minute walk to the campus.

What’s needed is more trains — every 10 minutes from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., every 15 to 30 minutes during off hours; and fare coordination, so passengers can pay by tapping a Ventra card or their phones, and transfer to and from the CTA without paying a full additional fare.

However, at this time, the South Chicago Branch runs trains only once an hour or once every two hours midday, evenings and weekends; the fare is $3.75, vs. $2.50 on the L or $2.25 on the bus; and there’s no transfer included to or from connecting CTA services.

If the quantum campus is built without thinking about transit, and everyone who goes there is expected to drive, the community will be buried in cars, which is immeasurably destructive: The neighborhood becomes congested but without any beneficial commercial, residential or cultural development. Just cars passing through.

Frequent transit access helps the quantum campus and the neighborhood, which would enjoy better transportation to and from 71st Street, Hyde Park and downtown.

If you live or work in South Chicago or South Shore, or if your business involves quantum computing and microelectronics, or if you like solid urban commercial and residential development, please let your leaders know — political, business and academic leaders — that upgrading the Metra Electric South Chicago Branch is a must, and it should be undertaken as part of the planning for the quantum campus. Don’t let it be an afterthought.

Rick Harnish, executive director, High Speed Rail Alliance

Don’t forget Silverio Villegas González

Every time I read an article or scroll past another social media post about violence tied to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, I feel the same mix of sadness and anger. One name is missing: Silverio Villegas González.

Silverio was killed by ICE agents in Franklin Park last fall after dropping off one of his children at school. The details were quickly swallowed by a fabricated narrative shaped by ICE. We will never fully know what happened, because the agency responsible controlled the story from the start. The outrage never matched the loss.

His death mirrors what happened to Renee Macklin Good, yet his name is absent from public memory. Why? Silverio was a Mexican immigrant, a working father raising two children who are now orphans. His life mattered just as much as Good's and Alex Pretti's. His children’s loss is no less devastating. And yet his name has been erased. Erasure is not accidental. It is a choice.

Silverio was not white. He was not a U.S. citizen. He was a Brown, undocumented Mexican man, in a country that has long vilified people who look like him. That reality shapes whose deaths are mourned publicly and whose are quietly forgotten.

If we are serious about justice, remembering Silverio cannot be optional. Say his name and include him in every memorial post that honors victims of state violence, not just the ones that fit a familiar narrative. Report his story with the same urgency and humanity afforded to others. Acknowledge his children and the harm they will carry forward. Stop allowing ICE to define the narrative when they are the ones responsible. Most importantly, elected officials must stop issuing hollow statements and start using real power to demand accountability. They must push for full investigations, public transparency and consequences that are real and enforceable. The ICE agents involved must be held fully and publicly responsible.

Doing better means refusing selective outrage. It means confronting the uncomfortable truth that some lives are still treated as expendable. Silence, especially from those who claim to care, is not neutral. It is complicity.

His name was Silverio Villegas González. He was 38 years old, killed by ICE in a Chicago suburb on Sept. 12, 2025. His life mattered and deserves to be remembered.

Monica Treviño, Oak Park

Don’t get rid of ICE, reform it

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement needs to be reformed, not eliminated. The United States has the right to remove undocumented immigrants. ICE is a policy enforcement operation that should obey all basic civil rights provided by law and the Constitution.

We have immigration laws that can function effectively if our politicians want them to. People desiring to become U.S. citizens should apply for legal entry and follow the naturalization process.

Citizenship via immigration is a sovereign right the U.S. can choose to offer to non-citizens. Non-citizens do not have a constitutional right to demand an offer of citizenship.

Legal immigration has served the U.S. well in the past and can continue to in the future.

Warren Rodgers Jr., Orland Park

Embrace what you believe

If you voted Republican in 2024 because you fear socialism, then live your truth. Do not accept benefits from Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. Avoid going to public beaches, parks and libraries. Do not allow your children to attend tax-supported public schools or to take advantage of food assistance programs. Only drive on tollways. Do not call 911, unless you intend to pay for services rendered or adapted.

Evan Callan, Uptown

A lot of ‘Bull’

The Bulls have traded Nikola Vucevic, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu. Can we also trade Bulls exec Arturas Karnisova and coach Billy Donovan?

Gael Mennecke, Beverly