Janet Martin, aka the Mayor of Armitage Brown Line Station, is retiring from the Chicago Transit Authority after a 29-year career marked with kindness.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
In Chicago, the mayor is stepping down.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRAIN)
AUTOMATED VOICE: This is Armitage. This is a Brown Line train to the Loop.
SIMON: Janet Martin, a customer service representative at the Armitage Brown Line train station, and she is known as the mayor of that station. Janet Martin is retiring in February after 29 years at the Chicago Transit Authority. Mayor Martin joins us from her realm now. Thank you so much for being with us.
JANET MARTIN: Thank you.
SIMON: A customer service representative is usually in a booth, but I gather you don’t like to stay in your booth, do you?
MARTIN: Oh, no. We’re not supposed to stay in the booth, especially during rush hour. They want everybody to have someone to talk to, not just that, to give information or help them out.
SIMON: What do you talk to people about? What have you talked to them about over the years?
MARTIN: Oh, I talk to them about everything, even their dogs. I have quite a few dogs that come in, and they get a treat.
SIMON: Oh. Do you remember a dog named Lucy?
MARTIN: Yes. Lucy was the first dog that came in to my station with her mom. And Lucy and her mom would come in at 6 o’clock in the morning every day. I used to always meet them at Starbucks. And one day I walked her partially to her house – both of them. Lucy and her mother were beautiful people and a beautiful dog.
SIMON: We’re hearing a train go by now. Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRAIN)
MARTIN: Yep, that’s southbound right there.
SIMON: Yeah. I can tell from the rumble.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
SIMON: So you talk to them – you talk to people about everything. Are people ever sad?
MARTIN: You know, sometimes they are. Sometimes they want to just have somebody to talk to if they have a problem. And I just help them out with it. I say things that sometimes people want to hear or need to hear.
SIMON: I say this with love, but Chicago can be a big, cold, intimidating city. How do you stay kind?
MARTIN: You know what? It’s from the heart.
SIMON: Yeah.
MARTIN: And you’d be surprised at people that come along, and they sometime have a – are down…
SIMON: Yeah.
MARTIN: …Can be down. And all you have to do is cheer them up.
SIMON: Do you think you’ll miss it, Mayor Martin?
MARTIN: I will, and I will miss the people here and the children.
SIMON: Well, they’ll miss you.
MARTIN: I know they will. But I’ll come back and see them from time to time.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL DINGING)
AUTOMATED VOICE: Doors closing.
SIMON: Well, Janet Martin is the mayor of the Armitage Brown Line station on the north side of Chicago, and she is retiring after 29 years.
MARTIN: Yes.
SIMON: Many happy years to you, Madam Mayor.
MARTIN: Thank you so much.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
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