Posted Oct. 2008 at 4:55 p.m.

I've got to go old-school and say "hecky naw" regarding a CTA slight that I heard about from a fellow South Sider this afternoon.  I've got no bias, as I love my North Siders and hang out all over this swinging town.  If I have a bias, it's a bias against bias.

So, evidently, does Danielle, a rider who let "Going Public" in on a little exchange with an employee at the newly unveiled ctagifts.com store.  Apparently, those cool customized rep-your-stop gifts I shouted out in this week's column, do not yet include South Side stops of 87th and 79th.

Stunned, South Side?  Well, here's a note from customer service that Danielle forwarded to me after she complained about the MIA merch.

"Hello-
We are still working on developing more merchandise and had hoped the South Side merchandise would be available before we launched. Please sign up on our mailing list at CTAGifts.com to stay informed on the latest in CTA merchandise."

Danielle called this note proof of South Side bias and I have to agree.  It was rather short-sighted of the CTA not to have all the stops ready to go.  it does feed into the notion -- real or imagined-- that we get slighted South of Cermak.

Why not wait and unleash all the inventory at once to make it fair?   

This store just got started, but seriously, the CTA may want to rethink their approach to these inventory issues.  And don't worry, Danielle.  All we need are black T-shirts, some old-school puffy paint (in Red), and inspiration from CTA signs on the southern part of the Lines. We'll make our own darn shirts until the CTA store gets its act together.