Chicago Setting an Example?

by Ashley Muchow One week of cost cutting suggestions down, another to go.  Daley has provided further information on how, and what, he plans to do to narrow the city’s $655 million budget deficit.  Daley proposed today the city of Chicago cut costs by consolidating a handful of city departments. The Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor’s Office...

by Ashley Muchow

One week of cost cutting suggestions down, another to go.  Daley has provided further information on how, and what, he plans to do to narrow the city’s $655 million budget deficit.  Daley proposed today the city of Chicago cut costs by consolidating a handful of city departments.

The Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor’s Office of Special Events are funded from the same source and have the same common functions.  As such, Daley has deemed it cost-effective to have these two departments team-up to form one.

The General Services and Graphic departments are also set to amalgamate come the beginning of next year.  The Departments of Community Development and the Zoning and Land Use Planning have their hands in neighborhood development, so the Mayor has proposed the two consolidate to form one group.

If there is one repetitious, but vital concept we hear booming from politicians these days as though it was the only issue they knew, it’s jobs.  While most all of us would agree that commercial revitalization and job creation are crucial to economic resurgence, the best route to get us there is heavily debated.

I must share an adept Daley quote reported by Fox News yesterday afternoon concerning the Mayor’s cost-cutting measures: “To build an even more modern and diverse economy in Chicago, we are carrying out a comprehensive, long-term strategy to create new jobs and a secure future for all our residents.”  He continued, “especially during these tough times, many of those things can’t happen the way we want them to unless we manage city government as efficiently as possible.”

Daley, you hit the nail on the head.  Businesses do not survive, and reciprocally, business do not flock to cities or states where financial stability is shaky.  What would the economic incentive be in doing so?  A recent State Journal-Register article expressed, quite accurately, a major factor contributing to the poor business climate in Illinois is the state’s fiscal mess and the subsequent likelihood that businesses will play a role in filling part of the hole.  Not only does Illinois need to decrease the tax burden on businesses, reform workers’ compensation, and clean up the bureaucratic mess that wraps enterprise in superfluous red tape, Illinois needs to take a long, hard look at what its current financial mess says about the viability of running a successful business, and thus creating jobs, in the state of Illinois.

Cost-cutting is hard, and Daley is sure to feel that soon.  But such action is necessary and critical to getting the state back on track.