What Does Daley's Successor Face?
By Kevin Robinson in News on Sep 8, 2010 3:00PM
With Mayor Daley's announcement that he won't be seeing re-election but a day old, everyone from local political luminaries to average Chicagoans are busy wishing the mayor (and his legacy) well in the future. Absent from this discussion, at least for now, is the sorry state of affairs whomever replaces Daley will face.
Chicago's next mayor will face no shortage of crisis; deep, structural problems that will take years to solve, and immediate needs that will need to be addressed with little or no resources available. First and foremost, the city is all but bankrupt. Mayor Daley's own projections put Chicago within striking distance of $1 billion of debt. And while some have suggested unwinding the city's Tax Increment Financing Districts to help close the hole, the fact remains that difficult decisions about Chicago's finances will need to be made. Cut spending and services? Raise taxes? Reduce payrolls? None of those are popular options, and all of them will impose pain on Chicagoans already struggling to make ends meet.
Speaking of the city's payroll, there's no love lost between the police department and city hall. While a new mayor will no doubt get a honeymoon period, the reality is that crime is high and the police force is demoralized. And while crime in Chicago is down from 1989, when Daley first took office, shootings and violent crime are still staggeringly high compared to other American cities of Chicago's magnitude. Aside from the frighteningly high crime rate, the city is still struggling to reform education, public housing and clean up corruption in hiring. All of these have been systemic problems that have festered in Chicago for generations. Mayor Daley hasn't been able to solve them, even with the power and authority that comes with being a Daley that's been in office for two decades.
On top of the challenges any incoming mayor will face is the very real possibility that the city will spin into political chaos. Chicago's business community is already making noise about the coming instability. “I think it's going to be fairly destabilizing for the city at a time when I think we need stability the most,” Jim Farrell, chairman of the Commercial Club of Chicago told Crain's. “So I think we've got some particularly difficult times ahead of us.” How that will impact a major American city that is struggling with record unemployment and a challenging business climate will undoubtedly be at the front of any new mayor's mind.
Whomever Chicagoans elect to take the reigns in May Day's stead will have their work cut out for them. Steering the City by the Lake to brighter days is an unenviable task. Whether Chicagoans have the stomach for the change that's coming, however, will be the real test of how broad our shoulders are in the 21st Century.