Take a look at this list of the nation's ten largest cities and see if you can spot the problem:
| City |
Population |
Council Members |
Members/100,000 people |
| New York |
8,175,133 |
51 |
0.62 |
| Los Angeles |
3,792,621 |
15 |
0.40 |
| Chicago |
2,695,598 |
50 |
1.85 |
| Houston |
2,099,451 |
14 |
0.67 |
| Philadelphia |
1,526,006 |
18 |
1.18 |
| Phoenix |
1,445,632 |
8 |
0.55 |
| San Antonio |
1,327,407 |
10 |
0.75 |
| San Diego |
1,307,402 |
8 |
0.61 |
| Dallas |
1,197,816 |
14 |
1.17 |
| San Jose |
945,942 |
10 |
1.06 |
Crazy, right? Los Angeles somehow muddles through with a population 40 percent larger than Chicago's and a city council of just 15 people.
Houston? 400,000 less people, 35 less council members. Read more...
Toni Preckwinkle
The Civic Federation released a report today on Cook County Board president Toni Preckwinkle's first 100 days in office, praising her for rolling back the sales tax, reigning in the budget deficit and centralizing back-office work.
It's the first time in recent memory that someone's said something positive about the Cook County government, and it suggests things have truly changed since the departure of the Toddler.
However, the report also notes that the county board has been meddling with the supposedly independent health and hospitals authority, reducing salaries for some hospital positions, requiring the hospital staff to take furloughs, and backpedaling on a commitment to provide $316 million in hospital funding. Read more...
What happens when some of Illinois’ most prominent special-interest groups band together to push for a tax increase? One of the state’s largest and newest lobbying groups is about to find out.
The Responsible Budget Coalition, a growing cadre of leaders from education, labor and other public- and private-sector fields, has become a major force as the state enters yet another troublesome budget session.
Launched in the fall, it seeks to augment what its members call an inadequate state budget that has left social-service providers and others in the lurch — especially as those they serve, crippled by a global economic crisis, need their help the most. Read more...
Nearly $6,000.
That's the burden on every man woman and child in Chicago for the area's unfunded pension liabilities.
The jarring figure comes from a Civic Federation report released today that shows those tax burdens have grown nearly 400 percent in nine years. Read more...
Helped by more than $215 million in federal funds, the Cook County Health and Hospitals System came in more than $42 million under budget in 2009, according to a report presented to the independent health board today.
The windfall brings into question claims that the county’s sales tax hike was necessary to preserve the county’s massive health care system, as County Board President Todd Stroger and others have argued.
While the health system received about $37 million less in patient fees than it anticipated, it took in more than $15 million in Medicaid fees and more than $215 million in federal disproportionate share funds, dispersed to safety net hospitals, such as the county’s.
Read more...
