Surprising comments by Chicago's Mayor Daley

Discussion in 'Politics' started by tomdavis, Mar 4, 2011.

  1. I got back from vacation late last night and saw this article about Chicago's Mayor, Richard Daley, giving his departing speech before turning over the office to the new Mayor. When I read it, I thought I'd returned to a parallel universe. Doesn't sound like the Mayor Daley I've ever heard before... but then again I live in California. Maybe I had him all wrong. Anybody else surprised by this?

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    ... Daley also said he believed taxpayers can no longer finance the current level of government and suggested priorities need to be placed on municipal services that can be privatized or outsourced to cut costs. And he blasted a teachers’ union he argued was more concerned about pay than in taking responsibility for educating the less well off.

    “I don’t think the taxpayers at the present and in the future can afford the costs of government,” Daley said. “I don’t believe they can, because the cost of government is going up faster than the cost that you can bear in your own pocketbook. I firmly believe that. It cannot go up so significantly each year for the cost of government. And that’s why you have to look at the value” of various government services to taxpayers.”

    Saying he was pleased but not satisfied with the progress of Chicago Public Schools during his tenure, Daley recounted asking city teachers to spend 15 more minutes to teach to help disadvantaged students, but the union refused without additional pay.


    http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2011/03/daley-were-a-country-of-whiners.html
     
  2. All politicians "suddenly" come tho their senses when they don't have to play the game anymore.
     
  3. It's a remarkable trend with the politico's; namely, that they all suddenly have these "moments of clarity" as they leave office. It's just more proof that while in office, they are so owned by special interests that they can never "do the right thing". Once out of office, they try to regain some credibility and make a few talking points so as to hit the lecture circuit and make a living assembling a bunch of populist soundbites.
     
  4. Likely true in Chicago. CERTAINLY true at Federal level.

    TOO MUCH PARASITIC TIT-SUCKING... TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL...
     
  5. Pekelo

    Pekelo

    Here is how this mayor did business:

    He sold the parking meter's right to an Arab entity for 75 years for 1.2 billion or so. The council members had 3 days to decide the vote and were not told about the real owner.
    Later another accountant estimated the worth of such a deal to be about 5 billion, so the mayor gave it away for too cheap just to quickly balance the budget.

    Also, the owners now can increase the fees and if there is a streetfest when there is no parking, they are entitled to a retribution for their losses... Since the municipalities can't pay that, there will be less streetfests in Chicago....
    The timezone of paid parking also increased....