"Right Sizing" of Chicago is Happening - As Garbage Collection Goes, So Exits the Middle Class

The city will begin by demolishing 3,000 houses deemed unsafe and a public hazard before the end of the year, with up to 10,000 houses being torn down within the next three years. The plan is to encourage citizens to move closer to the center of the city. The process will be gradual, beginning with city services such as trash collection becoming more infrequent. City planners call this solution “right-sizing”

That was Youngstown, Ohio and Detroit. According to the University of Chicago's Urban Portal, policy is in play.

The University of Chicago gave Mayor Daley Frank Kruesi*, Ron Hueberman, an upcoming Biography, by Keith Koeneman, and a job -as a distinguished senior fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy Studies.

The University of Chicago wrote Mike Quigley's strategy to take over Cook County government and encouraged students to help G. Flint Taylor sue the City of Chicago, as well as hound former Cook County Sherrif Michael Sheahan. On that effort the U of C was 1 and 2 - Quigley was sent to Congress and Mike Sheahan made complete asses of the MacArthur Center for Justice, which immediately moved to Northwestern University.
Pathetically, G. Flint Taylor coninues his Police Torture Mythology and loots Chicago taxpayers six ways to Sunday.

By and Large, as in Millions Large, University of Chicago was wildly successful in owning Chicago and Cook County government enough to make policy. Policy is what passes for politics in this transcendent age,

Policy only requires elected pawns to legislate and lazy journalists to justify anything. Witness Zorn on the Grid of August 23rd's Change of Subject. The always Progressive policy dependable Eric Zorn rolled out the handstands and hoorah's for the "Right Sizing" talking points -

I'm guessing garbage collection isn't your area of expertise. Mine neither.

But if the city of Chicago were to come to us and ask us to create a rough design for a household refuse-collection system, there's almost no chance we'd come up with the expensive, crazy-quilt system now in place.
That system contains 50 garbage fiefdoms, one for each cleverly gerrymandered ward, and results in trucks taking peculiar, time-wasting routes so as not to cross these artificial political boundaries.

The baseline inefficiency of such a scheme will cost the city $30 million more in 2011 than a simple ward-neutral grid-collection system would cost, according to a budget analysis performed last year by the Chicago Office of the Inspector General.

Before suggesting such a change, we'd ask three questions:

Do any other major cities do it our way?

Evidently not.

The city's Department of Streets and Sanitation is unaware of any municipalities that follow the Chicago model. And officials concede that Chicago's garbage-related costs, more than $200 a ton, are unusually high.

Does it make business sense to do it our way?

Clearly not.

Private companies that deliver services — think FedEx or UPS — have become fanatical in recent years about optimizing route efficiency to cut costs. They even try to minimize the number of left turns against oncoming traffic made by their vehicles.

Even some cities are doing it. Waste Age magazine reported last year that the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation has been using "geographic information systems" software "for mapping, analysis and geodatabase management … to make sure that trash pickup is balanced throughout the entire network."

Makes one want to collect rain in a yellow barrel. Mayhaps, Mayor Rahm will christen this looming venture EZ Grid, for this journalistic snow-job well done!

Policy makes money.

God is no longer making real estate, therefore, policy controls real estate.

For the last few mornings, I have been posting on the policy to shrink Chicago. It seems that in order to make this City a garden for the chosen few, the working many should pack their bags.

The Chosen Few are the Progressives, because they make policy - Gay Marriage, Green Initiatives, and garbage collection. The path to a City inhabited by Birkenstock, NPR listening, WTTW viewing, Urban Walk-way ambling, and Bicycle darting affluent, childless, post graduate, secularists requires an elimination of neighborhoods.

Neighborhoods are undesireable. Progressives demand a community. A Community is distinguihsed from a neighborhood by ordinances, activists and initiatives, as opposed to friends, family and faith.

Neighborhoods are comprised of families, poor and middle class and they must go.

Neighborhoods are protected by Wards - local political fiefdoms that meet the needs of neighbors who actually know one another. They live beyond what is called the Urban Center - You know the place with Pritzker These and Those and Silver Beans that neighborhood folks go to only rarely. That is the place where neighbors meet the Entitled who scream, "Can't I enjoy an al fresco Latte Arabica and hummus without some fat breeders and their damn kids?"

The way to eliminate neighborhoods is to eliminate the already dimiinished power of the Wards.

The method is the Grid System. Once Chicago adopts the Grid System for services like tree triming, street cleaning, snow and garbage removal, the poor and the middle class breeders will be forced to leave. Zoning at the Ward level has already chased businesses out of the neighborhood - taverns, restaurants, barber shops, tailors, shoe repair shops, framing stores and entertainment venues. My Ward, the once powerful, but still voter robust 19th Ward has more than seventy (70) vacant store fronts on Western Avenue between 87th Street and 115th Street.

There are great stretches of vacant land along other streets in adjacent Wards (17th, 21st, & 18th).

Let's read that study of Urban Policy one more time -

The city will begin by demolishing 3,000 houses deemed unsafe and a public hazard before the end of the year, with up to 10,000 houses being torn down within the next three years. The plan is to encourage citizens to move closer to the center of the city. The process will be gradual, beginning with city services such as trash collection becoming more infrequent. City planners call this solution “right-sizing”

It's not only familiar, boys and girls, it is here.

If the Aldermen vote for the Grid System for services, and I expect that they will after mousing replies like 'Well, what else are we supposed to do? The City is Broke and this is only answer,' Chicago will be the Home of the Chosen Few and the neighbors will have moved on.


*

Former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, one of the nation’s most prominent urban leaders, will bring his extensive policymaking experience to the University of Chicago as a distinguished senior fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy Studies.

The five-year appointment, Daley’s first commitment since leaving public office on May 16, will take effect July 1.

Daley will coordinate a guest lecture series that will include a variety of perspectives and approaches concerning the major issues facing cities in the 21st century. The 10 annual guest lectures, beginning with the 2011-12 academic year, will bring policymakers from around the globe to debate critical urban policy challenges, and to help train future policy leaders at Chicago Harris. As Chicago’s longest-serving mayor, Daley will add an important voice to the University’s ongoing conversations about the future of cities.“The students and faculty at the University of Chicago benefit from a culture of open debate, in which a diverse range of scholarship and practical experiences comes together in the search for knowledge and solutions,” said University President Robert J. Zimmer. “By bringing in urban policy leaders of many perspectives, Mayor Daley will help foster illuminating discussions about how our cities can flourish, and will provide University of Chicago students with valuable educational experience.”

Citing the University of Chicago’s history of vital contributions to Chicago, Daley said he looks forward to engaging with researchers and young leaders who are committed to forming a vision for the future of cities.

“The University of Chicago has been a leader in developing new approaches to address the evolving needs of cities,” Daley said. “I am honored to add my voice and experience to that important work. As I’ve always said, cities that continue to rely on old methods and common practices will almost certainly lose their footing in our growing global economy.”

Daley’s new role will provide students and faculty at the Harris School and across the University with insights on subjects such as urban education, law enforcement, civic planning and economic development, said Harris School Dean Colm O’Muircheartaigh. "There isn’t a policy practitioner out there with more strategic vision and hands-on experience with the ins and outs of running a city today than Richard M. Daley,” O’Muircheartaigh said. “Bringing the country’s most experienced mayor into Chicago Harris enriches our policy school and complements our rigorous scholarship. I am delighted that, as a university embedded in a great city, we are able to benefit from this unique resource.”

First elected mayor of Chicago in 1989, Daley announced last fall that he would not seek re-election after more than 22 years as mayor and nearly 40 years in elected office. As mayor, he has been widely recognized for efforts to help improve Chicago’s public spaces, urban design, educational system, public safety, public libraries and business development. Daley’s tenure in office has influenced scholars and other leaders in defining the role that mayors can play in addressing the problems confronting America’s largest cities.

Daley’s affiliation with the University of Chicago comes as the University continues broad-based efforts to expand its programs on a range of challenges confronting modern cities.

As part of this effort, the Harris School founded its Urban Policy Initiative in 2009 to foster new research relevant to Chicago and other urban environments around the world, and to train the professionals who will lead these cities. In addition to Daley’s visiting scholar position, the Harris School currently is in the process of hiring five new faculty members to conduct urban-related research.

The Urban Policy Initiative also partners with a number of efforts within disciplines across the campus, such as the Urban Health Initiative, the Crime Lab, the Urban Education Institute, Chicago Booth’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and a new University of Chicago Urban Network dedicated togenerating collaborative social science research.

“The University of Chicago is committed to engaging with its urban environment, and the participation of the former mayor will greatly enhance its capacity to do so,” said O’Muircheartaigh. “The future of cities will determine the future of civilization; students and faculty across the whole University will have a keen interest in participating in these conversations.”

Following Tuesday's announcement, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel released a statement on Daley's new appointment.

"On behalf of the entire city of Chicago, I congratulate Mayor Daley on his appointment at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy Studies. I am confident that Mayor Daley will bring to his new role the wisdom, insight and experience of his more than two decades in office. I am thankful that he will be participating in the ongoing dialogue as we all work to make Chicago a safer, stronger city."

- Sarah Galer
Communications Office
Phone: 773-702-7681
Email: syaccino@uchicago.edu
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Frank Kruesi is the former President of the Chicago Transit Authority. He resigned in April 2007 after serving 9½ years.[1] He is now an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy.[2] Prior to his time at CTA, he was the Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy for the U.S. Department of Transportation.[3]

Ron Huberman
Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1971, Huberman is the son of Holocaust survivors. Huberman and his family moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee when his father, a cancer researcher, began working at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He moved to the Chicago area for his high school years, where he came out as gay at age 15.[1] Huberman later attended the University of Wisconsin, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and English. While working as a Chicago police officer, Huberman attended night classes at the University of Chicago and finished with master’s degrees in both Business Administration and Social Service Administration. Huberman was a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow and an Albert Schweitzer Fellow while at the University of Chicago.