Hurry up and wait. A BGA/FOX Chicago investigation looks into slow police response times to emergency calls in Chicago’s Austin community on the West Side and CPD’s refusal to provide 911 data, despite Freedom of Information Act requests. BGA to CPD: How can the city analyze the problem and propose solutions without the data?
Good-government gift. The State Journal-Register reports on the BGA’s $1 million gift from the Richard H. Driehaus Charitable Lead Trust. We are extraordinarily grateful.
Toni-Tom truce? The Sun-Times reports that Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle and Sheriff Tom Dart have resolved their budget impasse with a compromise. Dart will cut his budget by 12 percent, which is more than he wants to but less than she what she wants.
Residential run-off? Also in the Sun-Times, Mayor Daley urges his successor, whoever that is, to maintain the residency requirement for city workers or risk a suburban exodus that’ll rob neighborhoods of their middle-class base.
Metra’s L.A. Line. The Trib reports that Metra finally settles on a Los Angeles transit professional, Alexander Clifford, to replace ex-Metra boss Phil Pagano, who committed suicide in the middle of a corruption scandal last year.
School for scandal? Also in the Trib, an investigation of improper spending by two former Chicago School Board presidents, Michael Scott and Rufus Williams, indicates they secretly donated more than half a million local tax dollars to favored charities, some run by political or business associates. BGA says the common thread in the Metra and CPS scandals was lack of oversight, which has hopefully been rectified.
