[After working closely with business leaders and] crunching the numbers in a dozen different ways, ... alternative ways to fund the downtown special service area, but not do it through a tax. |
At the operations center ... an alert goes off [when gunfire is detected], and then they are able to instantly view the image and respond. The camera actually instantly turns in the direction of the gunshot, |
In the Cabinet, he's done really well. . . . The mayor is committed to diversity throughout all ranks of city government. |
It's not any other tax. It's not a fine, not a fee, not an entrance fee to Millennium Park. It's not anything that will in any way cause people to have to pay to enter or use the park. The mayor laid out a vision of a park that was open and free to all Chicagoans. None of these tenets are going to change. We're looking at ideas that are not those things, |
It's not any other tax. It's not a fine, not a fee, not an entrance fee to Millennium Park. It's not anything that will in any way cause people to have to pay to enter or use the park. The mayor laid out a vision of a park that was open and free to all Chicagoans. None of these tenets are going to change. We're looking at ideas that are not those things. |
One of the things that disturbed us historically was the backlog of cases that existed. We are very happy to see that a lot of that backlog is now starting to be chipped away at. We're seeing a rapid turnaround of cases, |
Overtime has to be matched to productivity. When overtime is measured and tracked, it makes it much harder to dole it out politically. Will people [still] be able to game the system? Sure, if someone tries hard enough. But it makes it a lot harder. |
that as a government we're prepared, and ... it's not just an image -- that there is reality and depth to it -- and that we can truly ensure that we are as able to respond and as able to secure [the city as best] we can. |
That kind of turnaround is a new precedent for them. |
That's a low for us. |
The key to the city's plan is flexibility. |
The mayor kept sending us back to the drawing board and saying, 'There must be a better way to do it.' The summation of all that groundwork is ... we're pulling the idea of a downtown special service area, |
The message we want to send to anyone who might cheat the city is, 'We're gonna get ya. We're gonna identify who you are.' |
The reality is when the emergency occurs, it's simply too late to begin to ask the tough questions, |
There are other ways to harness the economic driver of Millennium Park. There are a lot of ways that Millennium Park helps bring in money to the downtown area. There are other ways to create revenue. We'll be releasing those in the near future. |