Overview

For all the wrong reasons, a national spotlight is shining on Chicago. The city has become known for its violence, police abuse, parent and teacher unrest, population decline, and mounting municipal and pension debt. The underlying problem, contend Ed Bachrach and Austin Berg, is that deliberative democracy is dead in the city. Chicago is home to the last strongman political system in urban America. The mayor holds all the power, and any perceived checks on mayoral control are often proven illusory. Rash decisions have resulted in poor outcomes. The outrageous consequences of unchecked power are evident in government failures in elections, schools, fiscal discipline, corruption, public support for private enterprise, policing, and more. Rather than simply lament the situation, criticize specific leaders, or justify an ideology, Bachrach and Berg compare the decisions about Chicago’s governance and finances with choices made in fourteen other large U.S. cities. The problems that seem unique to Chicago have been encountered elsewhere, and Chicagoans, the authors posit, can learn from the successful solutions other cities have embraced. Chicago government and its citizens must let go of the past to prepare for the future, argue Bachrach and Berg. A future filled with demographic, technological, and economic change requires a government capable of responding and adapting. Reforms can transform the city. The prescriptions for change provided in this book point toward a hopeful future: The New Chicago Way.

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9780809337514

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This book is a thoughtful recitation of the problems of one of our greatest cities. If more intelligent, articulate citizens like Ed Bachrach and Austin Berg would take the time and make the effort to understand and publicize the fiscal realities, we would at least have a chance of finding real public support for solutions. This book is an urgent plea for change. It should be read. --Richard Ravitch, former lieutenant governor of New York The New Chicago Way reveals how serious Chicago's government problems are and how they are related to each other. More important, it provides a comprehensive solution to those problems. It should be read by scholars, public interest groups, and the public. --Dick Simpson, author of The Good Fight: Life Lessons from a Chicago Progressive Chicago is unusual among major American cities in not having a city charter to allow voters to shape and reshape their governance structures. This volume provides a good case for considering a home rule charter as a vehicle to consider a wide range of the best possible governance options. --Dr. Raphael J. Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State Los Angeles

This book is a thoughtful recitation of the problems of one of our greatest cities. If more intelligent, articulate citizens like Ed Bachrach and Austin Berg would take the time and make the effort to understand and publicize the fiscal realities, we would at least have a chance of finding real public support for solutions. This book is an urgent plea for change. It should be read. --Richard Ravitch, former lieutenant governor of New York The New Chicago Way reveals how serious Chicago's government problems are and how they are related to each other. More important, it provides a comprehensive solution to those problems. It should be read by scholars, public interest groups, and the public. --Dick Simpson, author of The Good Fight: Life Lessons from a Chicago Progressive

Author Information

Ed Bachrach is the retired CEO of Bachrach Clothing and the founder and president of the Center for Pension Integrity in Chicago. His op-eds have been published in the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, and Chicago Sun Times. Austin Berg, an award-winning writer, is the director of content strategy at the Illinois Policy Institute. He contributes opinion columns to the Illinois News Network and wrote the documentary film Madigan: Power. Privilege. Politics.

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