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 teachersâ union he argued was more concerned about pay than in taking responsibility for educating the less well off.
âI donât think the taxpayers at the present and in the future can afford the costs of government,â Daley said. âI donât 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 thatâs why you have to look at the valueâ of various government services to taxpayers.â
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
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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 teachersâ union he argued was more concerned about pay than in taking responsibility for educating the less well off.
âI donât think the taxpayers at the present and in the future can afford the costs of government,â Daley said. âI donât 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 thatâs why you have to look at the valueâ of various government services to taxpayers.â
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
