At a news conference on the city's dire budget situation, the mayor said the economy is making some aldermen think hard about the jobs Wal-Marts could bring.Well there is no Olympics to worry about now. The next task is to reduce the deficit of our city government and bring in those jobs. Hopefully instead of outright opposition we can get one with bringing Wal-Mart in and hopefully resolving any issues that keep Wal-Mart from developing the site at 83rd & Stewart.
DALEY: It creates jobs and people working and they will have to come to grips with that.
But Alderman Scott Waguespack says just because the city's struggling to bring in jobs doesn't mean City Council will drop its issues with Wal-Mart.
Here's more on the budget situation of the city from the Sun-Times:
What do you do when you’re a 20-year incumbent with a personal low approval rating and a record-high budget shortfall?Ald. Lyle was quoted:
How do you wipe out $550 million in red ink without infuriating voters already fuming about sky-high parking meter rates tied to a 75-year lease that got off to a disastrous start?
Mayor Daley is confronting those gnawing questions by rolling the dice.
Instead of raising taxes, fines or fees in 2010, he’s risking the bond rating used to determine city borrowing costs by doing what he said he would never do: raiding reserve funds generated by city asset sales.
The mayor’s public argument for the reversal is that Chicago taxpayers are at the end of their rope.
“I understand that times are still tough for people, and I don’t feel right asking them to pay for more city government right now,” the mayor said Thursday.
“The [2011] election is coming —and it’s not just coming for him. It’s coming for 50 aldermen,” said Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th).Read the whole thing!
“When the parking meter issue came up, the first thing people were saying is, ‘You have these reserves. Use them.’ There is a potential for a problem later. But going to taxpayers and saying we need more money now is a bigger risk. . . . We would get killed out here for even suggesting it,” she said.
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