City of Chicago Gets a D Grade from Local Government Accountability Group
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
By: Jonathan Lehrer

DGAP Issues 2010 Report Card for Chicago

CHICAGO, March 16, 2010 -- On the type of report card that no parent ever would want to see, the city of Chicago gets an overall grade of D for government accountability. The report card -- with one B, five D grades and one F -- is the result of an extensive evaluation from DGAP -- Developing Government Accountability to the People.

In addition to the report card that evaluates the city and its political leaders, DGAP (pronounced as “D-gap”) includes an interactive Web site (www.chicagodgap.org/home) and a series of recommendations. It is a joint project that involved the participation of numerous Chicago community groups and residents. The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (JCUA) is the convener of the project.

“The 2010 Report Card release ushers in a year of putting democracy back into the hands of the people,” says Michaela Purdue, JCUA’s director of community programs, who is DGAP coordinator.

The new report, updating a report card DGAP first issued in 2006, shows that most of the city’s grades got worse.

The subjects and 2010 grades are: Criminal Justice: D (up from an F in 2006); Economic Development: D (down from a C+); Education: D+ (down from a C); Environment: B (down from a B+); Ethics & Corruption: D+ (up from an F); Housing: F (down from a D+); and Transportation: D (down from a C).

The DGAP Report, says Purdue, shows that “despite all of its efforts to beautify and modernize the city through environmentally sound technologies, local government does not adequately and equitably serve all of its communities, particularly those most deeply and often most negatively impacted by key, issue-based policies.”

“Grade Today, Vote Tomorrow!” is the theme of the 2010 version of DGAP, being unveiled just as the 12-month run-up to the 2011 Chicago municipal elections is getting underway.

In addition to the subjects that were graded, developed by a group of city leaders, including former aldermen, the 2010 DGAP report provides an in-depth analysis of principles of good city government. DGAP calls attention to the problems of pay-to-play politics, and the extent that patronage, financial strength and corruption can influence the decision-making in Chicago’s neighborhoods, regardless of the desire of the neighborhood residents.

DGAP includes an online toolbox that serves as a how-to guide for maneuvering through city government. The Web site also includes a survey that can be used for grading aldermen. 

“There is great confusion over how the city actually works,” says Brian Gladstein, JCUA program director. “In updating DGAP we now have an educational tool, responding to what community groups and activists said they would need to fully analyze and evaluate city government.”

The DGAP network anticipates a year of educating and mobilizing communities around the city in order to ensure that citizens will:

• Understand how local government works (or doesn’t);
• Have improved access to resources that will better assist them in their engagement with government structures; and
• Hold their elected officials accountable.

DGAP contains 35 recommendations for making the city more accountable, including:

• Pass the Sweet Home Chicago Coalition ordinance to require 20 percent of TIF (Tax Increment Funding) money be spent on affordable housing.
• Create an accountable, independent citizen’s review board for the Chicago Police Department, made up of freely elected community representatives, which would include the ability to release the names of officers who have been implicated in police torture cases.
• Implement a moratorium on school closings until a detailed analysis of the impacts of shuffling children is completed, and until a real plan to address the quality of safety and education for every child is in place.
• Ensure the transparency and accountability of all future sales of public assets by providing third-party evaluation of privatization lease deals; lease deals that are no longer than 30 years; public hearings on all proposals; and 30 days for the city council to review proposals before voting on them.

About DGAP (www.chicagodgap.org/home)

DGAP was formed in February 2006 by JCUA, Pilsen Alliance and the Coalition to Protect Public Housing. DGAP has grown into a dynamic network comprised of a diverse group of community organizations, academic institutions, policy institutions, unions and private foundations and concerned individuals.

About JCUA (http://www.jcua.org)

The mission of the Chicago-based Jewish Council on Urban Affairs is to combat poverty, racism and anti-Semitism in partnership with diverse communities. Guided by prophetic Jewish principles, JCUA pursues social and economic justice for our most vulnerable neighborhoods by promoting a vision of empowering communities from within. Since 1964, JCUA has assisted groups in low-income and minority communities, built coalitions with diverse groups, advocated on issues of poverty and racism and mobilized a Jewish constituency to create a more just city and nation.

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