INSPECTOR GENERAL PUSHES RAHM TO STRIPSTREET- PAVINGFROMALDERMEN
Chicago aldermen should no longer be allowed to make residential street paving decisions “based solely on complaints and superficial surveys,” Inspector General Joe Ferguson said Tuesday, urging Mayor Rahm Emanuel to strip those projects from the aldermanic menu program.
In a follow- up audit, Ferguson argued that the current system of allowing aldermen to determine which residential streets get paved has resulted in “demonstrable inequities between wards and inefficient and ineffective use of valuable resources.”
“Chicago is in desperate need of a comprehensive approach to fundamental infrastructure— not one where residential street paving decisions are made by individual alderman based solely on complaints and superficial surveys, while the main thoroughfares are resurfaced based on high- tech data analyzed by transportation experts,” Ferguson wrote.
“This does not require the termination of the menu program or participatory budgeting [ used by some aldermen to determine menu spending], but rather a re- orientation of the menu away from core infrastructure projects like street paving.”
In December 2015, Ferguson concluded that the Chicago Department of Transportation was not managing street maintenance in a cost- effective manner that extended pavement life, as Federal Highway Administration pavement preservation program guidelines require.
Instead, CDOT was managing arterial and residential streets separately and was falling down on the job of collecting data on street conditions, measuring performance and engaging in preventive maintenance.
To extend the life of city streets in a way that is “most cost- effective” for Chicago taxpayers, Ferguson recommended that CDOT: develop “in- house expertise” about pavement preservation techniques; collect “reliable pavement condition data” on a “routine basis”; develop a “proactive maintenance strategy” and separate residential street resurfacing from the aldermanic menu program.
In the follow- up audit released Tuesday, Ferguson credited CDOT for taking steps to implement “three corrective actions” he recommended.
But Ferguson noted that CDOT has slammed the door on the idea of stripping aldermen of their exclusive purview over residential street resurfacing.
North Side Ald. Joe Moore ( 49th) applauded Mayor Rahm Emanuel for standing his ground.
Moore argued that aldermen are “closest to the people” and many, himself included, use “participatory budgeting” to give local residents final say over how menu money gets spent.
“Residents of communities are in the best position to determine what’s needed for their neighborhood — not downtown bureaucrats,” Moore said Tuesday.
“At a time when people feel very distant from government and feel that no one listens to them, this would just exacerbate that problem. Once again, you’re turning decision- making power away from the people and to selfappointed experts at City Hall.”
South Side Ald. Pat Dowell ( 3rd) said she, too, would be “totally against” ceding control of local resurfacing to CDOT engineers.
“I know there are streets in my ward that have been ignored for a long time. The menu money gives me an opportunity to address pressing priorities in my ward that have not been addressed by CDOT,” Dowell said.