{"id":493536,"date":"2010-03-31T09:44:50","date_gmt":"2010-03-31T13:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef0133ec5b96d5970b"},"modified":"2010-03-31T15:39:59","modified_gmt":"2010-03-31T19:39:59","slug":"aldermen-fail-to-stop-daley-street-sweeper-reduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/493536","title":{"rendered":"Aldermen fail to stop Daley street sweeper reduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

UPDATE 2:40 p.m. by Hal Dardick — Meeting a bust, street sweeper cuts start Thursday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mayor Richard Daley’s plan to cut the number of street sweepers working around the city will take effect this week after aldermen failed today to muster enough support to turn it back.
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<\/br>Ald. Eugene Schulter flew in from a Florida vacation to attend today\u2019s special City Council meeting \u2014 one that never got off the ground because too few aldermen showed up to debate the mayor’s plan.
<\/br>
<\/br>Only 25 of the 50 City Council members showed up, and it takes at least 26 to do the city\u2019s business. When it looked like the threshold was within reach, two aldermen left the chambers.
<\/br>
<\/br>\n<\/p>\n

As a result, the effort to keep a streets sweeper in each of the city\u2019s 50 wards failed. Instead, Daley\u2019s compromise plan to put only 40 sweepers on the street will go into effect Thursday, the start of street-sweeping season.
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<\/br>The original plan was to divide up the work equally among 33 sweepers working on a grid pattern coordinated by the Streets and Sanitation department.
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<\/br>After aldermen made it clear they did not want to give up individual control of street sweepers \u2014 particularly as next year\u2019s elections approach \u2014 Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Thomas Byrne proposed the 40-sweeper system. Under it, each aldermen will maintain control of a street sweeper 32 hours each week.
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<\/br>Drivers who are no longer on sweepers will be shifted to garbage pickup, at a time when Byrne is trying to turn around problems with not enough drivers showing up to work each day. Daley touted it as a way to operate more efficiently and save money.
<\/br>
<\/br>\u201cI\u2019m all in favor of greater efficiency, but not at the expense of quality service for our taxpaying public,\u201d Ald. Joe Moore, 49th, said after the special meeting. Moore led the effort to overturn Daley\u2019s plan.
<\/br>
<\/br>\u201cThe point of coming here today is to make very clear that we wanted to protect the interests of the public,\u201d Moore said. \u201cWe wanted to make sure would be continued to be swept on a regular basis, that we would have the flexibility to address the specific special needs of our constituents and hopefully, as a result of this compromise that\u2019s been proposed by Commissioner Byrne of the Department of Streets and Sanitation, we\u2019ll be able to do that.\u201d
<\/br>
<\/br>Schulter, meanwhile, planned to return to Naples this afternoon, adding that his wife understood his need to break away from their vacation.<\/p>\n

"I felt very strongly about this issue, dealing with service to our communities,\u201d Schulter said.<\/p>\n

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<\/br><\/em><\/p>\n

Posted by Hal Dardick at <\/em>8:45 a.m.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s spring break, and the mercury is rising, so Ald. Joe Moore, 49th<\/sup>, may have a tough time this morning trying to get enough aldermen to City Hall in his effort to overturn Mayor Richard Daley\u2019s street sweeper reductions.<\/p>\n

The meeting has been called for 10:30 a.m., but at least 26 of the city\u2019s 50 aldermen have to show up to legally hold a meeting.<\/p>\n

Moore wants to prevent Daley from implementing the new plan on Thursday, when street sweepers hit the street on the first day of April in a city rite of spring.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Daley initially proposed reducing the number of street sweepers from 50 \u2014 one per ward \u2014 to 33. They would have <\/span>operated on a grid system, which <\/span>\u00a0each serving equal sized parts of the city, rather than a one-per-ward system.<\/p>\n

After Moore and other aldermen criticized the plan, Daley this week <\/span>moved a bit in their direction, saying the city would operate with 40 street sweepers under the new plan. Matt Smith, spokesman for the streets and sanitation department, said it was determined 40 were needed to maintain previous service levels.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been open to discussion,\u201d said Jacquelyn Heard, the mayor\u2019s press secretary. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to deliver the same level of service more efficiently, within our means, which is shrinking. . . . We\u2019re having to deal with a new reality, which is shrinking resources, which affects everyone, and that includes aldermen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aldermen had complained that they would lose control of street sweeping if the city went to a grid system. Under the 40-sweeper proposal, aldermen would still control a sweeper 32 hours a week, instead of 40, Moore said, adding that the details art t<\/span>oo complex to work effectively.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cResidents should not see any drastic changes in service, but like all first time programs, we need to implement this new process and see how it works in the field,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Moore\u2019s proposed \u201corder\u201d would block the change, keeping the old 50-sweeper system in place. <\/span>\u201cWe feel it\u2019s important to go forward\u201d with the meeting, Moore said. \u201cAnd we\u2019ll see who shows up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATE 2:40 p.m. by Hal Dardick — Meeting a bust, street sweeper cuts start Thursday. Mayor Richard Daley’s plan to cut the number of street sweepers working around the city will take effect this week after aldermen failed today to muster enough support to turn it back.Ald. Eugene Schulter flew in from a Florida vacation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3992,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-493536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3992"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}