We begged and pleaded for you to embrace a little democracy, and on Tuesday you came through. For the first time in decades, more than half of Chicago voters decided that they weren’t quite ready to coronate their mayor for another four years.
Beneath the hype and the hullabaloo, both candidates need to answer more questions about what they’ve done and what they’re planning to do. Here are a few issues they should start with.
Police superintendent Garry McCarthy has dismissed the idea that police officers could get burned out from putting in too many extra shifts. “I was an overtime guy,” he said. “I did a ton of overtime, and I’m still doing it.” That was two years ago, but the police department continues to spend $100 million a year on overtime so officers can work second and third shifts in high-crime areas. This approach is cheaper than hiring more full-time cops, whose ranks have thinned since Emanuel took office. While most crime totals have fallen as well, shootings climbed in 2014, to an average of seven a day across the city. Veteran police say the overtime approach isn’t sustainable, but with huge pension payments due this year, it’s likely the next mayor will need to shrink the police department even further.
Of course, how the next mayor navigates all of these challenges could also depend on the makeup of the new City Council. With 19 races in runoffs, he’ll have to work with a new crop of aldermen, some of whom have vowed not to be mere rubber stamps.
