Read more of Fran Spielman's wisdom Chicago City Workers.

Daley wants to get rid of the two laborers behind the filthy Chicago Garbage Trucks. Would goons like Daley would want illegal aliens to perform the task? Maybe if Mayor Daley looks into the way his pals run their phony scam trucking companies, he will find some real short-cuts. Tell mayor Daley to ask his friends about the millions of dollars they make with phony minority companies, not paying prevailing wages. Remember, companies that scam the workers make millions of dollars. You just need unions to go along with it, and political leadership cut into the “Deal”. Read below and learn. Patrick McDonough

]]>Building a lean waste-fighting machine
GOVERNMENT | Panel aims to help city accomplish more with less

August 24, 2007
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter/fspielman@suntimes.com
If Chicago ever makes radical changes in the way basic city services are delivered — like privatizing garbage collection and water filtration plants or eliminating three employees on a garbage truck — Mayor Daley will need political cover.
He got it Thursday from the 21st Century Commission.

It’s a new group of two dozen business, academic and civic leaders appointed by the mayor to take a fresh look at the “scope and structure” of local government with an eye toward re-ordering priorities, consolidating services and doing more with less.

Co-chaired by newly appointed Budget Director Bennett Johnson and by Daley’s former deputy chief of staff turned-insurance company executive Sarah Pang, the commission will search for overlapping services at all government agencies, including City Hall, the CTA, Park District, Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges.

A final report will be due back in one year, with pro-bono support from the Civic Consulting Alliance, formerly known as the Financial Research Advisory and Committee. Short-term ideas could be incorporated into Daley’s 2008 budget.

“Do we really need each separate city department to do our work or can they be consolidated, reorganized or redefined? . . . Are all the services government provides today services people really need? Do we need to provide new services?” the mayor asked. “You have to look at it. If you don’t, then government just gets stale.”

Daley steered clear of what his chief-of-staff called “the P word”–privatization–that’s long been a sore point with organized labor and its City Council allies.

But, privatization of basic city services is clearly on the agenda on the heels of the $2.4 billion city windfall generated by leasing the Chicago Skyway and downtown parking garages, said Civic Federation President Laurence Msall, a commission member.

“There are other opportunities out there, including garbage collection and recycling, to — potentially — the city’s water filtration plants.” Msall said.