Group IDs 64 Ways to Improve City

From jobs to traffic to government, a 140-page report delivered Thursday identifies dozens of ways of how to make the city that works, work even better.

The report, prepared by the 21st Century Commission on City Government, identifies 64 recommendations on everything from from infrastructure to the environment to city services.

Co-chaired by the mayor’s budget director and former top mayoral aide Sarah Pang, the recommendations include:

  • Franchise waste pick-up by private haulers.
  • Use incentives and regulations to reduce the flow of waste to city landfills.
  • Install water meters in 350,000 households without them.
  • Raise curbside and public parking rates to reduce traffic congestion.
  • Cut truck traffic through a mix of "congestion-based tolling," off-peak deliveries, loading zone efficiencies and truck route improvements.
  • Establish a 311 system for businesses.

    Mayor Richard Daley welcomed the recommendations and he said he would certainly welcome any kind of economic stimulus money that might be forthcoming from the incoming presidential administration, but he refused to say whether or when the 64 recommendations would be implemented.

    The commission started its work more than a year ago, before the economy turned to what the mayor called Thursday "a recession."

    Part of their work in recent weeks has been adjusting their recommendations to the new economic reality. Daley asked the commission's members to keep meeting and to keep refining the study.
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