Chicago By ED McMANUS

THE NEW mayor of Chicago is a man of good intentions, but it will take more than that to run the city. It's really a job for Superman. Or perhaps for someone who has the ability to manufacture money.

Chicago, like other major cities, especially the older ones in the Midwest and East, is broke, and has been for several years. Harold Washington's challenge will be finding the money — either by enticing the federal and state governments to provide more, or by finding ways to economize, or by raising taxes — to keep the schools open, the buses running, the policemen and firemen on the streets and to take care of those babies and old people.

But even with enough money, the mayor's task will be enormously difficult. He won a Democratic primary election in which 62 percent of the voters preferred other candidates [Mayor Jane Byrne and Richard M. Daley]. He won the closest general election contest for mayor in modern history following a bitter campaign in which his opponent, Republican Bernard Epton, unabashedly played to the city's racial fears and attracted huge numbers of Democrats to his cause. Even many of Washington's supporters had lingering doubts about him because he was once convicted of failing to file tax returns. A large portion of the City Council remains loyal to the Democratic machine which Washington crushed in the primary. And the black community, which finally realized the dream of electing one of their own, inevitably will have very high expectations of the new mayor.

The first big crisis of his term may be in September, when the Board of Education will face a projected deficit of $202 million, even without giving pay raises to teachers. Granting a 6 percent raise would increase the deficit to more than $250 million. And the teachers union has said that because its members accepted a contract last year that contained no cost-of-living pay raises, they will insist on raises this year. Washington said during the campaign that he would fight for a state income tax increase "with a substantial portion of the resulting revenues going to public education."

Another Washington campaign promise was to cut the basic Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) fare from 90 cents to 75 cents. Trouble is, the CTA and its parent body, the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), both are strapped, and the Reagan administration is going to cut federal operating subsidies in October. It would be easier for Harold Washington if the RTA was dominated by Chicago, but as of July 1, the control of the authority's board will shift to the suburbs. The only bright note is that the contracts of CTA bus drivers and rapid transit workers don't expire until late next year.

Contracts for policemen and firemen run out at the end of this year, and both groups are sure to demand a lot more money.

A long-range solution to Chicago's money woes is to improve the economy. The city's tax base is dreadfully low. Washington promised during the campaign to create a pool of public and private money for investment and development and to revitalize the city's program of attracting new industry and keeping existing firms happy.

One of the new mayor's biggest assets is his Springfield background. During 14 years in the House and two in the Senate, he acquired an intimate knowledge of how the legislature works, and he knows most of its members.

Among the early decisions Washington must make are:

• Whether to proceed with Byrne's planned renovation of Navy Pier. A $65 million bond sale to finance that project and others was scheduled for late March but was delayed so Washington could have a say on it.

•Whether to keep the massive North Loop redevelopment project alive. The business community favors it but many of Washington's supporters believe the city's money would be better spent in the neighborhoods.

•Whether to move forward on plans for the 1992 World's Fair. Again, there's a split between businessmen and community people.

•Who to appoint to various boards and commissions. He has pledged to put more blacks and Hispanics in positions of power, but he can't afford to ignore whites.

• What to do about the police department. Washington's black constituency sees the police as the enemy; police brutality, even in the enlightened 80s, is a major problem. The mayor must find a way to stop it.

•How to make housing projects livable. Although Washington struck fear in the hearts of white ethnics by announcing two days after the election that he would expedite the construction of scattered-site public housing, there is little money available; the Reagan administration has virtually eliminated funding for public housing.

While he's making all these decisions — trying to run the city — he will be looking over his shoulder at Cook County Democratic Chairman Edward Vrdolyak and other political sharks who would like to make him a one-term mayor. Daley may make another try for mayor in 1987. During the next four years, Harold Washington must keep the city solvent, carry out enough reforms to satisfy his black and liberal white supporters and convince some of those Eptonites that he's not an ogre. That's a tall order. □

June 1983 | Illinois Issues | 33