Chicago

By MANUEL GALVAN

When the Los Angeles riots — and to a lesser degree, Chicago's flood — triggered President Bush into producing an urban "action plan," he employed the polished practice of "DSQ," a tactic used by countless politicians. DSQ, or "doing something quickly," is the name of a popular, political survival game in which the elected official finds some way to address a problem without actually resolving it. The politician can say, "Our people are looking into the problem," create a task force to study it or implement any of several other ploys.

Bush has added his own personal touch to the game. He gives a major speech stressing the seriousness of the problem, says he has a new policy to address the crisis and challenges the Democratic Congress to act. He then leaves an outdone Congress to wait, sometimes months, for any actual legislative package that can be introduced in the House and Senate.

The issue of health care was addressed by Bush only after former Republican Gov. Richard Thornburgh of Pennsylvania was defeated last year in the state's U.S. Senate race by Harris Wofford, a little-known Democrat whose position papers included national health care. The president touted his own $100 billion health package in February, then Congress waited months for any paperwork.

By practicing DSQ, politicians can't be charged with making a mistake beause no real decision has been reached. They can't be blamed for hemorrhaging the budget because no real money has been spent. Most importantly they can't be criticized for inaction because they are "doing something quickly."

With any "political luck," the problem will resolve itself or someone else can be blamed, another survival game.

Remember that Bush first attempted to blame President Lyndon Johnson for Los Angeles' riots. Ironically, Johnson himself practiced DSQ in 1967 by appointing then-Illinois Gov. Otto Kerner to head a commission on civil disorders after major cities exploded into riots, including Watts in Los Angeles.

Another version of the political luck survival game is that the problem will become dormant or superseded by another, at least until after the "next" election. The issue of health care was replaced by a concern for cities following the violence in Los Angeles.

When Bush played DSQ after the Los Angeles riots, he gave a major speech, then let Congress simmer without legislation. He didn't even come up with a new urban agenda, only some recycled ideas. He pledged $500 million to "weed" neighborhoods plagued by drugs, gangs and violent crimes, then "seed" them with social services. The concept was originally a demonstration program created last year for Trenton, N.J., and Kansas City, Mo. He sought to expand housing initiatives by increasing funding to $1 billion for grants to help low-income families buy their own homes. Bush reintroduced enterprise zones to encourage jobs and investments with tax breaks in blighted communities, an idea that dates back to President Richard Nixon and could cost nearly $2 billion over five years. Bush also gave education and welfare reforms another plug with an unspecified price tag and touted an existing $680 million plan to improve the coordination of federal job and training programs for young people.

The reaction in Congress, where political ownership often outweighs service to constituents, was no surprise. The Democrats applauded the Bush plan because their election strength comes from urban areas. The Republicans embraced it because many of their elections depend on offsetting public perception that Bush ignores domestic issues. However, as Senate Minority Leader Robert Dole (R., Kan.) noted, "We agree on everything but the details."

32/July 1992/Illinois Issues

The real surprise hit big city mayors who saw the president's concern as an amazing turnaround. For several years, the United States Conference of Mayors, comprised of leaders from cities with at least 30,000 residents, has lobbied Congress and the White House for more urban funding. The response was always the same: "Solve your own problems." The flow of federal funds that gushed in the '60s has been slowed to a trickle.

Being able politicians themselves, the mayors quickly recovered from the shock of Bush saying, in effect, "I want to be the urban president." The conference, whose elite group of 10 trustees includes Illinois Mayors Richard M. Daley of Chicago, Joan Barr of Evanston and Greg Sparrow of DeKalb, reminded Washington that it had already proposed its own $34.8 billion urban agenda.

The mayors' plan calls for $15 billion in targeted fiscal assistance based on measures of financial distress and levels of unemployment: $8.8 billion for training, employment services and Community Development Block Grant monies to generate jobs; $11 billion for public works projects, transportation needs and small business loans. "While statements and acts of moral leadership are of great importance," the mayors wrote in a letter to Congress after the recent eruption in Los Angeles, "a demonstration of commitment to attacking the root causes of the violence we saw ... is equally important."

Democratic House leaders met with conference mayors to discuss an interim step of $2 billion in emergency aid before pressing the $34.8 billion urban package. The Conference of Mayors' June meeting in Houston was much more focused than past conventions on root causes of urban devastation and gave a clear indication that DSQ won't be enough to resolve city problems. Nor will the crisis simply go away or fall dormant by November. "I hope that nobody is thinking that it's all over with," remarked Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke. "We've really had quite a wakeup call."

Manuel Galvan is a Chicago writer and marketing consultant.