City Hall corruption

My friend and former high school classmate Matt's comment after I posted an article about people close to the mayor being convicted and sentenced to prison, while Hizzoner Da Mare stays above it all:

Ken, know this. While I am no fan of the mayor, he is a product of Chicago politics... The Chicago Political Machine. Changing a part will not fix the machine. How do you change something that has foundations as old as the city itself? The unions and how corrupt they've become are an equal part of the travesty. Hope you're well.

********

Matt is correct. Corruption is part of the Chicago culture. And that is what we need to change. Too many people here sigh, shake their heads, wring their hands, and simply assume that corruption, graft, greed and payoffs are simply the cost of keeping the city running. And that there's nothing that can be done about that. It isn't true. I don't have all the answers. There is no Holy Grail (or if you prefer, silver bullet). We see the costs every year as the city continues to fall apart, the budget is a mess, and taxes go up--every year. Was it this bad during the Daley-free interregnum, 1976-1989? NO, it wasn't. The three mayors balanced budgets. Taxes weren't so high. The city wasn't broke, and the mayors didn't resort to selling off huge pieces of the city (Skyway, Midway Airport, parking meters) for short-term financial gain. It can be done. Once we view corruption as something to be defeated rather than something to live with/deal with, the high cost of corruption can be redirected to something more substantive: our pocketbooks.