A lot of people think Chicago`s politics is garbage, but they`ve got it backwards. Chicago`s garbage is politics.
Neither budget deficits nor taxpayer complaints nor the thrifty example of other cities has weakened the ancient link, forged by generations of vote- hungry committeemen and their precinct-captain foremen.
When Ald. Edward Vrdolyak decided to court the lakefront liberals, how did he begin? With garbage. He promised tax rebates to condo owners who use private scavengers, and Mayor Washington was bamboozled into saying yes. The city can`t afford the $5 million these rebates will cost this year, but money never seems to matter to Chicago politicians when they`ve got garbage on the brain.
Even the new fiscal conservatism of Mr. Vrdolyak and his chief ally, Ald. Edward Burke–a commitment born the day Mayor Washington was elected–melts before the altar of garbage. Last week the two Eddies led the rest of the majority bloc in canceling the expansion of a garbage collection system that uses three-person crews instead of four. The experiment is working in five test wards, and the expansion was part of the agreement that settled last year`s budget fight. But what`s an agreement when payroll bloat is threatened? The 1985 budget provided $2 million to buy automated equipment for three additional wards, money that would produce many more millions in savings over the years. Instead, the Vrdolyak-Burke bloc added the $2 million to money earmarked for police cars and firefighting equipment. The police and fire departments didn`t ask for the extra dollars. But they`ve got to be spent someplace, and the Eddies certainly wouldn`t want them used to cut labor costs –not when the laborers are garbage crews and foremen loyal to them.
Chicago faces a $50 million deficit in this year`s budget, according to Mr. Burke`s own figures. It may lose another $80 million next year in federal aid. Yet this city with its growing financial problems still supports the nation`s most expensive garbage collection system. Other cities are shifting from three-person crews to two, but Chicago sticks with four. Other cities use garbage truck drivers to help load, but in Chicago they are purely chauffeurs; and they`re paid at premium Teamster rates, a third more than the loaders get. No other city uses duplicate sets of foremen–one for loaders, one for drivers.
Aldermen Vrdolyak and Burke fought successfully last year against police force cuts, arguing that security must be untouchable in a city like Chicago, immune from budget trims. They made a good case. But there`s another untouchable at least as dear to their hearts: a bloated Department of Streets and Sanitation. And this time their case is pure garbage.
