Thanks so much to Donna Yuen from
Chicago’s Mayor office of international relations and protocol, as well as Gene Lee, Mayor Daley’s Deputy Chief of Staff and another Chinese leader of
Chicago, it was an absolute privilege to meet the famous Chicago Mayor Richard M Daley and some of his 50 Aldermen. And it was an honour to be publicly recognised on Wednesday, 18 March 2009, with a standing ovation no less!
And while their system of city government is quite similar to that of ours in
Australia, there are some slight and distinct differences that Australians could learn from. For example,
Chicago has a much greater autonomy for its taxation system. (It certainly did make my brain work overtime, what with my views on small government.) And despite Chicago being one of the highest taxed cities in America, Chicago citizens’ consistent returning of Mayor Daley over the last 26 years appear to vindicate that they are prepared to wear such tax levels only because the return from their higher taxes are worthwhile.
Another major distinction
Chicago has is its system of planning, zoning, development assessment, challenges to council decisions, architectural excellence as well as a mature culture of “trade” with developers in order to achieve much higher public benefit, all combine toward making
Chicago her citizens are passionate about and proud of even to a fault.
Given the size of its influence and economic power,
Chicago’s Council meetings are broadcast live webcast videostreaming. In my mind,
Chicago’s City Council is more like a combination of NSW State Parliament and a major city council from a portfolio responsibility perspective. I am sure that there are also many other positive differences which time did not permit me to fully appreciate.
Having said that, I was surprised to see that their voting system is still traditional in the sense that each name is called out and the Alderman’s vote announced by him/her and thus recorded one at a time. But I was assured that electronic voting is being examined for their future development. So is electronic business papers in the near future.
Thanks to Donna Yuen particularly, I was given the presidential treatment in the introductions and access I received and achieved during my short study tour of
Chicago. I am certain I will be back in
Chicago again soon.
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And while their system of city government is quite similar to that of ours in
Another major distinction
Having said that, I was surprised to see that their voting system is still traditional in the sense that each name is called out and the Alderman’s vote announced by him/her and thus recorded one at a time. But I was assured that electronic voting is being examined for their future development. So is electronic business papers in the near future.