I was looking for ideas on how to grade public officials in the upcoming 2011 election when I came across an article titled “Grading Daley on community issues” in Newstips by Curtis Black.    He cited ratings given by The Developing Government Accountability for the People (DGAP).  Apparently, our great city received an overall grade of D because “the city’s performance in several areas had declined since a previous assessment three years earlier.” Even though the DGAP stated “the city,” I would have to look at our great leader, King Richard Daley.  Check out their ratings.

Criminal Justice – D

Economic Development – D

Education – D+

Ethics and Corruption – D+

Housing – F

Environment – B+

Transportation – D

You can go to the report card yourself to check out their explanations for the above grades.  But, allow me to make my assessment from a South Side Perspective.

Criminal Justice – F  – That school to prison pipeline is hot on my side of town.  Are there police cars parked outside of schools in King Richard’s community or on the North Side?

Economic Development – F – All one has to do is take Halsted Street from the North Side to the South Side and this will be pretty obvious

Education – D – My friend’s child who attends school in Roseland does not have books for class. I will give Daley credit for feeding the kids.  Ok, I have to snatch that credit because the new police stations look better than many of the schools.

Ethics and Corruption – F – No words needed here.

Housing – F – Tearing down CHA homes and moving residents into otherwise established communities without teaching people how to earn an honest living was NOT a good idea.  Clearly, people who have never worked for anything do not value possessions – theirs or others.  Property values are going down because of people that could care less and are not positively contributing to the community in ANY way.   They are NOT residing in King Richard’s community.  If they are, I assure you, those families were very carefully selected.  This is no offense to any of my readers who are former residents, but you know there are exceptions.  Anytime you see mattresses thrown on the side of the road and fast food bags in the middle streets, something is not right.

Environment – F – More money was put into flowers and trees on the South Side than the schools with no books.

Transportation – D – At least some of the buses are still moving.  I want to give him credit for expanding the red line farther south but it hasn’t been done yet.  But it has been approved.  So, he’s borderline C with this one.

I would have to agree with the DGAP about the report. “…despite all of its efforts to beautify and modernize the city, local government does not adequately and equitably serve all of its communities.”  And looking at the South Side, that is pretty obvious.

How would you rate King Richard in the areas above?