The narrative promulgated by some in the media and encouraged by Jack Coatar’s campaign for aldermanic president implies that the city’s future would be imperiled if unrestrained progressives were in charge. Despite his record of working on behalf of shady developers, they saw him as the protector of a more “centrist” approach to governing against the extreme recklessness of the “far out progressives.”
Granted, there must be attention given to market forces in a fast changing business scenario, but we can not continue to ignore the inner connectedness of our diverse city.
Beside Coatar’s concession, some have not spoken since the sound defeat of Ald. Coatar by Ald. Megan Green. Her victory came despite the huge disparity in financial resources. Green’s $262,271 in campaign funds were dwarfed by Coatar’s $855,924 that was fueled largely by business interests. Her impressive victory of more than a ten point margin was propelled by a coalition of voters, racially and generationally diverse.
Conversations about the impact of this election require a bit of circumspection. The inexorable decline of the city’s population and stagnant economic growth can be traced back decades when the course of the city’s affairs were dictated by the city’s civic and political leadership. As recently as 1970, the city had experienced a loss of almost 300,000 people. Since 1981, there has been an exodus of an additional 150,000 folks.
There was little priority given to this steep population decline and the accompanying decline in the quality of the schools by those in charge, and who were clearly not “progressive.” This de facto benign neglect of large segments of the population as well as certain areas of the city has helped lead to some of the city’s seemingly intractable woes. They have left the city poorly prepared to compete for needed resources, fiscal and human. This has left us behind some of our peer Midwestern cities.
There is no denying that there have been macroeconomic forces beyond the control of local government and business leaders, but there are now some new, unique opportunities for the city to take better advantage of.
Fortunately there has been some significant investment from both the health care industry and the private sector in parts of the city.
But there must be better collaboration between elected officials and business leaders about equity, social and economic. Rather than rancor and charges of blame, we need to find a better way to move this city ahead collectively.
Granted, there must be attention given to market forces in a fast changing business scenario, but we can not continue to ignore the inter connectedness of our diverse city.
We are seeing the consequences of ignoring the needs, over the years, of more marginalized and disinvested communities. To continue any conversation about the future of this city that ignores this reality, is to compound the dire consequences of continuing to dismiss the needs of swaths of the city. To use an overused witticism attributed to Albert Einstein, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Simple declarations of intent will not suffice. Any future collaboration will not be easy because the problems are complicated, some deeply entrenched, and there are no easy solutions.
But we do need to start in a new direction because we are what we do and not just what we say. It is urgent that we act more rightly for the common good.
