The Civic Federation sent the following letter to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board in support of a plan by the Cook County Health and Hospitals System to discontinue acute-care hospital services at Oak Forest Hospital in favor of expanded outpatient care. As discussed previously on this blog, the Review Board rejected the plan by a vote of 3 to 2 on March 21, 2011. Under…
In this interview, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall and Chicago 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack discuss Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel’s proposal to reduce the size of the Chicago City Council. Mr. Msall says that the City’s enormous fiscal troubles require drastic moves to improve delivery of City services.
In this blog post, Greg Hinz discusses the conclusions of the Civic Federation's "Cook County Modernization 100-Day Accountability Report." The Federation found that administration of County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has made considerable progress in modernizing operations, but still faces significant challenges over the next few years.
This article details reactions to Mayor-Elect Rahm Emanuel's suggestion that the City of Chicago consider reducing the number of aldermen in the City Council from 50 to 25. The Civic Federation is quoted saying that most other major U.S. cities function with far fewer council members and notes that with the City facing difficult fiscal challenges, aldermen as well as citizens and city employees…
Concerns Remain about Independence of the Health System, Future Budgets (CHICAGO) A new Civic Federation report released today finds that Cook County has made considerable progress toward modernizing its operations, but still faces significant challenges over the next few years. The Cook County Modernization 100-Day Accountability Report is in follow up to the Federation’s October 2010 Cook…
The Civic Federation’s Cook County Modernization 100-Day Accountability Report continues the work of our Cook County Modernization Project. This report includes detailed information on the status of all 36 recommendations from the Civic Federation’s Cook County Modernization Report (published in October 2010), as well as a dashboard rating system for recommendations that were to be implemented…
In this interview about the progress being made to reform Cook County government, County President Toni Preckwinkle cites the Civic Federation's finding that phasing out the County’s subsidy for unincorporated areas of Cook County could save millions.
In this article about Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle's moves to reform County government, the Civic Federation says that the County is moving in a positive direction and is more transparent in its operations.
Today marks the 100th day since Toni Preckwinkle took office as President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. During that time, the County has begun to implement a variety of reforms including many of the recommendations from the Civic Federation’s Cook County Modernization Report. The administration released a 100-day report card this morning, which highlights what the administration…
The Cook County Board recently passed the County’s FY2011 budget. The budget included large reductions to most County agencies and reflects difficult choices made by the County leadership. The budget also began implementation of some of the recommendations from the Cook County Modernization Report. However, the FY2011 budget is just the start of the heavy lifting that will be necessary to…
