How do you run a great city? A city which makes life good for all its citizens.
A vital city that grows stronger, not weaker, with the passage of time.
Majestic buildings and cultural resources are the landmarks of a great city.
But they're not the mechanics.
Skyscrapers and museums don't run a city.
The muscles of a great city are built into its resources.
The streets, the schools, and most of all, the neighborhoods.
That's where the strengths of a great city are born.
That's where the direction of a great city is plotted.
Because you don't run a great city from up here.
You run it from down here, in the streets.
You run a great city by providing for the basic needs of the people.
By providing responsive public services and modern facilities to ensure those needs are met.
Today and in the years to come.
Safeguard the future with schools that teach children to read and write.
Schools that provide children with wage -earning skills.
That's how you raise the general living standard.
And that's how you secure democracy.
Attract, maintain, and direct the broadest possible industrial and commercial base.
Jobs, growth, and tax revenues are vital to running a vital city.
Work hand -in -hand with mighty financial institutions.
Provide initiatives to encourage loans to businesses, large and small.
Capital for private enterprise.
And capital for private dreams.
Endow your city with a formidable tax base and accountable public officials to translate its wealth into quality services.
Use that wealth to ensure that your city can grow with the fast -moving changes in our world.
And not be overwhelmed by them.
Then walk through the streets.
How well is Chicago really being run? Any people, anywhere, have the right to rise up and shake off existing government and form a new one that suits them better.
Abraham Lincoln.
About a year ago I bought a house and I set it up in the basement for a little music studio.
I fill it around with music and I've got some guitars and stereo equipment down there.
And I've got to have that insured pretty heavily.
And now we find out that from an insurance agent we're living in a high -risk area.
And how would you feel? Well, I moved into this neighborhood about three years ago from Englewood, which is regarded as a very high -crime area.
And after living here three years, I really don't feel any safer than in the old neighborhood.
It's true.
It's summertime and our children wish to play with their friends, go to the beaches, ride bicycles.
But how can you let a 12 -year -old go outside without someone there to help them? We had a mugging just about 50 feet away.
A fellow jumped out of the bushes and grabbed a woman's purse, told her he had a gun.
And she screamed.
It was really frightening.
We like to think of this as a very nice, safe neighborhood.
And I guess this indicated to us that it's not.
I don't think that you're safe anywhere in the city.
And I think if Bill Singer were mayor, it would make a difference.
The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and alter their form of government.
George Washington.
I've been teaching in the Chicago public school system for four years now.
And Singer is the only public official who's ever bothered to come down into the school to see what was actually going down.
Not only is he an expert on schools, he's an expert on early childhood education.
He knows the changes that we've got to make.
And he's aware of the fact that the Board of Education won't make the changes and the mayor won't change the board.
If we're going to do something about the schools, we're going to have to do something about the mayor.
Today, when our government has so far passed into the hands of special interests, today must we remember that a people shall be saved by the power that sleeps within them or by none.
Woodrow Wilson.
The mayor wants to spend a billion dollars on the cross -border.
So the people that live in the suburbs can get out of the city faster.
What about us? We need buses and L's.
What is being spent on transportation? Bill Singer understands the needs of Chicagoans, the people who live and work in this town.
He's a major proponent of RTA, and he led the fight against the crosstown.
Singer has a lot of support in this neighborhood.
He has great rapport within the entire Latino community.
Hell, he is the only one that knows we exist.
As new discoveries are made, new truths disclose, and manners and opinions change, institutions must advance also and keep pace with the times.
Thomas Jefferson.
This street is part of the loop.
It's intersected by Madison, Adams, Jackson, all centers of commerce.
But the area started to decay, and nothing was done about it.
So most of the businesses have fled to the suburbs, and the workers with them.
I know.
I'm president of a small company near here, one of the last.
What's the present administration done to keep business in Chicago? Well, in the last ten years, 1 ,700 acres of zoned industrial land has been allowed to remain vacant and unproductive.
During the same time, Chicago lost over 230 ,000 jobs.
That's $2 ,000 million in income lost to the city.
More millions of revenue dollars have been lost because certain big business interests have clout in the assessor's office.
But my property taxes keep going up, and people keep leaving the city.
That's why I'm working for Bill Singer.
Because if I keep losing my customers, I'm going to lose my business.
It takes creative and aggressive leadership to run a great city.
Leadership to guide its growth and to shore up its foundation against the press of time and change.
How have Chicago's present leaders responded to time and change? How have they chosen to run our city? Not a soul down on the corner, that's a pretty certain sign That prison cells are breaking up that old gang of mine All the boys are singing blues songs, they forgot sweet Adeline Those prison cells are breaking up that old gang of mine It's irrelevant, really, if the present administration is dishonest or just incompetent or merely indifferent.
It has proven itself insufficient to meet the changing needs of Chicago.
Nor can it rise to the challenge of change.
The power base of the administration is fragmented.
The political apparatus is crumbling.
Change is inevitable and rational.
People don't resist the inevitable.
The question facing us is not whether Chicago's people are able to meet the press of evolution, but when and under whose leadership.
Will we tolerate another four years of corruption and mismanagement or begin now what must be done eventually? Gee, I get a lonesome feeling when I hear the cell doors chime Those prison cells are breaking up that old gang of mine The key to winning an election in Chicago, unlike other cities, is that you not only have to communicate well, but also you have to organize.
No one is going to win this election or any other in Chicago without being in the precincts.
There are 3211 precincts, they all have to recover on election day.
We have to learn the tricks of the Democratic precinct captain, check the registration sheets, go through a dry run on registration so that we make sure we eliminate the ghosts, we register new people.
And then come February, we will be in the precincts and familiar to the people in the same way that the regular organization is familiar to them.
No matter how well I communicate, no matter how agreeable people are in terms of the issues and the positions I take, if we are not there on election day, the machine will be.
But in order to win 50 % of the vote or more, we have to be in the precincts and we have to get our vote out.
And that's what organizing is all about.
And the best possible precinct organizers are in this campaign.
Chicago has changed and will continue to change, that much is certain.
But are you ready to confront that change, to absorb it and direct it? Are you ready to accept the fact that it's time for a change in Chicago government? Are you ready to accept the responsibility for running a great city? I love Chicago, I love this city and I want to see a change and I want to see a change for people.
I want to see a good city, I want to see a great city.
I want to see a clean, clean city, a clean city and honest city.
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