City Cuts Hit Two Key Areas: Police and Streets Departments

Sun-Times Reporting

CHICAGO -- Nearly half of the 1,080 city of Chicago employees being targeted for layoffs would come from two key departments, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned -- the police and the Department of Streets and Sanitation.

A labor leader said that's likely to translate to fewer cops on the streets, as the jobs of police civilians are cut.

Even as homicides and other violent crimes are on the rise, Mayor Daley's decision to lay off 133 police civilians for budgetary reasons is likely to strain a Chicago Police Department that's expected to be hard hit by the elimination of 329 sworn vacancies and 424 civilian openings.

The 1,080 layoffs are projected by the Daley administration to save $98 million. They represent the biggest purge in Daley's nearly 20-year tenure as mayor.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported last week that Daley would eliminate 3,000 vacant positions and lay off more than 1,000 city employees to deal with the city's worst budget crisis in a generation.

The numbers of city of Chicago jobs being targeted under Mayor Daley's planned layoffs, by department:

• Streets and Sanitation (376)

• Chicago Police Department civilian workers (133)

• General Services (75)

• Water Management (69)

• Aviation (67)

• Transportation (28)

• Health (10)

• Chicago Public Library (5)

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