Along with BGA senior policy analyst Alden Loury, the Chicago Reader’s Mick Dumke and the Citizen Advocacy Center’s Maryam Judar praised Emanuel for providing dozens of useful datasets on the city’s data portal.
However, they also noted that the Emanuel administration has been far less transparent when it comes to the mayor’s meeting calendar, responding to public records requests, how it makes key policy decisions and how it spends tax-increment financing dollars, just to name a few. Judar gave Emanuel an ‘F’ and Dumke gave him a ‘D’.
The discussion was part of Chicago Public Radio’s weeklong series, “Grading Rahm,” where panelists offered critiques of Emanuel’s performance on jobs, education, public safety and open government or transparency.
In September, the BGA assessed the mayor’s performance in several good government issues areas. And in December, Emanuel spoke at length with BGA President and CEO Andy Shaw to talk about his first term as Chicago mayor and what he hoped to accomplish if re-elected to a second term.
Image credit: BGA senior policy analyst Alden Loury / Clare Lane, WBEZ