What Chicagoans want to know: Public safety, City finances, City Council

Over the last six weeks, the Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG) set out across the City on a series of listening tours, to ask Chicagoans questions about their City government: What could City government do to improve your quality of life? What do you want to know more about in City government? What have you seen go wrong in City government?

OIG volunteers could be found at town hall meetings, on CTA platforms, farmers markets, and other community gathering points. We received more than 300 responses in three languages (English, Spanish, and Mandarin), from over 50 Chicago zip codes.

The goal of this “Listening Tour” was to learn about what was on the minds of Chicagoans related to City government, so that we can best align our work for impact as we set priorities and project plans for 2025. Themes that emerged include:

City Finances

More than half of the responses we received touched on taxes, money, and finances. Chicagoans told us that they want more information about where their tax dollars are going, how budgets and costs are set, and how financial decisions are made. Some comments raised concerns about expenses, and others wanted to understand the connections between paying taxes and government in action.

Public Safety

Crime prevention and police accountability were also prevalent themes across responses. Some cited concerns over specific instances of violence. Others asked for more jobs and programs to engage youth, teens, and young adults to reduce violence in Chicago’s neighborhoods.

City Council

At least a third of the responses asked about what Alderpersons do and the extent of their authority. In particular, there was a desire to understand aldermanic prerogative, in terms of the balance between City-wide policy and local decision-making in individual wards.

Day-to-Day Living

A final theme that emerged was the quality of life concerns that shape the day-to-day lives of Chicagoans. At the top of that list was affordable housing, and concerns about how the lack of it intersects with homelessness. Additionally, people shared individual experiences and needs related to infrastructure, such as bike lanes and pedestrian safety, and street and pothole repairs.

The Listening Tour Surveys just closed at the end of May. Our Audit and Program Review and Public Safety teams will now dive into the data as they begin to develop annual plans for 2025.

Some of our respondents had never heard of OIG. Indeed, one of our outreach goals, both for the recent Listening Tour campaign and throughout the year, is to make sure Chicagoans know who we are, what we do, and where to find us—and that’s via our one-stop access point, 833-TALK-2-IG or [email protected] .

The Listening Tour surveys have closed for now.

However, our lines are always open to hear from you, be it with suggestions to make City government better, or to help us hold City actors accountable when they break the rules. As always, we look forward to hearing from you.

Respectfully,

Inspector General Deborah Witzburg