Chicago Turns to Workers to Close Deficit | Wall Street Journal | June 24, 2009
By DOUGLAS BELKIN
For half a century, Chicago has proclaimed itself "the city that works." This year, Mayor Richard Daley might consider an addendum: "excluding furloughs and the day after holidays."
Chicago is grappling with a sinking tourism-and-convention sector, plummeting revenue from real-estate transfers and a deflated financial-services industry. After patching a $469 million budget shortfall for 2009 late last year, the city is now scrambling to fill a projected further deficit of $250 million to $300 million.