Daley holding firm on budget cuts

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley says he isn't going to back down on the cuts in his tough-times 2009 budget.

Last week, Daley announced a pared down budget designed to cover a $469 million shortfall. He announced plans to lay off more than 900 city workers and eliminate nearly 1,350 vacant jobs.

Daley said Tuesday he'd like the city to have more policemen. But he says next year's budget will be worse than this year so the city has to be realistic about its spending.

When the City Council opened two weeks of budget hearings Monday, even the mayor's most loyal aldermanic supporters took potshots.

They complained about everything from the slowdown in police hiring to Daley's plan to shrink the size of 80 more city garbage crews from two laborers on a truck to one.