The first thing on the agenda is money. Not because people don't count, but because they do. A city whose bond rating was just lowered to two levels above junk won't be able to keep schools open, pay police or do any of the other things we all need without the economic resources to pay the tab.

At the top of the money list is worker pensions, a subject on which Emanuel, pending Illinois Supreme Court review, has made some progress but still faces a $550 million increase in payments in the year that begins Jan. 1, just for police and fire.

Garcia says anyone now on the payroll ought to get what they've been promised no matter what, with no changes or concessions. If you really believe that, sir, how are you going to get the money? Isn't some shared sacrifice, in which taxpayers pay more and workers get less, the fairest and sanest way out of this mess?

Emanuel, meanwhile, needs to tell Chicago how he'll handle that $550 million police/fire cliff. And he needs to tell the city if he has a Plan B in case the courts throw out his earlier pension deal covering city laborers and white-collar workers.

TAX TALK

Next at the top of my list is taxes. To both men, I pose this question: Are there any circumstances under which you'd agree to a hike in property taxes over the next four years, perhaps as a last resort? If not, what is on the table?

So far, Emanuel has ducked on property taxes, while Garcia has seemed to rule them out, as well as a commuter tax and a levy on LaSalle Street financial transactions. That's cool, guys. But how are you going to pay the bills? This one particularly applies to you, Mr. Garcia, since you want to freeze and potentially end the city's red-light camera system, which annually pulls in tens of millions of dollars. How would you replace that money, sir? And, Mr. Emanuel, why don't you drop the facade and concede that the cameras are at least as much about raising revenue—a sin tax of sorts—as they are about safety?

BOOSTING CHICAGO'S ECONOMY

Another key area the two need to debate in the five weeks left is economic development.

Let's start with improving the Chicago Transit Authority, which much of Chicago uses to get to work. Does either candidate have a funding source to extend the Red Line south to the city limits? Garcia at one point seemed to throw out the possibility of a gasoline tax for transit capital work but has been silent on the issue since. Is he still for the idea? How about Emanuel?

Tax-increment financing, otherwise known as TIF, has been and remains a big issue. Emanuel, when he ran four years ago, suggested that the era of big downtown TIF deals was pretty much over but since has approved funding for a Wolf Point office building, a Near West Side Mariano's right across the street from another grocery store and the DePaul University basketball stadium by McCormick Place. Why? Garcia, in turn, implies that he'd be much tighter with TIF spending. But which specific deals that Emanuel signed off on would Garcia have killed?

Some still argue that a downtown casino would shore up city finances and create jobs. Are you for or against it, gentlemen?

Both of you say you're now for the proposed Barack Obama presidential library if it would go in Jackson or Washington Park. But how strong is your support? Would you, for instance, use the city's full legal resources to oppose any action aimed at blocking the use of court land?

Further development of O'Hare International Airport has been quiet for a while but has huge economic potential. To both: Should the last set of runways be completed and, if so, how will you get the air carriers to pay for them? Or is it instead time to turn to fixing up and maybe building new terminals first?

OUTSIDE THE LOOP

Above all, what specifically will you do to spread the prosperity that has lifted the central area of the city and many nearby areas to more outlying neighborhoods? I'd like specific answers, guys, not just bromides about better schools and the like.

Speaking of schools, has Emanuel learned anything from his bad experience with them and the teachers union, and, if so, what? Garcia says he's for an elected school board, but how would he keep it from becoming a subsidiary of the union? How would each candidate fill a projected $1 billion hole in next year's schools budget and, please, don't tell me you'll ask Springfield for more help. It ain't coming.

One more subject: leadership.

A leader in this city can't be weak, or nothing will get done, but neither can he or she be so strong-willed that the public and other potential allies are shut out. Why should Chicagoans believe you will strike the right balance, gentlemen?

Those, I think, are the high points. Everything else, like whether we can afford to hire more police, stems from the above.

Who should be mayor? Answer the questions, please, Rahm Emanuel and Chuy Garcia.