Chicago Mayor Harold Washington introduced this 44 page report as an “inventory of recommendations” coming from the city’s Task Force on Steel and Southeast Chicago (1984-1986). The scope was expansive. There was equal focus on revitalization of the large basic steel producers – five mills that had employed tens of thousands of workers as late as the mid 1970s – and the regeneration of the Southeast Chicago area and the prospects for its population and labor force. As to steel production, there was much attention to the use of research institutions like the Argonne Laboratory to be leaders in steel production technology; and for the city to take the lead in national policies toward the industry. Relying on the substantial research by city staff, the Report also pointed to the large numbers of firms and substantial labor resources in ancillary steel related activities – steel service firms, already employing over 11 thousand seemed bound to increase in numbers due to changes in manufacturing practice in major steel-consuming industries.