Today in Open Government
The Emanuel administration pulls TIF data out of its inflexible PDF jail, making it sortable and downloadable; meanwhile, the Illinois Senate Redistricting Committee puts the process on Google Earth.
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What Happens When You Step On the Brakes in a 747?
In short: the brakes heat up to 2,500 degrees, and the tires immediately deflate to keep from exploding. Then the brakes burn.
The New City Council: Not Quite Ready for Prime Time?
Mayor Emanuel scores a unanimous council victory on his first day in office. A new rubber-stamp council? Or just opening-day jitters? Plus: City Council guides.
Why I Love Twitter
The New York Times’s Bill Keller comes to bury Twitter, not to praise it. I’ve come to lift his fail-whale of an essay to the skies, so that the medium can be appreciated for what it is, (virtually) here and now.
Gery Chico to Run for Office Again?
After Election Day, Gery Chico—who fell short of a runoff with Rahm Emanuel—stayed out of the spotlight for a while. The former Daley chief of staff, who once ran Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Park District, was the only opponent who had even a chance of beating Emanuel in this year’s race for mayor. Here, some highlights from our telephone conversation Tuesday, his first one-on-one interview with…
Chicago Segregation and "Pretoria by the Lake"
Steve Bogira challenges the conventional wisdom about the old “Beirut by the Lake” cliche and suggests an alternative to reflect the evolution of race and politics in Chicago after Harold Washington.
Race, Segregation, and Dot Mapping in Chicago
Yale prof Bill Rankin uses dot maps to show the diversity and lack thereof in Chicago and the Bay Area. Chicago is as segregated as you’d expect, but the far north side along the lake looks to be as diverse as any big-city neighborhood in the country.
The Blagojevich Sequel Drones On
If the first trial had a certain excitement and air of unpredictability, Monday’s edition of the retrial seemed just worn and wan—much like the defendant. Still, there was a special poignancy because while Blago II droned on at the federal courthouse on Jackson and Dearborn, some blocks east and north at Millennium Park, Rahm Emanuel—“that little [expletive]” in Blago’s taped words—was being inaugurated as mayor…
Rahm Emanuel's First 100 Days: A Preview
The first new mayor in 22 years takes over for real today. Here’s a sampling of what to look out for, from school days to beat cops to searchable budgets. Just don’t ask him about tampons.
Mayor Emanuel's Inauguration: Meet the New Boss, Rhetorically Similar to the Old Boss
Like Mayor Daley, Emanuel’s doing this for the kids. In other words, there were no big surprises in the new mayor’s speech, but he did address the issue that many suspect will the focus and the big tension of his early tenure: Chicago Public Schools, teachers’ unions, and Jean-Claude Brizard.