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.
Of all the hurdles Indiana governor and likely presidential candidate Mitch Daniels faces on the road to the White House, one important one his the permission of his wife, Cheri. She’s not much for politics, but she does love Chicago’s other pastime: her beloved grandfather was Cubs Hall of Famer Billy Herman.
The original Mayor Daley’s inaugural speech was something less than a barnburner, but encapsulated the man and his civics-class-era tenure as mayor.
In a word, no. But asking the question raises some interesting answers about the soon-to-be former mayor, which tell us a bit about Rahm Emanuel as well.
MR. NONSTOP: Chicago’s hardest-working serial entrepreneur—the man who remade Kendall College and gave Rahm Emanuel a place to call home—is busy creating a digital-arts alternative to the four-year college degree
In a racially charged atmosphere, says Mayor Richard M. Daley, Chicago’s chief executive can best defuse tensions by concentrating on fair distribution of basic city services. “I think I’m changing people’s minds and attitudes by providing what l’m supposed to: providing the services fair and equitably, and responding, whether it’s a letter I receive in … Read more
June 25th, the Progressive Community Church, 56 East 48th Street. It is hot in here, and all of us are waving our complimentary Golden Gate Funeral Home fans, which feature bright photographs of mortician E. Edwards and his secretary, Vera. All of them fluttering together make it look as though a flock of butterflies had … Read more
At a certain point in the conversation, Rich Daley tugs loose his big red tie, rolls up his sleeves, and lays out his theory on crime. “To me,” Daley says, “a narcotics dealer is the most dangerous person out there. He makes your murderers, your rapists, your home invaders, destroys your kids, your kids will … Read more
Chicago’s regular Democrats are tough. They stop through life. They stomp through Mike Royko’s columns. They produce good, solid Democratic blue-collar, occasionally dead, voters, election after election. They call out the tow trucks, and they command the street sweepers; they have, after all, packed the at Streets and San with their nephews. They’re hearty, bulb-nosed, … Read more
Most Chicagoans remember April 13, 1992, as the day the Loop flooded from the bottom up. For Mayor Richard Daley, it was merely a bad start to a year that only got worse. A record murder rate threatened, the governor sank Daley’s plans for floating casinos, and the Michigan Avenue Bridge suddenly got stuck in … Read more
