HO-LEE SHEEEIT!
Amy texted me at work to tell me Mayor Daley wasn't seeking a seventh term as mayor. For those who don't live in Chicago, this is a BIG DEAL. Shocking - I honestly thought he was going to stay in office until he had a chest grabber like his old man, Richard J. 42 of the last 55 years has had a Daley running Chicago, so it's going to be hard to imagine this city Daley-less. Not to mention all the $$$ we're going to end up spending peeling Richie's name off of every surface that matters in this town. Seeing as "Da Mare" has been in power since I was in 8th grade (ack), I thought I'd take this opportunity to look back on the Mayors of Chicago in my lifetime.
Richard J. Daley - 1976
The current mayor's pop died in office when I was only 10 months old, so needless to say I don't have any personal memories of the man. Family members assert that he was the first mayor to really "get things done." I look at his temper tantrum at the 1968 Democratic Convention, and this statement after the assassination of Dr. King, and only can frown:
"I said to him very emphatically and very definitely that an order be issued by him immediately to shoot to kill any arsonist or anyone with a Molotov Cocktail in his hand, because they're potential murderers, and to shoot to maim or cripple anyone looting."Michael Bilandic - 1976-1979
Chicagoans can thank Bilandic for the fact that there are 600 snowplows on the street the second a single snowflake touches the pavement. In January of 1979, a blizzard hit the city and basically paralyzed it - nothing was plowed, the CTA basically was shut down. I can remember walking down Elston Avenue with my mom (who was very pregnant with my brother at the time), looking for our car. It had gotten hit in the storm, and the tow truck that was supposed to take care of it abandoned it a few blocks away where it got hit again. It was a green Datsun - I remember the leather seats. Anyway, the snow was plowed so high on the sidewalks I remember thinking I was walking in a tunnel - the snowdrifts had to be at least 3 to 4 feet high. To this day my dad's face gets red when Bilandic's name is mentioned - "That idiot got on TV and said the public school lots would be plowed so everyone could park their cars there to get the roads cleaned up. I walked three blocks to the school - it hadn't been touched!" I guess he really liked that Datsun. That pretty much sealed the deal for Bilandic, especially when challenger Jane Byrne ran a campaign ad lambasting his ineptness in dealing with all of the snow.
Jane Byrne - 1979-1983
Byrne is my favorite Chicago mayor. Perhaps it is because she's one of the first outspoken, strong women I can remember seeing on TV as a small child. She was the personification of a Chicago broad - outspoken, ballsy and not afraid of anyone's opinion. She popularized ChicagoFest, which was a big music/food festival held on Navy Pier (before it became the tourist trap it is now). I can remember seeing the Beach Boys there - *The Beach Boys*. She also pulled an infamous PR stunt where she lived in the projects of Cabrini Green for a short while. Of course the unit was nice and she had tons of security, but who's counting? Unfortunately she pissed a lot of the "Machine Democrats" off, so she was a one termer.
Harold Washington - 1983-1987
Washington's election was my first experience with the fact that politics are not colorblind. Byrne and Richard M. Daley split the bulk of the white vote in the primaries, which pissed off a lot of people in my mostly-white part of the city. I don't really have much of an opinion of the man - he seemed like a genuinely nice person, but I don't think he did much for the city except fight with the Machine in the City Council. I'll never forget when he died of a heart attack in 1987 - they announced his death over the PA at school and my teacher cried.
David Orr - 1987
He was Mayor for a week until the bickering City Council figured out a suitable replacement. Chicago politics at its finest.
Eugene Sawyer - 1987-1989
More or less just a placeholder in office until the Machine could come back in power. And he approved lights at Wrigley Field. Bah.
Richard M. Daley - 1989-Current
And now we come to the present. I have mixed feelings about Richie. I think he was an excellent Mayor throughout the 90s. He fixed up downtown, focused on green initiatives, modernized the CTA. And no one can stumble through a press conference with more hilarity than he. But things have turned sour in the last several years. The resources used for 2016 Olympics debacle while the police department is woefully understaffed and the violence in the streets goes on unabated. The stupid parking meter sell off. The monarchical way in which he rules the City Council and how the majority of the pathetic excuses for aldermen rubber stamp anything Daley wants. The ballooning deficit of the city, to the point where I'm afraid soon they'll pass a tax for not covering your mouth if you sneeze. I almost feel bad for whomever succeeds him - this city is a mess and he's going to leave it in somebody's lap. I'm sure his wife's illness influenced his decision to retire, but I wonder if he saw the writing on the wall - either he figured he wasn't going to be reelected or saw the Blago trial and wondered if he'd be next. In any case, I suppose I'll miss him. He's been the only Mayor Chicago's had since I've been old enough to vote.
So, the primary is in February with the general election in April 2011. But everyone in Chicago knows the primary is basically the big show as Republicans simply do not get elected to city offices. It's going to be a political shitstorm. I can't wait!
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