Chicago Gets Googled
Friday Flashback - Old School Oprah
Today's Transgender Day of Remembrance Honors the Dead
Review: Paramount Room
Asian Carp: 'Nice Try, Suckers'
AP Photo Charles Rex Arbogast
We don't enjoy starting our mornings by having a downright hissy fit, but reading the Sun-Times story on Mayor Daley's planned speech in which he'll allegedly admit he made a mistake with the infamous parking meter deal is throwing us into a hulk-out rage. Know why? Well, for starters:
Because he doesn't fucking care!
But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Tonight, Mayor Daley is giving a speech at the South Shore Cultural Center and the Sun-Times got a hold of his speech. In it, Daley says, "I'll be the first to admit that we totally screwed up the way it was implemented. I want us to do better -- and we will." Oh, really? Nine months later - after all the yelling back and forth with the City Council - most of whom certainly don't get a free pass in this** - NOW you come to us and shrug and say, "Oops, my bad?" After it's become so perfectly freaking clear that the whole thing has been one big failure on which we got screwed out of a lot of money? We know we should be thinking, "Aw, he didn't mean to hurt us. He really does love us. Other people just don't understand him." But we're not Meredith Baxter-Birney and this isn't a freaking Lifetime Movie.
Later in his speech, Daley addresses the 2016 Olympic bid, another source of ire for residents, saying:
"Still, I can understand why some believe that we've put too much time into pursuing the Olympics. To those who feel that way, I want you to know that nothing matters more to me than making Chicago a better city -- for every neighborhood and every person. Nothing troubles me more than the violence against our children that continues to needlessly take their lives."
So, hoping we'd forget about those TIFs and how much money we're (allegedly) gonna make, he asks, "Won't someone think of the children?" The mayor who tells us out of one side of his mouth there's no money to hire new police officers but then turns around and signs a deal to spend $60 million buying the CPD new SUVs and considers hiring private security guards instead.
Meigs Field. Hired Trucks. Chicago Skyway. Parking Meter Lease. Midway lease. O'Hare Expansion. The Nephew Vanecko. And those are just some of the examples of Daley's crooked shit we could think up off the top of our heads. Of course, this is the same man who - in 2005 - was named one of Time's "5 Best Big City Mayors" despite going through what both the NY Times and the Chicago Tribune referred to as one of his "toughest" stretches in his mayoral career. And then got promptly re-elected in 2007 with 71 percent of the vote.
So go ahead, Mayor. Posture all you want as you start biting your nails and gassing up the jet for that October trip to Copenhagen. Meanwhile, we'll be here in the city looking for anyone willing to take you down in 2011.
**Refresher: the aldermen who originally voted against the meter deal were Alds. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), Leslie Hairston (5th), Billy Ocasio (26th), Scott Waguespack (32nd) and Rey Colon (35th).
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
You are on fire sir.
Look, let me ask the folks on here who are on the left a question. Why not support a republican candidate?
I know, pipe dream, there is no Illinois GOP, might as well vote for a Mastodon.
But why keep voting for a party that has done NOTHING but fail you?
I'm as left as they come, but I'll vote for a moderate Republican with clean hands over another Daley democrat whose cousin is running Streets and Sans, or whose wife is a friend of a guy who knows Daley.
When Daley has his grabber like the old man, this city is going to fall to the vultures and morons he has been cultivating for decades. Guys like Strodger, who are generationally stupid. Raised in a culture of corruption.
You have a mayor who talks about caring for every Chicagoan, but if you live too far south or west or someplace a little too black you're dodging bullets.
My greatest fear is that this city gets the Olympics. Then he gets a free pass for another term and he gets remembered as this great hero, even as billions are spent to further fuck the poor.
My greatest hope is we DON'T get the Olympics, and people get a full accounting of just how much money was wasted.
Just any Republican? Who? Why can't Republicans filed a quality candidate? How about an honest and capable candidate regardless of party? Daley gets re-elected with 71 percent of the vote regardless of his theft because only lame hacks or crackpots run against him. Remember Bobby Rush's campaign? It was beyond lame. Did he actually even want the job? Somebody has got to step up to the plate.
Daley walks in every time because they changed the primary election law to make it non-partisan. He never gets a legitimate democratic party challenge and that is by design thanks to Axelrod. My fear is that law is perpetuated after Daley leaves and we are stuck with a relative of Daley's to keep the same old illegitimate system of power in place.
^^ THIS.
It's not about dethroning Daley anymore. He's the leader, but just like Al Qaeda, if you cut off the head, two more nasty buggers are gonna pop up in his place. And, they'll cover for everyone who came before.
Real reform in Chicago won't come from either of the two major parties. There are great Democratic politicians in Chicago, but even the "good" ones owe too much to the Chicago Democratic machine. The Republican party in this state is a shambles, having bought too much into Bushian tactics of jingosim and social wedge issues that don't have much hold even in the red parts of the state, let alone Chicago.
I'm hoping there's a strong, charismatic independent leader who can galvanize the reality that most of us are pretty pissed at Daley right now, and roll in real reforms in 2011.
I want to see the whole Chicago governance structure die. We need separation and limits on official power, we need REAL transparency, we need term limits, and most of all, we need a system to police the everloving FUCK out of any possible conflict of interest.
So, Jill the Unicorn for Mayor, 2011!
I consider myself just left of Lenin, and I'll be the first to admit, Illinois did better under moderate Republican governors Edgar and Thompson (and even Ryan to certain extents). Edgar in particular gave us great things like Local School Councils, which overnight doubled the number of poor and minority people holding elected office in the US.
The problem is, since the Bush years, the IL Republican party has followed the national party far right and into crazytown. One need only look at the hilariously awful Alan Keyes fiasco to know that this is a group of people without a clue, and without appeal to the mainstream Illinoisan.
Is peraica considered crazy town to you?
You're the kind of person who would let crooks rob the city blind just because you won't vote republican.
I got news for you, when you vote Democrat in this city, you aren't voting democrat, you are voting for the "machine party"
Matty, I do think Peraica's a little off, but I still voted for him over Stroger and whuzername who took Devine's office. The R's are gonna have to do better than Peraica if they want to get anywhere.
I could care less about party when it comes to local politics. I'd happily vote for a Republican, Green, Communist, Socialist, Monster, whatever. When I see a politician talking about how he grew up overbydere and want to Lane Tech, I shudder. I wish there was a Carpetbagger party, because if the candidate is from Chicago, they're going to be dirty. I think there's something in the water. My favorite are the pieces of shit like Bernie Stone. "Ey, I been da alderman fer fifty years." Dude, that is so NOT a selling point for me ... it's a reason for (a) term limits and (b) a 25-member city council. If we had term limits, Daley would have been just another Frank Rizzo.
The point was made, on a local level, parties are kind of irrelevant. If anything, you get more bi-partisanship because a protracted partisan battle over, say, waste water management serves no one.
Illinois Republicans are not Bush-style neo-cons. They tend to be fiscally conservative, socially moderate. The death knell of the party in recent times was the selection of ALAN KEYES to run against Obama. Racist, stupid and crazy, and those are just Keyes talking points.
I'd vote for Peraica. For every 10 of his "tweets" on twitter I agree with he tosses in one (abortion/gay marriage) I don't. As compared to Daley and company who seem unable to even provide basic city services.
Honestly, once Daley goes this city is in for some hard times. Think of it this way, Daley has hired on nothing but thugs and thieves to run the city for decades. Now, he's able to keep them in check because they owe him. Like the head of a gang. Gangleader goes and suddenly it's open season. You really want to see this city go to war, with itself? It would make Council Wars look like a dust-up over doilies.
Profanity and Bold Face Type. Two sure fire ways to increase the intelligence and credibility of any argument.
It is not really that hard to come up with a well thought out criticism of Da Mare. You can and have done better than this rant.
This was an excellent recap! I sensed Jon Stewart.
Excellent diatribe!
I agree with everything said in this. Mayor Daley has exploited this city for his own personal gain for far too long.
When will people say "enough is enough!" and vote this crook OUT of poltics!
He doesn't need to care. Because every time people get pissed about it, we're reminded that not one viable candidate is out there to challenge him. He fully intends to die at his desk in 20 years, mayor to his last breath.
If someone for real would run against Daley, I'd be pounding the pavement for him or her, regardless of party affiliation. But other than Peraica, who has lost two major campaigns recently, I haven't seen any other suggestions for a mayoral candidate. Who will run against this guy?
A worthy rant that hopefully makes you feel better, but it really doesn't say anything new. And that's part of Chicago's problem. We all know the talking points, we all feel the outrage, and we all line up at the polls and vote for the idiots time and time again. You said it yourself, 71 percent of the voters elected the guy in 2007, long after most of the things on your list of dumb and corrupt actions came to light.
I don't believe this is because we're sheep perfectly willing to form a line and do what we're told. On the contrary, Chicago is composed of one of the most persnickety bunch of complainers in the nation. We know when something's wrong. Our problem is that we don't know what to do about it. When election time comes, we stuff the ballots with idiots, and it's not just us. That's what politics in all places, all cities and states, has been reduced to. And I'm not one who believes this is because we elect the lowest common denominator. We are represented by idiots because we're idiots.
So here's what I think will happen, regardless of whether or not we get the Olympics, and regardless of whether or not Daley runs again. Some group of opposition against Daley may rise, or Chicago may continue to hold its nose and pull the lever for the same bunch over and over. It doesn't matter, because in the end, we'll get the same corruption, the same backroom deals, the same stupid deflections and dumb initiatives, because there is no better choice. You can look in the history of Illinois politics and see the future. This is just what we're in for.
As someone who voted against Daley in '03 and '07--for Hyde Park computer programmer Pat Mcallister and then perpetual crank Dock Walls--I did so in full knowledge that it was like spitting into Lake Michigan as neither were viable candidates. You can't really blame Chicagoans in general when the last even remotely viable candidate was Roland Burris in 1995--I can't believe I just wrote that but it's true.
Junior and Luis Gutierrez both put out rumblings last time around they would run--and out of some combination of excitement over being in the majority for the first time in their congressional careers or cowardice at not taking on Daley--backed out. They are way more to blame for this than your average Chicagoan, and I would have gladly voted for either.
If Chicago politicos refuse to take on the mayor average people have three choices. They can refuse to vote, they can vote for unqualified candidates like I did to out of spite and to temper a landslide or they can vote for Daley. I still think I made the right choice, but what exactly did it accomplish?
You actually echo my point, perhaps a little more clearly than I made it myself. There is a dearth of reasonable candidates here, and there always will be. The electorate simply does not contain enough sensible people who would be good at political leadership, who are interested in doing it, and who also have led lives that will get them elected by an easily distracted populace. Those few who do have sense can't get the votes. Look at Claypool vs. Stroger as a recent example.
I mean, really, when you're looking at Burris as an example of viability, you know you have a systemic problem.
where is goldie wilson when you need him?
Are you the Marcus Gilmer from Michigan or Alabama? When you actually get registered to vote here, then you can do your little Stewart bit. I remember the city before Daley and believe me, if someone other than him had been Mayor, you never would have moved here. You're about as authentic as Madonna's British accent you faux-Chicagoan.
I admit you do have something of a point and I didn't vote in the '07 mayoral race. But I actually am registered to vote in Illinois and have voted, including the Rahm Emanuel replacement primary and run-off which had ridiculously low turnouts. And, to be fair, I've never hidden the fact I'm a transplant. So does the fact I'm not a native mean what happens in this city mean any less to me than it does to you? I'm not being sarcastic, I'm genuinely trying to figure out your perspective.
Man, I'm IRISH CATHOLIC, born and bred Chicago and my whole family thinks Daley is BULLSHIT. My mom campaigned for Harold Washington and once called Eddie Vrdolyak "a world-class cocksucker" right to his face at a WLS radio event.
Everything you said in that post is RIGHT ON.
If you're not pissed off about the corruption and malfescance of the Daley dunces, you're not a real Chicagoan.
He's always been about protecting the Bridgeport thugs while putting on airs for the Pritzkers. That leaves out pretty much everyone in between. If you're not "a guy who knows a guy" or getting a building named after you, he could give a flying fuck.
It only took four hours for someone to play the "You aren't a real Chicagoan" card? Someone's getting slow in his or her old age.
Really. So, we have to put up with all the corruption and expense, not to mention the incompetence because "it was worse back then" or "he's done a lot of good things for the city?" That is just bullshit. Chicagoans do have a high tolerance for political misdeeds, but enough s enough. Daly wants you to believe that the parking meter deal sucks but we had no choice, or it was the best of a bad situation. That is simply untrue. I suspect Daley has a sense that the natives are restless, thus this mea culpa (he's hoping once the Olympics are announced, everything will be forgotten/forgiven). But, it is going to take a lot more. Aldercreatures better take note too.
OK, this gets me a little miffed too, this continual promotion of the idea that Chicagoans don't like change and will take whatever is shoved down their throat. Again, I ask, where are the alternatives? Chicagoans will vote for what they consider a viable alternative if given the choice. It's the reason that Jane Byrne was elected (and yeah, I know she was also part of the machine, but she was a big alternative to the old boy network in many ways). It's the reason Harold Washington was elected by and large. So who are the great alternatives that Chicagoans rejected to keep Daley in office?
Here's an interesting response. I ask for elaboration. What, in the mind of a native Chicagoan, has Daley done that someone other than Daley would not have done that has made the city appealing for outsiders?
First, I always get a little miffed when people mention how Daley has made this city a tourist destination. It's ALWAYS been that and it would have continued to be that. Sure, the tourists are walking slackjawed down Michigan Ave looking at all the shops, but does that have a WHOLE lot to do with Daley? Yeah, maybe a tax break here and there attracted some companies to put flagship stores here, but how much of that money stays in Chicago?
Second, to be honest, I don't think another mayor would have done ALL of the stuff Daley did because another mayor might have actually looked at the books and said we don't have the cash for a Millennium Park. How much money has Daley's bread and circuses REALLY given to the city, in light of the fact that we're swimming in debt. How much does all of the Navy Piers and Millennium Park really showcase the city if everything Daley has done is centralized in one area, like a little urban Disneyland? What's the point of spending all of our money to build a "world class city" if you only showcase one part of it? It's like that scene in the movie "Brazil" where they're driving down this road past all of these houses and the camera pulls back to show that the "houses" are just fake wood fronts that hide a bunch of smoke and dirt and factories.
I've lived in Chicago before Daley--my family has lived in the city proper dating back to when Carter Harrison was mayor in the 1890s--and the view that Daley is the only viable mayor is laughable. This sadly popular view ignores long-term macro-economic trends, generational urban demographics and comparative evidence from other cities and concludes, rather idiotically, that the Richie II is the only possible mayor who would have overseen the growth of the last two decades. More to the point, Harold Washington would have accomplished many of the same things if his life hadn't ended tragically.
One more question Vise--did you rant and rave after the murder rate skyrocketed in the early 90s and blame Daley and beg for Gene Sawyer to return?
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZvosRi-udfc/SmY3Jd7ITVI/AAAAAAAAAog/1juTYgt5i7s/s1600-h/murderrate.JPG
Vise77 represents the stereotypical ignorant Chicago native who has apparently never been anywhere else. These people are the reason we get who we get. They think you need to be a native chicagoan to be an alderman. They think people who didn't grow up here have no right to an opinion on how things should be run.
They think that Daley is somehow responsible for keeping Chicago from becoming another Detroit, but in their limited world experience they have nothing to base this on. They think he's some sort of brilliant civic master. He's really just a townie with powerful friends. Just about every other big city in America gentrified in the 90s, but these geniuses think Daley somehow did something special beyond ride the same wave that lifted up other places like Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, etc. Christ, even Washington D.C. boomed, despite its on-off, crack-smoking mayor.
So who is the viable candidate out there? I hear a lot of "we have to get rid of Daley" but what's the alternative? Who is out there that enough people in the city can agree on? Because Daley is ripe for the killing with a strong candidate who isn't afraid to hammer home the MANY pitfalls of this joke of an administration. So who is it? Answers?...
Some people here would say Sam Wolfson, and that is sad.
Some people here would say Sam Wolfson, and that is sad.
(p.s. I hate this commenting system!)
Daley walks in every time because they changed the primary election law to make it non-partisan. He never gets a legitimate democratic party challenge and that is by design thanks to Axelrod. My fear is that law is perpetuated after Daley leaves and we are stuck with a relative of Daley's to keep the same old illegitimate system of power in place.
Perfectly said. Now why doesn't the mainstream media pound this fact home? Because the media is corrupt just like Daley.
Chicago is still a cow town, pity.
Apparently he cares enough about his ego that he won't even utter the words written in his speech. When it came time to actually give the speech, he wouldn't say he "screwed up".
Yes you make your point, albeit with some real profanity. That being said you actually show Hiz Honor the Mayor considerably more respect than he shows the voting and tax paying public, the media, and anyone who happens not to kiss his pinky ring. He may as well deliver his press conferences with his middle finger extended straight at those who may not agree or who may be inclined to ask pertinent questions. Clearly it is time for a change but Chicago residents need to first realize we do indeed live in a Democracy.
he lost money when he built Millenium Park.
he continues to lose money with this parking meter deal.
and he's gambling with our money with his Olympic deal.
because he and his are safe and comfy, he continues to waste money that could be much better spent on city services.
but he sits on the steps of city hall playing his lyre as the city crumbles around him--well, the areas of the city he doesn't frequent any way.
Democrat, Republican, Independent, Socialist--someone needs to defeat this guy.
With no viable alternatives emerging Daley's reign will last as long as he wants it to. There are two scenarios I see:
1) Chicago loses the Olympic bid -- This would be personally devastating to Daley. He is 100% invested in the bid and he views it as the solution to Chicago's ills. There is no Plan B. Lose the bid and he likely retires in 2011.
2) Chicago wins -- Daley would run in '11 and '15, as there is no way he would allow someone else to bask in Olympic glory. He could then pass his throne on to someone else (son Patrick?) after the Games or ride out his term, provided the city hasn't been bankrupted by the Olympics.