Results tagged “mayordaley”

Mayor Daley, fresh off his smackdown of the media over a question regarding Michael Scott on Wednesday, has wasted no time in lashing out once more. Remember Oprah's big party downtown to kick off her new season and the hubbub the local media - us included, admittedly - caused over it? Daley is saying it was that backlash that's contributed to Oprah's decision to pack up and move out in a few years. Speaking at a United Negro College Fund fundraiser last night, CBS 2 reports Daley said:

With questions still lingering around the circumstances of the death of Michael Scott, the Chicago Police is not rushing to issue its ruling. Still, in light of recent discoveries in the investigation, it seems that they may be inclined to issue a ruling in line with the one the Cook County Medical Examiner's office issued earlier this week and has been forced to defend. Among other discoveries:

In a sense, the chatter over the death of Chicago Public Schools Board of Education President Michael Scott seems to be almost deafening. But we have to realize it's been only a little over two days since his body was found on the water's edge of the Chicago River; to expect a full set of answers in such a short time span is completely unrealistic. But that hasn't kept the speculation from churning, even as friends and family still try to make sense of his shocking death. At the heart of all of this is what the Tribune has labeled "a rift" between the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. On Monday afternoon, as police continued their investigation, the ME's office declared Scott's death a suicide by a "contact-range, through-and-through gunshot wound to his head," according to CCME Nancy Lynne Jones at a press conference. The rare press conference from a Medical Examiner was a defensive move as police have urged patience while they continue to investigate the circumstances around his death. His untimely death has also shown a spotlight on a few other items, including a recent probe into his usage of his board credit card, though it's reported he had already begun paying off the rather small amount ($3,000) on it.

The battle between Bensenville and the City of Chicago, due to the O'Hare expansion project, is over. The Tribune reports that under a new agreement, the demolition of houses could begin as early as December; the village agreed to end the fight in exchange for $16 million plus an additional $20 million more from the City of Chicago to insulate homes and schools from noise pollution caused by the planes flying in and out of O'Hare. The city will also hire consultants to assist in the demolition and will partner with the village to aid Bensenville in economic development. The village's long fight against O'Hare took a turn this spring when Frank Soto won election as village president; Soto called the agreement, "a victory for Bensenville."

Thanksgiving is almost here and with that comes the hoped-for opening date for the beleaguered Block 37 project downtown. And two events this week might go a long way towards determining if the project will manage to open on time as scheduled. First, on Thursday, the project will get the final inspection from the city that would give it the okay to proceed with its opening. But Friday sees the hearing where Bank of America, the main lender on a construction loan, will ask a judge to take control of the project away from developer Joseph Freed and Associates LLC and hand it over to a receiver. According to the Tribune:

• A CTA bus driver was injured last night when his bus got caught in the crossfire from a shoot-out; the driver's injuries were cuts caused by flying glass.
• The three teens charged in the beating death of Derrion Albert all pleaded not guilty at a hearing today.
• Shocker: Daley defends TIFs.

While we've been busy watching just a few of the many fine films screened at Reeling this year, a mighty lot of gay-centric news has come across our desk. Consider this little round-up a crash course in the past two weeks in the world of LGBT Chicago, headlined by a gay couple that now faces perhaps the most far-reaching denial of equal rights in our modern world: A lifetime ban from Wal-Mart.

For once, the City of Chicago failed to find a taker in a bid to privatize a city service and, as a result will be paying overtime to plow drivers this coming winter. We've already heard promises of preparation but this new call came from Mayor Daley himself at a press conference earlier today. Still smarting from last year's attempt to cut costs by skimping on side-street plowing and scaling back on overtime pay, Daley promised the streets would cleared efficiently this coming winter: "You have to do an effective job on the major streets and get to the side streets as fast as possible."

Today, the City Council is slated to finish up hearings pertaining to Mayor Daley's 2010 budget as they prepare to send the budget to the whole Council for discussion next week. The Law Department will be the last to participate in the hearings and then we can get ready for a whole lot of...well, who knows? There's a historically huge budget gap - $520 million by WBEZ's count - that the City is looking to close. We've already heard Mayor Daley's plan, including major cuts to tourism, arts and events, furlough days, and even the city's recycling program. What remains to be seen is how much noise some of the city's aldermen - notably aldermen like Manny Flores and Scott Waguespack - make, especially in regards to Daley's plan to raid the money from the Parking Meter deal (Heaven forbid he touches any of the money in the city's large TIF funds). Ald. Waguespack said a few weeks ago, "If the parking meter money is depleted within five years, then what happens for the next 70 years of that contract?" Of course, our cynical side suspects that those offering resistance will be outnumbered by those willing to be the Mayor's rubber stamp.

• On again, off again: the abortion notification law is on hold once more after a judge issued a restraining order on it this afternoon at the request of the ACLU.
• According to prosecutors, the man accused of causing a wreck that killed a pregnant mother and the baby - delivered by emergency c-section after the crash - had cocaine in his system at the time of the crash.
• Mick Dumke breaks down Mayor Daley's interview with WBEZ from earlier in the week.

WBEZ's Alison Cuddy sat down for a one-on-one with Mayor Daley and while we can't say she was soft on Daley, there are no major revelations in the interview. Daley defends his decision to dip into the parking meter fund for the 2010 budget; when asked how that money will be replaced, Daley simply says, "You replace money as the economy gets better," and then makes a joke about praying for the economy to get better. On the subject of TIFs, the Mayor said, "Most TIF funds don't generate any money." And on the topic of TIF transparency, Daley chuckles when Cuddy mentions the Chicago Reader and then seems to brush off the question with a less-than-genuine answer. Not that we're surprised. On the subject of privatizing other city assets, Daley side-stepped the question, saying, "There's no market. If there's no market, you cannot lease a public asset," as if to imply, "No." Which we don't believe as getting fair market value for the asset never seemed to be Daley's main concern. Other topics tackled include his approval rating and youth violence, on which Daley still manages to find a way to blame the media for something.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Blue-cart recycling is still over a year away for 359,000 homes without service under Mayor Richard Daley's proposed 2010 budget. In 2008, the city launched a switch to the blue-cart recycling program from the old blue-bag method that was supposed to be completed by 2011. Now, a little under half of Chicago's 600,000 homes with city garbage services are also part of the city's blue-cart recycling program. The city council has also talked about also delaying pickup of the carts in some households that already have the program from every other week to every third week.

In his 2010 budget presented last week, Daley included 24 unpaid days (12 holidays, 12 furlough days) for all non-union and many union city employees. One group he can't force these unpaid days upon are the Police and Fire Departments. But that's not stopping Daley from making overtones suggesting that those departments should take one for the team and join the unpaid train. Said the Mayor, “Everyone has to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. And that’s why I’m taking 24 days without pay, and I got other people to take that, because you have to show that government understands the suffering that is going on throughout your communities.”

As property taxes in the city are set to skyrocket, Mayor Daley, still reeling from the parking meter debacle, the loss of the 2016 Summer Olympics and an all-time low popularity rating is playing the blame game. After claiming that he'll hold the line on taxes with next year's budget, he's pointing fingers now that property tax bills are set to soar, even while property values have plummeted. Going after Cook County Assessor James Houlihan, Daley proclaimed his ignorance of how property taxes are assessed. "The thing I can't understand (is) this whole assessment deal," the mayor said. "Now, no one's value is going up in the city. ... I'm asking him how he does it." (Our own Chuck Sudo explained how they work in the comments of this post.)

The City of Chicago is short on cash and they're looking for anyway to recoup some money, even if it means encouraging citizens to do some fiscal policing for them. Mayor Daley's 2010 budget includes something called the "Tax Whistleblower Program" which sets aside cash rewards for those who turn in businesses that are known to be tax cheats. And what will your reward be if you turn in a cheating business like so many of Joey Greco's victims? Initial plans are for a certain percentage of the amount recovered but it's still being tweaked.

It's been three weeks since the Big Letdown but Mayor Daley hasn't been quick to move on from the disappointment of finishing last of the Final Four in 2016 Olympic voting. Speaking last week to the editorial board at Crain's, Daley pointed out the disparity between government support for U.S. candidate cities and support other governments give their candidates.

McCormick Place East is in need of $100 million worth of repairs in order to be properly maintained, calling into question the future of the building once referred to as ruining the Chicago skyline by Mayor Daley. In order to get the money to upgrade, the Illinois General Assembly needs to authorize the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority to re-structure their debt; otherwise there won't be enough money to cover the costs.

Mayor Daley's budget for 2010 has been presented and, as expected, there were no new taxes but lots of cuts. There will also be much taken from the parking meter lease fund. In fact, by this time next year, don't expect much to be left from the $1.15 billion/75-year deal, the deal we may have gotten hosed on. Having already spent $400 million of that money this year, according to the Tribune, Daley is looking to spend an additional $600 million of that money in 2010. We're no math geniuses and even we know that doesn't leave a whole heck of a lot left in the pot for the remaining 70+ years of the lease, something that concerned Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) earlier this week. All told, Daley claims that there will still be around $700 million left in reserve funds - the combination of the Skyway and parking meter leases - next year. A cut in the city's tourism budget also raised eyebrows. And besides the cuts to entertainment and furlough days for non-union employees and elimination of vacant jobs, there are smaller cuts, too, such as the scaling back of the city's recycling program.

Amongst the hiring freezes, layoffs, and roundabout pay cuts in the current Chicago budget crisis are a number of smaller items being eliminated. Things beyond garbage pickup and pothole repair, they're collectively the stuff that helps give Chicago "character" -- you know, what we supposedly have in spades that should have made everyone want to come here for the Olympics in 2016.

Mayor Daley responded yesterday to the CTA's proposed 2010 budget, calling the potential fare hikes and cuts in service, “very, very ugly" while also trying to reinforce that nothing has been approved, adding, "This is only proposed. And like anything else, that's the last resort. No one wants to see fare increases or service cuts. But they are in a very difficult position." The proposed budget includes the cutting of several express bus routes, trimming back time-tables for bus and rail service, and, most famously (or infamously), raising rail and express bus route fares by 75-cents to $3 per ride.

Mercy Hospital has always had a special place in the heart of the Daley family. Richard J and wife Eleanor fundraised for the hospital in the 60’s and all the Daley children were born there. In a city where patronage is king, should it be any surprise that current Mayor Daley created a special financing district for Mercy when they fell on tough times? The Chicago Sun Times is reporting that when Mercy Hospital faced bankruptcy four years ago, Mayor Daley created a tax-increment financing district around the hospital that would benefit Mercy to the tune of $60 million. The hospital sold a chunk of land to developers who planned to build pricey condos in the area. The property taxes from the condo owners would go back into the hospital.

Chicago 2016 Olympic FAILGATE is starting to become a fleeting memory, which is why we're so glad we came upon this video before we fully move on to other things. If you're familiar with the various "Hitler bitches about..." Internet memes floating around the wasteland, then you already know some (all?) of the language is NSFW.

While Daley decried the press for writing his political obituary too soon and declared that there would be no political fallout for his failed 2016 Olympic bid, the fact of the matter is that he's said publicly that he hasn't decided if he's going to run for mayor in 2011 or not. That's not a shocker - lots of politicians play coy when asked about an election that's still too far on the horizon to predict. Nevertheless, Chicagoans have been whispering about the impending municipal elections for days now (if not months). And while the mayor hasn't made anything official just yet, his brother (and former U.S. commerce secretary) Bill expects Richie to run again. "Win or lose, the Olympics were never going to determine what Rich Daley was going to do," William Daley told the Tribune. "I believe he runs again. I just assume he does. He still has the enthusiasm for the job."

The Obama administration has gone into spin control in regards to Obama's trip to Copenhagen to support Chicago 2016's failed Olympic bid and is using the classic, "Well, they told us it'd be fine" method. A report in this morning's Tribune reveals behind-the-scenes details describing the way in which the Chicago 2016 bid committee persuaded Obama to make his much-talked-about whirlwind trip to Copenhagen on behalf of the city's bid. Worried that the heated health care bill would head to the floor of either the House or Senate for debate with him in Europe, Obama was still hesitant to make the trip until a few days before he took off.

• So what happened at the IOC vote? Some say blame the USOC though an Australian IOC rep thinks an Asian alliance may have teamed up to help Tokyo and hurting Chicago's bid as a result.
• Obama had a subdued, respectful reaction to the results - did we expect anything else - but the question as to how much this will impact his legacy looms.
• It took three hours after Chicago's first round bounce for Mayor Daley to surface, but he did and he was straight-forward in his thoughts on the bid: "I'm disappointed but you go on with your life."

       

The IOC is all about pomp and circumstance, which is the only way to explain the opening ceremonies held Thursday night in Copenhagen. An opening ceremony for a vote? Sure, why not. Oprah, Mayor Daley, and Michelle Obama were among the Chicago delegates there while other members continued to spread out around town. The Trib has a running update of today's events.

Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis has asked the public for help in identifying more of the teens involved in last week's violent brawl that left four teens injured and one, 16-year-old Derrion Albert, dead. At a press conference yesterday, Weis said, "Almost all of the offenders in this case were students, or were former students from [Fenger]. You kids know who they are. Please call in. You've got three people who probably need to be arrested because they had contact and struck Derrion." Weis added that he's asked for help from the U.S. Secret Service to aid in enhancing the available video of the brawl with hopes that it will make identification easier.

Mayor Richard Daley attempted to gain support for Chicago’s Olympic bid one last time before leaving for Copenhagen, where the International Olympics Commission will decide which city will host the 2016 Olympics.

Mayor Daley dismissed an independent analysis of the economic potential of the 2016 Olympic Games on Thursday, first with an ad hominem attack on the state of Michigan, and then with a less-than-nuanced economic retort of his own. The report, which was prepared by the East Lansing, MI-based Anderson Economic Group, shows that the 2016 Summer Games would result in "a net economic impact of more than $4.4 billion," far less than the $19 billion Olympic boosters have projected. "We have individuals coming from Michigan, telling us what to do. Telling us how bad our economy is," Daley said at an event in Pilsen. "We know how bad our economy is, they wish they had the Summer Olympics. I feel sorry for the people in Michigan, in Detroit and all over Michigan."