Results tagged “mayorrichardm”

Like his old man, Mayor Richard M. Daley is determined to transform public housing as part of his legacy (here's hoping it turns out better than Sr.'s effort -- several detractors don't have high hopes). His plan is creeping forever forward -- it's currently many years behind -- and the city will eventually replace CHA high rise projects like Robert Taylor Homes and Cabrini-Green with mixed-income housing.

Two more members of the Mayor Richard M. Daley's cabinet got the ax today, as City Personnel chief and last original Daley cabinet member Glenn Carr announced his resignation yesterday and Transporation Department Commissioner Miguel d'Escoto also submitted his walking papers today. Carr and d'Escoto's resignation's brings Huberman's "Commissioner Count" to three, since Water Department Comissioner Richard Rice was ousted last week.

Today marks the groundbreaking for Chicago's new GLBT community center. When the 55,000 square foot Center on Halsted opens next year, it'll be the largest such facility in the Midwest and rival other gay and lesbian centers in New York and San Francisco.

If you noticed the bunting along O'Hare Airport's arrival area, or see a bunch of goofy political-types gawking at Millenium Park, that would be a bunch of mayors and their aides in town for the U.S. Conference of Mayors Annual Conference. Mayor Richard M. Daley is a big supporter of the organization, and this year Chicago is playing host, giving mayors from around the country an opportunity to see our fair city and talk about...

Thirty-three year-old Ron Huberman, Mayor Richard M. Daley's new chief of staff, is a phenom. At least that's what everyone who interviews him seems to think. A softball profile in the Chicago Tribune today positively gushes over the Israeli immigrant with a U of C MBA. But so did a story in last month's Wired Magazine reviewing the spycam network Huberman developed for the Chicago Police. And Wired even gets him dropping the f-bomb. Without...

The implied mission of Mayor Richard M. Daley's new chief of staff, Ron Huberman, is to reform city government -- do what none of the almost dozen chiefs of staff before him were unable to do. Monday, in a press conference he announced, along with City Corporation Council Mara Georges, that patronage and clout in city hiring is over. "It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter who you know. We are operating as...

For the second week in a row, the Chicago Tribune rolled out polling results showing a top Illinois pol with declining approval ratings. "Scandals chip away at Daley" was the headline, with "Mayor's approval rating lowest since election in '89" as the sub-head. The article, which was based on a poll conducted by Market Shares of 700 registered Chicago voters on May 16-18, showed a 53% job approval rating, the lowest since 1989, "less than...

Through adroit parlementary manuvers, the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance today that would ban drivers from using cell phones without a hands free device. Chicagoist has learned that the ordinance will be enacted this July, and first time offenders will be fined $50, with repeat offenders subject to fines of up to $200 with each offense. The ordinance does not apply to people in parked cars, people calling 911, or law enforcement officials. Alderman...

It happened again today. Another annoying item in Michael Sneed's column about mayoral scion, Patrick Daley. In case you haven't been following it, last spring Mayor Richard M. Daley's son, Patrick, enlisted in the U.S. Army. It started with a cover story on the Sun Times, and ever since, Sun Times people columnist Michael Sneed has tracked every little detail in recruit-Patrick's journey.

Gerald Wesolowski's plea bargain on Tuesday left two big questions unanswered: Who are the unnamed "City officials" that directed Donald Tomczak's city workers' political activity? And, who was aware of political work being done by city employees? And still, another question, fifteen months old, remains: Who promoted Donald Tomczak into the position where he could direct city workers into political work?

What a score for Jesse Junior! Landing his new thin self on the front page of Red Eye today, Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. was introduced to transient, hipster Brown and Blue Line voters across the city. And what was the purpose of the article? For the South Side Congressman to declare that, no he's really happy in his current job, and has no interest what-so-ever in running for mayor. It would be bad form and...

You can be sure that every pol in Illinois is talking about Time Magazine naming Mayor Richard M. Daley as one of the top five mayors in the nation. Much like a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed about Daley a couple of months ago, Time Magazine brushes aside the numerous recent city government scandals and entirely focuses on how good Daley is at the mechanics of providing city services. Naturally the Tribune and Sun Times grouse...

Chicagoist has been remiss in missing the missives on missing recycling. And so we pick up the story with Mayor Richard M. Daley's press conference yesterday: It's all your fault. Ours, the citizenry, we mean. But not the city's. And certainly not the Mayor's. Nope.

You wouldn't know it by reading the papers, but it's likely that tomorrow a few thousand people will march downtown to Federal Plaza to protest the American military presence in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places. The march, organized primarily by the Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism has a number of starting points, Senn High School at 6:00 am for the "North Side Long March Against Empire", Michigan and Oak Streets at Noon for the...

It's not official, but speculation has turned to expectation that 15-term northwest suburban Congressman Henry Hyde will announce in April that this is his last term in Congress. The staunch conservative will be 82 when term ends in 2006, and due to House of Representative rules, he is no longer eligible to keep his chairmanship of the Foreign Affairs Committee. As a result, this is probably the perfect time for him to end a long,...

Because Chicagoist takes its job of repeating what is already printed in the newspapers very seriously, we thought it was important to mention last Friday's big news of six new people indicted in the Hired Truck Scandal. The charges are more of the same, shaking down trucking company owners for bribes. Probably the most interesting news is that one, there are so many people people charged -- twenty-three -- and two, that Don Tomczak, the...

A couple days ago Chicagoist noted how horribly wrong national columnists can go when talking about us folks in the Middle-West. Yesterday two more national publications took a swipe at defining Illinois politics, and this time they seemed to have gotten it a little more right -- just a little.

Few people think of a river when they think of Chicago. And yet, when many people think of San Antonio, they think of the creek-like trickle through the city that has been developed into a community and tourism masterpiece. How can this injustice continue?

Yesterday Chicagoist wondered how organizations like the Hispanic Democratic Organization might play into Mayor Richard M. Daley's new campaign contribution restrictions. The Chicago Tribune learned the answer: HDO and other political committees will face no limitations. The upshot is that while city contractors will now be limited from making direct contributions to the mayor's campaign committee, contractors now have a green light to make contributions to Daley sponsored political committees like HDO, the Coalition for...

The State of the City speech is usually a snoozer for Chicago media, a few major programs are announced, and a write up goes into the paper. But this year Mayor Richard M. Daley used the opportunity to make the first two substantive moves against corruption in his administration since the Hired Truck Scandal first began a year ago. First, he will privatize the entire hired truck program and take it out of city control,...

The Hired Truck probe/scandal dug into some new corners of Chicago's give-and-take politics, as John Cannatello, the alleged true owner of Bridgeport-based GNA Trucking, was accused of and indicted in federal court for disguising his business as woman-owned (through his wife's name), while he actually operated the business. Cannatello is the sixteenth person to be indicted in the U.S. Attorney's probe.

On Wednesday South Side Democratic U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. (that's him on the right, with Isaac Hayes) made some hay out of the recent Chicago minority contract scandals, and pointed his finger in the direction of Mayor Richard M. Daley. It's largely thought that Jesse Junior wants to run for mayor in 2007, and these statements, as well as a few other rumbles from Jackson last year are all a preliminary to announcing his candidacy.

Has all the scandal stuff made you numb yet? City Hall...old governor...current governor...Is everything beginning to blend into one big money and favor-grubbing mess? Chicagoist is beginning to think so. And we have a shocking opinion on it: Voters don't really care about scandals.

Every fall two big budgets get rolled out in Chicagoland: the Chicago city budget, and the Cook County budget. This year the Chicago budget started with a $146 million shortfall, and before it was even public, the County budget also had a reported $146 million (kismet?). But over the years Mayor Richard M. Daley has managed to dominate/play nice with the City Council, while County Board President John "I've got a county hospital named after...

Now that the Chicago City Budget has passed, people are starting to wonder if a non-unanimous vote shows a crack in Daley's armor. This year the budget passed 45-5. Under other circumstances that may seem like an enormous victory, but in Chicago politics, going against the mayor is a risky gambit. Are these daring aldermen the vangard of a revolt against Daley?

In case you haven't heard, it's budget time in Illinois, so that means good times for everyone! And since we're no longer in the Go-Go Nineties (much like the "Swingin' Sixties" but different from the "Naughty Naughts"), local governments have a lot of shortfalls and are scratching for every last revenue dollar.

You knew it was coming: Budget problems and a ton of taxes for folks in Chicagoland. You got your state taxes, your county taxes, your city taxes, and not to mention all those little property taxes. It's enough to make a person move to Alaska to save a little dough.

It's been a tough week for Chicago Inspector General Alexander Vroustouris. Besides a bunch of newspapers publishing his salary so everyone can see how much he makes ($107,304 - not too shabby!), a bunch of Aldermen came down on him yesterday for missing big stuff like the Hired Truck Scandal and the recent tow truck upset (is it a "Scandal" yet?).

Outside of Chicago, Mayor Richard M. Daley is viewed as a model big-city mayor. And when you talk to the average Chicago citizen, Da Mare is generally thought of as good for the city. Hey, props to you Big Guy. So all that happy, fuzzy stuff aside, what the heck is going on with city government lately?

This Wednesday night, nine Individuals and three organizations will be inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame, the world's only known municipally-sponsored hall of fame that honors members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities.