Results tagged “richardm”

“I miss the beat,” says Bill Cameron. “But hopefully I'll be able to get back to it sooner rather than later.” Cameron is no longer on that beat because he was let go by his employers, WLS Radio, a couple Fridays back in what's being called the Leap Day Massacre. So, seeing as how he had some extra time on his hands, we decided to get in touch with him and talk about nearly 40 years of experience covering Chicago politics. [Full disclosure: Your humble author used to work with Cameron at WLS.]

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.

Former Chicago mayor Eugene Sawyer has died, following a long illness. Sawyer was 73 years old.

We got an e-mail today from a national travel magazine fact-checker wondering about local lingo. Some of the terms are definitely things we're familiar with, but..."the prairie"? Huh. Let 'er rip, cats and kittens. Would you agree that while the term "Chi-Town" means "Chicago," it's rarely spoken by a resident? Does the term "dees and doze guy" refer to a working class local who speaks with a Chicago accent? Does the term "dragged through...

It was twenty years ago today that Mayor Harold Washington collapsed at his desk in City Hall. He died of a massive heart attack. In 1983, Washington surprised Chicago by winning the Democratic Primary for Mayor. He won with 36% of the vote, beating out incumbent Mayor Jane M. Byrne and Richard M. Daley. In the April 1983 general election, Washington received 52% of the vote to become Chicago’s first black mayor, trumping Bernard Epton...

Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story for Hallowe'en....

Obama has done it. Durbin has done it. Now Daley’s gonna do it. The “it” in question? Lobbying for alleged murderer Hans Peterson’s extradition to the United States. The story’s old hat by this point: Peterson supposedly confessed to killing dermatologist Dr. David Cornbleet last October in his office on Michigan Avenue. Unfortunately his confession fell on French ears, as Peterson had fled to the isle of St. Martin, where he invoked his Gallic heritage...

On a June morning in 1918, a circus train stopped on the tracks in Ivanhoe, Ind. The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus was scheduled for a show in nearby Hammond later that day, but for the time being, an overheated wheel bearing box impeded their progress. Despite warning lights and a frantic flagman, another train slammed into the back of the idling troupe. Fire erupted throughout the wooden cars, sending 86 people to their deaths and injuring 127...

This election has been one of the most significant in recent memory. With seven new aldermen set to take office in May, including the wife of Jesse Jackson Jr. in the 7th Ward, the stage is set for a new power struggle in Chicago. This year, more than any other, saw the city's labor movement — especially the service-sector unions — flex their political muscle. The result? A record-low turnout in the mayoral vote, and...

Tea is a hot commodity these days. With almost as many varietals and blends as coffee, better organic farming practices, less acid, and health benefits galore, it’s becoming a welcome alternative to the morning cup o’ joe. John Daley first found this out during two trips to Sri Lanka after college. Later, when he was working in Washington, DC, he sipped tea when his workmates were downing multiple cups of coffee every morning. From those...

Well, another municipal election has come in Chicago, and in many wards (but not all) it's gone. As expected, Richard M. Daley sailed to re-election, set to eclipse his father as the Chicago's longest-serving mayor, in spite of Ben Joravsky's best efforts. At the time of this writing, a few things are clear: there will be a few runoffs this year, including Madeline Haithcock - Bob Fioretti (2nd), Dorothy Tillman - Pat Dowell (3rd), Shirley...

You remember back in November, when the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce announced that it was going to develop some clout of its own. Claiming that they wanted to make sure they could protect their interests and take out aldermen that threatened those interests, they had announced that they were going to build their own political machine, including having employees of their members canvass neighborhoods. Now it seems that the ghost of corruption past has found...

For the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, the answer is simple: put down the blowtorch. This year, two high-profile historic buildings have been destroyed by torch-related accidents. The Pilgrim Baptist Church, a centenarian Adler and Sullivan beauty, smoldered in January, and just a few weeks ago, scrap workers accidentally torched the Wirt Dexter Building using the same tool. The LPC calls for new laws restricting such cutting and welding operations at historic sites. Beyond these...

Two men that are running for mayor but refuse to declare it are taking swipes at each other in the local papers. Neither one will definitively say it, but it sure looks to Chicagoist like the competition is on. Yesterday, Jesse Jackson Jr. admonished Richard Daley to "leave race out of it". Apparently claiming that the unions turned a blind eye when big-box retailers opened shop outside of black neighborhoods, Da Mare accused living-wage supporters...

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...

When Mayoral Chief of Staff Ron Huberman announced last Friday the firing of nine Water Department employees, including Comissioner Rick Rice, City Hall watchers began to wonder which department was next -- and how much closer to the mayor the oustings might get. That's what reporters were asking the Mayor yesterday. The firing of a city departmental commissioner is a big deal, even in a mayoral administration that's seen as many changes as Richard M....

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?

It's the biggest political story of the day, but Chicagoist has waited until the late afternoon because we needed to mull this over a bit. It is just too damn big, and some very important reputations are at stake. So, take a deep breath and take this story in a couple of bites. Gerald Wesolowski Jr., a top Chicago Water Department official became the sixth person to plead guilty in the U.S. Attorney's Hired...

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,...