Chicagoist's "Top 10 of 2010:" #1 - Mayor Daley Calls It A Day
By Chuck Sudo in News on Dec 30, 2010 7:00PM
For all but 13 of my 41 years, a man named Richard Daley has occupied the fifth floor of City Hall. Regarding stories with historical relevance, pundits may be talking about the long term impact of Mayor Daley's announcement not to seek a seventh term years, maybe decades, from now. Most of us at Chicagoist assumed Daley would go the way of his father and die in office. (Color us still shocked by the announcement.) What we do know is that Chicago, for good or ill, is losing its biggest booster, the man who keeps City Council in lockstep, and its Decider. Whether Daley's departure from public office is the portal to a brave new world or the crumbling of a house of cards is in the hands of those who follow.
In retrospect, we probably should have seen this coming from the moment Chicago was embarrassed by the International Olympic Committee's vote in its bid for the 2016 Summer Games. What we saw in Daley after that was a man who was out of answers for what ailed Chicago. The boost to the city's infrastructure and tourism he promised would come from a Chicago Olympics would not happen, and he was left to face a public growing more frustrated with rising taxes, declining city services, a ballooning budget deficit, and a mayor who seemed more and more to cater to the desires of big business.
The much-maligned leasing of the parking meters stripped the veneer right off Daley, while more residents became aware of just what was happening with their tax dollars being diverted to tax increment financing districts controlled largely at the behest of Daley. By then, though, the budget deficit was so great that even dipping into the TIF pile wasn't enough to solve the city's financial problems. And there was still the lingering association of the Daley administration officials to the Hired Truck Scandal and political hiring. Daley's approval ratings in the summer were at an all-time low.
If Daley thought his announcement not to seek another term would insulate him from the criticisms of those seeking his office, he was sorely mistaken. The major candidates for mayor are running as much against Daley's recent record as they are each other. And there's a lot regarding Daley's recent record that can be used for ammunition. City Council — well, those not following Daley out the door next spring — are starting to wake from a 21-year slumber and making rumblings that they won't follow the next leader blindly (although they're watching Rahm Emanuel with one eye, in case he demands the same fealty the aldermen gave Daley).
Or this election could just be a status quo for possible greater change in 2015, as we suspect it might. The new mayor and the at least ten new aldermen that will be elected in February are going to be tasked with coming up with solid solutions to the city's woes. Those first few months are going to be a feeling out process.
As for Daley, he's earned the right to go out on his terms, be with his wife to care for her in her last days, be a father and grandfather, maybe put in a couple of days of work a week at the family insurance business in Bridgeport. 21 years at one job is a long time, especially one as grueling as mayor of Chicago. Like it or not, Richard M. Daley left his mark.