(Chicago Tribune) — A key City Council committee voted Monday to set aside about $100 million a year from special taxing districts to build or preserve affordable housing, even though Mayor Richard Daley opposes the idea. The plan backed by affordable-housing advocates was approved by the Finance Committee on a 13-8 vote but needs at least […]
(Chicago Tribune) — Though it’s unlikely any of them would turn down an endorsement from Mayor Richard Daley, those seeking to succeed the mayor took issue Wednesday with one his most unpopular decisions: leasing the city’s parking meters. Three mayoral candidates criticized Daley’s handling of the controversial lease and subsequent decision to tap city reserve funds […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — The Denver attorney hired by Mayor Daley to oversee city hiring — only to be stripped of that responsibility and resign — is embroiled in a new dispute with City Hall. This time, it’s over unemployment compensation. Anthony Boswell filed for unemployment last month to obtain weekly benefits of $534 for […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — Hiring 200 more police officers next year may not be enough to keep pace with attrition, but it’s the best City Hall can do and still keep its hands out of taxpayers’ pockets, Mayor Daley said Tuesday. “I need a thousand. Make it 10,000. I mean — everything is not enough. […]
(NYT) — Mayor Richard M. Daley’s decision not to seek re-election next year raises the prospect of a major shift in the balance of power in City Hall. By law, Chicago’s government was designed to have a strong Council and a weak mayor, but for decades the mayor has been dominant, especially during the more than […]
(Chicago Tribune) — Mayor Richard Daley angrily rebuked real estate groups that he said helped stop his plan to protect renters whose buildings are converted to condominiums. Daley’s renter protection proposal failed to get a vote Wednesday from the City Council, which sent the package back to committee for further consideration. Read More…
(NYT) — As Mayor Richard M. Daley prepares to leave office, some of his most loyal supporters are upset about the financial troubles he will leave behind and worried that the city services they have come to expect are in rapid decline. “People are saying, ‘Where does our money go?’ ” said Tom Allen, alderman of […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — Chicago’s business community is in a difficult spot for the city’s suddenly wide-open mayoral election next February. It wants what it cannot possibly have. Business leaders crave stability and predictability. In deciding not to seek a seventh term, Daley yanked their security blanket. Unable to write checks toward another Daley victory, […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — For the last 15 years, Mayor Daley has led an engine of school reform that rumbled through every Chicago Public School classroom — but also across the nation and right into the country’s capital. Big cities nationwide have followed Chicago’s lead in picking non-educators to run their school systems, ending the […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — Not even Taste of Chicago, the city’s premier lakefront festival, is immune from the worst budget crisis in modern history. Mayor Daley said Thursday he would seek to privatize the Taste, other lakefront festivals and an array of government staples — from animal care to fleet management and curbside recycling — […]
(Chicago Tribune) — Mayor Richard Daley and Walgreen Co. officials touted progress Wednesday in the city’s push to wipe out “food deserts” in Chicago. The Deerfield-based drugstore chain is adding fresh fruit and vegetables at four stores by next week, bringing to 10 the number of such outposts on the city’s South and West sides. Those impoverished […]