Richard M. DaleyRichard Michael Daley (born
April 24,
1942) is a
United States politician, member of the national and local
Democratic Party and current
mayor of
Chicago,
Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. His 2007 re-election set him to become the longest running Mayor in Chicago (a record currently held by his father
Richard J. Daley), should he remain in office past
December 25,
2010.
Chosen by
Time Magazine in its
April 25,
2005 issue as the best out of five mayors of large cities in the United States,
[1] he has presided over such successes as the resurgence in tourism, the modernization of the
Chicago Transit Authority, the building of
Millennium Park, increased environmental efforts and the rapid development of the city's North Side, as well as the near South and West sides. He remains widely popular with city residents, taking over 70% of the mayoral vote in 1999, 2003, and 2007. Recently, he has been in the public eye for playing a large role in making Chicago the U.S. bid city for the
2016 Summer Olympics.
BiographyDaley is the fourth of seven children and eldest son of
Richard J. Daley and
Eleanor Daley, former mayor and first lady of Chicago, respectively. Originally from
Bridgeport, a traditionally (and partially)
Irish-American neighborhood located southwest of the
Chicago Loop, Daley graduated from
De La Salle Institute and obtained his
bachelor's degree and
Juris Doctor from
DePaul University. Prior to earning his law degree, Daley served in the
Marine Reserves.
[2]Mayor Daley is married to Margaret Daley, who was diagnosed with
breast cancer in 2002 and is still undergoing treatment.
[3] They have four children: Nora, Patrick, Elizabeth and Kevin. Daley's second son, Kevin, was thirty-three months old when he died of complications of
spina bifida in 1981. Kevin's death still weighs heavily upon Daley; he typically refers to Kevin in the present tense, as if he were still alive.
Mayor Daley is brother to
William M. Daley, former
United States Secretary of Commerce under
President Bill Clinton, and
John P. Daley, a commissioner on the
Cook County Board of Commissioners on which he serves as the finance chairman.
Daley grew up as, and is to this day, a fan of the
Chicago White Sox over the crosstown
Chicago Cubs.
Political beginningsDaley was elected to his first public office as
delegate to the 1969 Illinois Constitutional Convention. On the strength of his father's political machine, Daley next ran for and won a seat in the
Illinois Senate, serving from 1972 to 1980. He left
Springfield to become
Cook County State's Attorney, serving from 1980 to 1989. Daley's tenure as county prosecutor was interrupted in 1983 with his first mayoral campaign, losing in the three-way primary to
Congressman Harold Washington. Incumbent
Jane Byrne, a former protege of Daley's father, was also defeated.
Four years later, on
November 25,
1987, Washington died in office of a
heart attack. The
Chicago City Council elected an interim mayor,
David Orr, who served from the day of Washington's death to
December 2,
1987. As Orr stepped down,
Eugene Sawyer won a special election. However, a second election was held in 1989 to fill the remaining two years of what would have been Washington's second term.
As a result, Sawyer faced voters for the first time, and Daley challenged him in the primary. After defeating Sawyer handily, Daley moved on to the
April 4,
1989 general election against
Aldermen Timothy C. Evans and
Edward Vrdolyak, a former Democrat who had antagonized Washington on the city council while Washington served as mayor. After winning the general election, Daley took office as Mayor of Chicago on
April 24,
1989.
Political positionsDespite Daley's opposition to the
War in Iraq, his only surviving son Patrick enlisted in the
U.S. Army and announced the decision publicly on
November 30,
2004.
Daley has been a supporter of
gun control, with a
de facto ban on handguns in Chicago.
[4] He is a member of the
Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition,
[5] an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by
New York City mayor
Michael Bloomberg and
Boston mayor
Thomas Menino.
Daley is also a supporter of
LGBT rights and
Chicago's gay community. Chicago hosted the
Gay Games VII, with Mayor Daley officially opening the games at opening ceremonies.
Daley is helping create initiatives to increase
green roof usage within the city.
Chicago City Hall's own rooftop, completed in 2001, is a pilot of that program. His advocacy of cycling has led to proliferation of city bike lanes, bicycle racks and bike safety programs
[3][4][5]. Another of his pet projects, and a quite successful one, was bringing the
National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum to a permanent home in Chicago.
Daley took over the Chicago school system in 1995,and has brought graduation rates up from 51% to 54%. Daley emphasizes that in order to keep the middle class from fleeing to the suburbs, a city needs a strong and effective school system, and he believes that such a school system is the first step to fighting urban crime and poverty.
[6]He appointed
Lori Healey to direct the Department of
Planning and Development in 2005, to encourage the revitalization of emerging neighborhoods.
Daley has also been an advocate for
Chicago 2016 Olympic bid, which was selected as the United States Olympic Committee's applicant bid on April 14, 2007
CriticismsMeigs FieldOne of Daley's first major acts upon re-election on
February 25,
2003 was the demolition of
Meigs Field on
March 30,
2003. A small lakefront
airport adjacent to
Soldier Field, it was used by
general aviation aircraft and helicopters. Its single runway was demolished overnight, with work starting just as local news was going off the air, and with high powered lights being shone towards
Lake Shore Drive to prevent photography of the destruction. A unilateral decision by the mayor without approval from the Chicago City Council or Federal Aviation Administration, the act resulted in public uproar. Aviation interest groups unsuccessfully attempted to sue the city into reopening the airport, claiming Daley had been trying to close Meigs Field with non-safety-related reasons since 1995 to create a park. However, the only citation handed over to the city concerned a failure to notify the federal agency of the plans within a thirty day time period as required by law. The city was fined $33,000, the maximum then allowed by law.
Other citations were not handed; the courts noted it was well within Daley's executive powers and jurisdiction to make the decision he made. The city has since agreed to a settlement with the FAA, the terms of which include both the $33,000 fine and the repayment of $1 million from taxes to federal airport development grants. The city admits no wrongdoing under this settlement.
[7]Daley and his supporters argued that the airport was a threat to Chicago's high-rise cityscape and its high profile skyscrapers,
Sears Tower and the
John Hancock Center. Daley defended his decision with the now-infamous quote "Mickey Mouse has a no-fly zone", referring to the restrictions in place over
Orlando and
Washington, D.C. and his longstanding conviction that Chicago should have similar restrictions. In reality, closing the airport made the airspace less restrictive. When the airport was open, downtown chicago was within Meigs Field's Class D
airspace, requiring two-way radio communication with the tower
[8]. The buildings in downtown
Chicago are now in Class E/G airspace, which allows any airplane to legally fly as close as 1000 feet from these buildings with no radio communication at all
[9]He also argued that the lakefront needs to be opened to all residents of Chicago, not just the relatively small portion of the population who have the necessary resources to operate an aircraft. This led to the development of current Northerly Island park venues, including a concert staging area.
Children's MuseumOn
September 28,
2007,
Mayor Richard Daley's
proposal—a new $100 million
Chicago Children's Museum near the
Grant Park playground—had been protested by Alderman Brendan Reilly, Figiel, Cate Plys and local
residents.
[14]See alsoGraffiti BlastersExternal linksArticle on Daley's CorruptionCity of Chicago official siteMayor Richard Daley 2007 official campaign siteCityMayors profileMayors Against Illegal Guns homepage
