John Bracken

In an odd bit of convergence, this weekend, Time, the New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune each took a look into Obama’s Illinois roots. This sudden emphasis on Chicago reminded me of a Tuesday night tweet from Republican social media guru Patrick Ruffini: ” Over the next six months, we must mention the words Obama and Chicago and/or Daley as much as possible.”

Michael Weisskopf, in Time:

How did the man… come so far so fast? Much of the answer can be traced to the lessons of his first thumping. It was after that brief race in 2000…that Obama learned how to be a politician. He jettisoned his Harvard-tested speaking style for something more down-home. He learned how to cultivate those in power without being defined by them. And he learned how to be different things to different people: a reformer groomed by an old-fashioned machine boss, an African American heavily financed by white liberals, a Harvard lawyer whose bootstrapping life story gained traction with white ethnics. Abner Mikva, a former federal judge and Congressman from Chicago, credits Obama with figuring out “how to appeal to different constituencies without being inconsistent.”…[During the 2004 Democratic primary] while Obama couldn’t win the support of the Daleys’ political machine–he knew they would back Hynes–he shrewdly planted some political seeds. He wrote Bill Daley, a longtime Democratic wise man, saying that while it was only right for the Daleys to support a loyal friend, he hoped they would be for him if he won the primary. “I thought, that’s a very smooth move,” said the younger Daley, who now supports Obama for the White House.

In the Times, Jo Becker and Christopher Drew quote Chicago mainstay Marilyn Katz

“For better or worse, this is Chicago,” said Ms. Katz, who has held fund-raisers for Mr. Obama at her home. “Everyone is connected to everyone.”

John Kass, in the Tribune:

The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate’s politics were born in Chicago. Yet he is presented to the nation as not truly being of this place, as if he floats just above the political corruption here, uninfected, untouched by the stain of it or by any sin of commission or omission. It is all so very mystical.

As I mentioned on Twitter last week (and on this blog last year), I suffer from mayoral race envy, for I live in a town that hasn’t seen a competitive contest since Richard Daley was elected 19 years ago. This jealousy was only heightened by listening to the Guardian’s special Politics Weekly podcast on Boris Johnson’s electoral triumph. Rather than leave Chicago, I’ve begun to imagine what a real 2011 mayoral election might look like.

Obviously, should Mayor Daley decide to (or, pending ongoing corruption investigations, not be able to) run for re-election, he will be the favorite to be re-elected. Whether or not that would be the best thing for the city, it is not a particularly exciting prospect for a political junkie daydreaming about 2011. So let’s ignore him.

After Daley, any list of 2011 candidates begins with two Congressmen who came close to challenging Daley last year, Jesse Jackson Jr. and Luis Gutierrez. As Walter Jacobson pointed out on Chicago Public Radio,, and as was pointed out here, one of them could end up being our next Senator– of the two, I’d bet on Gutierrez. City Clerk Miguel Del Valle has been turning up at several benefit dinners in the Loop this spring, and I trust that it’s not due to a love for rubber chicken and weak coffee. I’d place Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool into a non-Daley second tier with Del Valle. Two wild cards who may be better off waiting for 2015, are SEIU favorite Ald. Sandi Jackson (Jesse’s spouse) and States Attorney nominee Anita Alvarez. For a wild, wild card, let’s toss U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s name into the ring.

February 2011 seems like a long ways away, but it will be here before you know it.

For the last couple of years, Friends of the Parks has been floating a notion to extend Chicago’s lakefront park system to include two miles on both the Side and North sides, with the hope of finalizing a plan by next year’s centennial of the (Daniel) Burnham Plan. As the FOTP points out, “Both the Burnham 1909 Plan of Chicago and the 1972 Lakefront Protection ordinance call for Chicago’s entire lakefront to be public parks.” I take a particular interest in FOTP’s recently published plan to expand the beach 5 blocks from my home, which would also ease my bike commute by reducing the mile of streets I have to negotiate before reaching the lakefront path to a handful of blocks.

On the other hand, my neighbor Philip Bernstein started Stop the Landfill to oppose the FOTP’s plan. Bernstein is neither a paroter of NIMBY resistance nor a run-of-the-mill Edgewater curmudgeon (we have our share), but is, according to Chicago Journal, a “retired chief of planning for the Army Corp of Engineers in Chicago.” According to STL, “[A]ny landfill, no matter how “clean” the fill is, would have a very dramatic impact on the ecology…How many animals would die and how long would it take for Lake Michigan to recover and what about the water quality?” Bernstein’s site also expresses concern for the cost of such an expansion and its effect on “real estate values.” I dont’t have a horse in this race, but I’m paying attention now, thanks to a link from EveryBlock. That link is proof further that the new site provides a lot more than just crime reports and links to restaurant reviews.

(The Pilipino Traveler on Foot blog reveals that Burnham also developed a pan for Manila:

The Burnham Plan, which the London Times called “a miracle by an Alladin,” was approved by the Philippine Legislature, which agreed to set aside two million pesos every year for the execution of the plan. When the fund had reached some 16 million, however, President Manuel L. Quezon decided to use the money on irrigation projects instead. Quezon noted that rice fields were more important than fine structures for Manila. Of Burnham’s proposed government center, only three units were built…”)

When I heard the news today that an 11% sales tax could be around the corner in Chicago, I thought of an earlier report that China will be “loaning” $5 billion to the Congo to “be spent on building roads, hospitals, health centres, housing and universities.” We don’t have much in the form of precious metals in the city, but perhaps there’s something we could drum up something in exchange for a similar investment in our decrepit public transit system, failing public school system and unsafe streets [Update, and a collapsing "health care safety net"]?

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger was surprisingly candid in explaing the need for that tax increase: “We need to make sure we keep the system going.” Indeed.

My neighbors across the street are able to select their alderman in a run-off election. (I don’t have to worry about choosing, thanks to the diligence of my alderman who knocked all her opponents off of the ballot.) My friend E., who lives in the 49th ward, said her final decision was influenced by this Google video of last week’s debate between incumbent Joe Moore and Don Gordon. (Alas, it’s not citizens journalism, but perhaps Jarvis will be happy anyway.) Meanwhile, a couple of friends have been supporting Naisy Dolar’s  attempt to unseat Bernie Stone, who has represented the 50th ward since 1973.

Georgia Popplewell reports that it’s election season in Trinidad. She wonders:

whether it might not be a good — or at least amusing — idea to set up a parallel music truck/sound system to rove the country during the campaign season, pumping out tunes which would counteract the effects of rum and roti and free t-shirts and over-exposure to re-jigged Iwer songs.

Sounds good to me. My friend Mark’s scholarship reminds me that back in the day, that’s the way we campaigned, too– albeit with beer and corned beef. In any case, I’d take rum and roti over attack ads anyday.

One rather obvious candidate for such a playlist would be Stevie Wonder’s “You Haven’t Done Nothin’“, from 1974’s Fulfillingness’ First Finale, (arguably) Stevie’s greatest album.

(I do argue–I go with Songs in the Key of Life.)

Before today’s Cubs-Reds game, the team  commemorated Jackie Robinson. The PA announcer mentioned that Robinson’s first appearance at Wrigley Field drew the largest crowd in the stadium’s history– 46, 572 in 1947, a fact also pointed out by Al Yellon at BCB.

The Wrigley announcer failed to point out a fact that Jules Tygiel mentions in Baseball’s Great Experiment, that the Cubs were “one of the most troublesome clubs for Robinson.” He describes an incident in which Cubs shortstop Len Merullo “deliberately kicked” Robinson following a pick-off attempt. Robinson “started to swing at the shortstop,” but didn’t.

Tygiel also quotes a column by Mike Royko on the ocassion of Robinson’s 1972 death. As a kid, Royko (whose brother was my Little League coach) attended Robinson’s first game at Wrigley Field in 1947:

 By noon, Wrigley Field was almost filled. The crowd outside spilled off the sidewalk and into the streets. Scalpers were asking top dollar for box seats and getting it.
I had never seen anything like it. Not just the size, although it was a new record, more than 47,000. But this was twenty-five years ago, and in 1947 few blacks were seen in the Loop, much less up on the white North Side at a Cub game.
That day, they came by the thousands, pouring off the northbound Ls and out of their cars.
They didn’t wear baseball-game clothes. They had on church clothes and funeral clothes·suits, white shirts, ties, gleaming shoes, and straw hats. I’ve never seen so many straw hats.
As big as it was, the crowd was orderly. Almost unnaturally so. People didn’t jostle each other.
The whites tried to look as if nothing unusual was happening, while the blacks tried to look casual and dignified. So everybody looked slightly ill at ease.
For most, it was probably the first time they had been that close to each other in such great numbers.
We managed to get in, scramble up a ramp, and find a place to stand behind the last row of grandstand seats. Then they shut the gates. No place remained to stand.
Robinson came up in the first inning. I remember the sound. It wasn’t the shrill, teenage cry you now hear, or an excited gut roar. They applauded, long, rolling applause. A tall, middle-aged black man stood next to me, a smile of almost painful joy on his face, beating his palms together so hard they must have hurt.
When Robinson stepped into the batter’s box, it was as if someone had flicked a switch. The place went silent.
He swung at the first pitch and they erupted as if he had knocked it over the wall. But it was only a high foul that dropped into the box seats. I remember thinking it was strange that a foul could make that many people happy. When he struck out, the low moan was genuine.
I’ve forgotten most of the details of the game, other than that the Dodgers won and Robinson didn’t get a hit or do anything special, although he was cheered on every swing and every routine play.
But two things happened I’ll never forget. Robinson played first, and early in the game a Cub star hit a grounder and it was a close play.
Just before the Cub reached first, he swerved to his left. And as he got to the bag, he seemed to slam his foot down hard at Robinson’s foot.
It was obvious to everyone that he was trying to run into him or spike him. Robinson took the throw and got clear at the last instant.
I was shocked. That Cub, a hometown boy, was my biggest hero. It was not only an unheroic stunt, but it seemed a rude thing to do in front of people who would cheer for a foul ball. I didn’t understand why he had done it. It wasn’t at all big league.
I didn’t know that while the white fans were relatively polite, the Cubs and most other teams kept up a steady stream of racial abuse from the dugout. I thought that all they did down there was talk about how good Wheaties are.

The USOC’s LA v. Chicago contest will be settled this afternoon. I agree with Eric Zorn’s take:

I’d hate to see the city and the region spend another two and half years pumping money and energy into a failing bid. And even if that bid is successful, there’s little guarantee that the games themselves will be.

I also agree with Sensible Mom: “I don’t want to pay taxes for Chicago to host” the games.

Tomorrow is the long-anticipated D-Day for Chicago public transit riders. From the Tribune:

[F]or the duration of the $530 million Brown Line reconstruction project—which runs through late 2009—Red Line service will be reduced to 39 northbound trains during the evening rush, instead of 44, said Jack Hruby, chief of CTA rail operations. …CTA personnel and Chicago police will be deployed at rail stations to assist commuters but also to block people from entering stations if platforms become too crowded, officials said.

CTA Chair Carole Brown puts the honus on, well, us, blogging that “none” of the CTA’s plans

will matter if our customers don’t change their commuting patterns — especially between 7:30am and 8:30am, and between 4:45 and 6:00 pm. Kevin at CTA Tattler, who was at the meeting, said “Hell commences Monday,” and I can’t say I disagree. But the sooner we start, the sooner this project will be over, and I want it done.

Tomorrow we Chicagoans are liable to be a grouse a lot, it will take a lot to reach the frustrations that citizens of Santiago, Chile are having with their TranSantiago. Global Voices has details on the crisis and last week’s protests– which will apparently resume on Wednesday. Writing for OhMyNews, so does Alan Mota:

The program upgraded the bus structure, with new and more modern buses and a system of magnetic cards that was supposed to speed the process of paying for it. But a mistake in planning ended up with delays in the upgrading of the buses without keeping the old ones in the streets, which led transportation in Santiago to a halt.

The subway stations became so crowded that sometimes they are forced to close to avoid overloading, which doesn’t help in the transportation problem. And with the union of public transport drivers threatening to strike, the situation might get even worse. The crisis — and the protests — began Feb. 10.

Ninion has photos of the chaos– and invective for the protesters; Jukioo points to protest propaganda, including one piece that incorporates Ecuadorean techno-folklorico phenom El Delfin (background on El Delfin):

As a result, according to the BBC, “Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has sacked four ministers.”

The last few months have seen protests in the capital, Santiago, over the introduction of a new transport system. In a national TV address, Ms Bachelet said her government owed an apology to Santiago’s residents, especially the poor, for the chaos they have faced.

In Chicago, no cabinet shuffling or apologies, yet. (To the contrary, we re-elected our mayor with more than 70% of the vote. )

I was in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago where they are in the midst of a real mayoral election with all the trappings: several  viable candidates (a couple of them sitting Congressmen), debates, issues, press attention, blogs, engaged community organizations, even student engagement. I returned to Chicago with a picture of what a contested city-wide election. Not even my local 48th ward aldermanic race was worth paying attention to as the incumbent, Mary Ann Smith, managed to knock all her challengers off the ballot (including Iraq War veteran Chris Lawrence apparently for his failure to file a receipt with his economic disclosure form.)

Nevertheless, or perhaps out of frustration at the lack of meaningful politics at my own polling place, I followed with interest coverage of Tuesday’s elections in Chicago. (Unsurprisingly, perhaps, I found the Sun Times more useful than Trib.)

I found lots of discussion of the prospect that Daley will break his father’s record as the longest serving mayor of the city but nary a mention of the man will may have a large say about Daley’s ability to finish his term: U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald who continues to investigate City Hall after already convicting some of his closest aides. For example, here’s Fran Spielman’s synopsis of Hizzoner (Junior?)’s triumph:

Tuesday’s landslide was vindication. Daley’s toughness and ability to adjust to new political realities has long been underestimated. He has proven once again how resilient he is.

Spielman‘s look at Daley’s next (final?) term focused more on political maneuverings than on possible policies. She reveals that CTA head Frank Kruesi may finally be on his way out to placate Springfield, but suggests no other possible policy implications:

the mayor knows better than anybody that the time has come to remove his longest-serving adviser. Kruesi has made so many enemies in Springfield — including powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan — state lawmakers won’t even think about helping the CTA until he’s gone. Look for Kruesi to make the long-rumored move to the O’Hare Modernization Program and Aviation Commissioner Nuria Fernandez to replace Kruesi at CTA, where she got her start.

Spielman also gives us this tease about the future of Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan:

City Hall sources said Duncan fell out of favor for a while last year, but he may have worked his way out of the doghouse.

In reviewing possible candidates to replace Phil Cline as Police Superintendent, she mentions that “former Deputy Police Supt. Charles Ramsey, a runner-up in past police searches, is available again after a stint as police chief in Washington, D.C.” Spielman doesn’t mention it, but perhaps Ramsey’s approach to dealing with political protesters will give him a leg up. From Ramsey’s Wikipedia entry:

…[O]n September 27, 2002, the MPD made a mass arrest of a large group of demonstrators who had assembled in DC’s Pershing Park to protest the World Bank and IMF meetings. The police enclosed over 400 people in the park and arrested them without ever ordering them to disperse or allowing them to leave the park. Many of the arrested were not actually demonstrators, but were journalists, legal observers, and pedestrians. On January 13, 2006, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled that the arrests violated the Fourth Amendment and that Chief Ramsey could be held personally liable for the violations.

The aldermanic results send a nuanced message, one that does not fit easily into the “SEIU v. Daley & the Chamber of Commerce” meme. As Steve Rhodes noted this morning, “the incumbents who lost their seats were more the victims of their own special circumstances than hacks punished for doing the Daley Machine’s bidding.”

For one, the SEIU was not successful in its efforts in Latino wards, where both Danny Solis held his seat. From the Sun Times:

Mass mailings against Solis, who was appointed to the post by Daley in 1996 and serves as his president pro tem in the City Council, were launched by unions that supported Cuahutemoc “Temo” Morfin, a youth probation officer, who got 21 percent…”I’ve taken on some unions … I feel vindicated,” said Solis. “The neighborhood is with me.”

Blogs, and the media in general, for that matter, were irrelevant in this campaign. Reporters made a valiant attempt in the final days to pretend like Daley had a race (the Trib’s free Redeye carried all three candidates on its front page on Tuesday) but came across sounding silly. Eric Zorn penned an Election Day mea culpa that included a pledge to vote against Da Mayor as

“a call for change this time, not just another a warning shot across Daley’s bow. I’m tired of the “Oh, but the city looks so good” mantra of complacency that consigns us to praying for benevolence under autocratic rule.

The lackluster race is enough to make us ponder 2011, an election which will contested whether or not Daley runs. Mark Brown Ponders the possible role of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (and husband to an alderman-elect):

you have to wonder how far the Jackson family can take its dynasty. It seems unlikely it will want to stop with a congressman and an alderman and a man who ran for president.

Jackson’s House colleague Luis Gutierrez is likely to consider a race, as will City Clerk, and (independent) Miguel Del Valle. ESTHER J. CEPEDA AND ART GOLAB note that “Daley’s hand-picked city clerk, Miguel del Valle” didn’t meet with city-wide success, winning 58% of the vote compared to the Mayor’s 71%. Most notably for 2011, “Diane Jones, a 45-year-old water reclamation district employee who spent less than $7,000 on her campaign, won a third of the votes and beat del Valle in every African-American ward by margins of 200 to 2,000 votes.”

All of which points to a likely Latino v. African American contest. Would that kind of race, with overt Chicago-style ethnic and racial turf fights be better for the city than another placid coronation? Outgoing Chicago Board of Election Commissioners spokesmanTom Leach seems to think so in Carol Marin’s column. He fondly recalls the tense, and groundbreaking 1983 Harold Washington-Bernie Epton race: “Despite the fact there was a lot of racial tension, it was a great election. We had an 82 percent turnout. The highest turnout we ever had for a municipal election. We brought people into the electoral process who had never voted before . . . complaints about fraud diminished.”

The last time we had a contest to succeed a mayor in Chicago, following Harold Washington’s death, we witnessed City Council arm wrestling, yelling and desk dancing over several hours. This time, the process is likely to play out over four years largely behind closed doors.  

The best thing about this (Cook County Board President) Todd Stroger parody blog is that it reallly sounds like Stroger’s voice:

I have accomplished having the Cook County Board working together in a bipartisan manner. They have every right to work together to come up with a better solution for the budget. I give them credit for all their hard work. Some things I will agree with some I will not. I appreciate all their efforts.

I enjoyed learning of “Stroger’s” affection for 80s music. (Commenters at Bill Baar’s West Side apparently have such low opinions of Stroger that they think the blog may be genuine.)

(Earlier this month, Stroger appointed his cousin as the County’s CFO; the Daily Southtown has more details on the adventures of the first month of his leadership tenure.)

Update: Carol Marin summarizes Stroger’s 6 weeks in power:

In the short six weeks that he’s been in office, Stroger has behaved like an entitled brat. Private elevator. Entourage of bodyguards and coat holders.

He’s handed big salaries and ridiculous raises to his relatives and friends, while deriding questions about his mostly undelineated 17 percent cuts in vital services to the poor. He’s lacked the courage to face public criticism, skipping every public hearing on his budget where citizens were invited to attend. Hundreds showed up. Stroger never did.

Little wonder he was the lone elected official loudly booed at Barack Obama’s recent rally.