i'm sick of all this daley bashing

[mopinko]

really, it is starting to piss me off, the trash talk of a dem mayor. you cite your bad, and i'll cite my good. we'll see who runs out of ammo first. this is why we lose, people. the media find some dead horses to whip, and you all fall in line. quit bashing, and put up your evidence. then tell me how you know he is any worse than the last several totally ineffective administrations we have had. he is the most effective mayor of chicago in my lifetime, and that includes his daddy.
and i loved harold, i did. if he hadn't died, he would have gotten a grip, and done a great job. but many things went undone in his time. i can't hold him responsible for the racism that tied him up. but if you are going to hold daley responsible for not eliminating the mob, you should hold harold responsible for not eliminating racism.
do you have to be perfect to get support from dems?

[mopinko]

1. seriously people, it's important

scandal mongering as a political tool is something that we have got to figure out how to diffuse. we know that selective prosecution of democratic mayors, especially minority mayors has been going on for a long time. the trib airs daley's dirty laundry, but washes george ryan's for him. they use our own sense of decency and honor to trash our leaders. what do we do??? who will be the next dem leader lynched for a blow job???

[Rich Hunt]

2. I'll confess

...I like the guy a lot. He's done a good job of keeping the city afloat. It's actually a lot better now than it was in the old days.

People don't seem to realize that the mayor is only one guy. He has to take the fall for everything - it's part of the job, but I like him personally.

[mopinko]

3. just the things he and maggie have done for the arts

gallery 37, helping build new theaters, public sculpture. the museum campus. bulldozing meigs field.
and millenium park, people!! go there if you haven't already. everyone that i have talked to says the same thing- i don't care what it cost.
the first mayor in my life time to improve the lake front, not try to take it over.

[kevsand]

4. I'd agree on everything except Meigs Field.

My father had a private pilot's license for many years, and Meigs was a one of a kind jewel. There's nothing like it anywhere else in the entire world, and I was very sorry to see it go.

The bulldozers in the middle of the night was totally classless (and just barely legal), imho. I think if there had been a referendum (or any kind of public hearing), instead of a team of goons under cover of darkness, it would still be there today.

[mopinko]

5. i know a lot of people feel that way.

he had been trying legal channels for a long time, and had been promised then screwed. it never belonged on the lakefront. it violated the lake front protection ordinance that created one of the most spectacular parks in the world. fulfilling burnham's plan will be his legacy. he can be mayor for life on this alone, as far as i am concerned. although it was used by many private pilots, it was protected by the thugs in springfield that thought it belonged to them.

in the aftermath of 9/11 he felt, right or wrong, that it was a threat. we were allegedly on the target list, after all. he had been stroked around, and could not take it any more. he felt that if anything happened, he would never forgive himself. i think it is just the kind of gutsy move that we all want the dems to make. then we cry when they do.

[kevsand]

6. Actually it wasn't just the folks in Springfield.

It was anyone even remotely connected to aviation. The entire flying community worldwide tried to fight him on this, and for very good reasons. That location was literally priceless in terms of air access to the loop. And there's no way it was a security risk, any more than the lake itself already is and will always be. I would go so far as to say that it served a much greater public good in that location than a park (or even the marinas, which are almost by definition much more elitist).

I have a real hard time thinking of sneaking around in the middle of the night without warning as "gutsy." I normally consider that sort of behavior, which was clearly intended to avoid any opposition or further discussion, as authoritarian and cowardly.

There's no question that he has a huge number of legitimate accomplishments, and I have no doubt that his heart will always be in the right place when it comes to serving the people of Chicago, but I was really pissed about Meigs when it went down.

You and I don't disagree very often; I guess this is just one of those times. Here's hoping you can find it in your heart to forgive me... ;-)

[mopinko]

7. i seriously do understand the people on the other side of this

i do. and as far as the marinas, when daley came in the first place, they could hardly give those slips away. the fees were kept very low in the first place. if you look in the city slips, vs winthrop harbor, it is city v rich burbs. the city slips are full of tiny boats. as far as aviation in general, there is piddly difference between midway and meigs, especially for the fat cats who make the last leg in a limo.

but one thing that i think of a lot re: the process- the defeat of the crosstown expressway was seen as a great victory for the people. but many have gotten sick and died from the unnecessary pollution that would have been avoided if every truck did not have to go through the loop. the guy on the 5th floor has to take care of the greater good.

no hard feelings.

[Inland]

8. I give Daley props, but the patronage, jobs and contracting......

It's a huge problem. We don't need to point out a Michael Brown or a porch collapse TOO many times before it becomes clear that more suffers from cronyism than just the more-qualified applicant, that money and more is wasted when contracts end up with friends.

The city has never looked better. It is prosperous in a way it hasn't been for fifty years. And I don't get the feeling that Daley has given up on schools, or crime, or bringing business to the city.

But he can't really be declared good government unless he fixes these things. I could turn around really fast if he doesn't.

[Chicago Democrat]

9. Ok I'll stop if you go to my event on 9/14

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=150&topic_id=9222&mesg_id=9222


or just donate?


Deal?

[mopinko]

13. man, i so wanted to go to this

i had something i had to do. arrrghhh. how did it go?
and i have donated several times, and i'm sure will again. volunteer some, too.
so.....

[Paulie]

10. Bagh, Daley can pound sand!

He cares more about trees and helping his buddies, corporate or otherwise. When I lived in the city, I always made sure I voted for either the HWP or Communist candidate over Daley.

For me, the stink of the cronies around him just gives me a viceral dislike. Right or wrong...

And his support for Peotone instead of Gary is another example. All the cronies (Repub/Dem) bought land out there so they can make a killing.

[Cocoa]

11. I'm repulsed by the tolerance of corruption

and I'm so grateful that Patrick Fitzgerald wiped the smirks of all those elites all over local TV who giggled and winked at George Ryan's corruption, and nailed Ryan.

The fact is, Ryan's corruption wasn't funny, and it directly led to the fiery death of that entire family.

Daley's corruption has real consequences too, maybe not to you, but to people who depend on city services. Maybe it doesn't matter to you that his CTA chief is his old roommate, a guy with no experience in transit, but it mattered to me when I was dependent on that ripoff service. :mad:

[mopinko]

14. when you find that paradise, let me know

do i wish he was as clean as a whistle? sure. but do you understand the concept of making the perfect the enemy of the good? if you think no administration is worth supporting if they are not perfect, the political process will be nothing but gridlock and amateurs. i'm sure you would rather be judged by your life and works a whole, than by the worst thing about you. i don't think any other yardstick is useful.
and when the thug controlled local media suddenly finds corruption in a dem administration, but is blind to the corruption of an important public safety function of the state, you gotta cry foul. this is a pattern that is hurting dems, from bill clinton's blow job on down. we gotta grow up, and not fall for this shit.

[raising2moredems]

12. I find it so ironic that Daley is bashed like there is no tomorrow but.

Taft, Ohio's "moral values" sleazebucket is like teflon, nothing sticks. But then again, given a choice, most would live in IL than OH. An article I read recently a woman from OH states "2 acres of land costs $25K" (bemoaning that her area is being developed). I had to laugh.....

[barb162]

15. I agree with you.