09-07-2010, 06:29 PM
What a shock! I just heard that Chicago's Mayor Richard M. Daley will not seek re-election on February 22, 2011. He announced this startling decision earlier today at a hurriedly arranged press conference at Chicago City Hall, this stunning news being covered by both local and national media outlets:
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"Da Mayor" will soon be Chicago's longest serving mayor in history (two decades plus two years) and will soon surpass even his father's long tenure in office as Mayor of Chicago.
Mayor Daley has had a very difficult 2010, with his wife, Maggie, being so ill and the rising tide of gang violence in Chicago. Also, Chicago has just been named to yet another major publication's most stressful cities list in the USA:
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"Da Mayor" is a man of passion, hard-work, emotion, harshness, big-heartedness, toughness, gentleness, bluster, thoughtfulness, tirelessness, exhaustiveness, loyalty, expasperation, openess, privacy, vision and devotion to family. He is complex man, and never fails to confound and rattle the political establishment, media "insiders" and the electorate.
His accomplishments are many, including the beautification of Chicago with trees, flowers and gardens (who ever would have thought that a tough, big city mayor would be an environmentalist!), avant-garde archeitecture, public lighting (Chicago's downtown is one of the most innovatively lighted cities in the world, many saying it is on an equal to Paris), school reform, economic reform, police reform and ethics reform.
And above all else, "Da Mayor" is unquestionaly Chicago's greatest booster and most ardent fan.
"Da Mayor's" departure will generate major shockwaves for Chicago, for Chicagoland and for Illinois which will be felt all the way to D.C. and The White House. His announcement today is seismic in nature. "Da Mayor" is one of a kind, and we shall never see his likes again.
For in so many ways, "Da Mayor" is Chicago
and Chicago is "Da Mayor."
-- WT Reader