Quality education, a knowledge-based economy, manufacturing utilizing high technology that can only be attained by a few countries. This type of knowledge comes from a good education beginning in early childhood and continuing through elementary school, high school, college, and technical and vocational opportunities. It’s our goal to provide the city with the best education opportunities in the world - says Mayor R. Daley

 My first memory of the name Daley dates back to my high school days. I lived in Chicago’s Northwest side, in a neighborhood called Cragin. It was a tempestuous time. Buildings in African-American neighborhoods were being burned in protest against racial inequality. The Vietnam War was raging, and the reaction to it split American society into two opposing camps. The mayor at the time was the father of the current mayor. Richard J. Daley was a conservative, yet was viewed as a friend of the hard-working, decent man. When Daley sent police against anti-war demonstrators, hundreds of young people were beaten up, and I was one of them. The experience prompted me to actively participate in further protests.

I remember feeling something that is difficult to describe or fully comprehend: I felt betrayed, as if a father hadn’t understood his children’s good intentions and deemed them belligerent and foreign. Even though I was disappointed in the mayor, I still hoped that a man of obvious wisdom, a man who cared for the city, would realize that he had misread the intention behind the anti-war protests.

After Richard J. Daley’s death, the city seemed to have lost its soul. Preexisting negative trends intensified. The city was physically disintegrating. The downtown area became gloomy and empty. There was none of the previously rich entertainment activity. Inner city neighborhoods were self-destructing: gangs multiplied; crime rate was on the rise; teachers were afraid to work in public schools. The suburbs, however, were flourishing. They were being filled by decent, peace-loving, and hard-working people. Relations between whites, blacks, and Latinos were contentious and tense.

The appearance of the late mayor’s son, Richard M. Daley, in political arena raised hopes that something might change. That something which would make Chicago truly Chicago.

Today, after nearly seventeen years in office, Richard M. Daley is probably the most popular mayor the city has ever had. I see in him the same care for people, the same willingness to take on responsibility and to set new direction, as that which had characterized his father. Richard M. Daley, however, is a thoroughly modern man, who appears to be perfectly at ease navigating the pitfalls of a complex and multidimensional world.

When a chance to conduct an interview with the mayor presented itself, I was very happy. There were questions I wanted to ask, and feelings I wanted to share.

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The plan

- Mayor Daley, you have a unique perspective on the city government, since you have been the mayor for the past seventeen years and since you are the son of the man who had been a mayor for over twenty years. This singular experience allows you, perhaps more than any other mayor in the U.S., to have a perspective on long-term city development. What is your plan for Chicago’s growth?

Richard M. Daley: The plan is to provide quality education for all: poor kids, middle class children, and rich kids. To provide an educational system of excellence, of opportunity. One which would allow young people to, go to college, technical or vocational school, get extended training, and get a job.  An educational system that would bring about the rebuilding of our manufacturing capacity and allow us to build a knowledge-based society right here, in the city of Chicago.

 - With globalization, there is a movement of jobs away from the city, away from the country. What do you think can be the main spur for economic growth in Chicago in future years?

R.M.D.: Quality education, a knowledge-based economy, manufacturing utilizing high technology that can only be attained by a few countries. This type of knowledge comes from a good education beginning in early childhood and continuing through elementary school, high school, college, and technical and vocational opportunities. It’s our goal to provide the city with the best education opportunities in the world.

 - What do you see as major obstacles in achieving this goal?

R.M.D.: The major obstacle is lack of understanding. America really has to understand that education divides people. On one hand, there are the are uneducated who live in po-verty; those who are educated are not poor. It’s as simple as that. There is no other issue that really divides people. Poverty is caused by a lack of education. And that is so simple that it is hard for Democrats, Republicans, people in general to understand. What we have to do in America is to make education the highest priority – on a daily basis. We need to rebuild the quality of education in America.

The mayor is a modest man, the language he uses is direct and accessible. It is only after a gleaning the facts gathered by scientific institutions and the media, and provided by Google, that one can see the true scale of Richard M. Daley’s projects. 

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Education facts:

01.Frustrated with the performance of Chicago’s public schools, Mr. Daley obtained unprecedented control over the schools from the Illinois General Assembly in 1995. His new ma-nagement team, composed of experienced political, business, and academic leaders, closed a $1,8 billion dollar deficit by imposing fiscal discipline.

02.Under Mr. Daley’s leadership, the City of Chicago, the Chicago Park District, the Board of Education, and the Public Building Commission have invested more than $7 billion in capital improvements since 1989. This includes 1,500 new classrooms serving 45,000 students. 41 branch libraries were built or renovated.

03.Student scores on standardized tests have risen consistently since 1995 and passed national norms in some areas in 2002.

04.15 new Renaissance 2010 schools are planned to open in fall 2006 to expand the number of innovative and high-quality school options for students in their communities, bringing the total number of Renaissance schools to 62.

05.The High School Transformation Project, funded by the Gates Foundation, will set a special curriculum for 14 high schools.

06.Chicago students scored an all-time high on the 2006 Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) administered to grades third through eighth. The Composite ISAT Score rose 15.2 percentage points to reach a new high of 62.5 percent of students meeting or exceeding the state standards.

07.The National Student Clearinghouse showed that of the 8,130 Chicago High School graduates in 2005 who enrolled in college, 5,207 – or 64 percent – enrolled in four-year colleges and universities.

08.Mayor Daley and 7-Eleven, Inc. announced the “Education is Freedom - Mayor Richard M. Daley Scholarship Program.” Through this initiative, 7-Eleven pledged 100 college scholarships to graduating seniors in the city of Chicago to be awarded over the next four years through the Education is Freedom Foundation (EIF). Through this innovative program, 100 scholarships will be awarded to Chicago high-school seniors over four years. Each scholarship, is worth $2000 a year. The scholarships are targeted to B-average high school seniors - hardworking students who might not qualify for traditional merit-based awards, but who demonstrate leadership and have a strong desire to attend college.

09.This month Mayor Richard Daley announced a new goal to have 10 percent of the city’s public school teachers qualify for the National Board Certification, “the gold standard in teaching.” Six years ago, only 11 teachers in Chicago’s system successfully underwent the intensive training necessary for the certification, a figure that has since risen to 474. By 2008, Daley hopes to have 1,200 with the credentials, and the new goal is to double that number to 2,400, or 10 percent of all teachers, by 2011. This would put Chicago first among big-city school districts.

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A Green Chicago

- Let’s turn to the subject of greening. Many people see the beautifying of Chicago’s streets as cute but frivolous. Is there an economic benefit to making Chicago green?

R.M.D.: Every time you plant a tree, it automatically cleans the air. Flowers and bushes clean the air. That has an influence on air qua-lity, on the health of the individual. Anytime you conserve water, the result is lower taxes, and the Great Lakes and their tributary water system are strengthened. Any time you clean up the land, it provides a health benefit. Any time you clean up a lake, a stream, or a river, it helps families with health issues. Every time you make a roof green, it causes it to absorb sunlight, water, and helps the environment. People talk a lot about global warming. Every time you recycle – prevent plastic, cans, bottles from going into dump sites, it saves money, it saves the environment. So greening is not all frivolous, it’s a quality of life issue. The problem of global warming should be treated seriously by individuals rather then relegated to international organizations.

 - Do you think that setting an example as the mayor of Chicago of a serious and progressive attitude towards ecology is a factor focusing people’s attention on that issue?

R.M.D.: I think so. But sometimes people are way ahead of the politicians, of the bureaucracy of local, state, and federal governments.

 - How would you explain the focus on sustainable growth in the city? Why invest in special run-offs from McCormick Place, turbines on top of the Daley Center, and tons and tons of mulch?

R.M.D.: At McCormick Place we get 55 million gallons of rain water a year. Rather than having that water go into the combined sewer system, it’s better to have it go directly into the lake. Why should we divert fresh rain water into sewage costing taxpayers’ money? Why not send it directly into the lake? That is cost-effective. The energy-producing turbines which will be mounted on top of the Daley Center will demonstrate for the first time that such a device can be mounted on top of a high-rise. You can’t always rely on oil, oil, and only oil; you have to look for alternative ways of producing energy. You have to deal with cost, which you have to cut down because it affects businesses and home owners.

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Green facts:

Trees and Parks

• Since Richard M. Daley has become mayor, 500,000 trees have been planted in Chicago.
• Over 70 miles of boulevards were constructed.
• More than a hundred school parking lots were turned into parks.
• In the last ten years the city’s water usage has been reduced by 160 million gallons a day.
• Built in the last few years Millenium Park is not only of the greatest metropolitan recreation areas in the world, it is also the largest green roof: covering 24.7 acres, it sits atop a network of municipal garages.  It is filled not only with recreational facilities, but is also home to many native species of plants.  The cost of building the park exceeded original estimates nearly threefold.  Hardly anybody is still complaining.  A market study commissioned by the city found that the park attracts over 4 million visitors annually, and was responsible for encouraging over 25 percent of the 10,000 units of housing under construction, as well as for a $190 million annual increase in hotel, restaurant, shopping and entertainment sales.

Buildings

• Chicago was among the first U.S. cities to require all new public buildings to earn certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program.
• More than 200 buildings in the city have green roofs covering 2,5 million square feet – more than the rest of the country combined. The roofs help to cool the air in the city, absorb rain water, reducing the usage of energy.
• A McDonald restaurant downtown is going to be the only one fast-food place in the country with a green roof.
• There is a green roof atop the City Hall Building.
• The Neighborhood Technology Center received the first Platinum Award from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Manufacturing and Exchange

• After the creation of a “Greentown” enterprise zone for clean technology, Solargenics
  Energy LLC moved to Chicago to build a thermal manufacturing plant here.
• The Boeing Company moved its headquarters to Chicago.
• The City helped launch the Chicago Climate Exchange, or CCX, the world’s first voluntary, legally binding greenhouse gas emission reduction system and trading platform.  In March, the exchange’s 100-plus members, including IBM, Motorola, and Baxter International, traded a record 607,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

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 City growth and upkeep

- The Chicago I remember from my teenage years was a city of ethnic conflicts, dilapidating buildings and parks, with the middle class fleeing to the suburbs and the inner-city population constantly on the move. You and your father were both raised, lived, and, in your case, still live in Bridgeport. What, in your opinion, is the value of neighborhood pride?

R.M.D.: Neighborhood pride is an individual issue. It doesn’t matter who you are – you can have a house that’s clean, a front yard that’s clean, a backyard that’s clean, you can make sure your alley is clean. It’s just pride. You don’t need education for that. People should take pride in the place where they live, even if it’s rented.

- Are there city programs dedicated to neighborhood development? For example, as on Division Street where Puerto Rican flags have been installed?

R.M.D.: We have been definitely working on that. But there are also block clubs, community organizations. We have rallies concerning crime in communities. We install new lighting, plant trees, campus parks, build fire stations, police stations, libraries, and senior citizen centers. Neighborhood revitalization is a combination of small, medium, and large size businesses. You constantly have to plan for manufacturing districts. So you take a holistic approach. There are a lot of issues to deal with.

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City Growth Facts:

• When the results of the 2000 census were published, the magnitude of Chicago’s transformation became clear.  The city’s population increased by 112,000 people — a substantial growth registered for the first time since the 1940s.
• According to a study done by the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Po-licy Program, a striking emergence of Chicago’s downtown neighborhoods took place – they grew by 16,000 residents during the 90s.  In the same time period, the city’s median income increased by 12.6 percent, that is 2 percent higher than the median incomes of the entire state or of the six-county metropolitan region. Tens of thousands of work places were created in the downtown area.  The city experienced a high-rise construction boom.  The number of people living under the poverty level has been reduced.  The tourist and convention industries experienced a spur of growth bringing the city $9 billion in annual income.
• The city became one of the most beautiful in the country.
• Chicago has become a global model for how a metropolis can pursue environmental goals to achieve economic success.

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The Conversation

- As a young man I often disagreed with your father, yet after he died, I drove down Michigan Avenue, I saw the cross on the Prudential Building and tears came to my eyes, because I knew that a man who cared for the city had passed away. What are your feelings for the city?

R.M.D.: People have their differences. Families have differences. Brother and sister, father and mother, even they have differences. But one thing you should not do in the United States is hate somebody because of political differences. Once hate takes over, attitudes of: I don’t like that person, you lose the principles of democracy, which we stand for, and which command respect for one other. No one is obliged to agree with me, and I don’t agree with anyone hundred percent. But, once again, we have to have passion and love the city and what we are doing. We should have more passion in the federal government, more passion in state government, more passion to get things done. To compete with China and India. We don’t understand that the wealthy will get wealthier, and America will lack a vision to deal globalization. We are afraid of it, but we should educate people about it; we should educate people about a knowledge-based society. If we do that, America will be better off.

After the interview, an assistant from the mayor’s press office lead us to the City Hall Building’s rooftop. The heavy metal door opened. The view was breathtaking: bushes, herbs, tall grasses, flowers growing on the sculpted terrain. There is something magical about this site. It brings to mind a child’s pay; a child who is much smarter than the adults around him. I keep hearing the words: “You see, this is beautiful, it’s smart, and it’s cost effective.” You don’t always have to endure the sight of utilitarian, rubber-rolled roofs. Those roofs are not only ugly; they’re ineffective and expensive to maintain. They raise the air temperature, creating a greater need for air-conditioning; they don’t absorb rain water, and create a flood hazard during storms. I walked among the plants of the rooftop garden, surrounded by high-rises. I looked at the wind blowing through the prairie grass and I thought: fables and bedtime stories can become true in this most pragmatic of centuries if only the purity of a vision is supported by the strength of a man.