Daley presides over last council meeting

[May 05, 2011]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Richard M. Daley, the longest serving mayor in Chicago history and one of the most powerful mayors in recent American history, presided over his last City Council meeting on Wednesday.

With family members in attendance, Daley listened as one alderman after another paid tribute to the man who helped lead the transformation of Chicago from a gritty industrial hub to a sparking metropolis in his 22 years in office.

Daley, said longtime Alderman Ed Burke, "made Chicago the most livable city in the nation," moments before the council gave the mayor a standing ovation.

Daley, who announced last Fall that he would not seek a seventh term, will be succeeded by Rahm Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff who quit his job in President Barack Obama's administration to return to Chicago to run. Emanuel is scheduled to be sworn in May 16.

Daley chuckled and smiled throughout the speeches, particularly when his beloved White Sox were mentioned, but turned serious when Burke praised his wife, Maggie, who is battling cancer.

"I've enjoyed every minute of public life," Daley told the packed council chamber, calling being mayor of Chicago "the greatest job in America."

Burke presented Daley a crystal bowl inscribed with Daley's name, years of service and the names of all 129 alderman who have sat on the City Council since Daley took office in 1989.

"What other mayor in modern America can boast of this kind of career?" asked Burke, the first of what promised to be a parade of speakers, as dozens of other aldermen waited their turn to speak.

Daley is widely credited in changing the look of Chicago with efforts such as pushing for the construction of Millennium Park, widely regarded as one of the finest city parks to be built in the United States in decades.

Alderman Tom Tunney, the city's most prominent gay politician, praised Daley before the meeting, saying that the mayor more was instrumental in making Chicago one of the most welcoming cities in the nation for the gay community.

"His legacy will be recognizing our community as equal partners of the city," he said. When Rich Daley speaks about gay and lesbian rights it resonates with middle America.

Daley has his share of detractors for doing things like spearheading a controversial deal to privatize the city's parking meters -- a deal that is now viewed as a financial disaster for Chicago. He's also been criticized for leaving the city in a massive financial hole, starting with a public school system that the interim head of the system estimates will be nearly three- quarters of a billion dollars in the red in the next school year.

Not surprisingly, none of that was touched on Wednesday as even some of the council members who have criticized Daley, praised him. One of those, Alderman Robert Fioretti showed Daley a letter that Fioretti received as a boy from Daley's father, Mayor Richard J. Daley, praising Fioretti's participation in a neighborhood cleanup program.

"He signed it," said a beaming Fioretti, pointing to Daley's signature right below that of his father.

[Associated Press; By DEANNA BELLANDI and DON BABWIN]

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