Thoughts on Daley, challenges faced by new mayor

[February 21, 2011]  CHICAGO (AP) -- In the days leading up to Tuesday's mayoral election, The Associated Press spoke to more than a dozen Chicago business leaders, academics, writers and others about the city under Mayor Richard M. Daley's leadership and the challenges awaiting the next mayor. Here are excerpts from some of those conversations:

"On an international level I'd say Mayor Daley has in many ways personally re-branded the city. It was a city in search of a brand because the one it had -- related to bootleggers during the Depression -- was unseemly. Michael Jordan and the Bulls did a lot to convince us that re-branding was possible, but that's not an appropriate image internationally. Mayor Daley became the image of Chicago, and I think we will miss that." -- Christopher Kennedy, a Chicago businessman and son of the late Robert F. Kennedy

"(Daley) was a carrot and a stick kind of a mayor. No, he was a stick and a stick kind of mayor. ... He was a benign dictator, but it served so many so well. ... There are areas like the economy, education that have to loom larger on his (the next mayor's) radar screen than the (urban) environment, but the question is: What is he going to do about the environment, what can he do about the environment and does he have the motivation or desire to make the city increasingly useful in terms of sustainability?" -- Stanley Tigerman, a principal at Tigerman McCurry Architects

"When the new mayor comes in, he's going to need 26 votes to get anything done so it's important to have leadership from the City Council. ... Whoever comes in here is going to have to have some real leadership and rally some troops because you can't have what happened before Mayor Daley when (the council was) at a stalemate." -- Rocky Wirtz, owner of the Chicago Blackhawks

"What Daley was so adept at and what I really admire about what he's done for the city is the core of the city is just beautiful. I think it is arguably one of the most beautiful cities in the world. ... I think what is troublesome is that many of the neighborhoods, not all, but many of the neighborhoods have really languished and are really struggling ... with many of the same forces that were bearing down on them 15-20 years ago -- poor schools, the shortage of affordable housing. -- Alex Kotlowitz, award-winning author of "There Are No Children Here"

"(I will look for) the same thing I looked for in the Obama administration: who's getting appointed, whose being picked to run things. ... Because of the patronage system there are just so many people who are a part of city government who are truly ill equipped to be in the offices where they are, and yet Daley made some sensational choices." -- Stuart Dybek, an award-winning writer and lifelong Chicago resident

"I believe firmly that if we get education right, we can get everything else right. If we don't get education right, then I think we continue to relegate our children to futures that are hopeless and that only further increases the burden on the rest of society." -- Tim King, founder of Urban Prep charter high school for inner-city boys

"I really think the city is going to need a visionary, someone who can be the Part Two to Mayor Daley in the sense that Daley can be credited with thinking in big terms. He never thought of Chicago just in terms of tomorrow, but in terms of Chicago 10 years from now, 15 years from now, 20 years from now. ... The next mayor of Chicago is going to have to view Chicago with a world vision and really think of where they see Chicago in terms of its place in the global marketplace." -- Sandi Jackson, 7th Ward Alderwoman and wife of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

"You have no idea how jealous and envious other people in the Midwest are of Chicago and then they say, 'What the hell, you've got Daley,' and it sort of explains everything. His ability to get things done is much admired and the fact that this isn't exactly rooted in Jeffersonian democracy doesn't bother people too much. Things get done here." --  Richard Longworth, senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs

"I think next mayor definitely has to have a vision that is inclusive of all sectors of Chicago -- race and ethnicity, big business and small business, downtown and neighborhoods. Downtown certainly has been the focus and the emphasis, and a big city thrives on downtown commerce, but it should not be to the neglect of neighborhoods. I think the next mayor will have opportunities to emphasize neighborhood growth and development." -- Hermene Hartman, publisher of N'DIGO, a newspaper aimed at Chicago's black community

[Associated Press]

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