Archie FlorCruz / February 24, 2005 12:13 AM

Shower everyday!

Joe / February 24, 2005 6:41 AM

After you are done bleeding the city dry of money, and the mob shows up with torches and pitchforks, you won't be able to talk your way out of it any more.

Run like hell, baby!

Pete / February 24, 2005 8:40 AM

Pick your friends a bit more disciminately.

Michael / February 24, 2005 8:59 AM

Come clean about steroid abuse in city hall before the press lights THAT candle.

Mike / February 24, 2005 9:02 AM

The time for hooking up your friends and allies (or at least turning your back) is over. Start doing right by the people, fight for good schools, public transportation and better day-to-day management.
It's time to work on the legacy, otherwise you'll go down as a less overt version of your father.

Peter / February 24, 2005 9:12 AM

Leave. Please leave.

We can set you up with a city gardening position so you can keep making the city beautiful. That's all you are worth.

Michael / February 24, 2005 9:31 AM

Keep improving the appearance and infrastructure of the city, but without lining the pockets of your crooked friends.

Heather S. / February 24, 2005 9:31 AM

"Mayor-for-Life Richard M. Daley" why do you talk so damn fast? Slow down, buddy.

Thurston / February 24, 2005 9:53 AM

Mayor Daley, please do not allow a casino to be built anywhere within the city limits.

Ramsin / February 24, 2005 9:59 AM

Take it easy. We'll need you in 2011.

Johnny on the spot / February 24, 2005 10:57 AM

Ramsin, you're such a kiss ass

Andrew / February 24, 2005 11:04 AM

Quit transforming neighborhoods into pseudo-suburbia.

ljdae / February 24, 2005 11:30 AM

pass the no-smoking-in-bars ban

miss ellen / February 24, 2005 11:51 AM

yes, yes, yes!

pass a no smoking ordinance, pretty please.

McLuhan / February 24, 2005 11:52 AM

My advise to ljdae is to move to LA or New York. And I don't smoke.

My advice to everyone coming down on our Mayor with a penchant for creative governance is to move to another big city for a short time and then remember how well Chicago operates.

J / February 24, 2005 11:55 AM

That's a fine idea, a ban on smoking.

Carrie / February 24, 2005 12:01 PM

First, see a doctor about that excessive sweating problem.

Second, you are doing a fine job of making the city pretty (thank god we've redone Irving Park Road a million times!!) but just because the city is pretty, doesn't mean everything is OK. There's still a gang problem that should be addressed, schools need help, we're letting Wal-Mart come to town... (yes yes, I know it provides jobs, but really, we all know why they're bad)

Nuxrs / February 24, 2005 12:12 PM

Yeah, Daley! Let's ban smoking! After that, let's ban all that loud music and drinking.
BUUURRRNNNN!!!!

For real though, if Daley's gonna ban anything, it should be those fucking Maximum Strength Checking commercials......

Emerson Dameron / February 24, 2005 12:16 PM

Acknowledge bars as an enormous source of tax revenue, and consider their well-being before drafting new regulations. Start your own no-smoking hole, if that sounds like a good idea. And, on behalf of the city, disown Joan Cusack.

steven / February 24, 2005 12:18 PM

take a public speaking course.

e_five / February 24, 2005 12:31 PM

A little less Napoleon, a little more Eliot Spitzer.

waleeta / February 24, 2005 12:36 PM

Don't ever die.

dave / February 24, 2005 12:40 PM

Dear admin,
Please make the next fuel about the smoking ban. ;)

amyc / February 24, 2005 1:02 PM

Take back what you said about "dibs" being OK.

Jen / February 24, 2005 1:23 PM

Choose your friends wisely

Recognize that music venues are a legacy

Keep the city looking wonderful

Don't ban smoking. I don't smoke, but I'm not a fascist.

asd / February 24, 2005 1:29 PM

Ban annoying, self-righteous non-smokers who should just shut up and be happy they'll live longer.

Ray / February 24, 2005 2:02 PM

I am with Peter. Please quit. Let the people elect someone who will run the city for them, not for his own ego and his friends' pocketbooks. Seriously, we choke with laughter every time we hear you prattle on about rooting corruption out of city hall, and we are tired of paying through the nose for wrought iron and unused trucks. And a good chunk of us still want an airport on Northerly Island.

McLuhan / February 24, 2005 2:08 PM

OK Ray, who would you have run the city? Jesse Jackson Jr.? He has more people crawling in his pockets than Da' Mayor could ever dream of. Speaking of the Jackson mob..er, family, what about the two least qualified beer distributors in America that are the other sons of Czar Jesse. Be careful of what you wish for....

McLuhan / February 24, 2005 2:10 PM

Oh, and about Northerly Island, I will put my tens of thousands of people who want more parkland up aganst your "chunk" of people anytime. Bring on the concert venue.

dd / February 24, 2005 2:16 PM

Ban smoking indoors.

Right now if I go out, my clothes and hair hair smell like ass because some fuckwad had to hold burning tobacco in his hand at the next table all fucking night.

Would it be OK if I set off tear gas in a bar? How about my own private fucking habachi that I plop down in front of me? Better yet, I really like barbecue and can't be expected to go anywhere without a portable smoker. It is my decision if I want to smoke bbq, so no one should be able to tell me not to build a fire indoors. So I'll just set up this gargantuan fucking bbq smoker right here at my table. After all, liquor is bad for you so why could anyone object to me spewing CO, CO2 and greasy smoke everywhere? What are they hypocrites?

Let those one-step-up-from-crackhead addicts shiver outside instead of stinking up every place they go.

Yeah, and get your hands out of your pockets when giving speeches. You look like a 12 year old giving a book report when you do that.

Michael / February 24, 2005 2:36 PM

Yes Ray...

By all means, let's keep an airport on Northerly Island that will benefit only an elite few, as opposed to a park/concert venue which will benefit hundreds of thousands.

It was Daniel Burnham's vison, the greatest of all city planners, that the lakefront remain accessible to the public, for the public.

sox fan / February 24, 2005 2:47 PM

Bet Jessie Jackson Jr. his beer distributorship that you beat him by 20 percentage points heads up in the next election......then donate it to the city.

Alice / February 24, 2005 2:53 PM

Yes, ban smoking! So self-righteous asthmatics like myself can enjoy a night out once in awhile.

Nuxrs / February 24, 2005 3:06 PM

Show of hands: How many of you calling for a ban on smoking have a car? Hearing drivers vituperate about smoke pollution in bars is always worth a hearty chuckle...

Flyboy / February 24, 2005 3:06 PM

>It was Daniel Burnham's vison, the greatest of
>all city planners, that the lakefront remain
>accessible to the public, for the public.

What's not public about an airport? People park boats on the lakefront, why not planes?

McLuhan / February 24, 2005 3:39 PM

OK, It seems that this has broken down to elitist airplane pilots/owners and nonsmoking-my-clothes-and-hair-smell-funny-in-the-morning -and-I-not-actually-any-fun-to-hangout-with people and the rest of us, who enjoy the freedom and spirit of our fair city. My advice to Da' Mayor is to root-out all of the first catagory people and buy them plane tickets (flying out of Midway) to the disneyfied city of NY. This Chicago, OUR Chicago, Daley's Chicago is the best. Now I need a frosty beverage.

Mike / February 24, 2005 3:56 PM

Make smoking mandatory. Ha! J/K.

I smoke, but the idea of a smoking ban is still a good one.
Maybe let us do the airport thing, where all of us have to sit in a brown glass box with creepy men in polyester and wheezy old women smoking Dorals.
Hey, that would create jobs for creepy men and wheezy old women! Chicago is in no short supply of both!

eric / February 24, 2005 4:10 PM

Hizzoner wanted to reduce gun violence in the city by suing gun shops and manufacturers. That didn't work. I'd suggest to Daley a variation of an idea Chris Rock proposed a while back--a city tax of $5000 per bullet. Think of all the road salt, iron fencing, and median planters that would buy! Or textbooks and public transit. Whatever.

As far as smoking in bars--it should be up to the owner of the bar, not the local, state, or federal government. If a bar's clientele demands a non-smoking enviornment, why wouldn't they want to cater to them? Make it a business decision rather than a government mandate.

Leelah / February 24, 2005 4:35 PM

Pay teachers with advanced degrees more money. Boy, I sure was happy to get that extra $2000 a year (before taxes) when I got my M.Ed. I'm sure that will pay off my student loan debt in no time. It doesn't bother me at all that I could go to the suburbs and make $12,000 more with my experience.

e_five / February 24, 2005 5:44 PM

Let's ban smoking on Northerly Island.

I think it's hilarious that anti-smoking zealots never say anything about insufficient funding of public transportation, which causes people to use their cars more at minimum, and often causes them to buy multiple cars. While smoking has declined in the US over the past several decades, vehicle miles travelled, automobile dependency, and athesma have increased-- can't blame asthema on smoking.

So people who burn four gallons of fuel to get to and from work every day in their SUVs are giving a guy who took the train a dirty look for having a cigarette out in front of the office. At least be honest-- it's really the behavior you don't like.

amyc / February 24, 2005 5:57 PM

I think it's hilarious that anti-smoking zealots never say anything about insufficient funding of public transportation

Who says we don't? Try to support your arguments without building straw men, please. Yeesh.

e_five / February 24, 2005 7:29 PM

Who says we don't? Try to support your arguments without building straw men, please. Yeesh.

I get two things from your post. First, you are an admitted anti-smoking zealot that is supposedly just as vocal about other factors that may be an even worse health risk than people smoking outside their office-- although I find that hard to believe. And second, you like to quote parts of sentences and then accuse people of faulty logic based on a phrase. I often find the two tendencies living in perfect harmony in the logic of most anti-smoking zealots.

Andrew / February 24, 2005 7:34 PM

Um, how 'bout we all recognize and respect each other's differences of opinion instead of attacking each other?

Non-smokers have just as much right to wish for a smoking ban as smokers do against one, and vice versa. This little comment thread isn't being sent to the city council, so just relax.

chris / February 24, 2005 11:14 PM

Lay off the booze, before your head swells up to the size of Ted Kennedys!

Ray / February 25, 2005 12:12 AM

Thanks for the backup, Flyboy. There are miles of lakefront property that are off limits to me because I don't own a boat, and probably will never do so. How elite is that? I will never own an airplane either, but I don't begrudge people who do a few acres to fly in and out conveniently. Those people spend money in our city and help drive the economy. They also fly in to attend conventions at McCormick, increasing its attractiveness as a venue. And finally, it happens that I like watching airplanes take off and land. Where else can I sit on the grass on a nice day and watch an airport in action? Unfortunately not at Meigs anymore.

As for more parkland in the form of Northerly Island, I say any money for such a project would be better spent improving the hundreds of neglected neighborhood parks in the city. There is no shortage of parkland in Chicago within convenient reach of millions, but some of it isn't very attractive.

And, incidentally, I didn't suggest making anyone mayor. I said let's let the people elect someone -- you know, like they do in a democracy, where viable candidates try to convince the voters that they are better for the job.

Bohdan P / February 25, 2005 2:46 AM

Don't make promises you can't keep...

Like Meigs Field...that was one of the most beautiful airports in the world before you screwed it up.

You screwed AOPA and the flying public with your promise not to do anything. Thats all the city needs is more park when you have miles of it near by.

Bohdan P / February 25, 2005 2:54 AM

BTW, those of you with the "elitest pilot" comments: aviation is not just for the rich most of aviation is general aviation. That means grass roots level. There are over 500,000 pilots rated in the states. I am as blue collar as they get...and I am a pilot.

Flyboy / February 25, 2005 7:03 AM

Yeah, I was disappointed when the ol' man snapped his fingers and Megis was erased.

I've benn lobbying to rebuild it on top of McCormick Place (the old building). A couple of catapults and a few arrestor cables and we're back in business.

Bohdan P / February 25, 2005 10:58 AM

Hoorrraaaahhh, flyboy

Dan / February 25, 2005 11:11 AM

You just can't spell Daley without Duff.

kate / February 25, 2005 11:18 AM

*Keep up the good work with going Green. You will go down in history as the trend setter for a great and necessary thing.
*Put Chicago back on the map for modern architecture. I'm sick of being a has-been. We used to be the architectural capital of the world and now the rest of the world is putting us to shame while we're sitting here polishing turds. Take advantage of this growing demand for good design and at least try to keep up.
*Don't get rid of the softball fields in Grant Park. Being packed in the summer, they keep people downtown...and we need another garden like we need a hole in the head.

pj chmiel / February 25, 2005 1:02 PM

A moratorium on the construction of ugly condominiums, strip malls, banks, Starbucks, Quiznos, Blockbusters, etc. Really, how much more can we afford to tear down in the name of abysmal, featureless-cinderblock-prison-on-the-outside, granite-countertops-and-drywall-on-the-inside rubbish housing for the upwardly-mobile?

How about more affordable housing options for those displaced by gentrification, how about preservation of beautiful old buildings, how about some respect for neighborhoods and diversity? If you must tear down and rebuild, at least give the building some redeeming architectural value or details. I can't believe people would even live in these nightmarish buildings, but I guess that "new condo smell" and the promise of a parking spot lures 'em in and blinds them to the blight they're financing.

The whole north side is going south fast, I'm embarrassed to call a lot of it "Chicago." May as well be Hoffman Estates, a Walmart parking lot or Anytown, USA.

Michael / February 25, 2005 1:04 PM

Allow me to clarify my comments regarding Meigs Field. If you refer back to my comment, you will see that I said "elite few," and not "elite pilots." I have nothing against private aviators and do not view them as elite, so forgive me if I unintentionally offended anyone. However, as I understand it, they are not the primary users of the airport, but rather corporate CEO's, politicians, and other V.I.P. types with their private chartered or owned jets--they are the elite few. And incidentally, per the grand vision laid out for the city, McCormick never should have been erected there either, but that's what money will do.

py / February 25, 2005 1:28 PM

Remove the Nazi lifeguards on boats and let people swim in the lake.

ljdae / February 25, 2005 1:32 PM

I thought the Litter Tax was an excellent idea! But it never came to fruition.

Imagine, with a 5 cent per fast-food meal tax, the city could employ (those unemployed) to clean up the fast-food litter we see everywhere.

I think it's brilliant.