After Olympic defeat, Daley just as passionate about job
Mayor Daley on Tuesday good-naturedly ridiculed reporters for writing his political “obituary” after Chicago’s first-round knock-out in the Olympic sweepstakes.
The mayor insisted that he’s every bit as “passionate” about the job he has called the “best in America” as he was on the day he took office 20 years ago.
The embarrassment of finishing fourth in an Olympic sweepstakes captured by sentimental favorite Rio de Janeiro has apparently done nothing to change that.
“You have my obituary already set. You know that. You’ve been writing that for years. … I don’t know why you already put me in the grave,” he said.
After dancing on the world stage, Daley came home to face the grim reality of a $520 million city budget gap, a $300 million CTA shortfall and the continuing fall-out from the horrific videotaped beating death of Fenger High School student Derrion Albert.
Although the problems are intransigent and there is no Olympics to generate a bonanza of federal funding, jobs and contracts, Daley insisted that the fire still burns.
“I would not be here [if it didn’t].You should know me. You cannot take this job if you don’t have any passion or heart or feeling. This is not a job just to read something, like many of you do. This is a job of passion,” he said.
Asked whether he believes he will pay any political price for his four-year quest for Olympic gold and coming up empty, Daley said, “No. None whatsoever. …We had enormous free publicity. … It was very good publicity throughout the world” to showcase Chicago as a center for business and tourism.
After spending $91 million to buy the campus of Michael Reese Hospital, Daley reiterated his intention to develop the property into a new South Lakefront community even though it’s likely to take longer without an Olympic Village.
“You’d better believe it. … That’s a great site,” he said.
And he said the Chicago Park District will forge ahead with plans to build two new lakefront harbors with 1,100 new slips — even though boaters will no longer be displaced from Monroe Harbor to make way for an Olympic rowing venue.
Once again, the mayor noted that reporters in Rio, Madrid and Tokyo were gung-ho about the Olympic bids by their cities, unlike the highly critical role played by the news media in Chicago.
Asked whether the local press was responsible for Chicago’s defeat, he said, “Don’t go home and cry. ... I’m not blaming you. ... It’s an observation. It had nothing to do with you.”