Conscious Choice: A “Don’t Miss” Opportunity for Mayor Daley

April 2004 | Editor’s Note

A “Don’t Miss” Opportunity for Mayor Daley

Postcard perfect, that’s how you could describe our open, rolling lakefront with its mature parks and unobstructed majestic views of Lake Michigan. It’s the city’s crown jewel and, if you know a little Chicago history, undoubtedly you know the name Daniel Burnham — the city planner who’s responsible for putting into place our world-class lakefront at the turn of the 20th century. Although Burnham rose to become one of the most respected architects in the world with many other accomplishments to his name, the Chicago lakefront is his shining star, in a word, his legacy.

As for Mayor Daley, it’s clear he wants his legacy to be the mayor of “America’s Greenest City,” Chicago. And what a legacy it would be! Long after he’s gone (and may our mayor live a long, happy and prosperous life) his name would be invoked by parents talking to their kids, teachers educating their students and Chicagoans singing the city’s praises to their visiting friends. “What a bold visionary Daley was,” they would say with pride. “Even though he was under unrelenting pressure from big business and special interests, he held the vision of Chicago as an environmental Mecca in the middle of America.”

If this is how the mayor wants to be remembered, he has two major calls to make. For one, how can Chicago earn the moniker “America’s Greenest City” when Southwest side residents have the highest rates of asthma in the country from breathing in the brown, hazy emissions of the Fisk and Crawford coal-burning power plants? The mayor needs to muster his clout and courage to impose pollution standards that will force the cleanup of those plants, which he admits needs to be done (see “How Green is Our Mayor,” page 27). Standing up to the plants’ owner, Midwest Generation, a $7 billion company, won’t be a walk in the park but who said becoming a legend is easy?

Daley’s other major “green” challenge is to enact a Chicago smoking ban in public places. The mayor said last year that he’d be open to going beyond the current requirement that restaurants set aside a certain percentage of tables in designated no-smoking areas. Can we read that as a tacit endorsement for a smoking ban? Given that New York City (and all of New York state), Dallas, Boston (and all of Massachusetts), L.A. and San Francisco (and all of California) are smoke-free, we’d be in good company among major cities and the first Midwestern city to do so.

Daniel Burnham said, “Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men’s blood.” Until Mayor Daley addresses these two huge glaring blights on his environmental record, imagining Chicago as “America’s Greenest City” is only a pipe dream and the magic we desire for our environment, or World, will be elusive.

Be a Smoking Ban Activist

Tell Mayor Daley and the aldermen that you support a Chicago smoking ban and want them to also. Log-on to www.lungchicago.org, sign-up and click on the “Smoke-Free Chicago” button. An “advocacy message” in your name will be sent to all the aldermen and hizzoner.

Obama Blows ‘em Away

We are heartened that Illinois’ Democratic voters shared our perception that Barack Obama will make a great U.S. Senator. Conscious Choice’s February cover story highlighted Obama as a progressive who’s concerned with many of the same issues that our 100-thousand plus readers hold close to their hearts. His landslide victory over six competitors in the March Democratic primary bodes well for the crucial contest in November that could tip the balance of power in Congress. We urge you to consider how you can be active and vigilant in order to change our national leadership.

Endnotes

This month is JoAnn Milivojevic’s last Conscious Dining column as she moves to concentrate on feature food stories. You’ll still be seeing this talented journalist in our pages. Food writer and activist, Janine MacLachlan will be assuming the restaurant review column next month. More on that later. — Rebecca Ephraim

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