Chicago City Mayor

Mayor Richard M. Daley

Mayor Richard M. Daley has earned a reputation -- both in Chicago and across the nation -- for improving Chicago's quality of life, acting to improve public schools, strengthening its economy and helping Chicago become among the most environmentally friendly cities in the world.

Well known for taking detailed 'notes' on neighborhood problems as he meets with community leaders and citizens throughout the city, Mayor Daley has also earned a reputation for acting proactively and implementing forward-looking policies, many of which are emulated around the world.

Now, during the worst national economic downturn in seventy years, Daley has said that government must reinvent and restructure itself and continue to do more with less to protect taxpayers.

His innovative, community-based programs continue to tackle the fundamental challenges facing urban America -- improving public education, preventing and fighting neighborhood crime, bringing new businesses to Chicago’s neighborhoods, creating new jobs and investing in new neighborhood infrastructure.

At the same time, he has made it an ongoing priority to control government spending, better manage government and protect Chicago's taxpayers by holding government to higher standards of accountability and transparency.

And, he has made it a priority to pull together the people of Chicago to "focus on what unites us", challenging the city to work together and put aside politics to focus on shared solutions to Chicago's problems.

A former state senator and county prosecutor, Daley was elected Mayor on April 4, 1989, to complete the term of the late Harold Washington, and was re-elected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007.

In 1995, frustrated with the performance of Chicago’s public schools, Daley asked for and received responsibility from the State for the Chicago Public Schools. His new management team focusing on learning the basics in the classroom, closed a $1.8 billion deficit, made homework mandatory, ended the social promotion of underperforming students, improved school safety, greatly expanded summer school, after-school and early childhood education programs and invested more than $5 billion in capital improvements, including building 41 new schools.

The school system returned to emphasizing the basics in curriculum -- especially reading, math and the basics of science -- and created targeted schools that focus on specific academic areas, such as world languages and math and science.

As a result, student test scores continue to rise, the dropout rate continues to fall, more students are prepared to go to college or some form of higher education and what were once called the worst schools in the country have become a national model for reform.

During his time as Mayor, Daley has constantly searched for ways to manage the limited resources of government more efficiently to protect the taxpayers.

He has a record of doing more with less, having cut over $2.7 billion in spending since he became Mayor. Since 2000, he has reduced the number of city employees by more than 6,200, even while adding sworn police officers.

In order to avoid higher taxes and reduced services, Chicago was the first U.S. city to strategically lease infrastructure assets -- including the Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge, the city’s parking meter system and the parking garages under Millennium Park -- to private sector operators. The funds Chicago received in return have been used to strengthen the city’s financial health, build new infrastructure, support programs to help residents who are most in need, to create jobs and provide funding for critical operating needs, during a recessionary economy.

Under Daley’s leadership, Chicago's economy has become more diverse. He has worked to bring new businesses and jobs to Chicago, including efforts to support the creation and growth of small businesses. 

Through World Business Chicago -- a public/private partnership he established in 2000 to bring new businesses to Chicago, Mayor Daley is helping transform Chicago's economy by focusing on the jobs and businesses of the future. These include green technology and clean energy, biotechnology, financial services, and the hospitality industry.

Through Chicago's public school system he is creating career academies which are designed to provide Chicago's students with the skills they need to compete in a technology based world.

He is working with a new leadership team at the City Colleges of Chicago to reinvent Chicago's community college system so that it not only better educates students, but better provides job and skill training, also focused on the jobs of tomorrow.

And, he is revamping Chicago's job training and retraining efforts -- including through the new Chicago Career Tech Program -- to make sure that Chicago's workforce is a modern one and ready to work in the new economy that will emerge from the nation's recession.

During Daley's time in office, Chicago has become a strong player in the global economy. MasterCard International’s annual evaluation in 2008 rated Chicago as the 5th most influential city in the global economy and Standard & Poor’s ranks the city among the world’s Top 10 Economic Centers. In addition, the Global Cities Index, a comprehensive international ranking, named Chicago one of the most global cities in 2008, ranking it 8th out of the 60 cities studied. Chicago received especially high marks for human capital as a top global destination for higher education

Since Daley took office, to improve neighborhood quality of life, the City has invested more than $4.5 billion in local, state, federal, and private funds to create, improve and maintain more than 170,000 units of affordable housing for people of modest means and has established aggressive plans to rebuild public housing, extend housing affordability, end homelessness and prevent foreclosures, as well as  reduce the impact of foreclosures on families and neighborhoods.

Address: 121 N. LaSalle Street. City Hall Room 507, Chicago, IL 60602
Tel: 312 744 3300