by admin on November 30, 2012
Chicago Business Journal Date: Friday, November 30, 2012, 10:57am CST
Union janitors at O’Hare International Airport protested that switching to a private contractor would cost them jobs.
The owner of a firm recently awarded a $99.4 million janitorial contract to replace 300 union workers at O’Hare International Airport has close ties to a man accused of involvement with organized crime, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Until 2011, Richard Simon, owner of United Maintenance Co. Inc., managed a company alongside William Daddano, Jr., who the Chicago Crime Commission listed as a mob figure in 1997, according to the report. Daddano was also allegedly linked to mob activity surrounding the development of an Illinois casino in the early 2000s, according to reports in the Chicago Tribune at the time. Both Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Simon said they were unaware of any wrongdoing involving United Maintenance, the Sun-Times reported.
Owner of firm with new O’Hare contract linked to alleged mob figure
Tagged as:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel,
mob,
Richard Simon,
United Maintenance Co. Inc.,
William Daddano Jr.
by admin on March 30, 2012
By JOHN SCHWARTZ Published: March 29, 2012
Chicago is embarking on a $7 billion plan to transform the city’s infrastructure from the skies above to the pipes underground.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former President Bill Clinton announced this month that part of a new plan to overhaul the city’s infrastructure would be funded by the newly formed Chicago Infrastructure Trust.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is planning to announce the initiative Thursday. It includes projects to expand the city’s largest airport and improve its streets, water system, schools, community colleges, parks and commuter rail network. The city estimates that these initiatives will create 30,000 jobs over the next three years.
At a time when the nation is only beginning to pull itself painfully and delicately out of a deep recession, and when cities and states are cutting essential services and wondering how to keep the courthouses open and the lights on, an infrastructure proposal for a single city with an estimated cost in the billions — with a “b” — is audacious. Mr. Emanuel, in an interview, suggested that nothing less than this “integrated, comprehensive approach” will do for what he calls “building a new Chicago.”
$7 Billion Public-Private Plan in Chicago Aims to Fix Transit, Schools and Parks
Tagged as:
Bill Clinton,
Chicago Infrastructure Trust,
Mayor Rahm Emanuel
by admin on December 15, 2011
Posted 12/14/11 3:09 p.m. WLS Radio’s Bill Cameron Reports
CHICAGO (WLS) – Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants big new powers to help stage the NATO and G8 summits here in Chicago next May.
WLS Radio’s Bill Cameron reports from City Hall that the mayor is asking the aldermen to give him temporary authority to close all of the city’s parks, playgrounds and beaches at 11 p.m. during the NATO and G8 summits.
He also wants to add more security cameras, deputize more people to be police officers and dramatically raise fines on protesters who don’t obey the police. Also requested has the ability to give him more freedom to execute contracts for goods and services connected to the NATO and G8 summits.
Link
Tagged as:
G8,
Mayor Rahm Emanuel
by admin on November 20, 2011
By Abdon M. Pallasch Political Reporter apallasch@suntimes.com November 19, 2011 9:28PM
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel delivers the keynote speech in support of President Obama, at the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner, in Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
Emanuel says he backs unions before defending president
DES MOINES, Iowa — Mayor Rahm Emanuel delivered a rousing, and, at times, attack-dog speech in defense of President Obama and against the man Obama expects to be running against, Mitt Romney.
Link
Tagged as:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel,
President Obama
by admin on August 20, 2011
CHICAGO (CBS) — Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he and Gov. Pat Quinn should be able to work out their differences over legislation that would clear the way for a casino in Chicago, among other places.
As WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports, the mayor says the funds that would be generated from the casino are desperately needed.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports
“This is an investment we need to make in our own city’s future. We have an opportunity now with the Chicago casino, which the city of Chicago residents favor,” Emanuel said, “and I told you, I wasn’t like an enthusiast about it, but I cannot continue to have Hammond, Indiana, get $20 million a month while our infrastructure is crumbling.”
Link
Tagged as:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel
by admin on June 15, 2011
Chicago’s Big Brother network of over 10,000 public and private surveillance cameras is already the most extensive and integrated in the nation. But, it’s about to get even bigger.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel chaired his first Public Building Commission meeting on Tuesday and joined his fellow members in adding three potential terrorist targets to the city’s surveillance network: the Board of Trade, the Federal Reserve and the AT&T switching center.
All three are located in Chicago’s financial nerve center. But, they apparently constituted gaping holes in Chicago’s camera network.
via Chicago expanding Big Brother camera network – Chicago Sun-Times.
Tagged as:
Big Brother,
cameras,
Mayor Rahm Emanuel
Posted by Mick Dumke on Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 11:02 AM
Among his many promises to change the way Chicago operates, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has vowed to bring an unprecedented level of transparency and technological innovation to city operations. “I understand that sounds crazy coming out of a City Hall office,” John Tolva, the city’s new chief technology officer, said in an interview in his office last week.
“Open, participatory government” is one of the top goals listed in the report Emanuel’s transition team released shortly before he took office, and beneath this broad umbrella he’s pledged to create a searchable city budget, tools for tracking how long it takes to get licenses and permits, and smart phone apps for interacting with the 311 information system.
To government reformers, data geeks, and just about anybody else who’s called the city to report a problem, these steps are long overdue. Other cities already share far more information with the public, and that in turn has spurred private-sector innovation that complements official city services. In New York, for example, you can now use an app to help find parking spaces. Closer to home, the Cook County board recently passed a law requiring open-government initiatives at the county level.
via Open government in Chicago? Rahm’s tech and data chiefs swear it’s coming | Bleader.
Tagged as:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel,
Open,
open-government,
participatory government
