Yesterday the news came across the wire that Jane Byrne, former mayor(and first and only female mayor) of Chicago, had passed away at the age of 80. In remembrance of that, here are 2 articles I put out earlier this year talking about plans to have something in the city named after her.
If Thompson made the city corrupt, and Daley I made the city work, Jane Byrne was the Mayor that started to make the city the world-class destination that it is today. True, Daley II played a major part in the large scale beautification and downtown renaissance of the 1990s, but Mayor Byrne took the first steps a decade earlier. Coming to power in the wake of the (politically) disastrous 1979 Blizzard, Byrne saw the need to shake things up.
Her first big contribution was fine-tuning ChicagoFest. At that time, Navy Pier had seen a lot in its years of use, ranging from shipping, to sailors during World War II(including the skydiving nonagenarian himself, George H.W. Bush), to students enrolled in the University of Illinois(prior to the establishment of UIC). But by 1978 it wasn't seeing much except for disuse and neglect. Mayor Michael Bilandic saw this as an opportunity, and so began a two-week long music festival in the middle of the summer. After taking office, Byrne saw an the opportunity as well and continued the festival as Mayor Byrne's ChicagoFest. The affair was highly successful, and continued for several more years until it was retired and reimagined. You'll be able to check out Chicagofest in all its modern glory this year at the Taste of Chicago. In addition to that, Byrne was also responsible for helping to extend the Blue Line all the way to O'Hare.
In 1983, Byrne attempted to run for Re-Election was opposed by Harold Washington as well as a then lesser-known Richard M. Daley. Now you've heard of minority candidates running for an opening and splitting the Black/Hispanic/Asian vote? Well in '84 Byrne and Daley split the White vote allowing Harold Washington to take the election. Mayor Washington went on to leave his own legacy prior to his untimely death in 1987, a legacy that was properly memorialized with the naming of the new library. However, there has been no similar remembrance of Mayor Byrne's legacy. That may soon change though as Alderman Ed Burke has recently submitted a proposal to investigate different possible opportunities to pay tribute to the aging Byrne, some of which include:
- Buckingham Fountain(as in renaming it)
- The International Terminal at O'Hare
- The Plaza in front of Water Tower Place
- Navy Pier's Grand Ballroom.
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As I mentioned last month, there has been a push as of late to honor Former Mayor Jane Byrne by renaming one of the myriad tourist attractions in the city in her honor. Well, coming down the pipeline fresh today, the City Council has made its decision. By a unanimous vote, Mayor Jane M. Byrne will be honored through the renaming of the park outside of the old Water Tower. This represents the culmination of a long process that ultimately wound up honoring the first(and so far only) female mayor of Chicago. Additionally, Chicago is also the largest city in the United States to have ever had a female mayor as of 2014. Now Byrne's legacy is preserved for both posterity and countless future generations of Chicagoans.
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