Millennium City: Richard M. Daley & Global Chicago

Loss of Faith in City Government

By the late 1980s, many Chicagoans had lost faith in their city government. They doubted its ability to maintain infrastructure, provide essential services, and ensure equitable access to education and housing.

Kelly Welsh, corporation counsel for Chicago (1989-1993), sums up some of the challenges the city faced:

[United States Secretary of Education] William Bennett had called Chicago the worst public school system in the nation. Whether that was accurate or not, I don't know. But it wasn't a system that the city could be proud of.

--Arne Duncan, CEO of Chicago Public Schools (2001-2008)

Tim Samuelson of the Chicago Cultural Center (2002 - present) comments on the city's infrastructure at the time:

Julia Stasch, housing commissioner under Mayor Daley (1997-1999), explains the problems with Chicago's public housing during the 1980s and into the 1990s:

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