Millennium City: Richard M. Daley & Global Chicago

Managing emergencies

Like all mayors, Daley faced a number of emergencies that compelled him to make difficult decisions.

Loop flood of 1992

In 1992, water from the Chicago River gushed into an underground tunnel system few Chicagoans knew existed. That tunnel system ran beneath Chicago’s Loop district, and an estimated 250 million gallons of water soon flooded the basements of the city’s downtown office buildings, including City Hall.

David Mosena, Daley’s chief of staff (1991-1992), remembers flood and the mayor’s decision to swiftly create a temporary headquarters in Chicago’s “near north” area:

Heat wave, 1995

For one week in July 1995, Chicago suffered a heat wave. Daytime temperatures reached into the 90s and 100s, but what made this heat wave unusual was that nighttime temperatures stayed hot. High humidity and the absence of cooling winds and cloud cover kept the overnight lows in the 80s.According to the final report of Mayor Richard M. Daley's Commission on Extreme Weather Conditions, 522 Chicagoans died. [verify report and cite with a "note." need to finalize the citation on the note]

Terry Teele, of the Mayor's Office of Inquiry and Information (1991-1996), remembers the emergency and the lessons learned:
img: [tbd RMD16_01_0103_0005_tbd (First page of Extreme Weather--Mayor's Commission on Extreme Weather Conditions--Final Report, 1995)] [note: Needs to be sent to photo lab as of March 19, 2020]

Helen Shiller, 45th ward alderman (1987-2011), discusses her memories of the heat wave:

September 11, 2001

img: [Photos of 9/11 Memorial events from 2004 [7-290-7] [note: Needs to be sent to photo lab as of March 19, 2020] On September 11, 2001, terrorists commandeered four airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center buildings in New York City and the United States Pentagon building outside of Washington, D.C.

Sheila O’Grady, Daley’s chief of staff (2000-2005), remembers how the mayor responded the morning of and weeks after the attacks:


Ray Orozco, Chicago fire commissioner (2005-2008) and Daley’s chief of staff (2010-2011), explains the lessons the city learned from the attacks:

The Great Recession

In 2007 and 2008, a financial crisis plunged the United States economy into a deep recession that led to thousands of foreclosures and strained Chicago’s finances.
img: [Cover of one of city’s budget reports from 2009 or 2010: e.g., b. 1-306, or b. 1-307] [note: needs to be sent to photo lab as of March 26, 2020]
One problem from the crisis was some banks' refusal to take responsibility for properties on which they had foreclosed.
Ray Orozco discusses how Mayor Daley dealt with that problem:
One tool to relieve that strain was to privatize management of the city parking meters.

Paul Volpe, the mayor’s chief of staff (2008-2010), discusses Daley’s decision to lease parking meters to a private firm for seventy-five years:

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