[ad_1]
This is a highway robbery – at least to a prominent Chicago family.
The family of Dan Ryan, former chairman of the Cook County Board of Directors, who worked closely with the legendary Chicago Mayor and Democratic Party leader Richard J. Daley After Daley's son, Bill, he had suggested changing the name of a highway bearing Ryan's name for 56 years in order to honor former President Barack Obama.
"I am hurt. I feel bad that he did not try to contact us to see what we were going to think, "Daniel B. Ryan III, grandson of the County Council Chair, told the Chicago Sun-Times. Cook, recently deceased. "We are very honored to have this name from our grandfather's name. Why would you remove the honor from one man to another?
Bill Daley, who is about to become the third member of his family to sit in the mayor's office in Chicago, issued a statement earlier this month suggesting the name. change to the highway. Daley, who served as Obama's chief of staff in 2011, admittedly acknowledged the existence of a stretch of highway bearing the name of the former president, but said that given Obama's ties with Windy City, it would be an honor to rename the Dan Ryan Expressway. after the 44th president of the country.
"Our Chicago highways are named after personalities in our history: Kennedy, Eisenhower, Stevenson," Daley said in a statement. "We should have one for Obama, who is the only president in Chicago and has led the country through the second economic crisis in our history."
The statement goes on: "Barack Obama is coming from Chicago, he owns a house here, and that is where the Obama Library is, I would like to see the legislature act at the beginning. next year. "
Obama was born in Hawaii, but began his political career in Chicago as a community organizer before being elected to the Senate of the State of Illinois. in 1997 and in the United States Senate, representative of Illinois in 2004.
The Daley Campaign also noted the existence of a forest reserve in Illinois named in l & # 39; Ryan's honor, but – as the Chicago Sun-Times pointed out – the Dan Ryan Woods actually carry the name of his father, who was also involved in Chicago politics. not mentioning that his own father was the person who chose to name the fast track after Ryan in the first place.
The Ryan family is his pro pre-dynasty in Chicago
Dan Ryan took over his father's position in the county. board of directors in 1923 and held for more than three decades. He was spearheading a "highway" linking highways 90 and 94 and eventually became the second most powerful man in the city behind Daley.
Ryan died in 1961 – just 18 months before the opening of the road that bears his name.
"It would have been very important for him to know that his name had been assigned to him," said Ryan III about his grandfather. "It's a real honor for all the work he has done. It was the culmination of a great career. "
Ryan III calls himself a fan of Obama, but he thinks the idea of renaming this idea is a tactic of getting Daley's vote. "Our family has been honored by this for 56 years and we would like to keep it that way," he told the Sun-Times.
It is unclear whether the state legislature would support Daley's proposal.
Source link
