How Could They Forget About The Daleys?

In the category of if you live long enough, you'll see it all...

How is it possible that a developer, even a billionaire, would try to build something in Chicago without really running it by the Daleys?

Especially if that developer wants to buy the White Sox--the Daleys's favorite baseball team.

And stick a huge railyard maintenance facility in Bridgeport, the Daleys's much-beloved home neighborhood.

And just sorta present himself to the Crains crowd as the next big thing in Chicago—still very much a Daley kinda town.

How, again, could such a developer think he could do all this without the Daley-family blessing?

How, how, how, indeed? 

Especially when this developer has a stable of local flacks & flunkies supposedly helping him navigate Chicago's choppy political waters?

These are the things I'm wondering as I watch Justin Ishbia--the wealthy developer in question--make a royal mess out of his plans to build a new White Sox stadium in the south loop on land that currently houses an Amtrak railyard maintenance facility. Which he and Amtrak are proposing to move to Bridgeport.

A tough deal to push through, even with Daley support. Which, again, he does not have.

Hey, Justin—meet Alderwoman Lee…

Look, folks, I'm telling you--it's not that hard for rich guys to build things in Chicago, even controversial things. Here's what you do...

Figure out who's in charge--the Big Tuna, as they say. Which I assume is what all those flacks & flunkies are supposed to tell you.

Then suck up to said Big Tuna. Let the world know how much you love and respect him. 

Make sure he understands you're only in town to make money and you have no interest in running against him or funding someone else to run against him.

Also, donate to his campaign fund. Or his favorite charity. Or both.

And, voila, you'll probably get whatever you want no matter how awful it may be. 

This strategy worked wonders for Donny. He got that big old ugly tower on the Chicago River after he sucked up to Mayors Daley and Rahm.

Even got them to look the other way and pretend they didn't know what he was up to when he stuck his name on the tower for the world to see.

If Trump can figure it out, how come Justin Ishbia--who's got an option to buy the Sox in 2029--couldn't figure it out?

And, while you’re at it—meet John Daley, seen here speaking out against the railyard facility…

In this case, Ishiba didn't give the Daleys much more than a cursory call.

And he mostly kept 11th ward Alderwoman Nicole Lee in the dark on the details. Which is really stupid cause the railyard facility would go in her ward. And she'd be the one who would have to sell it to her constituents. And we still have this thing in Chicago called aldermanic prerogative where the other aldermen more or less support the local's position. So good luck getting TIF money for the railyard/ballpark swap, if Alderwoman Lee’s against it.

As if to prove my point...

The following politicians showed up on September 8, when Alderwoman Lee organized a protest/press conference about the railyard facility...

Three mayoral candidates--Susana Mendoza, Maria Pappas and Mike Quigley.

A congressman, who's not running for mayor--Danny K. Davis.

A state rep--Theresa Mah.

An influential alderwoman--Pat Dowell, chair of the finance committee.

And perhaps most important--a Daley.

Cook County Commissioner John P. Daley, to be exact.

His presence at that protest means two things are obvious.

One, is that Ishbia and his flacks & flunkies underestimated Alderwoman Lee. Big time.

And two, as hard as this is to believe...they didn't really run this by the Daleys.

And so now John Daley is on record as being against it. Which means it faces a tough uphill battle to be approved. As the Daleys still carry a lot of water in this town, to paraphrase one of my favorite lines from The Big Lebowski.

So, Amtrak may have to look elsewhere to stick its facility. Which means that if that stadium is in any way contingent on a deal with Amtrak, it probably won't happen.

Which is not a bad thing. Cause the already existing Sox stadium is more than adequate. As I can tell you from having had a blast attending a bunch of Sox games there this summer.

So, it sorta works to Ishbia's advantage to just pretend like the whole stadium-railyard swap proposal never happened.

And still, I can't stop wondering....

How could he not know about the Daleys? Well...

He's young--at least way younger than me. And at the risk of sounding like the Baby Boomer that I am...

Ishbia seems like he's part of that generation who remain proudly ignorant about things that happened before they were paying attention on the grounds that if they weren't paying attention those things don't matter.

Plus, he's not from Chicago. Or even the suburbs. Okay, he currently lives on the north shore. But he grew up in suburban Detroit. Which means that in his heart of heart he's probably a Tigers fan.  God help us all.

Could it be that all of his local flacks & flunkies don't know about the Daleys? If so, they don't make flacks & flunkies like they used to.

So let me give you a free-of-charge crash course on Chicago, Mr. Ishbia... 

There are five mayors who come from Bridgeport...

Mayor Edward J. Kelly and Mayor Martin H. Kennelly and Mayor Richard J. Daley and Mayor Michael A. Bilandic and Mayor Richard M. Daley...

That last Mayor Daley is really important. He's the son of the first Mayor Daley. And the brother of the aforementioned Commissioner John P. Daley. And the mayor of Chicago from 1989 until 2011. Folks around here love him so much that he'd probably still be getting elected mayor, if he didn't get tired of the gig and decide not to run again.

For all I know, there may be low-formation Chicagoans out there who still think he's Chicago's mayor.

My point is…

Proposing to cram a railyard in Bridgeport (that residents don't want) and moving the Sox out of Bridgeport (which residents also don't want) without really running it by the Daleys is a little like leaving your house in the morning without putting on your trousers--a major oversight.

Or as someone else from Detroit might put it...

Motherfuckers act like they forgot about the Daleys...

For the record, I was not, to put it mildly, a big fan of Mayors Daley. Daddy or son.

But as long as the Daleys are against this railyard--stadium swap monstrosity, I'm with them 100 percent.

What a coalition--me and the Daleys! But like I said at the outset...

Stick around long enough and you'll see it all.