A boss from my former corporate life used to say, “It’s dangerous to believe our own press releases.”
They’re designed to present an image of how we want others to see us, not necessarily the reality of how we are. And that’s how we’ll ultimately be judged over time.
It was and is good counsel.
I thought about this last week as Chicago’s Mayor Richard M. Daley was exiting office after a 22-year run.
You see, Daley made a point of telling everyone that he wants Chicago to be the “greenest city in America,” a worthy goal to be sure.
And to some extent, he put action into words.
Do a quick environmental web search on Daley and you’ll see stories about planting trees, green roofs, a stealth destruction of a lakefront airport to create a park and using his stature to lobby other mayors to go green.
In 2006 Time magazine ran a glowing report on Chicago’s green initiatives. Daley’s first environmental commissioner, Henry Henderson, gave him high marks in a commentary in the Huffington Post as Daley was leaving office.
…”Daley transformed how we think about the American city and re-shaped the national view of the built urban environment,” according to Henderson. He also wrote that Daley’s Millenium Park is the “single most thrilling public space in America.”
Pretty heady stuff from Henderson, who now runs the Chicago office of the Natural Resources Defense Council and isn’t known to gush on the positive side.
Millenium Park and green roofs are the “greenest city” story Daley told – the press release fodder for public consumption. And I’m sure there is a part of Daley that believes every word.
Benign Neglect, Endangered River and Taking a Community Park
But there is an alternate reality that doesn’t get as much attention.
The Daley environmental PR machine made no mention of these less than stellar moments that should become a part of his environmental legacy:
- The benign neglect exhibited toward the residents of Chicago’s Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods. These largely Hispanic communities are home to two coal-fired, mercury-emitting power plants. The air there is health-threatening, but Daley did nothing to support city council ordinances that could have forced a clean up of the plants. And everyone knows that not much happened in Chicago without Daley’s approval.
- The conservation group American Rivers just put the Chicago River on its most endangered list because of the “daily discharge of 1.2 billion gallons of undisinfected sewage effluent into the Chicago River system that threatens public health.” A year ago when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told Chicago to clean up the river Daley told D.C. officials to “go swim in the Potomac.”
- While Daley was a supporter of parks he had no problem taking one from citizens when it served Chicago’s broader agenda. Daley announced that Washington Park on Chicago’s south side was chosen as the site for an Olympic stadium during the failed bid for the 2016 games. For decades the park served as a key recreational and social hub for the surrounding community. Residents and community activists were not amused by what they saw as a public/private power grab that would take from the African-American community. They candidly expressed their feelings in this Chicago Public Radio discussion in 2007. (Caution — some may find the language in this audio clip offensive.)
Toss in a recycling program that had more stops than starts and the Daley environmental record begs the question of whether Chicago deserves the “greenest city in America” title.
Maybe it doesn’t matter.
Daley was trying to incorporate environmental stewardship into management of a large city and that’s no easy task. He tried to lead on environmental issues and deserves credit for that.
But that benign neglect of the residents living near those coal-fired power plants and his failure to drive a clean up of the Chicago River are a dark cloud hanging over his environmental legacy. And we’re talking about the most basic of needs — clean air and water.
My quick read is that Daley’s environmental record is about a C+. But I could be wrong and we’ll have a clearer picture over time.
Let’s pause and reflect for a few years on the facts versus the press releases before we make Daley an urban environmental icon.
Because clean air and water count for a lot.