Hey, Neighborhood… Is Rahm’s Honeymoon Over?

By chicago-pipeline at July 16, 2012 | 10:07 am | Print

(Photos of Rahm by Philin Phlash)

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is back from a week long vacation, and, according to Sun-Times reporter Fran Spielman, returning to heavy issues on the home front.

High murder rates, for starters.

Teachers that need our support, per this Everyblock post: “Mayor Emanuel and CPS’s poorly designed CTU contract proposal will harm our children.”

A mostly white cabinet, for which he’d gotten flack from the Sun-Times for not having enough African-Americans in policy making roles.

Was it only a year and a half ago that Rahm’s words, on the front page of the Sun-Times, were, “You sure know how to make a guy feel at home?”

Even with the ‘historic election’ that 1st Ward Ald. Moreno had talked about in his e-newsletters (and for the record, Moreno was backing Gery Chico and not Rahm– an affiliation we’re guessing he’s trying to erase now that he’s cozy with Rahm on transforming Clemente into an IB Program, the private Infrastructure Bank which Moreno has been a proponent of, and putting a negative spotlight on Congress Theater, undoubtedly the most attractive real estate property on the mayor’s ‘hit list’ of 37 problem businesses and the only historic landmark), voter turnout was an all-time low.

During the past election, Philin Phash’s excitement for Rahm and beer bottle cap button making and editorializing was permeating pipeline ‘HQ,’ prompting him to lecture me on apathy.  The issue of school reform prompted a former 1st Ward Teacher, “Just an Honest Educator“ to respond directly to an administrator who’d written into the pipeline.

[Full disclosure: Phlash was on a well-documented mission to get a job as the "mayor's photographer, " and most recently hoping to be a Sun-Times photojournalist, both plans which unfortunately did not work out for him ("Media is changing, everyone's broke," I told Phlash while apologizing for the fact I wish I could pay him, myself, and everyone on the team like we worked at a "real newspaper." There is really no such thing anymore...  just look at the Journatic scandal].

Here is a sound off; written by Phlash back in Dec. 2010, before he snapped photos on election night of a victorious Rahm:

Sound OFF: Stop Being (a)Pathetic
By Philin Phlash (pictured)

To the people who ask, “Why do you care so much? Who cares who the next mayor is?”, I just want to inform you that this a very important time in Chicago’s history. We are stepping from the Daley era into a new era. I don’t want to see the accomplishments of Mayor Daley, who was a force to be reckoned with, who made our city beautiful, world class, and made me proud to be a Chicagoan, go down the tubes.

The new man who steps into Daley’s shoes must be a strong leader. He must have a plan. He must show us how much he cares about this city, because his face and name are the face and name that will identify Chicago to the world. We are a worldly city and we need someone who thinks in a worldly way.  Read more. 

Has Rahm filled Daley’s shoes? Or has his ‘rahmping’ turned to stomping? If so, on what? Whom? Why?

Do people in Wicker Park and Bucktown think Rahm’s on top of the issues of the day? What Rahm highlights have you been impressed by? Disappointed with? Please share your opinions on Rahm and we’ll include them in the next newsletter.  Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.

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