Your Take on Rahm (Chicago, Rome: 2013, crime, house)

[msamhunter]

Rahm Emanuel approval rating slips - chicagotribune.com

What's your serious take on the Mayor and the job he's done? Some positives are luring companies back into the city center but typical Chicago fashion, certain groups get disenfranchised in the city.

[Lucky Clover]

New Mayor time!

[Vlajos]

I like most of what he has done so far.

[jpillinois]

I think he has done a remarkable job. This is a complex and difficult job. We had a populist mayor who gained favor with the public workforce and avoided strikes but never challenged them on with financial prudence. And RMD's era of police department heads is a shame. Rahm has strengthened the schools, made plans for park upgrades and enhanced the business climate. So far so good.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by jpillinois

We had a populist mayor who gained favor with the public workforce and avoided strikes but never challenged them on with financial prudence.

Populist? Gained favor with the public workforce?

Wow. I want some of what you've been smoking, that's the most creative (and utterly without merit) description I've ever heard of the Mayor known for leaving his "populist" neighborhood so he could live amongst the high-roller crowd in the Loop. Oh, and the major unions hated him.

*I'll edit my last statement, as he likely got union support originally, but by the end, fuhgeddaboutit. I remember Dorothy Brown getting union support over Hizzoner.

[Link N. Parker]

He has done really well on some things, but really horrible on others.

Good things:
1. Attracting more jobs to the Loop
2. Shutting down under-utilized schools

Horrible things (mostly crime related):
1. Street crime in the "safe" areas...the flash mobs in the Gold Coast and the "packs of teens" that loiter in Boystown on most nights robbing people...these things need to be addressed (and actually, I think that they finally are being addressed)
2. McCarthy is a JOKE, he has to go. He lies to the public so much, its silly, SILLY
3. The dismantling of the Police Force is f'in criminal.

Right now, I see Chicago at where NYC was in the 80's...a loud mouth mayor who serves the financial elites, a police force struggling to keep things under control.

Rahm strikes me as the kind of guy who will p*ss on you and tell you it is raining.

I also think his whole "gangster" act is in bad taste, sending dead fish to people, threatening to kill people by stabbing the table with a knife and yelling "DEAD! DEAD DEAD!" I mean, come on...

[Irishtom29]

I think he's a mealy mouthed, posturing little popinjay and as crooked as any Irishman ever was. I now wish I'd voted for Chico, the kind of crook I understand.

[chet everett]

Rahm is the kind of guy that does not sweat even in a sauna. He made millions on Wall Street not becuase of any skills in finance but solely becuase he could force people to the table, something he was only able to do becuase of the fear that he'd force competitors into a worse deal or send government flacks to make other deals impossible. Not exactly a record to be proud of and frankly skills that even in the White House have limited utility...

Like Nero fiddling while Rome burned the real reason Rahm wanted this job was becuase of the enormous power guys like Daley managed to infuse into an utterly cowed City Council and State Senate / House. Chicago / Illinois is his plaything. If he does not smash to bits he use to springboard to someplace where he can have even more power / wealth and if does break it he will stroll off to his cozy retirement as a rainmaker in a well connected lobbying / law firm, secure in the knowledge this his brainless "party line" supporters will give him a hearty "pat on the back for at least giving it the good fight".

Makes me sick.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Rahm is the kind of guy that does not sweat even in a sauna. He made millions on Wall Street not becuase of any skills in finance but solely becuase he could force people to the table, something he was only able to do becuase of the fear that he'd force competitors into a worse deal or send government flacks to make other deals impossible. Not exactly a record to be proud of and frankly skills that even in the White House have limited utility...

Like Nero fiddling while Rome burned the real reason Rahm wanted this job was becuase of the enormous power guys like Daley managed to infuse into an utterly cowed City Council and State Senate / House. Chicago / Illinois is his plaything. If he does not smash to bits he use to springboard to someplace where he can have even more power / wealth and if does break it he will stroll off to his cozy retirement as a rainmaker in a well connected lobbying / law firm, secure in the knowledge this his brainless "party line" supporters will give him a hearty "pat on the back for at least giving it the good fight".

Makes me sick.

You seem like a del Valle guy

[williepotatoes]

I'm not very optimistic about Rahms future. He seems to have zero street cred outside of the loop/lakefront/gentriland. I don't know a single person living west of western avenue who supports him.
He is also increasingly seen as anti-union, even amongst private sector unions that don't do business with the city. Most Republicans that I know hate him for nothing more than him being a Democrat. I have to visit this board to find people who like him.