Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley Set To Leave Office After 22 Years; Holds Open House To Thank City

Mayor Richard Daley's final City Hall open house Monday took on a different tone than others he's hosted over the years, as hundreds of guests came mostly to thank him for decades of service rather than to seek the favor of Chicago's powerful chief executive.



Daley, 69, cedes the office next Monday to Rahm Emanuel, ending the longest run in Chicago mayoral history.


"He's been really good for the city of Chicago," said Gary Chichester, a member of the mayor's Advisory Council on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues, as he waited to greet the mayor. "He's been really good for the LGBT community, and I just want to say thank you for 22 years of wonderful service. I'm going to miss him."


Chichester waited in line along with religious leaders, activists, politicians and political operatives who were invited to the morning edition of the open house.


"We're definitely going to miss him," said Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios, chairman of the county Democratic Party once led by Daley's father. "His leadership was absolutely fabulous for Chicago. … I may see him all the time, but this is a special time for him."



The tone at City Hall was a mix of formal and festive. Controlled lines of well-dressed visitors snaked through the lobby and were entertained by the venerable Shannon Rovers, an Irish bagpipe band that has led the St. Patrick's Day Parade and serenaded mayors for generations.



Starting at 1 p.m., Daley opened his doors for three hours to Chicago folks without invitations, a practice he started after he was first elected in 1989 and continued with each successive election.


Waiting in a line that at one point curled around the corner and out the door were Joe LoPiccolo, a retired quality engineer, and his daughter, Gina.


Daley "has been here for so long, and I felt it's something I had to do," said the elder LoPiccolo, who sported a Cubs cap and noted he's from the North Side like Emanuel. "I'm just going to thank him for all he's done."


Gina LoPiccolo, a 28-year-old theater director, said it's hard to imagine that Daley won't hold the office anymore. "He's the only mayor I know," she said.


One man, who owned a furniture store that he said has done city business, waited in line with a wooden case containing a golf club he planned to present to Daley for his "retirement."


Some of the afternoon visitors were local celebrities in their own right, like Sam Sianis, the Billy Goat Tavern owner who often was a subject of late columnist Mike Royko's musings.


"I just give him a congratulations for all these years he was the mayor here in the city of Chicago and the good job he did for the city, and I think everybody knows how good the mayor was," said Sianis, whose wife operates the chain's O'Hare outpost. "To me, he was the best. ... I wish him a lot of luck."


But Sianis and lesser-known folks won't have to say goodbye to mayoral open houses. Emanuel plans to hold one Monday after he's sworn in for the first time.