One of C̶h̶i̶c̶a̶g̶o̶'̶s̶ - no. I̶l̶l̶i̶n̶o̶i̶s̶'̶ - No. The Country's most fascinating and newsworthy politicians just died today.
She was 80. She was something else. She made Chicago great.
On edit, Len O'Connor, a long time Chicago newsman, called her the most intelligent mayoral candidate we ever had. Ye Olde Mare Daley was kind of a punk, old school, and powerful. Mike Bilandic? Nice guy. not known for much, even if he sat on the Supreme Court later in life (and took life drawing classes sitting next to me). Harold Washington? Street smart, but always under attack when Chicago was called Beirut on the Lake. Lil mayor Daley? Let's just count the number of times he had to take the bar exam. That says it all. Rahm? Slyness and manipulation does not automatically mean that you were brilliant.
When Cabrini Green was a codeword for the most vile urban ghetto in the country, what did Mayor Byrne do? She moved in. She cleaned it up. She had arrested the worst of the worst, and earned eternal thanks of the many thousands who had suffered there. What makes that move ironic is who she lost to after only one term - Harold Washington, Chicago's first black mayor. (he died in office of a heart attack)
When Navy Pier, an old navy training site, a former university center, a sprawling falling apart wreck was ready to fall into Lake Michigan, she concocted a weird thing called Chicago Fest, followed by a Taste of Chicago, and laid the groundwork to create a fantastic urban reuse, with museums, galleries, restaurants, Ferris Wheel, and more. Taste has since grown, and become a yearly event.
She also was instrumental to have other concerts, first at the Pier, then later onshore.
When gay rights were ignored or spat upon, Jane was the very first urban mayor to attend any gay rights parade, earning enemies, but many more friends. I think you can safely say that Jane Byrne built a bridge between politicians and the gay community. Even before San Fran.
She was the first (and only) female mayor of a large metropolitan city. She fixed things, she made things happen, and she even saved the life of Spiderman who was being pummeled by water hoses from Chicago Fire Dept. as he tried to climb one of Chicago's skyscrapers. She ordered the idiot fire chief to stop. or else.
One of the best curmudgeons in print, Mike Royko, renamed her Good Jane/Bad Jane, because of how she would sometimes change positions, especially when more information became available.
She was a gem. She was smart. She made Chicago a happening place.
She will be missed. RIP Jane.
From Wikipedia:
Jane Margaret Burke-Byrne (May 24, 1934 - November 14, 2014) was a former Mayor of Chicago. She served in office from April 16, 1979 to April 29, 1983. She is the first and to-date only female mayor of Chicago. Chicago is the largest city in the United States to have had a female mayor as of 2014. Byrne first entered politics to help John F. Kennedy get elected president in 1960. It was during that campaign that she first met Mayor Richard J. Daley.
In 1968, Daley appointed her head of Chicago's consumer affairs department. Byrne held that post until she was fired by Mayor Michael Bilandic in 1977. After her firing, Byrne launched a campaign to unseat Bilandic in the 1979 Democratic mayoral primary, the real contest in this heavily Democratic city. At first, political observers believed her to have little chance of winning. However, a series of major snowstorms in January paralyzed the city and caused Bilandic to be seen as an ineffective leader. Jesse Jackson endorsed Byrne. Many Republican voters voted in the Democratic primary in order to beat Mayor Bilandic and the Democratic "Machine". Infuriated voters in the North Side and Northwest Side retaliated against Bilandic for the Democratic Party's slating of only South Side candidates for the mayor, clerk, and treasurer (the outgoing city clerk, John C. Marcin, was from the Northwest Side). These four factors combined to give Byrne a razor-thin 51% to 49% victory over Bilandic in the primary.[2] She then won the general election with 82 percent of the vote, still the largest margin in a Chicago mayoral election.