Next Monday, Rahm Emanuel will be sworn in as the new mayor of Chicago. This will end the 22-year reign of Richard M. Daley, who topped his father Richard J. Daley by one year for having the longest Chicago mayoral tenure.

Daley has drawn criticism for focusing on the downtown and surrounding areas at the expense of other neighborhoods. The result, however, is not up for debate. The traffic and congestion problems have been greatly reduced by Traffic Control Aides. New bridges, planters, streetlights and more have turned the downtown area into one of the most beautiful in the country. Navy Pier has become a tourist destination as opposed to a wasted piece of land; Millennium Park has become a major hotspot. The area around Soldier Field, the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum has been redeveloped and reconfigured into Museum Campus, another vibrant area which now connects the South Loop with these other attractions. This also creates a corridor to McCormick Place.

I have witnessed firsthand as Chicago morphed into a destination city as opposed to a gritty, working city. I have seen eyesores turn into entertainment attractions. I have seen mundane objects, like street dividers, turned into aesthetic pleasures filled with flowers. I had the pleasure of briefly interviewing Mayor Daley several years ago for an article in Global Traveler, and I was impressed with the passion he had. I had seen that on television but was a bit surprised to see it during my interview. I think his deep love for the city came through clearly. I think it was that same love for Chicago that drove him to want to make Chicago a world-class city.

With the Mayor Emanuel era starting, I want to wish the future mayor good luck. With the Mayor Daley era ending, I want to say thanks for many years of great service, and especially for overseeing the revitalization of the city I love.

— John Wroblewski, distribution specialist