The Byrne legacy . . .
Smell the flowers.
Well, almost.
Sneed has learned that Mayor Rahm Emanuel has set aside a date in late spring to officially rename the old Water Tower Park for the late Jane Byrne, the city’s only female mayor.
OPINION
“Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten,” said Kelley Quinn, a mayoral spokeswoman. “The mayor is on it, and the Jane M. Byrne Plaza will feature Mayor Byrne’s favorite flowers: Hyacinths, lilacs and tulips and roses, which have already been ordered.”
Last July, the City Council approved plans to rename the park after the city’s forgotten mayor, who served one term in office from 1979 to 1983, but little word about plans had been forthcoming.
“I’m thrilled to hear plans are moving forward,” said Byrne’s only child, Kathy. “I think it’s wonderful. I’m very excited about it. Late spring will mean there will be beautiful flowers there.”
Byrne, who died in November, was able to attend the dedication last August of her first memorial, prompted by former Gov. Pat Quinn’s action: the Jane Byrne Interchange.
“It’s sad Mom won’t be there to attend the dedication of the park, which is in her neighborhood and where the old Water Tower sits,” her daughter said.
She is hoping that the Children’s Fountain, which Byrne installed along Wacker Drive in 1982, will be moved from its current home in Lincoln Park to the Jane M. Byrne Plaza.
Hmmm . . .
Sneed hears a rather irritated and/or agitated and/or exhausted Mayor Rahm Emanuel was seen exiting a Streeterville building Wednesday morning inhabited by his former mayoral opponent Willie Wilson.
• Hmmmm. Did an ostensible pitch for support from Wilson in Rahm’s runoff against Jesus “Chuy” Garcia on April 7 go north or south? Whadda you think?
Jail mail . . .
Whatever happened to Stacy Peterson??
The disappearance of convicted murderer Drew Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy, has resurfaced in the new murder-for-hire case against Peterson.
RELATED: Sneed exclusive: Snitch who says he set up Drew Peterson in murder-for-hire plot wants to help defense Sneed: Drew Peterson may have been ‘entrapped’ in murder-for-hire plot, ex-attorney says Sneed: Drew Peterson still has plenty of fans
In one of two letters sent to Peterson’s former attorney, Joel Brodsky, a Stateville Correctional Center prisoner alludes to information that Drew Peterson told a cellmate in prison about Stacy’s whereabouts.
“Mr. Peterson . . . even confided in him about unknown details concerning the disappearance of his wife, Stacey, saying “I dumped her in Lake Michigan,” writes the inmate — who claims he paired up with another prisoner who was friends with Peterson to set him up in a scheme to get better prison deals.
The letter also claims “the evidence that will come out against Mr. Peterson will mainly be recorded conversations obtained by recording devices provided by the F.B.I.”
The letters from the inmate, who felt the feds reneged on the entrapment deal with him, claim he now wants to be part of the legal defense of Peterson against charges he was soliciting the murder of Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow, who successfully prosecuted Peterson in the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio — and considers him a prime suspect in the murder of his wife, Stacy.
Sneed also hears that the prisoner’s former cellmate, the snitch who actually wore the wire, is now in the Witness Protection program.
The billionaire’s diet . . .
Warren Buffett, 84, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO, drinks five cans of Coca-Cola a day. He also eats heaps of Utz potato sticks and chocolate ice cream for breakfast.
“I checked the actuarial tables, and the lowest death rate is among six-year-olds,” Buffett told Fortune magazine. “So I decided to eat like a six-year-old. It’s the safest course I can take.”
There ya go.
Sneedlings . . .
Thursday’s birthdays: Michael Bolton, 62; Fats Domino, 87, and Erykah Badu, 44.
