Mayoral candidate and former Ald. Bob Fioretti made his own pitch to rename an already-named Chicago landmark for Barack Obama Friday.
Fioretti held a tongue-in-cheek press conference Friday morning outside of the Daley Center, which he proposed should be renamed for the former president.
The press conference was intended as a jab at fellow mayoral hopeful Bill Daley, who suggested last week that the Dan Ryan Expressway should be renamed to honor Obama and said he’d “like to see the legislature act on this early next year.”
“I think if we’re going to start un-naming our public institutions that memorialize 20th century politicians and re-naming them for 21st century politicians, we should start un-naming with the ancestor of the mayoral candidate who thinks it’s such a good idea,” Fioretti said Friday at the press conference, which was described in official releases from his team as a “facetious” event.
Bill Daley is the brother of former Mayor Richard M. Daley, and the son of longtime Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, for whom the plaza is named.
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Daley’s announcement late last week made headlines and stayed in the news after the Ryan family condemned the idea, expressing “shock and disappointment” at the suggestion that the former Cook County board president’s legacy be erased from his namesake highway.
At his press conference Friday morning, Fioretti called Daley’s proposal to rename the Dan Ryan after President Obama “ludicrous” and “a shameful attempt to pander” to African-American voters.
Fioretti and Daley are competing in a crowded race for mayor, with 18 candidates currently in the vying for a spot on the ballot in February.
