Mayor's Office

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday conceded that the Chicago Police Department was “slow to react” to a diffusion of street gangs that adversely affected the city’s murder rate; “We had arrested the gang leadership [in] part of my tenure correctly … so there was no leadership in these gangs,” Emanuel explained; Mayor added, “So it wasn’t two gangs fighting each other,” but, “It was two groups inside of these gangs fighting each other for turf”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday said, “We think we hit the right balance” in an ordinance that would regulate the nascent ride-share industry, made up of companies like Uber, Lyft and Sidecar; Mayor’s ordinance, among other things, would require ride-share drivers to undergo criminal background checks and illegal drug tests and submit their vehicles for annual inspections

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Wednesday that city workers have been repaving roughly 8,500 potholes each day; Crews began fixing potholes a week earlier than usual this year, and in January the city launched an online feature that allows for the tracking of pothole repairs

Mayor Rahm Emanuel appeared on an episode of “The Steve Harvey Show,” which was taped Tuesday and scheduled to air on WMAQ-Channel 5 at 2 p.m. Wednesday, in which the mayor recognizes community activist Andrew Holmes as part of the “Harvey’s Hero” segment; Holmes helped launch the 1-800-TELL-US anonymous tip hotline, which is designed to help combat gang violence

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Transit Authority President Forrest Claypool announced a CTA bus modernization program, under which some of 300 new buses – each with 10 surveillance cameras, larger windows and improved interior lighting – are scheduled to begin service this spring; All 300 buses are expected to provide service by the end of next year

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday referred to the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute, which is set to be located in Chicago and operated by a consortium headed by the University of Illinois’ UI Labs, as “Olympic gold”; Institute is slated to be funded by $234 million in private donations, a $70 million U.S. Defense Department grant and $16 million from the state

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday said, “We will be ready,” if federal authorities decide to try Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, a Mexican drug lord, in Chicago; Jack Riley, head of the Chicago Drug Enforcement Agency, said, “I think we have the strongest case” against Guzman if he stands trial in Chicago

Office of Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Dubai-based Emirates Airlines plans on Aug. 5 to launch daily, non-stop Boeing 777-200 LR flights from O’Hare Airport to Dubai; New flights are projected to generate an almost $200 million yearly economic impact

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday issued a statement in response to U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman’s ruling that same-sex couples in Cook County can get married before June 1, when the state’s gay marriage law is set to take effect; Emanuel stated, “I applaud today’s decision that all Chicagoans have the right to marry,” adding, “Love does not discriminate, and neither should the law”

Shannon Breymaier, spokesman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, said on Wednesday that city officials plan to seek City Council approval in March for $1.5 million in TIF money for the development of a skate park on 3 acres of space in the southwest corner of Grant Park