Chicago Mayor Emanuel Announces Park Plans to a Skeptical Audience

"Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday delivered a feel-good litany of achievements and goals on his efforts to improve Chicago's parks as he tries to improve his standing with Chicagoans in general," reports John Byrne.

Bryne adds: "Emanuel used his parks address to attempt to connect with lower-income Chicagoans, repeatedly returning to the theme of access to nature and recreational activities for children all over the city whose parents in many cases can't afford to take them on trips."

The article also includes a rundown of the projects and proposals listed by Mayor Emanuel during the speech. Byrne notes that many of the higher-profile plans in the speech, "already had been released before Emanuel spoke." Going one step further, Byrne also assesses the speech this way: "It's the latest example of the mayor slapping a quotable title on a speech to try to help it gain traction and underscore that he means it to have special significance."

Writing for Next City, Kelsey E. Thomas aggregates the collected response of local media to the mayor's speech, all of which have the same tone of skepticism. The Next City article is headlined, at least, by a quote from the mayor, describing the Chicago River as the city's "Next Great Recreational Park."

As for the aforementioned survey of local media coverage, Zach Long writes for Time Out Chicago, and Fran Speilman writes for the Chicago Sun-Times.