Record #: R2019-308   
Type: Resolution Status: Adopted
Intro date: 4/10/2019 Current Controlling Legislative Body:
Final action: 4/10/2019
Title: Gratitude extended to Alderman Daniel Solis on dedicated service to 25th Ward
Sponsors: Emanuel, Rahm
Attachments: 1. R2019-308.pdf

RESOLUTION

WHE REAS, The Members of this Chamber are proud to congratulate our friend and colleague, Alderman Daniel ("Danny") Solis, on his twenty-three years of dedicated and outstanding service to the people ofthe 25th Ward and the City of Chicago; and

WHEREAS, Alderman Solis was bom to a working-class family in Monterrey, Mexico in 1949. When he was six, his mother moved him and his five siblings to Chicago to join his father, who had gone ahead ofthe family to find work. Starting at the age of thirteen, Daniel Solis began working various jobs to help support his family. His favorite job lasted for only a short while: selling newspapers outside of City Hall. After graduating from high school, Daniel enrolled in a civil engineering technician apprenticeship to help pay his tuition at the University of Illinois at Chicago, which he attended from 1970 to 1974. In 1972, while working toward a Bachelor's Degree in Education, Daniel Solis enrolled in the National Teacher Corps. Later, he co-founded and directed the Latino Youth Alternative High School in Pilsen in an effort to get teenagers who were using drugs interested in learning; and

WHEREAS, In the early 1970s, when Pilsen became Chicago's first predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood, Daniel Solis committed himself to neighborhood improvement and to political empowerment of the Hispanic community. He served as the first Latino Executive Director of the Pilsen Neighbors Community Council, a grassroots effort to improve housing, build educational opportunities, and organize residents. He served on the Board of Directors of the Eighteenth Street Development Corporation, which worked to create job opportunities for young people, and on the Board of Directors of Gads Hill Center. And he founded the United Neighborhood Organization ("UNO"), where, as Executive Director, he led an effort to help 12,000 immigrants become naturalized citizens and register to vote. While at UNO, Daniel Solis participated in an intensive training program offered by the Industrial Areas Foundation, a transformational experience which prompted him to steer UNO toward school reform and to launch a campaign to create local school councils in Chicago public schools; and

WHEREAS, In 1995, Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed Daniel Solis as Chairman of Mayor Daley's Citizenship Assistance Council, which oversaw the naturalization of more than 70,000 immigrants from around the world, and to the Chicago Housing Authority Board of Commissioners and the Regional Transportation Authority. Daniel Solis also completed a two-year appointment to Fannie Mae's National Advisory Board; and

WHEREAS, In 1996, Mayor Daley appointed Daniel Solis as Alderman ofthe 25th Ward and as 25lh Ward Democratic Committeeman. Alderman Solis was reelected by his constituents to five additional consecutive terms in office. In 2001, Alderman Solis was named President Pro Tempore of the Chicago City Council; and

WHEREAS, Throughout his tenure in office, Alderman Solis focused on creating jobs and making physical improvements to the 25th Ward. His many accomplishments include an

 

 

expanded National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen; the creation ofthe Ping Tom Memorial Park in Chinatown; the rehabilitation ofthe Archer Courts Apartments senior housing development; and the installation of The Heart of Chicago streetscape to highlight the 25th Ward's fine Italian cuisine and world-class restaurants; and

WHEREAS, Widely admired for his ability to build coalitions with organizations and other stakeholders, Alderman Solis successfully encouraged the International Produce Market and American Linen Company to maintain a presence in the 25th Ward's Planned Manufacturing District, which brought several hundred jobs into the community and resulted in a $60 million investment there. Other capital improvements include miles of street and alley repaving, reconstruction of vaulted sidewalks, cul-de-sac development, increased street lighting, numerous beautification projects, and several institutional expansions; and

WHEREAS, Thanks to Alderman Solis's efforts, the 25th Ward is now a major hub of cultural activity in Chicago, especially Chinese, Mexican and Italian culture, and it serves as a premier destination for visitors and residents alike; and

WHEREAS, Alderman Solis served with distinction on many Chicago City Council committees, including most recently as Chairman of the Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards, and as a member of the Committee on Aviation, Committee on the Budget and Government Operations, Committee on Committees, Rules and Ethics, Committee on Education and Child Development, Committee on Finance, Committee on Human Relations, Committee on Public Safety, and Committee on Workforce Development and Audit; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and Members ofthe City Council ofthe City of Chicago, assembled this tenth day of April, 2019, do hereby extend to Alderman Daniel Solis our deepest gratitude and thanks for his many years of exceptional service to the people of Chicago, and our best wishes for continued success in all of his future endeavors; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Alderman Daniel Solis as a token of our appreciation and esteem.