Record #: R2014-443   
Type: Resolution Status: Failed to Pass
Intro date: 6/25/2014 Current Controlling Legislative Body: Committee on Finance
Final action: 5/20/2015
Title: Call for renaming of "Clarence F. Buckingham Memorial Fountain" to "Jane M. Byrne Plaza"
Sponsors: Burke, Edward M., Cullerton, Timothy M., Tunney, Thomas, Thompson, JoAnn, Maldonado, Roberto, Laurino, Margaret, Dowell, Pat, Quinn, Marty, O'Shea, Matthew J., Mitts, Emma, Balcer, James, Holmes, Natashia, Graham, Deborah L., Fioretti, Bob, Pope, John, Sawyer, Roderick T., Sposato, Nicholas, Burnett, Jr., Walter, Suarez, Regner Ray, Austin, Carrie M., Hairston, Leslie A., O'Connor, Mary, Colón, Rey, Lane, Lona, Foulkes, Toni, Mendoza, Susana A.
Topic: CITY COUNCIL - Miscellaneous
Attachments: 1. R2014-443.pdf
Related files: R2015-407
 
RESOLUTION
 
 
 
 
WHEREAS, Jane Margaret Burke was born in Chicago on May 24, 1934 to Edward and Katherine Burke; and
 
WHEREAS, in 1956, she married William P. Byrne, a U.S. Marine aviator, who was killed in a plane crash in 1959; and
 
WHEREAS, in 1978, Jane M. Byrne married Jay McMullen, to whom she remained wed until his death on March 18, 1992; and
 
WHEREAS, in 1968 Jane M. Byrne was appointed commissioner of the Department of Consumer Sales, Weights, and Measures by Mayor Richard J. Daley and thus became the first woman cabinet member in the history of the city; and
 
 
WHEREAS, in April of 1979. Jane M. Byrne became the first woman elected mayor of Chicago, receiving 82 percent of the vote over Republican Wallace Johnson; and
 
WHEREAS, Mayor Jane M. Byrne began the expansion of O'Hare International Airport, which is largely recognized as one of her most important achievements; and
 
WHEREAS, the Taste of Chicago began during Jane M. Byrne's tenure as Mayor, as did announcement ofthe Orange Line project and the opening of a rapid transit extension to O'Hare International Airport; and
 
WHEREAS, Mayor Jane M. Byrne had a vision for the redevelopment of Navy Pier and the creation of the Museum Campus; and
WHEREAS, Mayor Jane M. Byrne attracted national publicity and increased her popularity among Chicagoans by moving into the Cabrini Green public housing project in 1981, thereby \l    drawing attention to the deteriorated public housing conditions and helping to improve city services to the area; and
 
WHEREAS, Mayor Jane M. Byrne was the first Chicago mayor to proclaim "Gay Pride Parade Day in Chicago," which was first designated on June 28, 1981; and
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago intends to designate a suitable commemoration to honor Jane
M. Byrne in order to ensure that the legacy of our city's fi»St wcjjpan mayor       never be
f^    forgotten; now, therefore      l/^^^f "^^L// '/^ 2—
\&      BE IT RESOLVED, that the plaza on which the Clarence^Buddnj^
sits is hereby renamed the "Jane M. Byrne Plaza" in recogRilixin-rTf*TJTeachievements of Jane M. Byrne, and as a symbol of the esteem in which Jane M. Byrne is held by the Mayor, the City Courub|jJ and theresidents of Chicago.