Record #: R2016-87   
Type: Resolution Status: Failed to Pass
Intro date: 2/10/2016 Current Controlling Legislative Body:
Final action:
Title: Call for renaming of Chicago Cultural Center in honor of Lois Weisberg
Sponsors: Smith, Michele, Tunney, Thomas
Topic: CITY COUNCIL - Miscellaneous
Attachments: 1. R2016-87.pdf
Related files: R2019-362
RESOLUTION \J
WHEREAS, Lois Weisberg was born Lois Porges in Chicago on May 6, 1925, to Mortimer and Jessie Porges and raised in the Austin neighborhood, having attended Austin High School, the University of Illinois, and graduating from the Northwestern School of Speech; and

WHEREAS, Lois Weisberg founded numerous organizations and publications, including Friends of the Park, South Shore Recreation, the Chicago Lawyer newspaper, The Paper, an alternative weekly newspaper, and the Chicago chapter of the George Bernard Shaw Society; and

WHEREAS, prior to entering government, Lois Weisberg was active in the non-profit arena, having served as Director of Development for the Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, and as Executive Director for the Chicago Council of Lawyers; and

WHEREAS, in 1983, Lois Weisberg was appointed by Mayor Harold Washington to head the City's Office of Event Planning, a position she held for four years; and

WHEREAS, in 1989, upon Mayor Richard M. Daley's creation of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Lois Weisberg was appointed Commissioner, a position she served for over two decades, retiring in 2011; and

WHEREAS, in 1991, as Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Lois Weisberg oversaw the transformation of the former central location of the Chicago Public Library into what is now the Chicago Cultural Center; and

WHEREAS, as Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Lois Weisberg led the creation of major cultural attractions, many of which still continue today, including the Chicago Blues Festival, the Chicago Gospel Festival, the "Cows on Parade" in 1999, Gallery 37 student art program in 1991, which later became After School Matters, and the Chicago Holiday Sharing It Program; and

WHEREAS, in 1999, Lois Weisberg was profiled by Malcolm Gladwell for a New Yorker article, titled "Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg," where Gladwell stated "Lois knows lots of people because she likes lots of people. A...

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