Larry Huggins (born c. February 1950) [1] [2] is the president and chief executive officer of Riteway-Huggins Construction Services (formerly Riteway Construction Services Inc.) [3] He is the former board chairman of the Chicago-area commuter rail service Metra.
Huggins recovered from bankruptcy in the 1970s via affirmative action for Chicago contractors. [4] He is also and alumnus and the former principal of Englewood Technical Prep Academy. [5] [6] Huggins is among the contractors who built AT&T Corporate Center (now known as Franklin Center). [7] He served as vice president of Black Contractors United in the mid-1990s. [8] [9] Huggins is the founder of the annual Chicago Football Classic college football game played at Soldier Field between two historically black colleges and universities. [10] He was appointed to the board of directors of Metra by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1997 and became acting chairman in April 2011. [11] The board was supposed to select a permanent chairman from within its ranks by July 2011, but Huggins felt the chairmanship was a Republican position and withdrew himself from consideration. [12] Huggins served as acting chairman until November 2, 2012 when he was replaced by Brad O'Halloran. [13] Huggins resigned from the board in August 2013 days after O'Halloran resigned. [14] Huggins' resignation came after conversations with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel about a patronage scandal. [15]
His company has been involved in construction at O'Hare International Airport and McCormick Place, [16] including the $115 million no-bid contract to manage the airport's people-mover system. [17] Riteway Construction Services Inc. was the general contractor for Cook County Hospital. [1] His company's role with the County Hospital was controversial when Riteway missed filing its 1997 corporate annual report, leading the Illinois Secretary of State to dissolve the company on January 2, 1998 just prior to the spring 1998 groundbreaking for the $551 million, 464-bed hospital that was four years in the making. [18]
Huggins spent part of his youth in Atlanta and part of it in the Englewood community area of Chicago. [19] [20] His sister, Phyllis, died in 1992. [21]
Richard Michael Daley is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term. At 22 years, his was the longest tenure in Chicago mayoral history, surpassing the 21-year mayoralty of his father, Richard J. Daley.
Irving Kupcinet was an American newspaper columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, television talk-show host, and radio personality based in Chicago, Illinois. He was popularly known by the nickname "Kup".
Karyn Kupcinet was an American stage, film, and television actress. She was the daughter of Chicago newspaper columnist and television personality Irv Kupcinet, and the sister of television director and producer Jerry Kupcinet.
Helen Shiller is a former Alderman of the 46th ward in Chicago, Illinois. Shiller is also a published author, having written a 500-page book on her politics and activism in Chicago from 1971 to 2011. Shiller served in the Chicago City Council for six four-year terms, from 1987 to 2011. Shiller was elected to the City Council on her third attempt, as Harold Washington, Chicago's first black Mayor, was re-elected to his second term, and her election as alderman helped close the Council Wars era in Chicago government. Shiller has been described as "a reformer unafraid to take on the boys in power." A less flattering description is that she is "committed to liberal causes and destroying all within her path". Among her most significant impacts on Chicago were her advocacy for diverse, inclusive, affordable housing and helping craft Chicago's response to the HIV/AIDS crisis. Her commitment to fostering community development without displacement often brought Shiller into contention with some constituencies, real estate developers, and editorial boards. Shiller's oral history was collected by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Uptown resident Studs Terkel in his 2003 book, Hope Dies Last. As she details in her own book, among her policy victories as a City Council member was: getting human rights legislation passed, having Chicago implement anti-apartheid legislation, creating a City Council Subcommittee on Domestic Violence, and building a unique mix-used development.
Edward Michael Burke is an American politician found guilty of racketeering, bribery, and extortion who served as the alderman of Chicago's 14th ward from 1969 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the Chicago City Council in 1969, and represented part of the city's Southwest Side. Chair of Council's Committee on Finance, Burke had been called Chicago's "most powerful alderman" by the Chicago Sun-Times. Burke was named one of the "100 Most Powerful Chicagoans" by Chicago Magazine, describing him as "[o]ne of the last of the old-school Chicago Machine pols."
Latasha R. Thomas is an American politician and former alderman of the 17th Ward of the City of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Thomas was appointed to the position of alderman by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2000, subsequently elected outright in a 2001 special election, and was re-elected in 2003, 2007, and 2011. During her tenure as alderman, Thomas worked to get many of the schools within her ward renovated. In the fall of 2014, Thomas announced that she would not seek re-election in 2015 as alderman, following the announcement that a former employee would run in her place.
Carrie Austin is alderman of the 34th ward on Chicago's far south side. The predominantly African-American ward includes portions of Morgan Park, Roseland, Washington Heights and West Pullman.
Michael Joseph Madigan is an American politician who is the former speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. He was the longest-serving leader of any state or federal legislative body in the history of the United States, having held the position for all but two years from 1983 to 2021. He served in the Illinois House from 1971 to 2021. He represented the 27th District from 1971 to 1983, the 30th district from 1983 to 1993, and the 22nd district from 1993 to 2021. This made him the body's longest-serving member and the last legislator elected before the Cutback Amendment.
Bernard "Berny" L. Stone was alderman of the 50th Ward of the City of Chicago, Illinois from 1973 to 2011. The 50th Ward encompasses part of Chicago's far North Side and includes the West Ridge and Peterson Park neighborhoods. First elected to the Council in 1973, Stone was the second longest-serving alderman. His tenure spanned the terms of seven Mayors, from Richard J. Daley to Richard M. Daley. Stone was also Vice Mayor of the City of Chicago from 1998 to 2011.
The Hired Truck Program was a scandal-plagued program in the city of Chicago that involved hiring private trucks to do city work. It was overhauled in 2004 after an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that some participating companies were being paid for doing little or no work, had mob connections, or were tied to city employees. Truck owners also paid bribes in order to get into the program.
Sandra Lee Jackson is an American politician. She was elected to the Chicago City Council as an alderman of the 7th ward of the City of Chicago in the 2007 municipal elections held on February 27, 2007. She succeeded Darcel A. Beavers who had been appointed by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley after the 2006 November elections to succeed her father William Beavers, Jackson's rival, as alderman of the 7th Ward. Jackson resigned from Chicago City Council, effective January 15, 2013. On February 20, 2013, Jackson pleaded guilty to one count of filing false tax returns, and on August 14, 2013, was sentenced to one year in prison.
Toni Lynn Preckwinkle is an American politician and the current County Board president in Cook County, Illinois, United States. She was elected to her first term as president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the executive branch of Cook County government, in November 2010, becoming the first woman elected to that position.
The BP Pedestrian Bridge, or simply BP Bridge, is a girder footbridge in the Loop community area of Chicago, United States. It spans Columbus Drive to connect Maggie Daley Park with Millennium Park, both parts of the larger Grant Park. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry and structurally engineered by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, it opened along with the rest of Millennium Park on July 16, 2004. Gehry had been courted by the city to design the bridge and the neighboring Jay Pritzker Pavilion, and eventually agreed to do so after the Pritzker family funded the Pavilion.
Robin Carolle Brantley, known professionally as Robin Robinson, is a longtime Chicago television news anchor best known for her 27 years as main news anchor at Fox-owned WFLD-TV in Chicago. She can now be heard on the radio at WBBM (AM) as a fill-in anchor/reporter and WVON as host of her own show, 'Robin's Nest.'
The Park Grill is the only full-service restaurant included in Millennium Park in Chicago, Illinois. Its outdoor seating area is the largest al fresco dining area in Chicago. It has placed among the leaders in citywide best-of competitions for best burger and is widely praised for its views.
Gery J. Chico is an American politician, Chicago lawyer, public official and former Democratic primary candidate for United States Senate.
Patrick Richard Daley is an American businessman. He is the son of the former mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley. Daley and his father are partners in a Chicago-based investment firm.
The Chicago mayoral election of 2007 saw incumbent mayor Richard M. Daley win a landslide victory, garnering a 51-point margin of victory.
The Chicago Department of Transportation is an executive department of the City of Chicago responsible for the safety, environmental sustainability, maintenance, and aesthetics of the surface transportation networks and public ways within the city. This includes the planning, design, construction, and management of streets, sidewalks, bridges, and alleys.
An election took place on February 24, 2015, to elect the mayor of Chicago. The election was non-partisan and no candidate received a majority. A runoff election was held between the top two finishers on April 7, 2015, and resulted in the reelection of incumbent mayor Rahm Emanuel. The elections were concurrent with the 2015 Chicago aldermanic elections.
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