Richard M. Daley is no longer mayor of Chicago — just don't look too closely at the hundreds of park benches, sidewalks, bridges and buildings adorned with his name.
Perhaps more than any other major American metropolis, Chicago bears the imprint of its longtime leader, who spent 22 years building up a city where he won't soon be forgotten.
"It's a way to stay in power, remind people, `This was done for you. It's a favor, and you should remember,'" said historian Dominic Pacyga, author of "Chicago: A Biography," who added that he hasn't seen such pervasive mayoral name-dropping elsewhere.
It's a good thing new mayor Rahm Emanuel, facing a projected city budget deficit of between $500 million and $700 million, said that he's in no rush to swap it all out.
"I actually did send a message out, I don't want time wasted changing a bunch of signs and wasting taxpayers' dollars," Emanuel said.
About the only prominent places where Emanuel's name already appears, besides his City Hall office, are Chicago's two major airports and above major roadway that welcomes motorists from the south. Elsewhere, Daley endures, including the city's fleet management office where the front wall may as well be a theater marquee bearing his moniker in big block letters.
Some say it's just the Chicago Way.
In New York, nobody would accuse Mayor Michael Bloom
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