Mayor Emanuel Emerges To Take Reporters' Questions
(CBS) -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday answered reporters' questions for the first time in more than a week—and then responded that he saw no need to do it any more often than that.
Was he kidding? You never know. He's already spent $2.5 million on TV time to get his message out, without having to endure probing questions from reporters.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports.
The mayor presided over the signing of a $900 million deal to build a condo-hotel project just north of the new Maggie Daley Park on the south bank of the Chicago River. It's to be a joint venture between a Chicago developer and one of China's biggest real estate firms.
"It's also a vote of confidence in the city of Chicago and the actions we're taking and the opportunity here," the mayor said.
And while there were some questions about the proposed 88-story skyscraper, most of the others were about charges made by opponents in the mayoral primary campaign.
Like Willie Wilson calling the mayor's challenging his petitions "racist."
"There's no merit to that, and we all have a responsibility. I was challenged, other people have, and we're doing what's appropriate by the standards of the board of elections," Emanuel responded.
Some unions have filed suit against the mayor's pension reform law.
"We took on the challenge of underfunded pensions and addressed it head-on in a responsible way," the mayor said.
And why hasn't he hired 1,000 new police officers, like he promised four years ago?
"We have taken officers from behind desks to put them behind the wheels. We have dramatically increased our after-school and summer jobs investment, and we have to consistently work at making sure ... we get guns off the streets," Emanuel says.
Levine also asked Emanuel about Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia's charge that he was relying on paid ads and avoiding reporters.
"We'll continue to take the questions as I do all the time from everybody," Emanuel said, even though it had been eight days since last having an "availability" with the media.
The mayor also danced around questions about his annual family Christmas trip, finally saying the Emanuels will be going to Chile.
