A beautiful Chicago skyline means nothing if you can’t see it.
And because that skyline is one of the city’s main selling points, Chicago officials want to make sure that during the Democratic National Convention, the world has a perfect view.
“We want to make the city look as inviting as we can for the TV cameras,” said Helene Berlin, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Building Owners and Managers Association. “The way the city shows itself is very important to everyone involved in business in Chicago.”
The association, at the request of Mayor Richard Daley’s office, has asked all downtown buildings to keep their office lights on at night during the Aug. 26-29 convention.
Most building owners have agreed to the request, despite the extra cost, and a few will go a step further by bathing their exteriors in red, white and blue lights.
The first to put on its convention costume was the Lurie Company, 221 N. LaSalle St. Others planning to follow include the Merchandise Mart, the “diamond-topped” Stone Container Corp. building at 150 N. Michigan Ave. and the John Hancock Center.
Lottery winners: After Chicago’s second accountant-supervised lottery to dole out one-hour time slots in two “protest pits,” 30 of the 96 slots remain unclaimed.
Most of the open times are on Aug. 29, the final day of the convention, or in the early mornings or late evenings. The protest area in a parking lot a block east of the United Center is slightly more popular with protesters than the corner of East Balbo Drive and South Michigan Avenue, the site of violent confrontations between police and demonstrators during the 1968 convention.
Among groups that won spots in the second lottery, held Thursday, are the League of Revolutionaries for a New America, the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce, the American (ART) Party, the Illinois North Shore NSS, Surviving These Streets, COTT: Hemophiliacs with AIDS, and Illinois Animal Action.
Marius Dowell, head of Surviving These Streets, says the group is made up of 25 to 50 men in their 20s and 30s who work with youths, trying to help them stay out or get out of gangs and avoid drugs.
“We talk politics with them and try to get them back in school,” Dowell said.
More Top Picks Best French Door Air Fryers
Remaining slots will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Those interested must go to Room 100 in City Hall at 4 p.m. the day before they want to protest.
Speechifying: Eager for his turn, President Clinton is crafting a Chicago convention address that proposes several second-term initiatives, possibly including his own plan for tax breaks. And first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will get her say.
The decision to give Hillary Clinton a high-profile convention role was solidified by Republican nominee Bob Dole’s veiled attack Thursday night on her children-and-families portfolio.
Her speech has gone through several drafts, but aides said Dole gave her another target when he used her book, “It Takes a Village,” to denounce Clinton’s record on children.