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player ready...After leaving the Chicago Park District without a permanent president for almost a year, Mayor Richard M. Daley on Tuesday moved to name a banker and a former city attorney to head the parks board.
The board has been without a permanent leader since Daley chose former President Michael Scott to head the Chicago Board of Education last June.
On Tuesday, the City Council’s Parks Committee approved Daley’s appointment of Maria N. Saldana to the board, and Saldana and several city and park sources confirmed that Daley is expected to back her as his choice to head the board.
If park commissioners follow Daley’s lead, Saldana would be the first female president of Chicago’s parks and would replace temporary President William Bartholomay, who is leaving the board after 22 years.
Saldana last year became a senior vice president at Ramirez & Co. Inc., which in 2001 underwrote at least $2.19 billion in city, Chicago airport and Board of Education bonds. She previously worked four years with the politically prominent law firm of Altheimer & Gray. She worked from 1989 to 1997 as head of the city Law Department’s finance and contract division.
The committee also approved the appointment of attorney Rouhy J. Shalabi of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations, to replace parks Commissioner Anita Cummings.
Saldana’s and Shalabi’s appointments are expected to be approved Wednesday by the fullcouncil. Park commissioners likely will vote to make Saldana board president at their annual meeting June 26.