hicago Mayor Richard M. Daley said on Tuesday he will not run for reelection to a seventh term in February, saying simply that it was the right time for him to leave.
"In the coming days I know there will be some reflecting on my time as mayor. Many of you will search what's behind my decision. It's simple: I've always believed that every person, especially public officials, must understand when it's time to move on.
"For me, that time is now," Daley, 68, told reporters.
A Democrat who has never sought higher office since being elected mayor in a special election in 1989, Daley will surpass the 21-year tenure in office of his famous father, Richard J. Daley, this year.
On a personal level, Daley's wife, Maggie, has been treated in recent years for cancer that has spread.
Daley, a former state legislator and county prosecutor who was reared to adopt the political mantle worn by his legendary father, said he had been thinking about not running again for several months.
"I have given it my all. I have done my best," he said. "It just feels right."
After more than two decades in City Hall, Daley leaves a long legacy -- though he has also had his share of detractors.
"He'll be remembered positively for shepherding Chicago through the transformation from a manufacturing and service economy to becoming a global city," said political analyst Dick Simpson of the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Daley viewed himself as an urban planner, intent on beautifying a city linked to a grimy industrial past featuring steel mills and slaughterhouses.
He ordered tree and flower plantings, developed an old pier and a city park as tourist attractions, and helped developers repopulate the downtown area.
Daley pushed hard for Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games, but the effort fell short despite strong backing by President Barack Obama, a fellow Chicagoan.
And he has come under increasing criticism on several fronts. His public approval rating in a Chicago Tribune newspaper poll a few months ago sank to about a only one-third of respondents.
He was criticized by some for engineering the lease of the city's parking meter system for what some said was a bargain price. He also came under fire for using millions of dollars in proceeds from the privatization of the Chicago Skyway, a highway linking the city with Indiana, and city parking garages to shore up budget shortfalls.
Daley was interviewed by the U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago during the federal investigation of the city's hiring practices, though he was never implicated.
Two officials in his administration have been convicted of schemes involving nepotism in hiring and illegally using city workers to perform campaign work.
Daley had made an unsuccessful run for mayor in 1983 before winning a special election to finish out the term of Harold Washington, the city's first black mayor, who died in office.
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