Dirty Waters
Confessions of Chicago's Last Harbor Boss
1st Edition
Published on 22. December 2022
304 pages
978-0-226-33452-3 (ISBN)
Description
A wry, no-holds-barred memoir of Nelson's time controlling some of Chicago'smost beautiful spots while facing some of its ugliest traditions.
In 1987, the city of Chicago hired a former radical college chaplain to clean up rampant corruption on the waterfront. R. J. Nelson thought he was used to the darker side of the law-he had been followed by federal agents and wiretapped due to his antiwar stances in the sixties-but nothing could prepare him for the wretched bog that constituted the world of a Harbor Boss. Dirty Waters is the wry, no-holds-barred memoir of Nelson's time controlling some of the city's most beautiful spots while facing some of its ugliest traditions. Nelson takes us through Chicago's beloved "blue spaces" and deep into the city's political morass, revealing the different moralities underlining three mayoral administrations and navigating the gritty mechanisms of the city's political machine. Ultimately, Dirty Waters is a tale of morality, of what it takes to be a force for good in the world and what struggles come from trying to stay ethically afloat in a sea of corruption.
In 1987, the city of Chicago hired a former radical college chaplain to clean up rampant corruption on the waterfront. R. J. Nelson thought he was used to the darker side of the law-he had been followed by federal agents and wiretapped due to his antiwar stances in the sixties-but nothing could prepare him for the wretched bog that constituted the world of a Harbor Boss. Dirty Waters is the wry, no-holds-barred memoir of Nelson's time controlling some of the city's most beautiful spots while facing some of its ugliest traditions. Nelson takes us through Chicago's beloved "blue spaces" and deep into the city's political morass, revealing the different moralities underlining three mayoral administrations and navigating the gritty mechanisms of the city's political machine. Ultimately, Dirty Waters is a tale of morality, of what it takes to be a force for good in the world and what struggles come from trying to stay ethically afloat in a sea of corruption.
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10/2016
University of Chicago Press
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Person
R. J. Nelson is a former Superintendent of Special Services and Director of Harbors and Marine Services for the Chicago Park District, positions he held from 1987 to 1994. He is also the retired CEO of the Hammond Indiana Port Authority. His other positions included vice president of Grebe Shipyard in Chicago, administrator at the University of Chicago, and chaplain at Cornell University. He lives in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago.
Content
- Intro
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Dawn City
- Harbors as Neighborhoods
- Harbor Rats
- A Boat Slip and Fall
- Feet Wet
- Harold
- Rainbows and Riots
- Indictments
- April Fools
- Harbor Fire
- Sand Traps
- Wulky
- Moving on Up
- Fog Bowl
- D-Day
- Batman
- Paul McCartney
- Golf Dome from Hell
- MBE/WBE
- "Lakefront's Small Wonder"
- A Coast Guard Station Restored
- A Reporter Falls Overboard
- Tagline Contest
- Daley's Underground River
- A Tale of Two Conventions
- From Malcolm X to Muhammad Ali
- So Sad, Too Bad
- Glatt
- Afterglow
- Filan Report
- Basement Dreams
- Afterword
- Notes
