Welcome back to the 10 Blocks Podcast. This is your host, Brian Anderson, the editor of City Journal.

Joining me today on the show are two guests. First, we have Aaron Wren. Aaron's a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor to City Journal.

You can follow him on Twitter at UrbanoFile. Joining him is Ralph Manguel. He's the deputy director for legal policy at the

Manhattan Institute. And you can also follow him on Twitter. It's at Rafa underscore J. Doc.

We're gathered here to talk about the second greatest city in the United States, at least as it describes itself, Chicago.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel surprised political world this week when he announced that he would not seek re-election for a third term.

Emmanuel, who previously served under Presidents Obama and Clinton on the federal level,

has faced tremendous challenges

since coming into office in Chicago in 2011. There's been a serious spike and violent crime,

a failing school system, and severely underfunded pensions, just to name a few of the challenges

he's been addressing. But what does his announcement mean

for the city's future? Luckily for us, these two guests have a lot of experience, writing

about, and even living in the Windy City. Aaron and Ralph, thanks for joining us.

Thank you. Thanks for having me. Aaron, we'll start with you. What do you make of

Emmanuel's decision and how

is he leaving the city? Is it better or worse off? He was elected originally in 2011 at a very

bleak time for the city. The entire country had essentially suffered a lost decade. Chicago was no exception. The region

had lost jobs. Mayor Daley, who'd served something like six terms, was deeply unpopular as he

seemed to have lost his magic touch. The city was humiliated in a bid to try to host the 2016 Olympics.

There was a debacle with a 75-year lease for the city's parking meter system.

And there was a sort of civic malaise in the air.

Now, Rahm going to leave in 2019.

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