Oh I agree. I grew up as a kid in Chicago at the time and think that she did a few things to make downtown a decent place - which went into full gentrification in the 90s. Did I lose my memory, but I seem to recall her winning her race for mayor because her opponent, who was part of the Daley machine, failed to shovel the snow off the streets after a rough blizzard? And we all know if you want to be mayor of that town you have to 1) pick of the trash and 2) shovel the snow off the streets.
You are correct.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Blizzard_of_1979
The city’s inadequate response to the blizzard was blamed primarily on mayor Michael Bilandic, who had assumed the post after the 1976 death of Richard J. Daley.[2][3] Newspaper articles at the time blasted Bilandic; Jane Byrne, Bilandic’s main political rival in the Democratic primary (who had previously worked with Bilandic in the Daley administration and been fired by Bilandic when the two could not get along), capitalized on this and went on to defeat Bilandic in the February 27 primary.