The thousands of Democratic conventioneers and media folk assembling in Chicago this summer will be struck, I'm sure, by the extraordinary beauty of our city — a sublime blend of architectural grandeur against a color-charged lakefront. We know it will wow them.

Will they realize, though, that they are visiting the world's greatest city?

The assertion scarcely needs defending. After all, Chicago was the birthplace of the modern American city. We figured out first how to move grain efficiently from farm to table, then we invented skyscrapers. Our architects and social planners drew up blueprints for the world. Our writers gave a national voice to the Midwest. Our musicians gave us the blues.

And we still have all the elements that make a great city. Witness our viable downtown center and the vitality of our neighborhoods.

Indeed, today Chicago is undergoing a renaissance in the arts. Brian Dennehy, during his appearance in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, remarked that Chicago's theater has vigor, creativity and depth, while New York's is suffering from the malaise of recycled musicals.

Live theater is everywhere in Chicago. It is diverse and challenging at the Court, the Goodman, the Shubert, the Steppenwolf, Briar Street, Body Politic and ETA.

Our symphony, Lyric Opera and the new Joffrey Ballet of Chicago are renowned. And artists the world over come to the annual art expo at Navy Pier. In fact, the Pier, which has undergone a major upgrade, has become one of the "signature" sites in our cultural matrix with its Ferris wheel, standout Children's Museum and great hall on the lake.

As the conventioneers throng into Chicago, they will find a magnificent newly christened Museum of Contemporary Art right off the lake. They will tour our world class Art Institute flush from the triumph of the Monet exhibit. Of course, there are other museums as well: our world famous Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum, the Adler Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium and the Historical Society, to mention a few.

And Chicago is beginning to plumb diversity for gold, displaying the genius reposed in black art with exhibits at the Art Institute, the Terra Museum, the Cultural Center, the DuSable Museum and the Southside Community Art Center.

Big city attractions are everywhere, in our jazz, blues and comedy clubs. (After all, Chicago was also the birthplace of the avant-garde comtemporary comedy of Elaine May and Mike Nichols, and the outrageous Blues Brothers.)

We have two major baseball teams. Two! Hockey, soccer and golf thrive here. We have Bears football and Bulls basketball. We have Michael Jordan, just as we once had Muhammad Ali. They've made us winners.

And, unlike a number of major cities, we have two thriving metropolitan newspapers.

Though our famed downtown Loop remains the engine of this city's financial success, our strength as a diverse community of three million people has always emanated from our neighborhoods.

Here politics is not an abstraction. We live in more than 100 distinct communities. That means most of us have an identity that ties us to local schools, parishes, temples, block clubs, local newspapers and, yes, precinct captains. These networks create a sense of belonging that many big city dwellers lack in those two metropolises on the east and west coasts.

Importantly, Chicago's community structure has accelerated the growth of churches, and these churches, in turn, have made significant contributions to the social well-being of their members and to the cultural fiber of the city. Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim — all have contributed to the richness of living in our town.

There are black churches in Chicago with a membership of 10,000. To visit one of these churches is to experience music as a treasured and profoundly soulful American art form.

But undoubtedly, the appeal of these churches lies in the spiritual succor and social services they offer. For the young, they provide nursery schools, summer camps, marriage retreats, counseling, credit unions, job referrals and a valuable professional network. For the elderly, they provide companionship, nursing homes, food, shelter.

Are we free from the enormous problems that plague large urban centers? Of course not. Violence, joblessness, family disintegration, corruption and every other large city malady mock our progress and our radiance.

But our contention is a simple one: That, in the constellation of great American cities, none exceeds Chicago.

Jetta N. Jones is a Chicago attorney and mediator and was a member of the late Mayor Harold Washington's cabinet.

38 ¦ August 1996 Illinois Issues