Robert Mier had been Commissioner of Economic Development, Kari Moe in the Mayors Office in the Harold Washington administration. Here they draw on that experience for a well referenced and detailed account of the Department of Economic Development (DED). They describe its policy roots in Chicago's neighborhood movement. They reference the Chicago Workshop on Economic Development (CWED), Moe's role carrying that background into the Washington campaign and administration, while Mier points out his own experience teaching planning at UIC working with neighborhood organizations which later became "delegate agencies" working with DED. The chapter goes on to describe the struggle to create a neighborhood oriented and decentralized organizational culture in the face of Washington's political needs to succeed with "big bang" projects like the White Sox and Bears' stadiums, Wrigley Field lights, and a new central public library.