The Chicago Park District is the oldest and financially largest Park District in the nation, with over a $400 million budget. Though it is small in terms of total landed area -- it is backed by the Cook County Forest Preserve District -- it is one of the few park districts to have its own independent taxing authoirity. The CEO of the Park District is appointed by the Mayor of Chicago. The agency has long been considered a dumping ground for political appointees; most famously, it was run by Ed Kelly, one of the "Eddies" who frustrated Mayor Harold Washington in the 1980s. The size and personnel of the Park District was dramatically pared down during the reform administration of Daley-appointed CEO Forrest Claypool in the mid-1990s. Cook County is the name of several counties in the United States: Cook County, Georgia Cook County, Illinois Cook County, Minnesota Cooke County, Texas This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the job of having the ultimate executive responsibility or authority within an organization or corporation. ... A mayor (from the Latin maÄ«or, meaning larger,greater) is the politician who serves as chief executive official of some types of municipalities. ... Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... Harold Lee Washington (April 15, 1922-November 25, 1987) was a lawyer, legislator, and the first African-American Mayor of Chicago, Illinois serving from 1983 until his death in 1987. ... Forrest Claypool is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. ...