Crain's investigation: The high price of political payback at McCormick Place
By: James Ylisela Jr. November 14, 2011
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Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan cost taxpayers nearly half-a-billion dollars by blocking repeated efforts to restructure McCormick Place bonds and finance a much-needed second hotel at the convention center, a Crain's investigation finds.
Between 2005 and 2010, Mr. Madigan stopped five refinancing bills, ignoring declining interest rates that would have saved hundreds of millions. At the time, he never explained why, but his reasons seem petty and political: McCormick Place CEO Juan Ochoa, an appointee of then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, had fired a Madigan ally at the convention center, and lawmakers from both parties say the speaker wanted retribution.
"It was no secret that Madigan had a beef with Ochoa and wanted him gone," says state Rep. Angelo "Skip" Saviano, an Elmwood Park Republican who sponsored refinancing bills in 2005, 2007 and 2009. "As long as Ochoa was there, Madigan wasn't going to give McCormick Place anything."
But politics may not have been Mr. Madigan's only motivation. By holding up refinancing, the speaker also denied McCormick Place the money to build a new hotel. That bought time for clout-heavy developers Gerald Fogelson and Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises Inc. to push a controversial land swap and hotel deal with McCormick Place on property just north of the convention center. Both were then clients of Mr. Madigan's law firm, Madigan & Getzendanner, but the speaker denies any connection.
As the recession raged in early 2010, the collapse of the real estate market scuttled the deal. That May, after Mr. Ochoa resigned, the General Assembly finally passed legislation that lowered McCormick Place's debt payments, allocated funds to expand the existing Hyatt Regency McCormick Place and imposed wage restrictions and new work rules on union labor. The House sponsor was Speaker Michael Madigan.
The legislation reduced this year's debt service by $96 million, but the damage had already been done at the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, known as McPier, the agency that runs McCormick Place. Denied refinancing for six years, McPier paid out as much as $300 million more in bond interest than it should have and was forced to tap state sales tax revenue to meet its obligations.
Click above for a closer look at Speaker Madigan's costly feud with then-Gov. Blagojevich.
Mr. Madigan's inaction also set off a chain of events that put Chicago's $8-billion trade show industry — and the estimated 66,000 jobs it supports — at risk. Without revenues from the debt savings and a second hotel, McPier had to mark up its prices in the middle of the recession, driving away two trade shows. With McCormick Place in crisis in late 2009, other shows threatened to leave Chicago unless state lawmakers imposed restrictions on McPier unions.
To find out what went wrong, and what still needs to be fixed, Crain's obtained internal McPier memos and emails under the Freedom of Information Act, examined state and county records, and conducted dozens of interviews with McPier officials, legislators and others. With Illinois on the verge of insolvency, what emerges is an unflattering view of how the state works — or doesn't — when politics trumps the public interest.
'THIS STINKS'
The exchange didn't last long, and it failed to attract much attention, despite the gaggle of press covering the final night of the 2010 state legislative session in May. But state Rep. Jim Sacia, a Pecatonica Republican, was determined to ask Mr. Madigan why numerous prior efforts to refinance McCormick Place bonds had failed to come to a vote in the Illinois House.
A month earlier, in a hearing on the McCormick Place legislation, McPier Chairman John Gates testified that failure to refinance sooner had cost taxpayers hundreds of millions in higher interest payments. Reducing debt payments also would have given the agency a surplus of tax revenue that could have been applied to McPier's struggling operating budget, Mr. Gates testified.
Two of the previous refinancing bills had passed the state Senate only to die in the House. A shocked Mr. Sacia wanted to know why.
At the closing session on May 6, he got his chance to ask Mr. Madigan. "I would be deeply grateful, Speaker, if you could explain to the body how that could happen, if that in fact was the case — did I misunderstand something?" Mr. Sacia asked, according to state transcripts of their testy exchange. "Did a bill pass the Senate that could have saved the taxpayers of this state several hundred million dollars? Would you be kind enough to address that, if you could?"
A brief back-and-forth ended with this terse response from Mr. Madigan: "Mr. Sacia, I'm not sure I understand your question. . . . To repeat what I said, there have been bills that provided for yet another restructuring of the debt payments, but none of those bills dealt with the significant work-rule changes that are in this bill."
"This stinks to high heaven and you, the taxpayers, get half-a-billion dollars worth of rotten meat. I can't wait to hear the explanation for this one."
Rep. Jim Sacia, R–Pecatonica
McPier was "engaged in a scheme, and the Speaker wasn't going to allow that to happen."
Spokesman for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan
"As long as (McPier CEO Juan) Ochoa was there, Madigan wasn't going to give McCormick Place anything."
Rep. Angelo "Skip" Saviano, R–Elmwood Park
"We didn't have the political strength to get what we knew was in the best interests of McCormick Place."
Juan Ochoa, former CEO, McPier
Mr. Sacia got a bit more colorful in a letter after the exchange to his constituents: "This stinks to high heaven and you, the taxpayers, get half-a-billion dollars worth of rotten meat. I can't wait to hear the explanation for this one."
He is still fuming today. "I was simply looking for a logical explanation," he says. "How can we have millions in the taxpayers' money just going away to higher interest when we had opportunities to bring that interest down?"
Many still wonder why McCormick Place took six years to refinance its debt, as plenty of government agencies, private companies and homeowners were doing at the time.
"A lot of people were expecting (refinancing) to come earlier," says John Kenward, a bond analyst in Chicago at Standard & Poor's. With interest rates dropping, "I don't know why the state wouldn't have taken advantage of that."
As for Mr. Madigan, he never spoke of his reasons for rejecting bill after bill. But in response to questions from Crain's, a spokesman for Mr. Madigan now says the speaker blocked refinancing to prevent the Blagojevich administration from cashing in on contracts for bond work, such as underwriting and legal services. He provided Crain's an unsigned memorandum of understanding, dated August 2007, in which McPier agreed to allow the state to review and approve all fees and "structuring decisions" related to bond refinancing.
Asked about the financial impact of delayed refinancing, the spokesman says the "consequences were outweighed by (opposition to) becoming part of the Blagojevich fundraising machine."
Mr. Ochoa says he received the memo but never signed it. A McPier spokeswoman confirms that the agreement never took effect. No matter, Mr. Madigan's spokesman says. McPier was "engaged in a scheme, and the speaker wasn't going to allow that to happen."
Mr. Madigan's power is so sweeping that few will state publicly what many acknowledge privately. Mr. Gates, who took on the McPier chairmanship in October 2009 after building one of the nation's largest real estate investment trusts, is now chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority. He says his testimony about the cost of refinancing delays speaks for itself.
State Sen. Kwame Raoul, a Chicago Democrat whose district includes McCormick Place, sponsored two failed efforts to refinance McPier's debt. But he treads gingerly when asked what happened. "I never got a firm answer as to why the bills never advanced in the House," he says. "I imagine there was distrust for the (McPier) leadership at the time."
Mr. Saviano is one of the few to put it more directly. Mr. Ochoa, he says, committed a cardinal sin of patronage politics: He dumped one of Mr. Madigan's "guys."
The guy was Jack Johnson, who had worked as a legislative analyst on Mr. Madigan's staff in the mid-1980s before signing on as McPier's chief of external relations in 1989. In September 2007, Mr. Ochoa, just eight months on the job, fired him.
Mr. Johnson, now senior vice-president at the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, declines to comment, and Mr. Madigan's spokesman rejects the story. Management at McPier was "a national disaster," he says, "looking for other people to blame for their mistakes."
For his part, Mr. Ochoa says he was well aware of the rumors but chose to ignore them. "The speaker never called me to say he was upset with me," he says. "I tried to meet with him several times but was never granted a meeting."
'NO-BRAINER'
Refinancing is a concept familiar to every homeowner. When interest rates go down, you can refinance your mortgage, reduce your monthly payment and maybe even use some of the savings to make a few improvements.
McCormick Place needed to do the same thing, only its mortgage was in the billions and the improvements would have added a new hotel to the convention center campus.
Mr. Ochoa says those were his two top priorities when he took the job as McPier CEO. Unlike the convention centers in Orlando and Las Vegas, McCormick Place receives no state subsidy for its operations and has to live off the revenue it generates.
"When I came to McPier, I looked at our operating budget. It was a no-brainer that another hotel would help us further subsidize our operations," he says. "We also knew that we would soon fall short in the taxes collected to make our debt payments. Rather than wait for that to happen, we tried to address both issues at once."
From 1992 to 2004, McPier sold bonds to finance an ambitious expansion that built the West and South buildings, giving McCormick Place 2.6 million square feet of exhibit space and solidifying its position as the largest convention center in the nation.
The expansion left McPier about $3 billion in debt. To pay back the bondholders, the General Assembly approved four taxes — on hotel rooms, car rentals, restaurants and taxi rides from Midway and O'Hare airports.
At the time, the taxes were thought to be adequate to cover the debt payments, but the business downturn that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks changed all of that. Tax receipts fell short by more than $26 million between 2002 and 2006, depleting the surplus fund set up when the bonds were issued. With interest rates declining, it seemed the perfect time to refinance.
By the mid- to late 2000s, many public entities, including the city of Chicago, the Chicago Board of Education and the Chicago Transit Authority, were replacing older municipal bonds with lower-interest debt.
Mr. Saviano, whose district includes the Rosemont Convention Center, sponsored the 2005 legislation in the Illinois House. He is unabashed about his motivations: "If we keep McCormick Place healthy, the trickle-down helps Rosemont," Mr. Saviano says. He introduced his bill in February 2005, when interest rates had dropped under 4.5% — well below the interest on the existing McPier expansion bonds, which carried rates as high as 7.1%.
But Mr. Saviano's bill died in the House Rules Committee, the legislative way station controlled by Mr. Madigan. Mr. Saviano's 2007 effort met a similar fate, even though interest rates had dropped to near 4%. On April 4, 2008, Mr. Raoul's bill passed the Senate 48 to 6, only to die in the House. In 2009, with rates still under 5%, the lawmakers tried again, but neither measure made it.
State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, a Chicago Democrat who is chairman of the rules committee, can't say why none of the bills reached the House floor for a vote. "I don't have a good explanation," she tells Crain's. "It's just one of those items that didn't make it to the top of the agenda."
But Mr. Saviano says, "The bills didn't come out of the rules committee because the speaker didn't want them to. It's unfortunate we had an opportunity to show some fiscal responsibility — and we didn't."
The financial impact of doing nothing was significant. Since 2005, McPier could have saved up to $300 million in interest payments alone, based on a two-percentage-point savings in interest. Restructuring the debt to push larger principal repayments into the future would have provided millions more for McPier operations. A second hotel would have added another $15 million a year, McPier officials estimate.
In October 2010, after finally winning approval to refinance its debt five months earlier, McPier sold $1.12 billion in new bonds, at interest rates between 4.98% and 5.23%, to retire some of the older, higher-interest debt. "By restructuring, we don't have to draw from the state and can save it money," McPier Chief Financial Officer Richard Oldshue said at the time. "It relieves pressure from the state's sales tax revenues."
This year's debt payment, which would have been $177 million without the restructuring, fell to $81 million — a reduction of $96 million. The restructuring also provided $80 million for McPier's operating budget and raised $200 million for the hotel.
LAND SWAP
Just north of McCormick Place and east of the Metra train tracks sits an empty, boot-shaped tract of dirt and weeds that developers dreamed would be worth billions.
While McPier's efforts to restructure its debt and finance a hotel were going nowhere in the General Assembly, a group of well-connected real estate agents, developers and lawyers were pushing hard for a deal that would transform the vacant land into a thriving community called the Gateway Development.
Click above to see the Gateway Development plan's proposed land swap with McCormick Place.
Gateway was the brainchild of Gerald Fogelson and Forest City Enterprises, creators of nearby Central Station, an 80-acre spread of high-end townhouses and condominiums where former Mayor Richard M. Daley once lived. The $4-billion Gateway plan called for condominiums, apartments, senior housing, office space, retail, entertainment venues and, at the south end of the property, a twin-tower hotel for McCormick Place.
The plan was as beautiful as it was ambitious, offering Lake Michigan views and easy access to Soldier Field and the Museum Campus. But there was a catch: To make the deal work, Mr. Fogelson and Forest City wanted McCormick Place to give up five acres of prime vacant land along Lake Shore Drive in exchange for less than two acres they owned toward the back of the property, documents obtained by Crain's show.
An October 2007 meeting on the project featured a who's who of Chicago real estate and political clout: Mr. Fogelson, Forest City's Albert and Ron Ratner, attorney Jack George of law firm Daley & George Ltd., David Haymes of architecture firm Pappageorge Haymes Ltd., and urban planner Stephen Friedman, a city consultant on tax-increment financing. The group also included then-McPier Chairman Ted Tetzlaff, a Chicago litigator, and board member Michael Scott, a real estate developer and president of the Chicago Board of Education.
A memo summarizing the meeting from Timothy Desmond, president of Central Station Development Corp., describes a busy and connected project team. Representing the developers, Mr. George, a law partner of Michael Daley's, the then-mayor's brother, confirmed that the city would approve a planned unit development designation for the land, while Mr. Friedman offered to seek TIF financing to pay for infrastructure improvements.
But Mr. Scott failed to tell the McPier board about his relationship with the developers, Mr. Ochoa says. Mr. Scott had an office and an email address with Fogelson Properties, the correspondence shows. Documents obtained by the Better Government Assn. last year revealed that Fogelson Properties provided the office rent-free and was paying Mr. Scott $10,000 a month as part of the developer's efforts to build the proposed Olympic Village. Mr. Scott was then serving on Mr. Daley's bid committee for the 2016 Olympic Games. The payments stopped in early November 2009, two weeks before Mr. Scott was found dead of what police called a self-inflicted gunshot wound; he reportedly was distraught over financial difficulties and an admissions scandal at Chicago Public Schools.
The developers also have ties to Mr. Madigan. Mr. Madigan's spokesman acknowledges that Forest City and Central Station were clients of the speaker's law firm. He says Mr. Madigan "operates at a code of conduct far beyond state ethics requirements," adding that the law firm had withdrawn its representation of the developers "when it became apparent there was a land swap" with McCormick Place that might create a possible conflict.
Yet Madigan & Getzendanner represented Central Station in cases before the Cook County Board of Review in 2007 and 2008, records show. And the firm represented both developers and Mr. Scott in the Eastgate Village condominium development, at 330 E. 26th St. The firm's appeal before the Cook County assessor successfully lowered the property's 2010 assessment to $468,000 from $1.4 million. The firm currently represents Forest City in a Bolingbrook property, Mr. Madigan's spokesman says.
The internal documents show McPier officials enthusiastically supporting the project, with the notable exception of Messrs. Ochoa and Gates.
"Gateway was a captivating project, but the land swap shortchanged the taxpayers," Mr. Ochoa says. And by agreeing to the land deal, Mr. Ochoa says he would have been largely committed to building the hotel on the Gateway Development. But if McPier's refinancing had come through, he would have had other options, including a proposed location near the West Building.
Mr. Ochoa had high hopes for Mr. Raoul's March 2009 legislation, the senator's second attempt at debt refinancing. The bill passed the Senate easily, but only after Mr. Raoul added a last-minute amendment that reduced the bonding authority by $203 million — the exact amount designated to finance the hotel, Mr. Ochoa says.
"We didn't have the political strength to get what we knew was in the best interests of McCormick Place," says Mr. Ochoa, now CEO of Chicago-based Miramar International Group Inc., which helps organizations connect with Latino customers in the U.S. and Mexico.
Mr. Raoul says he can't remember who asked for the change, and neither can Senate President John Cullerton, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Democrat tells Crain's in an email.
In May 2009, Central Station's Mr. Desmond sent McPier's then-general counsel, Renee Benjamin, a letter of intent from Fogelson Properties to pursue the land deal, and two months later delivered a memorandum of understanding that would serve as the agreement for the land exchange and development. Mr. Ochoa says he never saw the document and would not have signed it.
Mr. Desmond, speaking on behalf of Central Station and Forest City, tells Crain's in an email that he would not comment on the negotiations, saying only that the developers are not currently involved in a hotel project with McCormick Place.
In September 2009, Ms. Benjamin proposed that the deal be part of the agenda at McPier's October board meeting. But Mr. Gates, the incoming chairman, decided against it. "This could be a critical piece of property to (McPier) in the future," Mr. Gates wrote in an email. "I am opposed to limiting our options — even in a non-binding manner."
He confirms his skepticism about the deal. "The market had collapsed, and frankly I didn't think it was in McPier's interest to give up control of the 18th Street exit to Lake Shore Drive," he says.
Without the hotel money, Mr. Raoul's bill passed the Senate easily, but it hardly mattered. Mr. Madigan once again stopped the bill from reaching the House floor.
FATEFUL PRICE HIKES
By 2009, McCormick Place was desperate to refinance. The recession had hit the convention business hard, and McPier had already tapped $57 million in state sales tax revenue to make its debt payments. Without refinancing, it was on track to consume up to $800 million more in sales taxes by 2027. Running short of cash to pay its bills, McPier officials kept raising prices for food and electrical services at McCormick Place.
"We were limited in our sources of revenue," Mr. Ochoa recalls. "The only alternative, unfortunately, was to raise the cost of services to our customers."
Reaction was swift. In November 2009, two trade shows declared they were leaving the convention center, citing high electrical and food costs.
Critics: Law doesn't protect exhibitors from price-gouging
Since last year's McCormick Place legislation, the convention center has reduced its payroll, restructured its debt, lowered food costs and is finally adding more hotel rooms. But critics say the law did nothing to curb the worst trade show abuses: the inflated costs imposed on exhibitors by the general contractors and the trade associations themselves, for freight handling, floor space and hotel rooms, as reported by Crain's in June.
"The exhibitors are still getting (screwed)," one former McPier official says. "But at least now they're getting screwed the same way they're getting screwed everywhere else. We are no longer at a competitive disadvantage."
General contractors Freeman and Global Experience Specialists Inc., both of which control three out of four trade shows at McCormick Place and nationwide, have denied gouging exhibitors. But they also have been reluctant to open their books to prove it, citing proprietary and competitive reasons.
' The exhibitors are still getting (screwed). But at least now they're getting screwed the same way they're getting screwed everywhere else.'
— Former McPier official
An audit of the trade shows, required by law, was supposed to be completed last month but was delayed because the chosen auditors, Chicago-based Crowe Horwath LLP, were monitoring the selection of SMG as the private management company for McCormick Place. SMG, based in West Conshohocken, Pa., took over management of McCormick Place on July 1.
McPier officials say the audit, now expected by the end of the year, will analyze three shows to determine whether last year's labor changes resulted in real savings to exhibitors.
In an August letter to the head of the decorators union, McPier Trustee Jim Reilly promised the auditors would "go beyond the statutory requirements" to examine the true costs of freight handling — the No. 1 cost cited by exhibitors.
State Rep. Angelo "Skip" Saviano, an Elmwood Park Republican who sponsored three McPier refinancing bills, isn't holding his breath. The issues at McCormick Place went way beyond labor, he says. "The issue was giving the contractors more control over every aspect of McCormick Place," he says. "With that kind of control all over the country, then they can start shopping the shows to the cities that will give them the biggest incentives. That's where we're heading."
James Ylisela Jr.
Chicago-based Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society announced its departure on Nov. 11. The show, which rotates among three cities, had come to Chicago only after Hurricane Katrina made it impossible to hold the event in New Orleans.
As late as Oct. 22, HIMSS officials said they were still considering Chicago for their 2012 show, but only if McCormick Place could guarantee lower electrical prices. "If this does not get fixed, everything else is irrelevant," HIMSS Vice-president Karen Malone wrote in an email to McPier.
But Ms. Malone tells Crain's the HIMSS show will return in 2015 and 2019.
"Based on changes at McCormick Place and feedback from industry peers, I believe most, if not all of our concerns about electrical services have been addressed," she says.
Internal memos also reveal that McPier made an unprecedented effort to keep the International Plastics Showcase. McPier offered financial incentives for the triennial plastics show to stay in 2012 and 2015, including discounts on space rental and price freezes for services and labor. (McPier redacted the exact numbers from the documents it provided Crain's.) Mr. Ochoa even laid off 100 electricians to demonstrate his commitment to making some changes.
But he now says that McPier probably didn't stand a chance. The plastics show was declining and it "needed to create a diversion," Mr. Ochoa says, and McCormick Place was the perfect foil. "The (higher costs) were certainly an excuse for them to leave the city, especially since we gave them the most aggressive package of incentives we had given to any show during my tenure."
SPI, the Washington, D.C.-based plastics trade association, reported a 28% drop in show attendance between its 2006 and 2009 events, and a 24% decline in membership revenue in the same period, forcing the group to lay off one-third of its staff.
A spokesman says the association is looking forward to its upcoming Orlando event and will not comment on what happened at McCormick Place or on the state of its finances. But a spokesman for the Chicago riggers union confirmed that up to 75 of its members will travel to Orlando to help secure the heavy machinery on the show floor, working at Chicago labor rates and with all expenses paid.
McPier's showcase events, led by the National Restaurant Assn., seized on the crisis to demand labor concessions, even though McPier's higher prices had gone to pay its bills, not to provide raises for its union workers.
McPier officials weren't about to waste the crisis, either. Both Mr. Gates and Mr. Ochoa acknowledge they used the trade show exodus to stoke public ire about the convention center and to reduce McPier's patronage-bloated payroll. They pushed for union work-rule changes to provide political cover for lawmakers reluctant to expand McPier's bonding authority during a recession.
Mr. Cullerton's spokeswoman says the timing of the McCormick Place legislation "wasn't tied to the rise and fall of interest rates" but rather to the issues driving trade shows out of Chicago. "That 'event' seemed to be the centralizing force that brought the leaders together to get something done."
STILL PAYING
Today, the financial picture at McCormick Place has changed dramatically. Restructured debt payments are now in line with tax revenue, but ballooning payments in the future will have to be refinanced yet again. The workforce, once topping 500, now stands at 25, though many former employees now work at SMG, the private management company that took over day-to-day operations on July 1. After a federal judge threw out the union wage and work-rule changes, trade shows once again threatened to leave, though an agreement brokered by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel last month appears to have brought labor peace, for now.
Dallas-based Freeman and Las Vegas-based Global Experience Specialists Inc., the nation's two giant trade show contractors, have taken over most of the electrical work on McCormick Place shows. Those services, which in 2009 brought a $22-million profit to McPier's operating budget, will bring the agency only about $4.3 million in fiscal 2012. Profits from food operations, at $9 million two years ago, will total about $1 million.
With all the cuts, McCormick Place officials say they will run a $134-million operating deficit between fiscal 2011 and 2014. Savings from the debt restructuring pumped $20 million into the fiscal 2011 operating budget and will add another $60 million over the next three years while McPier builds the hotel addition, which will add 450 rooms.
The six-year delay in building a new hotel continues to cost Chicago money. When President Barack Obama invited world leaders to come to Chicago next May for a NATO meeting and the G-8 economic summit, many applauded the event as a boost for the city's global reputation — and a windfall for the local economy.
But the news didn't sit as well with the Washington, D.C.-based National Restaurant Assn., whose annual trade show at McCormick Place, from May 19 to 22, would overlap the last four days of the summit. Show organizers complained that Chicago didn't have enough hotel rooms to accommodate both events and said they had no choice but to relocate to Las Vegas or Orlando.
After several reportedly tense meetings with Mr. Emanuel, the association's executive director, Mary Pat Heftman, announced the show would stay in Chicago but would move up to May 5 to 8, aided by a reported $2-million package of concessions and incentives from the city.
"There were enough hotel rooms, but everyone was going to want to stay in the same places," Ms. Heftman says. "I was looking forward to producing a show in another city to see if (Chicago) is the right place, especially if we were forced to move."
At the time, Mr. Emanuel said he was pleased to keep the show and the estimated $100 million it generates in revenue each year. But in the midst of his own budget crisis, it was $2 million the mayor certainly didn't want to spend.
The McCormick Place hotel addition won't be ready until late 2013.
© 2011 by Crain Communications Inc.
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David J. wrote:
How long will we allow Madigan to destroy the State of Illinois. His decades of union pandering and petty politics are criminal and the voters need to remove him from office. The recall drive in the midwest is misplaced in Wisconsin, it should be in Illinois. No real reform or recovery of Illinois national standing can begin while he and his cronies control the state.
11/16/2011 8:11 PM CST
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Dan O. wrote:
Citizens of Chicago get what they allow, and what they vote for every election.....aided and abetted by a MSM unwilling or incapable of reporting the truth...it is no surprise the city, the county and the state are all insolvent.
11/16/2011 11:49 AM CST
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Joe M. wrote:
So where is the our ex Un-touchable Mayor in all this
Commission OKs Olympic Village
Mayor wants project built, Games or not
Comments
January 1, 2007
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
With a South Side alderman's blessing, the Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday approved Mayor Daley's plan to build a $1.1 billion Olympic Village -- on air rights over a truck staging area for McCormick Place -- that will be converted into a new south lakefront community when the Games are done.
Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) signed off on the idea after a guarantee of what she called a "more inclusive and transparent process" from Olympic planners she accused last month of running roughshod over local elected officials.
Preckwinkle argued there is "considerable work to be done" to make certain the new "urban neighborhood is connected to the Bronzeville community to the west."
"We're including her and others -- and frankly we feel good about that. She's got some great ideas," said Chicago 2016 chairman Pat Ryan.
5,000 housing units
The Sun-Times reported last month that Daley had quietly introduced a "plan development" that would pave the way for an Olympic Village on 77 acres of land that architects have described as the lakefront's "missing tooth": an ugly truck staging area for McCormick Place.
Mayor Daley is so gung-ho about the idea of building 5,000 units of market-rate and affordable housing and hotels with up to 1,000 rooms that he's determined to build the project, whether or not Chicago hosts the 2016 Games.
Thursday, the Plan Commission OKd it, helping close what Ryan calls the "certainty gap" that Chicago can deliver on its promises to the United States Olympic Committee.
"We have to show the U.S. Olympic Committee that we can deliver -- that we can execute," Ryan said.
Ald. Burton F. Natarus (42nd) voiced concern that Chicago could become a terrorist target.
If anything, Ryan said Chicago's self-contained village would be easier to secure. "One village as opposed to clusters is an advantage in security -- where you just secure one perimeter."
fspielman@suntimes.com
11/16/2011 9:53 AM CST
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Kirk H. wrote:
Kudos, kudos, kudos - so great to once again see real investigative journalism and real facts on a highly relevant topic.
As for booting out Madigan, this liberal will vote for ANY non tea-party candidate who challenges him. It's way past time to push out this petty tyrant who has done much to ruin Illinois, of course with lots of help from past Republican Governors and Blago.
11/15/2011 6:05 PM CST
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Dan H. wrote:
Time for Madigan to resign....immediately....
And if not, he and his daughter need to be voted out....this will not be tolerated!!!!!!!!
Nice "Public Service".....
Crains and Tribune...please keep up the investigative reporting, as we are continually reminded how spineless our politicians are!!!
11/15/2011 11:56 AM CST
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Rick B. wrote:
Good, in-depth reporting. Now, how do we get action? Crain's should send copies of the article and all these comments to our folks in Springfield. Ask them if they want to be like Jo Pa's coaching staff and be out of a job for ignoring such activity.
11/15/2011 10:37 AM CST
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Kevin W. wrote:
What will it take to finally motivate Darth Vadigan's constituents (that would imply he actually serves them) to deny him another term of enrichment?! Is this gem and the overwhelming financial ruin he has presided over enough or do we need the same sort of garish Penn State scandal to surface?
For God's sake, Carpe Diem because if past is prologue, this all blows over and Crain's will be punished for their efforts. No good deed goes unpunished in this State.
11/15/2011 10:14 AM CST
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Joe D. wrote:
Good for Crains for not being like every other lap dog reporting outlet to look the other way in regards to Madigan and his political machine. He makes Daley look like a saint. I'm sick and tired of hearing of all this crap. Somebody needs to put Madigan where he belongs, out of office and in Jail. I wish I lived in his district so I could personally vote for anyone who runs against him.
11/15/2011 10:06 AM CST
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Jerry R. wrote:
Who are these nitwits that keep reelecting this obvious self serving crook. Give this to
Fitzgerald, not Madigan's daughter. Now is the time to clear out that Legislative sewer
in Spingfield!
11/15/2011 9:26 AM CST
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Steven A. wrote:
crain is still blaming the unions for the mess
crain another name for tea party
i been preaching to follow the money for years
that is were all the answers are at the end of the money trail
11/14/2011 6:14 PM CST
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