Lightfoot accused of ‘stacking the deck’ on Chicago casino committee
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Mayor Lori Lightfoot was accused Wednesday of “stacking the deck” by appointing a special committee of the City Council on the Chicago casino composed only of her handpicked leadership team.
After narrowing the list of potential Chicago casino sites from five locations to three, Lightfoot has asked Zoning Committee Chair Tom Tunney (44th) to chair a special council committee with jurisdiction over “all matters within the jurisdiction of the City related to the establishment of the casino.”
That includes “zoning; land use, building code; real estate; contracting; licensing and permitting; land use; building code; real estate; contracting; licensing and permitting.”
Also under the special committee’s soup-to-nuts jurisdiction would be issues pertaining to “gambling; public health; pedestrian and traffic safety; security; environmental issues; city services; transportation; public way; financial and budget considerations; tax incentives; special events and airport matters.”
Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), who chairs both the Black Caucus and the Committee on Contracting and Equity, would serve as vice chairman.
Other members would be City Council President Pro Tem Brendan Reilly (42nd) and the “chairman and vice-chairman of each standing committee.”
“For purposes of determining membership or quorum of the committee, each such chairman or vice-chairman shall be counted only once. A quorum of the committee shall be fifteen members,” according to the resolution introduced at Wednesday’s City Council meeting by Ald. Michelle Harris (8th), the Rules Committee chair and the mayor’s floor leader.
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) believes the “fix is in” for a casino at the South Loop site in his ward known as “the 78” and that what he calls the “stacked deck” committee will only ratify that choice.
“This seems like a rush job that the mayor is pushing. … With chairs and vice-chairs who rarely deviate from the mayor’s decisions, we can expect the mayor to make this choice unilaterally without consultation” of local alderpersons or the advisory committee or community leaders that the mayor appointed to ride herd over development at Roosevelt and Clark, Sigcho-Lopez said.
After campaigning in opposition to “mega-projects” with mega-subsidies like Lincoln Yards, Lightfoot appointed a special advisory committee to ride herd over development of the 78.
The 17-member advisory group conducted a survey of 400 area residents. Of those, 78% of were opposed to a Chicago casino on the site, citing concerns about traffic, crime and gambling addiction.
“She’s completely bypassing what she agreed with us originally and is now putting forward a completely different process. Overnight, she creates a committee made of loyalists that is not going to represent the best interest of our constituents. She’s bypassing the committee. She’s bypassing the local alderpersons. To me, it seems like this is going to be a decision made by the mayor,” he said.
Ald. Sophia King (4th), whose ward is one of three included in the advisory committee on the 78, said she, too, has concerns about the special council committee.
“Just found out about it late [Tuesday]. I asked that it not be a direct intro because it was too important and that alders with casino proposals in their ward or adjacent to it be included.” King wrote in a text message to the Sun-Times.
“More importantly, I think the city [not the operator] should choose the best site for our city. We need to decide what site would bring the most revenue and have the least negative impact on community and traffic. Then, we should choose the best operator for that site.”
Tunney noted that the “30-plus” membership of the committee includes the “vast majority of the City Council.”
“I don’t agree with the opinion that the deck is stacked. And I don’t think any alderperson has a pre-conceived notion. ... Even chairpersons have disagreed with the mayor,” Tunney said.
“We’ve got a boatload of work to do. We’ve been talking about this for 30 years. Never mind three months.”
Ald. Ray Lopez (15th), the mayor’s most outspoken council critic, branded the special committee a “stacked deck and an affront to democracy.”
“Sending us a notice at 7 o’clock at night to ram this committee down our throats made up only of her hand-picked leadership clearly sends a message that this is not a conversation that’s going to be inclusive, open or transparent,” Lopez said.
“This is gonna be the ultimate rubber stamp that will ultimately be parking meters 2.0 if we’re not all involved to ensure Chicago gets the best deal possible.”
In addition to the 78, casino finalists include the River West site of the Chicago Tribune’s printing plant and the One Central project over the Metra tracks near Soldier Field.
