Tuesday, May 13, 2008
News / Clout City Keep up the fight--or watch out
Posted by Ben Joravsky on Tue, May 13, 2008 at 9:36 PM
First the good news: The city deferred action on its latest proposal for licensing concert promoters, originally set for tomorrow's City Council meeting.
Some people have been naive enough to call it a victory, but don't be fooled. The delay doesn't protect all the small promoters and club owners and not-for-profits who want to throw fund-raising bashes. It's merely what one alderman calls a "tactical retreat" on the part of the mayor.
Here's the deal from several good City Hall sources, including an alderman or two.
The vendor's licensing bill (commonly known as the promoter's ordinance) has been resurrected because Mayor Daley wants it, and no one in City Hall has the guts to tell the mayor he can't have what he wants.
Daley wants it apparently because he's convinced himself that this is what it will take to prevent another E2 disaster--even though the first E2 tragedy could have been avoided if the city had simply enforced a judge's ruling and kept the club closed.
The mayor also wants the licensing fees. Don't underestimate his insatiable hunger for new forms of revenue. It takes a lot of money to run this town, especially when you're looking to spend billions on the Olympics and your TIFs are already devouring at least $500 million a year -- and rising -- in property taxes.
The mayor didn't get the vendor's licensing bill he wanted last July because big venues like the United Center opposed it. They feared it would force out-of-town promoters to opt out of the city and move concerts and circuses to suburban sites, such as the Rosemont Horizon.
So this time around the proposed bill exempts arenas with more than 500 seats, including the United Center, the Chicago Theatre, and Northerly Island. The mayor sent the revised bill to the Committee on Licenses and Consumer Protection, which is headed by 47th Ward alderman Eugene Schulter, and Schulter pushed it through his committee last Wednesday because, like almost every other alderman in the council, he does what the mayor wants.
Daley and his aides seem to have figured that once the big promoters and venues calmed down everyone would. But they clearly underestimated the opposition the bill would generate. Now everyone who cares about live performance in this town, from club owners to musicians to promoters to fans is up in arms, shooting off e-mails, threatening to storm City Council meetings, and vowing to get friends and family to vote against any alderman who votes for this bill.
So Daley had Schulter defer action on the bill to buy the time he needs to figure out how he has to rewrite it in order to pass something, if only to save face. Remember this is the mayor who forced the council to defer enacting the ban on smoking in restaurants and bars for two years to make sure it wouldn't look as though he was compromising on his opposition to smoking bans.
Best bet for what gets changed? Look for Daley and company to cut the promoters' fee. He'll probably reword the language governing not-for-profits so PTA leaders don't have to shell out $500 and get fingerprinted in order to throw a freaking fund-raising dance. Then they'll try to figure out what they have to do to pare down the opposition from mid-size clubs like Metro and Martyrs' and bring them into the fold. Independent and underground promoters won't catch any breaks.
My advice to opponents of the bill is to protest at City Hall. You can't imagine how much the mayor and the aldermen hate it when citizens actually show up there. Lord knows what might happen if people saw how the city really works.
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I called my alderman's office today asking what his position was on the ordinance and got some weasel-worded answer from an assistant along the lines of "well, there's a meeting going on today to discuss this matter, but you probably called because you don't support the ordinance, right?" Obviously I don't support the ordinance and gave the assistant an earful about why. The thing that ticked me off is they did not have the balls or the decency to state the alderman's position on the issue and try to defend their position if it was contrary to mine. That's a blatant lack of accountability when you consider that we're supposed to have a representative government. So I'm definitely going to this city council meeting tomorrow, and whether its tomorrow in person or later in the week over the phone, I'm going to demand to know what his position is on the ordinance, because I voted for him and want a reassurance that I did the right thing when I did. If he or any other alderman can't state their position on an issue when asked by a constituent, they're either crooks or spineless and don't deserve to be in public office.
I sent an email to mean Gene last night. No response, no surprise...
Like how Park Grill was approved to be privately owned on Park District Property , with a liquer license. Thats Balls! It also shows how the press has to be pushed to do there job!
FWIW, I called Joe Moore's office (49th ward) and his staffer told me pretty straightforwardly that he's opposing it.
Give it up cocoballs. We have have the Grill and we are making millions off the stupid taxpayers! The feds are as dumb as you. Learn a lesson from Daley, throw the heat on the mob and Todd Stroger!
You tell him baby! You may have cheated on me and slept with token owner. But I'm with the real owner, Jerry Joyce and Eddie Vrdolyak. The taxpayers let us have Park Grill, now Daley thinks he owns all of Grant Park!
"Lord knows what might happen if people saw how the city really works." EXCELLENT advice! Everyone who loves Chicago should get downtown some Wed morning and watch our villag elders at work. See how little dialectic goes into our home town's lawmaking. Then attend a committee meeting and notice there's no dialog there, either. Then read up on our state's open meeting laws and compare what you are due to what you see in City Hall. Then read up on our freedom of information laws, and try requesting the official records of the meeting you just witnessed, see how faithful the record is, if you can get it. Attend once with an open mind and you will be back with torch lit talking recall or impeachment or worse.
I have a question to all fellow posters. What will happen when the National media focus, hits Chiago,and questions are raised about corruption. Will Barack be affected? How can A Chicagoan lead the country,if he can't lead the city and state, out of its criminal tendencies
I called Rey Colon's office on both Monday and Tuesday, to find out his position on the issue and to register my opposition to it. Monday, they said they hadn't seen him yet and so they didn't know his position. Tuesday, they said that they still didn't know his position on it, and they weren't going to speak to him until after the meeting today. What the hell does that mean? I voted for the guy, the least he could do would be to have the cajones to take a position one way or the other. And Open Book, Obama wasn't a member of city government. He was a state senator and then a US Senator. Why should he have to be the St. Patrick of Chicago, leading the snakes out?
I forgot to add - Ben, posts like this are the reason you are my favorite political writer in the city. Great analysis up there.
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