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* The last time a Chicago casino was on the table, some labor leaders were quietly hoping that the city could buy the Congress Hotel - which has been the subject of a strike since 2003 - gut it, and turn it into a classy Michigan Ave. venue with union employees.
In that same tradition of using a casino to solve a vexing, long-term problem, the CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber wants a new city casino to be located on the city’s Block 37…
Several years after a retail mall opened on the site, much of the building is still vacant.
Leaders of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce claim it’s the best possible location for a proposed new downtown casino.
“I want it to go in a location that will take advantage of our restaurants, our hotels, Macy’s,” said Gerald Roper, Chamber of Commerce CEO. “This is the type of amenity we need to have: an entertainment/casino to continue to attract people to our city, to keep people here more than one day, more than two days.”
Roper said a casino might draw other attractions to State Street, including perhaps a branch of London’s famed Harrod’s department store. And the old Carson Pirie Scott store that’s been vacant for several years might host a Chicago-based company of Cirque du Soleil.
Roper said a Chicago-based casino could create 17,000 new jobs.
* Speaking of money, for once the state isn’t the sole deadbeat behind a local school district’s woes…
With Jan. 1 less than a month away, finance officials in Elgin Area School District U-46 are unsure whether the district has enough cash to last through New Year’s Day.
To ensure the district can cover a $34 million debt payment due Jan. 1, the U-46 school board on Monday authorized issuing up to $30 million in short-term loans by Feb. 1, 2011. […]
U-46 finds itself in a cash crunch because the state is $22 million behind on payments to the district (as of November) and Cook County sent out its second-installment tax bills late.
U-46 Director of Financial Operations Dale Burnidge said Monday that the district’s ability to meet its cash needs hinges on whether Cook County starts to deliver some of that tax revenue to the district later this month.
* More doom and gloom…
The combined funded level of Illinois’ five state retirement systems would weaken further, even if the state issues some $4 billion in pension obligation bonds to finance its required annual contributions, according to a Moody’s Investors Services report on Monday.
An anticipated issue of eight-year general obligation bonds to pay the state’s pension contributions for the current fiscal year to the state systems “would at least limit deterioration in the funded status of the state’s pensions, which are the lowest-funded among states,” the one-page report said. “Nonetheless, we expect the state’s pension funded ratios to weaken further before improving, given that statutory contributions are below the actuarially determined amounts needed to amortize the plans’ unfunded liabilities.”
The state Senate last month in a special session failed to pass a bill to authorize the state to issue up to $4.1 billion in pension obligation bonds, even though the House passed the legislation 71-44, with two voting present, on May 25.
It never ends.
* I originally posted this below, but I’ve moved it because it fits better with this topic…
If the federal government bails out the nation’s debt-ridden states, Illinois will be among the first to grab a lifeline, according to one financial expert.
“If there’s even a hint of a bailout, you’re gonna have Illinois, New York, several other states right behind California,” said Christopher Whalen, bank analyst and managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics.
Whalen told the Business Insiders website that California, which is running a $25 billion deficit, is close to defaulting on its bills. Should that occur, the federal government would be compelled to come to California’s aid by crafting some type of financial restructuring plan or rescue effort.
The Senate’s Republican “moderates” are the ones who prevented more state money from being included in the original stimulus plan. It’s gonna take a mega crisis to get the feds to approve something new. But if Wall Street gets behind it, then we could see some movement.
Take a look, for instance, at what happened in Illinois earlier this year. When Wall St. analysts privately threatened Illinois with a double-reduction in its bond rating, both legislative chambers quickly pushed through a huge pension reform bill. When the bond guys say “Jump,” governments of all sizes usually ask “How high?”
* A case in point from the NYT…
This October, Moody’s issued a report explaining why it now rates all 50 states, even Illinois, as better credit risks than a vast majority of American non-financial companies.
One reason: the belief that the federal government is more likely to bail out a teetering state than a bankrupt company.
“The federal government has broadly channeled cash to all state governments during recent recessions and provided support to individual states following natural disasters,” Moody’s explained, adding that there was no way of being sure how Washington would respond to a bond default by a state, since it had not happened since the 1930s.
* Related…
* Instant payouts from expanded gaming plan unlikely
* Bankruptcy Is Not An Option For Illinois: The Land of Lincoln isn’t the only state dealing with a severe budget gap. Indeed, 46 states faced shortfalls when crafting their FY 2011 spending plans. In October, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities identified 39 states who already have projected holes for 2012. And almost every state government has to find a way to pay down long-term debts resulting from rising pension and health care costs.
* Illinois tax amnesty program collects more than expected, but money not ‘new’
* Inmate releases need a 2nd look: But in the heat of a hotly contested primary election, Gov. Quinn late last year suspended so-called “meritorious good time,” under which inmates could be freed up to 180 days earlier than their official release date. So instead of a program designed to save money and reduce recidivism, the state has a record high population behind bars.
* What Comes After MGT?: With the help of Young, the Reader’s Steve Borgia calculated that the early release suspension would add $158 million to Illinois’ balance sheet between now and July 2012. And that’s just the dollars and cents:
* Preckwinkle takes over as Cook board president
* Hire More Cops, Tax LaSalle Street, Re-do the Parking Deal
* Chris Christie is a role model to new governors, but do his cuts add up?
* Moody’s: Bond sale not enough to help Illinois plans
* Nicor buyer AGL vows to keep workers, but don’t expect lower gas rates
* IDOT upgrades popular travel website - Getting around Illinois redesign debuts for winter driving season
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 12:21 pm
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===Roper said a casino might draw other attractions to State Street,===
Maybe they could get the Admiral Theater to relocate downtown. Then bring back the adult movie houses of yore along Dearbon and Lake Streets. Harrod’s and Cirque du Soleil don’t need a casino to attract them, those are attractions in their own right. If anything, a casino on Block 37 would keep them away.
Casinos do a good job of attracting poor people and then separating them from their money. What the Loop does not need is more broke people shuffling about in the cold. Casinos are the opposite of economic development. They are economic vacuum cleaners.
Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 12:32 pm
I don’t like the proposed block 37 location at all. Just seems too central to me. And right now tons of people walk through it in the morning, taking the tunnel from the red line to city hall, Daley plaza, and the blue line. Walking through a mall is fine, but it might be odd to walk through a casino.
Comment by Matt Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 12:34 pm
I hate to ever agree with Jerry but block 37 is such an albatross that I don’t think anything else will ever be successful there. If the casino is like everything else in the Loop the prices of everything will be inflated, the payouts will be worse than everywhere else, they will offer no freebies and very few comps. It will be inhabited mostly by conventioneers and touristas. The locals will still catch the bus and go to Hammond and Gary. If walking through the casino bothers commuters that much they can get off a stop earlier and take a cab.
I still like the Congress hotel idea or Michael Reese but block 37 wouldn’t be that bad.
Comment by Bill Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 12:56 pm
One thing that has come up is the fed using some QE3 money to buy state and municipal bonds.
Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 12:57 pm
I say we put the Casino in downtown Winnetka.
Comment by George Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 12:58 pm
If they want to pick up tourist and conventioneer gambler dollars then a smallish high end casino along with an intimate night club/entertainment venue at block 37 is near perfect. (An empty available albatross already located close to hotels theatres and restaurants.) The ladies can shop happily nearby while their guys can roll some dice happily and then get together to see a show.
Comment by Responsa Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 1:04 pm
Uh oh. If Jerry Roper is flogging Block 37 for a casino, you can bet there are some bigfoots behind it. Perhaps the debtholders on Block 37?
Is anyone aware of an international business city that has located a casino in the middle of its downtown, daytime, business district?
Put it by Mac Place, and maybe McPier wouldn’t have to float bonds to build a hotel there. Who knows, maybe (gasp) private investors could do it and there would be some ancially investment.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 1:12 pm
I’m not in favor of a gaming expansion, but if a casino goes anywhere it should be at the old Michael Reese site with easy connections to the convention center buildings, including the Hyatt hotel there. Make a new area of the city thrive. Don’t put it downtown. Block 37 will be fine on the next retail upswing. In the meantime, the bank can hold it, or an investor willing to wait three to five years can get into the game. Roper is wrong on this one.
Comment by Niles Township Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 1:45 pm
Don’t put a casino at the Michael Reese site in Bronzeville.
“Easy connections to the convention center buildings” my rear. Its a half-mile from McCormick Place.
A Michael Reese site casino will just perpetuate the predatory nature of Illinois’ gaming system on our poor.
Like I said, stick it in downtown Winnetka.
Comment by George Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 2:13 pm
Is the old post office site no longer an option?
Comment by Frank Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 2:38 pm
==A Michael Reese site casino will just perpetuate the predatory nature of Illinois’ gaming system on our poor.==
Gimme a break! They have a better chance at a casino then they do buying lotto tickets. The lines at gas stations are blocks long on the third of every month. Why shouldn’t the poor have the same opportunity to be stupid as the rest of us?
Comment by Bill Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 2:41 pm
“Easy connections to the convention center buildings” my rear. Its a half-mile from McCormick Place.
Never been on a people mover, moving walkway etc. 1/2 mile is nothing…just look at Vegas. The way I see it, Reese sits unused for years or even decades because it is such a big swath of land. As I said, I’m against ganign expansion, but putting it anywhere, but here just doesn’t make sense. Keep it near McCormick, develop land that will otherwise sit undeveloped despite being close to the Stevenson, LSD and Dan Ryan. The poor and downtrodden will find casinos wherever they are…take a look at the shuttle buses around town that take people to casinos in the tri-state area. I’d rather create a new area with a casino, hotels, restaurants, retail etc. than have that land sit empty and fill a prime downtown site that doesn’t need it with a casino.
Comment by Niles Township Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 2:43 pm
As for Micheal Reese, okay just let it sit there and rot. It will fit right in with the rest of the blight.
Comment by Bill Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 2:43 pm
Chris Wills has an interesting piece on the “finite pie” of gaming. http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1110ap_us_casino_competition.html
Comment by soccermom Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 2:47 pm
There are already better plans for the Michael Reese site.
You put a casino there, and then all you have is a casino… surrounded by big parking lots… For the next 35 years. On a prime piece of property.
Niles - are you going to tunnel under the new townhouses and condos for the moving walkway to connect Michael Reese to McCormick Place?
Comment by George Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 2:50 pm
I am not a big fan of financing the State on sin taxes which prey upon the low income. We woyuld vbe better off with more stable revenue streams. But if we are determined to gamble our way our of debt, the bets location for a casino is in the airport, or attached thereto. This creates the greatest opportunity to grab dollars ofnon state residents waiting for flights etc.
Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 3:16 pm
–Is the old post office site no longer an option?–
The “site” is over the Ike. The building itself is an environmental catastrophe, loaded with asbestos.
We better get it torn down while Obama is president and Durbin is in majority leadership.
A big problem, some folks who should know tell me, is that the building itself serves as as anchor for the Congress Bridge. Take down the building (how?, given that’s it’s over a main artery) and you have to deal with the bridge, too.
It’s a real mess, which is why you can’t give it away.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 3:17 pm
Does anyone have a good explanation as to why slots haven’t been installed at Midway and O’Hare to date? Certainly the moral issue is long gone.
Back in the day, it took a deal between Big Jim and Harold to get the Lottery at the airports. The troopers took over patrolling the expressways, the state got the machines.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 3:31 pm
>Roper said a Chicago-based casino could create 17,000 new jobs.
Yeah, and how many will it destroy in Elgin, Aurora, and Joliet?
Comment by Ralphie Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 3:39 pm
When Michael Reese was purchased with taxpayer dollars for the Olympics the citizens were told that “we could not lose money” on the $85M investment. I wonder what the property would bring now on the open market, $65M?
Comment by Jim Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 3:43 pm
Rich, I didn’t get a chance to comment on your post last week before you turned off comments for the weekend, however your comment about my grandfather revealed more about your own shortcomings than anything about my always thoughtful and very intelligent grandfather. Your buddy at the Sun Times wasn’t able to lead the Chicago business community to address segregation in Chicago in the 1960s. Nor was he able to expose the Chicago police riot at the 1968 Democratic convention. Nor was he able to empower the people of Illinois to take back the State from the Daley Machine. My grandfather succeeded at establishing huge precedents for many of our current day independent-minded reformers in Illinois, and he deserves much more praise for that than he deserves criticism for his personal failures in his life outside of public office.
Comment by Gov Walker's grandson Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 3:53 pm
Grandson, I wasn’t writing about his personal problems, nor did I bring up his conviction.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 3:55 pm
Rich, only a uniquely honest man would make such deep assessments of his own personal failures as my grandfather has.
Comment by Gov Walker's grandson Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 4:54 pm
Great.
Then tell him that writing a story about how he was illegally gambling at the governor’s mansion to make his point against legalized gaming is more than just a bit ironic.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 4:58 pm
=Is anyone aware of an international business city that has located a casino in the middle of its downtown, daytime, business district?=
London has nearly 15 casino that are open to the public. Other cities include Montreal, Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Ontario, not to mention Monte Carlo. Many Asian cities have casinos as well.
Comment by CLJ Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 5:02 pm
Zing.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 5:08 pm
There are already better plans for the Michael Reese site.
Yea - the Olympic village needs to be built there!
Comment by dave Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 5:56 pm
the list of Preckwinkle dismissals in the paper was short. anyone have other names to add to the list? it should be long….sooo many from the 8th ward!
Comment by amalia Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 9:22 pm
–London has nearly 15 casino that are open to the public. Other cities include Montreal, Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Ontario, not to mention Monte Carlo. Many Asian cities have casinos as well.–
I’m aware that major cities have casinos. My question is are they in the heart of the daytime business districts, like Block 37. I assumed a Chicago casino would be located in Chicago. The question is where in Chicago.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Dec 7, 10 @ 10:00 pm