If one were to judge solely by the article in this week’s Park Ridge Herald-Advocate (“What should be on former Cadillac site?“, July 31), one might start wondering if 5th Ward Ald. Robert Ryan is becoming a true man of the people. 

The article reported on a neighborhood meeting Ryan attended on Tuesday at the site of the shuttered Napleton Cadillac dealership, Northwest Hwy. and Meacham, which was called by neighbors who opposed the construction of either a CenTrust Bank or a CVS pharmacy there.  Those neighbors pointed to the City’s 2002 Uptown comprehensive plan, which identified that area – although currently zoned B-1 (for business) – as multi-family residential.

We here at PublicWatchdog have consistently questioned the need and/or desirability of increasing the residential density of Park Ridge, not only from the standpoint of physical congestion but also with regard for an already suspect infrastructure (as reflected in continued flooding and problematic electric service, to name just the first two concerns that come to mind).  So we question the wisdom of adding any more multi-family residential to the current situation.

But we also respect the neighbors’ concerns, and we applaud their activism in voicing them loudly and strongly the minute the CenTrust and CVS concepts hit their radar.

That’s where Ald. Ryan comes in. 

Ryan has been a loyal alderpuppet of Mayor Howard “Let’s Make A Deal” Frimark since he was elected with Frimark’s support in April 2007.  In his role as alderpuppet, Ryan seemingly has done everything he could to ignore and even frustrate the will of his constituents.

When they vigorously opposed giving the Executive Office Plaza developers (and Frimark campaign contributors) a zoning variance to add extra density, Ryan reportedly met “privately” with the developers and then voted for the variance.  He has spoken in favor of the PADS shelters that many of them have vocally opposed both at St. Mary’s and at St. Paul of the Cross.

But the Ryan vote that is most relevant to the old Napleton Cadillac site is the one he cast in support of the proposed giveaway of as much as $2.4 million of our tax dollars to Napleton Cadillac, another one of Frimark’s campaign contributors – which included $400,000 to clean up environmental contamination of the site so that it could be sold to Uptown developer PRC Partners LLC. 

That deal fell through when Napleton closed down its relocated dealership, although Frimark still tried to get Napleton/PRC at least the $400,000 clean-up money.

Which causes us to view the current Napleton/CenTrust/CVS discussions with more than a little suspicion, especially when Bill Napleton himself urges the neighbors “to contact the city and say they support…[residential development] and then ask the city to assist in some way to make that happen.”  It sure gets us to wondering whether a nice round number like, oh, say…$400,000 might “assist” enough to do the deal?

Maybe Napleton and his buddy, Frimark, are hoping that they can “play” the Cadillac neighbors’ opposition to commercial development on that site into grass-roots support for a new windfall for Napleton and whomever he might sell the property to.  We wouldn’t be surprised if PRC is still lurking in the weeds just waiting – with Napleton – for the City to blink.  After all, an easy $400 grand beats a sharp stick in the eye while riding out a troubled housing market.

As for Ald. Ryan, we guess it’s possible that he might have had an epiphany and now realizes that it’s wrong to prefer the wishes of the monied special interests over the will of his constituents.  Maybe he truly has become a neo-populist who really wants to support the Napleton neighbors’ in their quest to follow the Uptown comprehensive plan and make the old Napleton site residential.  If so, he can take an important first step in proving it by publicly pledging to oppose any economic contributions or concessions by the City related to that property.

We can’t wait to see if this particular leopard can change his spots.