Our December 8, 2008, post, “While Park Ridge Slept,” criticized Mayor Frimark and the rest of our City officials for being asleep at the wheel for the past several years while the City of Chicago, the FAA, and the airlines moved forward with the construction of $500 million-plus runway 9L/27R. 

Today we address another example of City government sleep-walking past another issue that could have a significant impact on our community: The casino that likely will be built at the northwest corner of River Road and Devon, in Des Plaines but on the Park Ridge border near Maine South High School.

When the State of Illinois announced in late December that Midwest Gaming had won the State’s 10th license for a casino in Des Plaines, Frimark gave a basic ho-hum.  “I don’t see it having a real negative effect,” he stated.  Back then, he even sounded like the casino might be a good thing, talking about how it might create jobs and help the local economy. 

To the extent that a few residents had expressed concerns about the planned casino’s proximity to Maine South and its potential for increasing traffic congestion and criminal activity, however, Frimark casually indicated that he would sit down with both the Illinois Gaming Board and Des Plaines Mayor Tony Arredia to discuss those concerns, making it sound like Park Ridge could still have some effect on the project.

Wrong!

As Sleeping Howard and the City Council somnambulists discovered last Monday night (Jan. 26), the Des Plaines casino for all intents and purposes is a done deal.  And, according to Illinois Gaming Board Chief Legal Counsel Michael Fries, it became a done deal on December 22, following a series of at least 11 public meetings and hearings since December 2007 at which Des Plaines’ pursuit of the last casino license was discussed.  Fries also reported that the City of Park Ridge was not represented at any Gaming Board meetings, nor did the City or any of its residents even submit any correspondence to the Gaming Board raising questions or objections to the casino.    

What was our City government doing during that time?

It appears that Frimark and 1st Ward Ald. Dave Schmidt were in the process of commencing their campaigns for mayor during the tail end of that time period.  And, as well chronicled on this site, Frimark was preoccupied with: trying to cut sweetheart deals for campaign contributors; trying to buy up private land for a $16.5 million-and-counting new police station that he was hoping to build without an advisory referendum; struggling to help the Park Ridge Ministerial Association open a PADS homeless shelter free from City regulation; and dodging responsibility for being MIA on the new O’Hare runway.  

As for the rest of our City Council members?  To hear Frimark Alderpuppet (and Frimark nominating petition signature gatherer and Frimark campaign contributor [pdf]) Don “Air Marshall” Bach tell it, they never saw the casino coming. 

The Air Marshall seemed to be caught as unaware of the casino as he previously seemed to be of the possibility that the airlines might actually start flying a lot of planes in and out of O’Hare on the newly-completed $500 million-plus runway, despite his having spent the past year or so going to the monthly meetings of the O’Hare Noise Compatibility Commission as the City’s designated alternate (to Frimark) ONCC representative:

“Even though this was discussed, there was no inkling for citizens in Park Ridge to know that it would end up in Des Plaines until October,” Bach complained about the casino to Fries last Monday night.

Frankly, folks, we’re more than a little tired of how City government under Mayor Frimark and the Alderpuppets ignores things that could greatly affect our property values and our quality of life while paying rapt attention to much smaller matters where some “special interest” or another is involved. 

Since the number of Park Ridge residents expressing reservations about the casino has increased, however, Frimark has been busy trying to close the barn door after the horse has departed – telling the Park Ridge Journal in pseudo-Biblical terms that he had “convey[ed] unto” Mayor Arredia that “the casino really has no benefit to us,” even as Frimark began lowering citizen expectations of any kind of quick deal with Des Plaines over financial concessions by pointing out that Arredia is leaving office in May and that he (Frimark) doesn’t know whether the new mayor is “going to be pro casino or against it.”

Hey, Howard…we’ll give you 10 to 1 odds and take “pro.”  How much can we put you down for?