If the title of this post didn’t jolt you, you haven’t been reading this blog very long – because it’s about as close as we’ve ever come to “man bites dog.”

We’ve hammered private corporation Taste of Park Ridge NFP (“Taste Inc.”), of which Dave Iglow is the Big Kahuna, for its 7 year no-bid, no-contract monopoly of the annual Taste of Park Ridge event (“TOPR”) that then-mayor Howard Frimark and a previous negligent City Council handed over to Taste Inc. back in 2005.  That monopoly has helped put close to $100,000 of net profits in Taste Inc.’s private bank account, almost all of which can be attributed to Taste Inc.’s stiffing Park Ridge taxpayers for the cost of the police, fire and public works services TOPR consumed.

But after a long and often rancorous battle, Mayor Dave Schmidt finally persuaded the current City Council to act responsibly and put TOPR out to bid.  And as the successful bidder, Taste Inc. was required to sign a contract that for the first time ensured it would provide full reimbursement of City expenses, along with insurance, a performance bond and an accounting.

Which is why we did a triple take at the August 24 on-line Park Ridge Herald-Advocate story about something called “Pizza Fest” that is scheduled to take place September 7-8 and which sounds like it will be an event on the scale of TOPR, albeit for one less day (“Pizza fest has easier path to permit than Taste of Park Ridge”).

According to the H-A article, the City hasn’t held Pizza Fest’s sponsor, the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce, to the same contractual requirement as it held Taste Inc. just a couple of months ago.

Why?

We’re not sure.  And neither is Mayor Schmidt, who vowed to find out and added Pizza Fest as an item on the agenda of tonight’s City Council COW (Committee Of the Whole) meeting – 7:00 p.m. at 505 Butler Place.

The most likely reason Pizza Fest escaped a Taste Inc. contractual requirement is because former city manager Jim Hock and/or former acting city manager Juliana Maller may have decided that the Chamber of Commerce, for whatever strange reason, didn’t have to play by the same rules as Taste Inc.  Or maybe it was because, unlike Taste Inc., the Chamber reportedly offered to voluntarily reimburse the City for its expenses.

But neither of those reasons is a substitute for a clearly-expressed and consistently-enforced City policy that requires a legally-binding contractual arrangement between the City and any person or entity who wants to close streets or alter traffic for a profit-making activity like TOPR…or Pizza Fest.  Which is why we agree with the comment by Taste Inc.’s Iglow that “[o]ne would hope special events would be treated the same way”; and with his suggestion that the City establish a uniform policy for such public events.

Last time we looked, the Chamber of Commerce is no less a private corporation than Taste Inc.  And we can’t say with any confidence that the Chamber’s purpose is any more noble or altruistic than Taste Inc.’s so as to entitle the Chamber to less stringent requirements and accountability for its making a buck.

Contrary to the view of Taste Inc.’s 2012 TOPR chairman (and Park Ridge Recreation and Park District commissioner) Mel Thillens, this is about more than “just a difference of opinion that got blown out of proportion” – Thillens’ description of the “controversy” over TOPR’s 7 years of welfare.  This is a matter of basic public policy and of establishing uniform requirements that create and maintain a level playing field for anyone who wants to do this kind of “business” with the City.

That’s the best way to avoid “special” deals and the “controversy” that they ultimately generate.

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