Sept. 29--For several years the Chicago Way -- or rather, one of its egregious money deals -- has been on trial.
Insiders connected to former Mayor Richard M. Daley got a sweetheart deal to open Park Grill, the restaurant at Millennium Park. Signed in 2003, the deal included free water, natural gas and garbage pickup. The lease requires Park Grill to pay roughly $250,000 a year in rent -- far below market value for a site that quickly became one of the city's top tourist attractions. And because the restaurant is on Chicago Park District property, it pays no property taxes.
Could the contract be undone?
Daley's attorneys tried to renegotiate the terms of the lease for years, without success.
After Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office in 2011, his City Hall filed a lawsuit against Park Grill. He expressed the right moral outrage: Taxpayers shouldn't have to prop up a lucrative, clout-heavy development.
But last week, Emanuel's lawyers lost in court.
They had argued in a long and contentious bench trial that the lease was invalid because the city owns most of Millennium Park -- yet the Chicago Park District, a separate "sister agency," negotiated the restaurant agreement. Cook County Circuit Judge Moshe Jacobius, though, sided with Park Grill. No matter how generous or clout-driven the contract, the judge ruled, it was entered into legally and knowingly. The city and the Park District knew what a fabulous deal they were offering.
In a statement, Emanuel said taxpayers "have been taken advantage of in a sweetheart deal that benefited a select few." He said city lawyers were reviewing Jacobius' decision to determine whether to appeal.
It seems unlikely this decision would be overturned on appeal. It's not worth more costly litigation. The city and the Park District (that's you, taxpayers) have spent considerable resources fighting the terms of this contract for nearly a decade. The terms are rotten for the oft-chumped citizens of Chicago. They stand as a frustrating reminder of the public cost of insider clout.
Part of the Park Grill controversy centered on the fact that the investors in the restaurant were Daley confidants. A romantic relationship between one of the restaurant investors and a Park District official created a huge conflict of interest. The terms of the deal greatly favored investors, not taxpayers.
Just a few years into the lease, even Daley admitted it was a bad deal. He blamed it on city and Park District lawyers.
"Lawyers do make mistakes," he told reporters. "That's what it was. ... It's embarrassing to them. Yes it is, the corporation counsel and the Park District counsel."
Costly, costly mistakes. But mistakes that seem unlikely to be corrected.
Park Grill will continue to operate under a favorable arrangement that other restaurant owners would die for.
That $43 ribeye and $16 splash of Courvoisier on the upscale restaurant's menu?
Every time someone orders them, The Chicago Way wins.
And you lose.
