A welfare activist called it a waste of money, but McCormick Place officials Tuesday approved a $50,000, no-bid contract with a politically well- connected public relations firm to sell state legislators on including a domed stadium in an expansion of the convention center.
”You`re going to be asked to spend $50,000 to promote this when it`s dead,” Douglas Dobmeyer, executive director of the Public Welfare Coalition, told members of the McCormick Place governing board at its monthly meeting.
”It`s a waste of your money.”
Board members, however, rejected that assessment. ”Does he have ESP, this guy?” asked Thomas Rosenberg.
Dobmeyer contended that Gov. Jim Edgar had indicated in published remarks earlier this month that the proposed $375-million stadium would not have a chance of passage in the General Assembly this year.
Even if the dome did have a chance, Dobmeyer argued, the money raised through special taxes imposed on hotels, restaurants and car rentals to finance construction of the stadium would be better spent on aid to impoverished people in the state.
He noted that, because of the state budget problems, nearly 100,000 people face a possible cutoff of monthly general assistance grants next January.
John Schmidt, chairman of the board, acknowledged that Edgar had said it would be difficult to push the domed stadium through the General Assembly this year, but he noted that Edgar never declared the stadium proposal dead.
”The tax revenues we would be using (for the dome) would clearly not be available to fund general assistance,” Schmidt said. He called Dobmeyer`s opposition to the dome ”shortsighted” because he said the McCormick expansion would bring more business to Illinois and more tax revenue to state government.
Schmidt defended the hiring of Jasculca-Terman & Associates, a firm with ties to Mayor Richard Daley. He said the firm has already done as much as $300,000 in volunteer work for the dome.
He also said a strong promotion effort will be needed to win approval for the new exhibition annex, even if the dome is dropped. He said he would meet with Daley after the April 2 election to decide whether to push for a domed stadium this year.
