The radiologists throw a bigger convention, and they spend more too.
But the Democratic political convention here in 1996 could bring something that crowds and money can’t match: a public-relations bonanza that could showcase Chicago as the place to meet, eat, vacation-you name it-with economic payoffs for years to come.
After decades of stiffing the city, the expected announcement that the Democrats are bringing the convention here also could-finally-wipe out the picture of the bloody 1968 street riot that is the enduring image of the last time the Democrats nominated a presidential candidate in Chicago.
With 15,000 journalists expected to cover the 25,000 politicians, delegates and hangers-on, “we couldn’t afford to buy that kind of television time,” said mayoral aide MarySue Barrett.
“There’s a definite long-term image setting at a convention. Every time they do a pull-away shot of the Chicago skyline or do a feature on the rebirth of the new West Side or ethnic neighborhoods in Chicago, we benefit as a center for conventions and tourism in the future,” Barrett said.
Hardly anybody does stories on the radiologists.
“In a sense, Chicago comes back into its own. This is the rehabilitation. You can say, `All is forgiven,’ ” said Stephen Hess, a press and politics expert at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.
“Chicago can come back to its rightful place as probably the best convention city in the the United States.
“Chicago didn’t devote its whole history to beating up hippies. But there’s no question that the press will be filled with comparison stories, ’68 versus ’96. Every way you can play it. Not only because that’s an easy story to write but because the nomination of an incumbent president is not exactly a hold-your-breath story. So there will be an awful lot of that. Daley-to -Daley comparison. Father and son. That sort of thing.”
“If that’s what we have to go through, then maybe it’s worth it,” said Barrett, who predicted that along with the big public-relations bang the Democrats are likely to bring an economic kick of $90 million to $100 million in spending to the Chicago area. Take away the $32 million incentive that the city and state have pledged in order to win the convention. That still means around $70 million, she said.
That compares with about $84 million when the big-bucks radiologists come to McCormick Place each year.
In sheer numbers, the biggest convention was the May meeting of the National Restaurant Association, which brought 101,242 people to town.
Four-day conventions in Chicago can generate gross spending of up to $200 million, said Arnold Karr, president of the Hotel-Motel Association of Illinois.
Democrats might only spend half that, he said, in part because they got selected to actually attend the convention sessions, which are held in the evening around the dinner hour.
Also, Karr said, “at a business trade show, I think you get more entertaining and expenditures on upscale restaurants.”
“These people are a whole range of folks, unlike professional people who are going to a convention on someone’s expense account,” Barrett added. “Most of these are going on their own dollar.”
Jerry Roper, who heads the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, said the convention would mean about 2,000 new part-time jobs, plus “you keep people working, the people who are already in the (convention-related) industry.”
Ald. Lawrence Bloom (5th) said the convention “will give Chicago a chance to erase whatever bad memories that linger” from the 1968 debacle. A national inquiry called the street fighting a “police riot” where law enforcers battered Vietnam War protesters downtown and in Lincoln Park.
But Bloom noted that there are many voters and delegates who weren’t even born in 1968. Furthermore, he said, Chicago has hosted many political conventions and only one was a disaster.
In fact, Chicago has been the site of 24 national political conventions, beginning back in 1860 when the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln. No city has had more, and both parties held their conventions here in 1884, 1932, 1944 and 1952.
Between 1856 and 1968, Chicago never went more than 12 years without hosting a convention. Since 1968 and the street battles that accompanied the nomination of Hubert Humphrey, Chicago has been untouchable. Until now.
Bloom looks at the 1996 convention as an opportunity not only for the best of modern public relations but also some good old-fashioned political pork.
“It doesn’t hurt to have the incumbent president choose Chicago as the place he wants to be renominated in terms of getting Washington to listen to our needs.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if some (federal government) demonstration grants were announced. Maybe something to do with public-housing projects here or maybe even something with summer youth employment.”
This would be welcome news to the people who live in the blighted West Side neighborhood where the United Center, the convention site, is under construction.
Peggy Flax is skeptical. Unemployed with four children and living in the Henry Horner Homes in the now-desolate region that will host the conventioneers, she said it is foolish to suggest that the convention will mean much to her.
Surrounded by vacant lots, Flax asked, “Where are they going to spend their money? You see any restaurants? You see any bars? It ain’t nothing but lot, lot, lot.”
Henrene Moss, 50, has a more upbeat view. For more than half her life, she has made her living operating Fab’s Nite & Day, where she has sold beer, wine, liquor and a few groceries to her West Side neighbors and sports fans attending Bulls and Blackhawks games at the now-shuttered Chicago Stadium.
Since her husband was shot and killed two years ago, Moss has operated the store with her two sons. She hopes conventioneers will boost her sales, and she even plans a renovation.
“If you have the merchandise and your prices are right, they’ll buy,” Moss said. “Maybe all those people won’t stop here, but we’ll be ready anyway.”
