A developer alleged Thursday that political operatives from Mayor Daley’s native 11th Ward shut down work on his upscale Bridgeport subdivision when he refused to give them favors.
In a federal lawsuit that adds new political intrigue to the controversy over the Bridgeport Village development, businessman Thomas Snitzer said he was strong-armed by Timothy Degnan, a former top aide to Daley, and Thomas DiPiazza, a real estate developer and consultant described in the suit as Degnan’s “top lieutenant.”
They sought kickbacks and demanded discount prices on homes for City Hall insiders and used influence in the Daley administration to stop him when he wouldn’t go along, according to the lawsuit.
A city spokeswoman said Thursday that work was suspended because of multiple building code violations that were the developer’s fault.
The suit is replete with the high-profile names of others who allegedly figured into an episode that Snitzer’s lawyers claim resulted in “crippling the project and seriously injuring Snitzer’s professional reputation and career.”
They include John Daley, the mayor’s brother, Cook County commissioner and 11th Ward Democratic committeeman; former city Buildings Commissioner Stan Kaderbek; Ald. James Balcer (11th); former senior mayoral aide Victor Reyes; and Robert Sorich, another former mayoral aide who was convicted last year in a City Hall hiring fraud scheme.
Snitzer’s suit was filed by the law firm of Michael Shakman, the attorney who brought a long-running anti-patronage suit against the city.
Snitzer’s development of luxury single-family homes near 34th Street and Racine Avenue was controversial almost from the start.
Critics charged that the developer, who was represented by Mayor Daley’s former law partner, John George, had paid too little for the city property on a former industrial site along the South Branch of the Chicago River.
