Some folks are just lucky. Consider the blessings that befell Chicago developer Thomas DiPiazza.
In May 1998, he and business partner Richard Ferro bought a vacant and contaminated 1.8-acre triangle in Bridgeport for $50,000. Lo and behold, one month later the City of Chicago asked for a state grant to buy that same land for a park. How serendipitous! That deal closed six years later, with City Hall paying DiPiazza and Ferro $1.2 million. A 24-fold payback.
In laying out this saga Tuesday, the Tribune’s Laurie Cohen and Todd Lighty noted that ever-escalating city appraisals worked to the advantage of DiPiazza and Ferro. That makes sense — to a point. Most real estate prices in Chicago did rise substantially between 1998 and 2004.
But was something else at work?
Only a cynic would suggest that DiPiazza might have had advance knowledge that the city wanted the land for a park. Or that DiPiazza’s 40-year friendship with Tim Degnan, one of Mayor Richard Daley’s closest advisers, gave DiPiazza any advantage. Or that acquiring land for a park gave Daley’s administration a chance to express gratitude for DiPiazza and Ferro’s frequent political contributions to Daley.
Only a cynic.
But why do we so often hear stories like this? With clouted pals of Clan Daley stuffing wads of taxpayer money into their pockets in deals that teach us: Some folks are just lucky.
As Cohen and Lighty put it: “DiPiazza’s good fortune is a familiar tale of how insiders profit from even the most public-minded projects undertaken by the Daley administration, from wrought-iron fencing to blue-bag recycling.”
Here’s another telling passage:
“It is unclear how or when DiPiazza learned that the land was being eyed by the city for a park. City officials said they did not tip off DiPiazza about their plans. The Daley administration refused to make city officials available for interviews and insisted that the Tribune submit all questions in writing. DiPiazza declined to discuss the park. His lawyer, Michael Kralovec, said DiPiazza profited from rising real estate prices in Bridgeport and that the city paid a fair price for the land. Kralovec said it is ‘silliness’ to suggest that DiPiazza was helped by his political connections.”
Yes, it is silliness to suggest such a linkage. Who would dare?
And let’s give DiPiazza’s lawyer his due: He didn’t demand that the Tribune reporters submit their questions to him in writing. Unlike the Daley administration, which often forgets that taxpaying Chicagoans — not the mayor and his dutiful payrollers — own City Hall.
From time to time we wonder why the same coterie of contributors, old pals, developers and other insiders keep getting these fabulous deals. Then we remember that Chicago is a font of opportunity. A place where any good boy or girl can dream of growing up to be a Bridgeport landowner whose $50,000 investment in polluted turf magically delivers a $1.2 million payoff.
And we remind ourselves: Some folks are just lucky. What else could it be?
