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By Kathy Bergen
and Ray Long
| House Speaker Michael Madigan proposed modest revisions to the McCormick
Place overhaul legislation this morning, reflecting some issues that
had been raised by Gov. Pat Quinn.
But it’s still possible the governor may attempt to use his amendatory
veto power later today to push for more dramatic changes, sources said.
James K. McCusker, Viante Home Products Company, demonstrates his company’s new coffee maker at The International Home and Housewares Show at McCormick Place in 2009. (Bradley Piper/Chicago Tribune)
By Kathy Bergen
| Top executives with the International Home + Housewares Show fired off an email to Gov. Pat Quinn today, saying they could not recommend Chicago as the show’s venue for 2012 and beyond when their board meets later this week unless the governor signs the McCormick Place overhaul legislation.
“The lack of signature to this bill will ultimately send us and other vitally important trade show business elsewhere,” the email stated. It was signed by Phil Brandl, president of the International Housewares Association, and Mia Rampersad, the group’s vice president/trade shows. The association’s show has been a cornerstone of the city’s convention business since 1939.
Quinn is expected to make a decision on the bill within days. Sources expect he will sign it, but will try to attach some changes as well.
Gov. Pat Quinn on May 9, 2010, at a Mother’s Day walk. Quinn told reporters today that he is still reluctant to sign the McCormick Place overhaul legislation. (Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune)
By Kathy Bergen
| Gov. Pat Quinn took some oblique shots at political insider Jim Reilly
Monday as he explained why he remains undecided on whether to sign the
McCormick Place overhaul legislation.
The bill would name Reilly, currently the chairman of the Regional
Transportation Authority, as trustee with broad decision-making power
to oversee restructuring the Chicago convention center. Quinn said he
wanted to be sure the legislation had adequate checks and balances in
place.
By John Byrne
and Kathy Bergen | Mayor Richard Daley says his office will be meeting with Gov. Pat Quinn to determine why the governor is balking at signing the McCormick Place overhaul legislation.
“We’ll be talking to him very shortly,” Daley told reporters today.
When asked about the consequences for the city if the bill is not signed, Daley said, “We have to make sure we have the best convention atmosphere because people depend off of it — both local, county and state governments basically get a huge amount of money off it. That’s realistic. A lot of sales tax coming in.”
By Kathy Bergen | Gov. Pat Quinn, who has been deliberating on whether to sign McCormick Place overhaul legislation, will meet with some of Chicago’s top trade show organizers Thursday afternoon, less than 48 hours before the start of the restaurant industry’s high-profile show, sources said Tuesday.
Whether Quinn will inform them that he intends to sign the legislation, which show managers are pushing for, or will just solicit their views was unclear. Quinn’s office declined to comment.
Associated Press | Radisson is writing one of the biggest checks
in company history for 18 floors in downtown Chicago’s Aqua Tower
high-rise. Carlson Hotels Worldwide announced Wednesday it would spend
$125 million on the first American property in its upscale Radisson Blu
line.
It’s one of the most expensive purchases in a busy shopping season for
hotel investors searching for distressed properties. But credits
markets are still so tight Carlson is paying half upfront in cash.
The Chicago Auto Show at the McCormick Place Convention Center in February. The bill passed by the Senate today imposes more flexible show-floor rules aimed at cutting exhibitors’ costs and aggravations. (Alex Garcia/Chicago Tribune)
By Kathy Bergen | SPRINGFIELD–McCormick Place, as trade shows have known it for the past
half-century, will have a very different environment under legislation
that the General Assembly sent to the governor today.
By a vote of 51-6, the Illinois Senate approved legislation passed by
the House yesterday that puts an interim czar at the helm, with marching
orders to privatize the management of the nation’s largest convention
center.
By Kathy Bergen | Jim Reilly, the legislative’s chief adviser on McCormick Place, would take the reins of the convention center and likely lead it into an era of private management, if the General Assembly approves legislation introduced this afternoon.
Reilly, who is chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority and formerly chief executive of the agency that runs McCormick Place, would step into a $185,250-a-year role that carries extensive decision-making power for an 18-month transition period.
Former Vice President Al Gore gives the keynote address to the Bio International Convention this week in McCormick Place. (Phil Velsaquez/Tribune)
By Bruce Japsen | The economic crisis could be preventing the next life-saving drug or medical treatment from reaching consumers, say biotech companies and their leaders.
According to data provided to the Tribune at the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s annual meeting in Chicago this week, the banking crisis that has tightened lending and investors skittish about risky propositions including biotechnology have led to a 25 percent decline in public biotech companies.
By Kathy Bergen |
Some of Chicago’s largest trade show organizers are warning legislative
leaders in Springfield against watering down exhibitor rights as they
craft a bill to overhaul McCormick Place operations.
“We need to stress that simply expanding exhibitor rights incrementally
will not help. This must be offered to all,” representatives of eight
major shows stated in an e-mail sent Wednesday to House Speaker Michael
Madigan (D-Chicago), House Republican Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) and
Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago).
By Kathy Bergen | Juan Ochoa, chief executive of the agency that runs McCormick Place,
Wednesday announced his resignation, which was widely anticipated. He
said in a statement he intends to work on immigration reform.
Ochoa’s exit as CEO of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority,
or McPier, comes as the General Assembly is preparing to restructure
operations at McCormick Place later this week.
The legislature’s chief adviser on the McCormick Place overhaul is
recommending installation of a state-appointed trustee for an 18-month
transition period. If the General Assembly goes along, this would have
meant Ochoa’s exit.
By Kathy Bergen | The agency that runs McCormick Place and Navy Pier could look to
corporate America and to the traveling public for additional revenue
streams — if legislators go along with proposals being discussed this week
in Springfield.
Lawmakers are considering letting the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition
Authority, or McPier, sell naming rights to its facilities.
Twenty-five percent of the proceeds would go into an incentive fund for
luring new trade shows, and 75 percent would go toward paying off
facility expansion bonds. An estimate on potential proceeds was
unavailable Tuesday afternoon.
By Bruce Japsen
| Though a much-touted Chicago appearance today of former Presidents
George W. Bush and Bill Clinton will not be open to the public or the
press at the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s annual meeting, the group
has offered up former Vice President Al Gore for five minutes tomorrow.
BIO said the first “five minutes of the Vice President’s keynote address
will be open” to registered media. Gore’s keynote address is sponsored
by California-based biotech giant Amgen Inc. The fees being paid to Gore for his
appearance are not being disclosed, BIO said.
By Kathy Bergen and Ray Long | Juan Ochoa, chief executive of the agency that runs McCormick Place, has broached the possibility of resigning with Gov. Pat Quinn, according to sources close to the situation.
Whether he made a formal offer or had a more informal exchange remains unclear. There was no information as to whether Quinn had accepted an offer. His office declined to comment.
By Bruce Japsen | Good news on the biotech front: The biotechnology industry grew, despite soaring unemployment and thousands of jobs shed by pharmaceutical companies during the recession, according to a report presented in Chicago this morning from the Biotechnology Industry Organization.
The U.S. bioscience sector grew 1.4 percent to 1.42 million jobs in 2008, the latest year statistics were available, said the report by research firm Battelle. Meanwhile, the larger unemployment picture was dismal, with nearly one in 10 Americans without jobs.
