On Wednesday (Feb. 11) Mayor Howard “Let’s Make A Deal” Frimark for the first time graced a hearing of the Illinois Gaming Board with his presence, during which he made Park Ridge’s initial argument to the Board to move the proposed Des Plaines casino from the planned Devon/River Road site.

As Frimark was told by the Gaming Board’s top attorney at the City Council meeting on January 26, the Des Plaines casino and its location have already been given final approval, subject only to the Board’s completing its due diligence investigation of the casino’s corporate owner and its investors.  The time for Frimark to have given Wednesday’s speech was months ago, at the meetings which occurred before Des Plaines was named as one of three finalists in October, 2008; or at the Board’s public hearing on December 22nd, before the license was awarded.

But Frimark was MIA for all those meetings and hearings, just like he was MIA for all those ONCC meetings over the past 3-1/2 years leading up to the new O’Hare runway’s opening in November.  At least he can claim that he’s consistent.

Besides his guest appearance at the Gaming Board being way too late to matter, Frimark’s reasons for a new casino site were weak, at best:

(a) the new runway is bombarding Park Ridge residents in the south/southwest end of town with airplane noise (as if that’s supposed to be a concern of the Gaming Board’s);

(b) the “quagmire” of traffic that the new casino will bring to that end of Park Ridge; and

(c) Maine South High School is installing football lights (another non-issue for casino licensing that the Gaming Board couldn’t give two hoots about). 

Really…those were the reasons he gave, which you can hear for yourself by clicking here.  You also can hear him tell the Gaming Board members – as if they cared – that he’s going to be asking Des Plaines for cash reimbursements for the extra expenses the casino will cost Park Ridge. 

So why wasn’t he asking for dough from Des Plaines before the casino license was awarded, when our neighbor to the west and the private casino developer may have had an actual incentive for trying to garner Park Ridge’s support?  Why did he wait until after the casino became a done-deal at Devon and River to put on his show for the Gaming Board?

It looks to us like he was too busy with other things, like working on sweetheart deals for Frimark campaign contributors Norwood Builders and Napleton Cadillac.  And let’s not forget all the time and effort he expended trying to find the right piece of private land to take off the tax rolls as the site for the big new cop shop he wants built ASAP.

Whether Park Ridge could have influenced the choice of Des Plaines as the casino site, or of the casino location in Des Plaines, is speculative-to-problematic.  But by not even showing up for the meetings and hearings leading up to the Gaming Board’s December 22, 2008, decision, and not even sending a letter voicing the City’s concerns, our Park Ridge City government – under the “leadership” of Mayor Frimark – made it a moot point.

This wasn’t just Frimark’s snafu, however.  The City Manager and the entire City Council – including First Ward Alderman/mayoral candidate Dave Schmidt and every one of Frimark’s Alderpuppets – were all asleep at the wheel on this casino issue, just as they were asleep at the wheel on the new runway.  And each and every one of them should be called to account for why they weren’t paying attention to projects (the runway and the casino) that may have such significant, long-term impact on the quality of life in Park Ridge.

But at the end of the day, Frimark is the guy in the big chair making the $1,000/month (v. the aldermen’s $100/month) to do something more than cut deals with cronies and cut ribbons at store openings.  So that’s why the buck stops there.