By Kathy Bergen | While Mayor Richard Daley and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn continue to weigh who they will appoint to an interim panel that will study how to make Chicago a more competitive trade show destination, a separate task force initiated by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has been assembled to wrestle with the same issues.
The 16-member legislative panel, appointed within the past week and dominated by Democrats and Chicagoans, will hold its first hearing April 1 at the Thompson Center in Chicago, with a second hearing planned for April 7. It must present its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly no later than April 30.
Meanwhile, by the end of the week, Daley and Quinn must name an interim board for the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the state-city agency, known as McPier, that owns and operates McCormick Place and Navy Pier. McPier answers to three different bosses, the governor and the mayor, who make appointments, and the state legislature, which controls some of the purse strings, particularly the use of tourism-related taxes to pay back expansion bonds.
With the city’s trade-show business in decline and a couple of major shows exiting for cheaper rival venues, the legislature this winter voted to oust the 13-member McPier board, and replace it with a seven-member interim board charged with analyzing how to make the city’s trade show business more competitive.
An intense tug-of-war has been under way over the make-up of the interim board. While a number of veteran board members have pushed to remain, trade show industry leaders are lobbying intensely for individuals with deep experience in the business.
In a recent letter to Daley, seven major show customers urged him “to appoint individuals who have some knowledge and experience in the convention and meeting industry.” Among those signing were representatives of the restaurant and housewares shows and the radiologists annual convention, all high-profile mainstays at McCormick Place, the nation’s largest convention center.
The International Home + Housewares Show, a Chicago staple since 1939, wants to see Chicago cut its costs, and is weighing alternate venues for 2012. The annual show, under way this week at McCormick Place, draws 60,000 attendees and generates an estimated $75 million in local spending.
The National Restaurant Association, another cornerstone of Chicago’s trade-show industry, also has not yet committed for 2012, and sources have said it, too, is looking at alternatives.
The newly formed legislative panel includes 10 Democrats among its 16 members, and nine Chicagoans. The members are listed below.
House Democrats:
Speaker Michael Madigan, Chicago, committee co-chair
Edward J. Acevedo, Chicago
William D. Burns, Chicago
Sara Feigenholtz, Chicago
Greg Harris, Chicago
House Republicans:
Minority Leader Tom Cross, Plainfield, committee co-vice chair
Angelo Saviano, Elmwood Park
Timothy L. Schmitz, Geneva
Senate Democrats:
President John J. Cullerton, Chicago, committee co-chair
Mike Jacobs, East Moline
Edward D. Maloney, Chicago
Antonio Muñoz, Chicago
Kwame Raoul, Chicago
Senate Republicans:
Minority Leader Christine Radogno, Lemont, committee co-vice chair
Dan Duffy, Lake Barrington
Kirk W. Dillard, Hinsdale
