Thompson Center sale – would “Big Jim” wind up losing his tribute bldg.?

I have mixed views over what ought to become of the building that already has had more than a third of a century of life – the James R. Thompson Center that is the physical Chicago home of Illinois state government.

A significant Chicago intersection for many layers of government

I know some officials think that the sale of the downtown Chicago real estate would produce revenue too essential to balancing out state government’s finances that would make it too irresponsible to even think of retaining the facility.

YET THE IDEA of now having to find office space for all the state agencies that are based here elsewhere in Chicago make me think it may be irresponsible to abandon their current home.

I know of the ideologues of downstate Illinois who take great offense that Springfield, the state capital, is considered less important for some state agencies than Chicago. But it seems like it could be reckless to sell off the state facility just to appease those ideologues who can’t accept that Springfield is essentially a city built on a 19^th Century scale (Abraham Lincoln would recognize much of it) even though the world has progressed far into the 21^st Century!

This debate is going to perk up in coming years, what with Gov. J.B. Pritzker signing the bill into law that creates a two-year process that would enable someone else to bid on, and buy, the square-block property at Clark and Randolph streets.

Old and new state buildings across the street

The prime real estate located right across the street from City Hall/County Building and also from the old State of Illinois Building (which long ago was converted into the Bilandic Building home of the Supreme Court of Illinois along with the appellate courts for the Chicago area).

AND ALSO KITTY-corner from the Daley Center building, which serves as the Cook County courthouse – at least for civil cases.

All of which makes Clark and Randolph an all-important intersection for the happenings of politics and government at the city, county and state levels.

What becomes of the Dubuffet? Photos by Gregory Tejeda

A presence that would be lessened quite a bit if officials were to decide to let something else become the purpose of the building north of Randolph and west of Clark streets.

As much as some people like to denigrate the building’s appearance and style, I have to admit to kind of getting a kick out of its appearance – even when one tries to ridicule its salmon and sea blue color scheme.

OR, AS I remember, once, someone tried to claim that the Jean Dubuffet sculpture “Monument with Standing Beast” was really nothing more than an AIDS virus trying to infest the body politic. Which probably says more about the mini-mind of the critic than it does anything about the structure itself.

It is interesting that this was an idea that both governors Rod Blagojevich and Bruce Rauner tried to push through the process – although it now has the potential to become a reality under Pritzker.

I just can’t get past the idea that state agencies still need a physical presence in Chicago – unless we’re trying to create the image that state government is completely irrelevant to the existence of the Second City.

A concept that would be totally insipid for anybody to try to spew – no matter how rural Illinois-oriented they are in their approach to life.

WOULD SELLING OFF the state government building in downtown Chicago wind up becoming an even more small-minded decision by our government officials than the move made more than a decade ago to sell off control of parking meters in the city.

The one that saw Chicago blow through the payoff they received, while ensuring that corporate interests will make money off the city for decades to come?

This is something people should think seriously about – particularly if provisions that the existing Chicago Transit Authority “el” and subway platforms at the building would have to be maintained regardless of what some future developer might want to build there.

Of course, I also have my own memory – that of the cinematic scenes from the film “Running Scared” that were shot there. How many of us would not want to see the spot where actor Billy Crystal’s “Chicago cop character” ruined Jimmy Smits’ “drug dealer character” by throwing his “stash” all over the Thompson Center floor?

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Perhaps a blackjack dealer is the key to resolving our governmental finances

It never fails to amaze (or amuse) me the degree to which our government officials think that gambling is the key to resolving its financial woes.

Should Illinois govt become a bookie?

Do our officials secretly fantasize about being blackjack dealers, thinking they’re capable of bringing in the big bucks that way to come up with the cash to pay our government’s bills.

THE FACT THAT some people wind up digging themselves into deeper holes through their gambling losses – which potentially causes more problems that government agencies could wind up having to deal with – doesn’t seem to factor into their line of thought.

It just seems like the lights and the jingles and the overall garishness of a casino environment is too enticing for political people to turn away from.

Not that I’m overly moralistic. If people want to piss away their money with games of chance, I suppose that’s their right. I’m just not enthused at the thought of having to cover their losses in life.

And yes, our society is only as strong as its weakest individuals. Meaning we can’t just take a hard line and say to let the losers suffer.

HARRIS: Thinks the answer is 'yes'

GAMBLING WAS UP for discussion in recent days. What with the Illinois Senate’s gaming committee (‘gaming’ is for people who want to think of fun, while ‘gambling’ allegedly is for fuddy-duddys who worry too much about the downside of life) meeting Tuesday at the Bilandic Building to talk about ideas from state Sen. Napoleon Harris, D-Harvey.

He wants Illinois to pass legislation that would permit sports betting in Illinois and would create an Internet platform by which Illinois residents could place bets.

Basically, cutting out the bookie and allowing one to place their bets with the state. No word on how Illinois would handle its collections from big-time losers.

How much money could Chicago win off Loyola loss

But just think of how many people would have been eager to place bets last Saturday either for, or against, Loyola University as they went into their semi-final NCAA matchup against Michigan.

HOW MUCH REVENUE could Illinois have taken in by people eager to place a bet on the Ramblers? How much could the Loyola loss have benefitted Illinois? How much does Illinois want to benefit from its residents (a.k.a., suckers) who bet with their hearts and not with their heads?

McCarthy betting his mayoral bid ...

Of course, there are federal laws that already restrict gambling on sports events. Harris’ measure would only be crafted into an actual bill if those laws are repealed – which some seem to think has a real chance of happening.

One realizes that this is Illinois’ vision of trying to raise revenue through peoples’ gambling losses. Which means that Chicago municipal government also has its own schemes in the works.

Take Garry McCarthy, the former Chicago Police superintendent who now is running for mayor in the 2019 election cycle. He’s making one of his campaign talking points the need for the city to have a full-blown casino.

... on enhancing O'Hare environment ...

WHICH ISN’T NEW. Rahm Emanuel has pushed for that, along with Richard M. Daley before him. But while they often talked about a casino near the downtown area, McCarthy would want it to be on the premises of O’Hare International Airport. He envisions all those travelers making stopovers in Chicago spending the time they have to kill at the casino. Their financial losses while in Chicago could benefit the city.

McCarthy even talks, at least during a Sunday morning radio interview on WBBM-AM, about all the layers of airport security as being a plus. It means anybody wishing to gambling will have had to clear security. Less chance of riff-raff managing to slip in and hang around there.

... with a gambling atmosphere

Although it makes me remember a time I was in a restaurant that had slot machines, and the owner advised me I could win enough money to pay for my meal IF I played the slots while waiting for my food.

Would we wind up getting people traveling from one place to another who pass through Chicago blowing their bucks in the Second City? Thereby depriving some other destination place from benefitting from the intended spending?

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Losing the Thompson Center?

We’re still a long ways away from seeing the Thompson Center state government building in Chicago torn down and turned into an annex of the Trump Building a few blocks away.

Will Bilandic Bldg. have longer legacy than Thompson?

After all, the Illinois General Assembly would still have to sign off on any plan to sell the structure to a real estate developer – who could then tear down the 30-year-old building and erect something else (possibly gaudy) in its place.

CONSIDERING THE CURRENT mood of the state Legislature when it comes to all things gubernatorial, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Democratic majorities that dominate both the state Senate and Illinois House of Representatives were to reject the plan purely out of spite.

It will be disguised by the Chicago-based legislators as a desire to maintain the physical presence of Illinois state government within the state’s (by far) most significant city.

Which actually wouldn’t be a bad reason. For a part of me wonders how much Gov. Bruce Rauner is motivated to take this action by a desire to reduce the level of influence that Chicago has over state government operations.

Take away a building that some view as an alternative work place to the Statehouse in Springfield and make some think that the capital city itself doesn’t matter much.

SCATTER THOSE STATE employees who do need to be Chicago-based around various downtown buildings so they quit thinking of themselves as a force. And you also strengthen the morale of those state workers at the Capitol – who often complain about being dissed by their Chicago-based colleagues.

This intersection won't be as political if Gov. Rauner gets his way

I’m sure that when Rauner earlier this week threw out the suggestion that some Chicago-based employees would have their jobs transferred to Springfield, it burned the bottoms (so to speak) of many state workers who would never accept such a move.

Which could make for a round of hiring to get downstate-oriented workers within state government! Politically, it helps make sense to bolster the level of influence Rauner would have over state government.
 

Remember the 'cocaine' scattered on the floor?

Although in terms of providing actual service to constituents (which theoretically is the only reason government exists to begin with), it’s kind of short-sighted.

NOW AS SOMEONE who once did a two-year stint representing the now-defunct City News Bureau in the press room at the state building (when the structure was only about five years old and also got a tour of by my father back when it was a construction site), I’ll admit I’ll miss the building. The same as I miss the old Sun-Times Building with all its own barge-like lack of style right on the Chicago River.

But I’ll also admit to noticing the level of decrepitness the structure has achieved in recent years. Famed architect Helmut Jahn admits his concept of an urban take on the open-air space under a Capitol rotunda has been allowed to go to seed. I don’t know if I’d feel the same level of sentiment if I had to work there now.

But that doesn’t mean the state shouldn’t have a strong physical presence in Chicago. Although I wonder if this means the Bilandic Building (that houses the appellate and Supreme courts in Chicago) could revert back to its old “State of Illinois Building” status.

With a few stray agencies scattered around the Loop. And most people thinking of state government solely when they visit their local driver testing facility to get their licenses or license plates renewed.

SO PERHAPS IN the long run, it won’t impact many people. Although I wonder what happens when a future governor who thinks a little more long-range than the current occupant of the Executive Mansion does decides Illinois needs its own building in Chicago?

Will we be scouring the city for a location – when the perfect site right across the street from both City Hall and the old State Building is taken by a developer who turns it into an over-glorified shopping center with condos on top?

A historic relic of the future?

And if the Thompson Center really does disappear, then what happens to that black-and-white blob of a sculpture by Jean Dubuffet that has sat outside the structure for decades.

Auction it off to the highest bidder (some overly-wealthy individual who’s willing to buy anything)? Or perhaps move it to the Chicago History Museum – put it in the entrance right before you get to see the dioramas of “historic” Chicago.

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