WalWHO?
from a post at Forum49 by J.K.
Repeating my earlier post about Joe Moore's appearance at the January meeting of the Jargowood Block Club:
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"Mr. Moore confirmed that Walgreens had pulled out, saying that it no longer had an interest in that location. He went on to say that he was not only disappointed but angry that the company would renege on its earlier decision, adding that nothing gets done in a Chicago ward unless the alderman approves. That includes building permits, expansion plans for existing businesses, renovations -- nothing. He pledged that as long as he's alderman of this ward, Walgreens will get absolutely nothing from him in the way of support and that he would block whatever plans they might have that would require any kind of cooperation from his office or from the city.
"Some people around the table suggested that his stand seemed unnecessarily harsh given that Walgreens is already an important ward business, and shutting the door to any present or future plans that the company might wish to undertake seemed ill advised.
"Mr. Moore's reply was a repeated, 'They'll get nothing from me. Sometimes you need to teach people a lesson.'"
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Since that time I've done some further checking and found that, contrary to Mr. Moore's announcement, Walgreens never had signed on to locate a store at Sheridan and Howard. In fact, the persons Mr. Moore brought to his grand announcement meeting were not Walgreen Company employees but merely developers who hoped to convince Walgreens to occupy a building that they hoped to build.
Walgreens, in response to my inquiry, termed it "unfortunate" that those making the announcement did so without ever having obtained the approval of the Walgreen Company Real Estate Committee. Even though the company did not itself ever say that it planned to locate a new store in Rogers Park, Walgreens has apologized to the "for any misunderstanding and disappointment that may have occurred" within the community as a result of Mr. Moore's premature and presumptuous announcement.
Whether or not Mr. Moore realized that his announcement reflected only a developer's hoped for outcome, I don't know. Nor do I know whether he knew at the time that Walgreens was not and never had been committed to the project.
I still believe, however, that Mr. Moore's remarks at the Jargowood meeting were clearly out of line when he vowed that Walgreens would get no cooperation from him regarding any plans for expansion, renovation, variances, or whatever else they might require to carry on business in this neighborhood as long as he is alderman of this ward. I was not alone among the Jargowood folks in drawing this conclusion at his public display of petulance and an intention to seek revenge for a "cancelled" project that had never been nailed down in the first place. Walgreens, the target of Mr. Moore's ire, is not the bad guy in this scenario and remains a valued Rogers Park retailer.
I recall another subject of one of Mr. Moore's grand announcements: the David Dubin plan to build townhouses on the former Lerner site at Howard and Ashland, a real neighborhood eyesore, and to renovate the old Wisdom Bridge Theatre into a community center for the performing arts. Accompanied by much fanfare, another of Mr. Moore's "I've worked hard to provide (fill in the blank)" projects, that one, too, presented with a large measure of self-serving hype, later faded quietly into oblivion.
J.K.
- E-mail us: Chicago's 49th Ward MudZappers > Ward49_MudZapper@Yahoo.COM
READ ALL ABOUT IT!!
The Chicago Tribune Endorses WHO?!
and
Joe's Dive into NUMEROLOGY
and
Joe's THEORY OF RELATIVITY
and
WINDY CITY TIMES GETTING IT RIGHT
and
JOE'S THE BEST FRIEND A COP NEVER HAD!
and
Witchy City Times
and
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS IN 49th WARD!
and
TOM BRADLEY - ONE SHORT YEAR AGO...
and
Sandy Goldman Rocks Rogers Park!
and
JOE SUPPRESSES FREE SPEECH! AGAIN!
JOE'S 2003 CHALLENGERS:
TOM BRADLEY
MICHAEL HARRINGTON
KAREN HOOVER
GRADY HUMPHREY
TOPICS ON WWW.FORUM49.ORG - 49th Ward Aldermanic Election - 2/25/2003
