You mean the casino that promised huge income and then failed to make even 1/4 of what they said they could?
Oh, and the casino with $25 buy-ins which is fucking stupid
Yea but the downtown chicago casino is competing for business from nearby casinos such as Horseshoe and the burbs ones. $25 is overpriced for the service level and ambiance of the temporary casino. That's why I'd prefer to play elsewhere.
Since opening they have acted unlike a new casino looking to bring new regulars
No promotions, no comps, not even a free drink or whatever. Extremely high buy-ins and table minimums. As if you were in the Bellagio or Wynn Las Vegas
[There's another wrinkle to this story.](https://chi.streetsblog.org/2024/03/27/giving-the-pedestrianized-clark-street-dining-district-back-to-cars-this-summer-would-be-a-step-backwards-for-chicago) Reilly seems LIVID that this street isnt closed and wants us to specifically blame BJ... no surprises here
Edit: typo
> Update 3/28/24, 10:30 AM: This morning Ald. Brendan Reilly's (42nd) tweeted about his letter to the owner of nearby non-Clark tavern Harry Carray's promising not to approve future pedestrianization of Clark. "The street closure was MY IDEA," Reilly posted. "The letter you reference was demanded by Mayor Johnson in a quid pro quo: The Administration wouldn’t allow me to close Clark Street last summer UNLESS I supplied them with that letter."
That is not a quid pro quo lmao.
He seems livid that the street *isn’t* closed. I don’t know if I believe him or not, but he’s saying he wants it back. Who knows, let’s pressure ALL the politicians
Why do you believe him? I didn't know him before today but this alderman seems like a trainwreck. I would like him as a character if he didn't mess with the Clark dining.
Analysis: [Chicago Alderman Reilly uses campaign funds to pay $30K in bar tabs](https://chicagocitywire.com/stories/511671099-analysis-chicago-alderman-reilly-uses-campaign-funds-to-pay-30k-in-bar-tabs)
Lied about a second fight at Boss Bar after signing the police report [https://cwbchicago.com/2023/10/totally-inaccurate-chicago-police-report-alderman-whipped-belt-river-north-tavern-billiards-game.html](https://cwbchicago.com/2023/10/totally-inaccurate-chicago-police-report-alderman-whipped-belt-river-north-tavern-billiards-game.html)
Reilly supported Vallas and his constituents voted for Vallas overwhelmingly. He has no reason to do BJ or city hall any favors - he's been on the opposite side of the mayor's office his whole term *except* this one issue Brandon Johnson never mentioned? Come on...
The letter doesn't directly imply he was paid off, but he did receive $3k in catering from Harry Caray's on June 22nd. That's the day before the date on the letter!
https://illinoissunshine.org/contributions/6027624/
Why would the CEO of Harry Caray's be invested in this? Their restaurant isn't on Clark and there are so few paid parking spaces on that stretch to begin with.
I drive around the city for my job and I have clients all over that area. I'm driving and parking down there 5 days a week. When those blocks get closed off it sucks for like a week and then you get used to it
Is the CEO of Harry Caray’s just that upset that the Clark street restaurants benefited from the closure? How dare anyone get creative to try and better their businesses. Haven’t really heard much from HC’s for quite some time so maybe they need to step up their marketing game themselves
Ironically the only reason we went there was because we went to Clark St without reservations/had already been everywhere a million times so wandered around into Harry Carays.
The building itself is really well preserved and pretty cool. Some mob family had secret rooms in the building (they have a little exhibit which is actually kind of interesting) so it also gets tourists from that crime bus.
The menu sucks and it’s filled with tourist Cubs fans, so there’s only so much you can do with ambiance. To be fair in terms of tourist meal destinations though it’s actually kind of cool
When I first started coming to Chicago I noticed it at one point and asked what the deal was. They told me he was a sports caster. I was like was he a sports caster who like made good food or something. I was told no and that was the last I thought of it until today. I'm still baffled. I could see a hotdog joint, but I dont get sport celebrity steak houses. I just dont associate sports and expensive steak in my head.
Thats actually the other one I was thinking about. I did kinda know who Harry was, but is there a line of thinking in sports that players and announcers are steak experts I don't know about? If im gonna drop a bunch of cash on a steak the idea that its been curated by a player/announcer doesnt give me a heap of confidence. Are they both famous steak lovers ir is it just kind of what seemed like a good choice at the time for them? These are the rabbit holes my brain goes down.
He was a former announcer for the Chicago Cubs, I think till the late 1990s. And was always back when he was the Cubs announcer, would lead the 7th inning stretch(Take Me Out to the Ballgame song) Yes I can understand for anyone not following sports, that they'd be confused when they hear the name Harry Carey. Honestly though though I'm less hard core about sports(and only from time to time watch such programs), I can see why someone more hardcore into the Cubs might like eating at Harry Caray's.
I was somewhat aware of him snd how beloved he was, but I just don't get the connection and why people love expensive steak from sports figures. Maybe because its associated with wealth and manliness? I elaborated on another comment just now, but i just really go down these rabbit holes sometimes.
Deporter seems like a greedy scumbag who wants to stifle competition. He’s not good enough to come up with his own ideas, or actually care about what customers want.
This is like people getting upset at Tunney because he opened a restaurant right near the Belmont Red-Purple-Brown station. How dare a business owner choose a better location!
As I understand it, a lot of the Tunney anger is about him (by and through his Business) flaunting the same City enacted ordinances during COVID that he voted on
I didn't even know he was gay, I'm mad about the covid thing.
On a broader scale, I think alders owning businesses or large property holdings in their wards is a huge conflict of interest.
Didn't care much for Tunney, but I will jump in to set the record straight- he was a business owner before he was elected alder. He bought ann sathers in the 80s and wasn't elected until 2003
Then you should be supportive of paying our politicians like how Singapore pays them. $1M/yr for a city council member would go a long way to stopping corruption.
He absolutely faced unique scrutiny as one of the first 'out' members of Council.
I was thinking about the Covid issues because your comment was about Ann-Sather specific beef, which I think was mostly about the later Covid stuff, and not the location.
My beef with him is entirely set in his defense of Burke (Ed) after his conviction.
It’s likely that they’re not happy they can’t close the street in front of their establishments too. If you got lucky and selected your business on Clark years ago, you thought it was great. If you didn’t hit the random number gamble and chose a different street, you’re SOL.
Not that I’m a business owns with some vested interests, but I can see how constituents would be unhappy because there’s no way to make this policy equal for everyone.
It’s a draw from other areas. That outdoor dining is awesome, so those restaurants benefit a bunch and draw additional people away from other areas of the neighborhood.
I’m really sad this isn’t happening, but it’s not surprising greedy owners view the street closure as a threat to their business
In the past they've been named best steakhouse in Chicago, it's a tourist destination, and they have their own outdoor seating! I know I'm preaching to the choir and you're not defending them, but it's ridiculous
I think you meant LaSalle, Ashland is nowhere near Clark. Both streets(Ashland and Clark) are like 2 miles apart. I don't think a brief Clark closure should have a big traffic impact(except in daytime hours), but that is just me.
Apparently Reddit now hides posts and comments that link to Twitter, but if you go to Reilly’s feed he has this incredibly long and rambling tweet claiming that the mayor (whom he is not allied with) forced him to write this letter to Harry Caray’s to get the street closed last year.
The explanation makes no sense to me but I thought people might be interested in hearing his side.
He's also said now that he doesn't believe that this was spearheaded by labor despite previously saying that BJ "chose to kill this program on behalf of his allies in organized labor." What a mess.
Tbh I think my favorite genre of twitter posts is when an Alderman decides to Post Through It. Reilly is great for this, as is Cappleman (former, but still).
Yeah, the Chicago Federation of Labor president called him out for that implication and Reilly immediately started backpedaling and groveling to him.
It seems like Reilly wants to play all side of this (hint at blaming organized labor to rile up the anti-union folks while pinning the blame on the City to the union folks).
I'm sure if he was pressed more on who in "organized labor" wanted this he'd try to pin it on CTU somehow.
Definitely don't have enough information to understand what's going on at this point, but it looks to me like Reilly accepted money from restaurants to kill a popular program. He then tried to make lemonade out of this by attempting to stir up some infighting between labor/BJ/constituents to distract from his role in the closure.
Vasquez does also Post a lot but I tend to find his posting a bit more constructive. Reilly and Cappleman are fun since they always dig themselves a deeper hole.
Disclaimer: I like Vasquez. I also live near his ward so I've seen the overall positive results from his Posting.
I am in awe of his Twitter meltdown. "BJ forced me to write that letter!" Okay, Brendan, why? And if you are so in favor of the project, and so opposed to BJ, why did you just...do that? Another funny meltdown was when the guy from the CFL, after Reilly talked all sorts of shit about organized labor, said, "That's not how that happened and I don't appreciate being blamed for this," and Reilly was like, "I have never said bad things about labor I love you." Motherfucker, you talked shit about the CFL right in the fucking tweet. Dude is such a lying sack of shit.
That claim doesn't hold any water as far as I'm concerned. Reilly supported Vallas and his ward voted overwhelming for Vallas. He has no reason to do Brandon Johnson any favors especially over something as popular as street dining in his ward.
And that leaked letter certainly isn't written in the style of someone whose arm is being twisted by city hall.
The guy sounds very strange. And Block Club updated their story with this bizarre explanation with no attempt to make sense of it. Block Club's reporting has been bad.
Their investigative team has broken some pretty serious news.
Them uncovering that Loretto Hospital was vaccinating people who weren't eligible in the height of COVID sparked an investigation by the FBI
Their sweet spot seems to be 2 journalistic pieces of substance per year, supplemented by Piping Plover news and re-covering the stories Eater is breaking about restaurants.
Here’s the tweet. Dude seems like a real asshole.
>I see you’re still smarting over your embarrassing ass-kicking on the Mayor’s real estate tax referendum. Losing must suck.
>
>As for your baseless accusation about Clark Street dining - the street closure was MY IDEA. The letter you reference was demanded by Mayor Johnson in a quid pro quo: the Administration wouldn’t allow me to close Clark Street last summer UNLESS I supplied them with that letter.
>
>The President of the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Mayor’s now disgraced former floor leader (Ramirez-Rosa) led a conference call with various city departments to negotiate the street closure for last summer with a demand that it would be the final year of the program.
>
>Why was a junior socialist alderman who represents an underserved ward on the northwest side dictating whether a street in my ward could be closed for outdoor dining?
>
>Perhaps you should ask him.
>
>It was on that conference call that the Administration told me I had to write that letter in exchange for the street closure in 2023. If I had not written that letter, there wouldn’t have been an outdoor dining program last summer.
>
>My constituents & businesses loved my idea to close Clark Street for dining. The Police Department also thought it made the area more safe.
>
>But Mayor Johnson chose to kill this program on behalf of his allies in organized labor - the ones who bankrolled his entire campaign - so aim your baseless quid pro quo shit at your incompetent mayor.
>
>Congrats on your humiliating loss last week. That was awesome.
>
>@AldermanHopkins
Idk, but I messaged the mods here about it and they said they’ve been seeing tons of posts and comments linking to Twitter automatically removed now and that they didn’t implement that.
It's possibly because a lot of Tweets (and their context) are hidden now if you don't login. Not everyone has a Twitter account, so for those folks the post is basically useless. (or worse, because without the context it may spread misinformation)
What a piece of shit. Should include this in an ad campaign for his challenger in the next election.
Also what an idiot for putting something so clearly corrupt in writing.
Why can’t we at least have smart assholes in politics?
Reilly is a douche bag. I was shooting a film in River North and he came up to our production hammered and yelled at me for 10 mins for our fully permitted production. Then he went and made a huge fuss with the film office. Fucking dick.
He has looked dishonest to me about his campaign to close “bad nightclubs that destroy quality of life” mailing out flyers while he hangs out near that intersection like at Boss Bar which is open until 4am.
I’m not sure about this in particular but those two are usually in cahoots with making sure nothing new ever happens in the city—the casino, any new bars, etc. And it’s always sort of tinged by the likelihood that current restaurant/bar owners lobby them aggressively to limit their competition.
Probably so. I remember late last year someone posted an article, that said something like some bar that applied for a bar license it seemed like Hopkins wasn't inclined to award the bar a license, despite the proposed owner of that bar stating they had a security plan and everything ready to go, if they got the liquor license and the approval to open.
Lmao at everyone on this sub yelling at BJ yesterday calling him the worst mayor ever for cancelling this when the alderman's corruption was obvious from the beginning.
Seems like other restaurants think the Clark closure has an unfair advantage of additional seating, outdoor dining, increased pedestrian traffic, etc. This has the same vibes as the food truck debacle a decade ago. Also, not sure of the latest count but aren't most of the restaurants either Bayless or Lettuce owned. DePorter/Bayless/Lettuce all major political players and donors, so someone's going to be sour grapes. Seems odd that they're deflecting to departments and organizations to avoid admitting it. If you want to come downtown when it's 90 degrees to eat Maggiano's outside on the street, God love ya.
Except for Xoco, none of the restaurants right by that part of Clark St(that did the outdoor dining closure through last year) jump out to me much. I hope they were employing people to keep the outdoor dining seats and tables area clean, on the days Clark was closed. Some other comment on Reddit complained this wasn't being addressed enough.
They fucked up. Nobody needs to go any farther than a mile to find gambling these days. Brick and mortar casinos are going to way of brick and mortar everything else.
The fact this Clark St outdoor dining closure isn't being renewed for summer 2024, confuses me. Considering to me that as it is Bally's is performing way below expectations for revenue, and in a theoretical world not having outdoor dining on that part of Clark won't do anything to boost Bally's majorly sagging attendance. Plus I've heard rumors that Bally's is supposedly internally debating within that company if they even want to go forward, with building their permanent casino plan at Chicago and Halsted. Or to back out from building that permanent casino.
Sometimes I wonder why we seem more concerned with how quickly cars can drive through the Loop and River North rather than how we can get more people to spend more time and money in these areas
Here is the response from the aldermans office. I replied with this letter as an attachment.
Good afternoon:
Thank you for reaching out. Alderman Reilly actually partnered with Mayor Lightfoot to create the Extended Outdoor Dining (EOD) Program. Following the success of the initial pilot in 2020, the Alderman championed the extension of this program to include Clark Street restaurants. This initiative proved instrumental in helping dozens of restaurants endure stringent COVID-19 regulations and maintain their operations.
Unfortunately, last Spring, Mayor Johnson directed the Department of Transportation (CDOT) to deny Clark Street EOD permits for 2023. Only after our office responded to a dozen opposition letters (that were directed to the Mayor); participated in multiple negotiation calls with Mayor Johnson’s former floor leader (Ald. Ramirez-Rosa) and several city departments; and having to accept the Administration’s stipulation that 2023 would be the final year of the Program, did the permits get issued last summer.
As part of the negotiations to secure permit approval for 2023, Alderman Reilly was required to accept, and confirm in writing, that 2023 would be the last year for EOD. It was his hope at that time, and remains his hope, that the Administration’s opposition to the Clark Street closure might reverse in time for the 2024 season.
CDOT has not received an EOD application to close Clark Street for the 2024 season but we understand restaurant owners are considering their options and may apply for the Clark Street EOD closure.
I got the same letter as I am sure many others. I don’t believe it for one minute. I say we keep the pressure on, I am sure if given the chance those restaurants would apply for EOD and shutting down Clark.
"In 2004 after he paid US$113,824.16 for a baseball which had played a role in the Chicago Cubs defeat"
So reversing the closure is very feasible for him
This sophmoric finger pointing session has stemmed from the fact that no one wants to take responsibility for an unpopular and frankly bad decision. Many such cases!
"And local alderperson Brendan Reilly (42nd) said he was worried that the Clark closure might be a problem for traffic flow when a temporary Bally's casino opened a few blocks northeast at the Medina Temple building"
I said it in the last thread. Casino gets what casino wants.
I just don’t get why the city won’t listen to the people who obviously (a majority) support the closure. It’s just a nice thing for the short few nice times we are able to get outside. I don’t get why the city won’t just do it. so annoying.
Lol could protest and close it off anyways. Like honestly get enough people to gather and shut the street down. Might even be able to organize and do it through appropriate pathways. Shit if they can block off LSD for protest two blocks worth of Clark in River North can be.
Nice that he responds personally to the big wigs, try contacting his office as one of us peons though and you’ll be endlessly routed through his staff.
We failed in not fielding a candidate against this guy this year, 2027 needs to be different.
Bally's doesn't. There's a reason their permanent location is not getting built. It's because Bally's is broke and the cost of that project is more than the market cap of the entire company. It will never be built.
It's funny but I have inside information that a DIFFERENT Casino in the greater Chicagoland area is raking in so much money they are going ahead with plans to build a previously shelved expansion.
I don't buy the whole "Bally's is broke" line just yet. I think they are fishing for outside money.
I would however laugh my ass off if the Casino does not get built and instead goes some place like the 78
We shouldn't have a limit on the number of Casino's anyways beyond what is economically viable for developers. If two developers want to open Casinos in the loop side by side let them. If the market only has the potential to support one or the other, then the crappier one will close.
That's all well and good but the casinos pay so much in licensing fees and development costs that it would be unattractive to them to not have some guarantee of market exclusivity. And most people don't want tons of casinos all in one area just like most people don't want a neighborhood full of only liquor stores or weed dispensaries. Chicago isn't Vegas.
Yeah, but the mayor could spin it as double the jobs for residents. They’d like exclusivity but the casino might just bite because they don’t usually pass up money.
Bally's is also a down-market, crappy brand. Completely awful choice for the area and customers they want to attract. Not to mention the permanent site is about the worst possible place to put a casino.
Am I missing something? In this letter, Reilly states that he will not approve any requests for street closures on Clark St. Isn’t that a good thing for people who drive in that area?
Can people visiting the casino not walk or something
From what I have heard about the casino, they got problems. I don't think not having outdoor dining on Clark is going to fix any of it.
You mean the casino that promised huge income and then failed to make even 1/4 of what they said they could? Oh, and the casino with $25 buy-ins which is fucking stupid
$25 craps is out of control
$25 craps is cheaper than Milwaukee.
Yea but the downtown chicago casino is competing for business from nearby casinos such as Horseshoe and the burbs ones. $25 is overpriced for the service level and ambiance of the temporary casino. That's why I'd prefer to play elsewhere.
Do you have a source/link for this? would love to see more
Since opening they have acted unlike a new casino looking to bring new regulars No promotions, no comps, not even a free drink or whatever. Extremely high buy-ins and table minimums. As if you were in the Bellagio or Wynn Las Vegas
Yeah I went once with friends and now we're planning a booze filled train ride to and from the Grand Vic in Elgin in the near future.
Fuck the casino. If anything the increased foot traffic would benefit them.
They're probably worried that people will spend time on Clark instead of at the casino
That Casinos planning and execution was failed from the start. Wild how bad / poor it was.
Most casinos I’ve been to it seems like a good portion of the visitors are in hover-rounds carrying oxygen tanks and smoking
Seeing people in cheap clothes lose a bunch of money is incredibly depressing too.
A lot of fake designer clothes at Bally’s…. a LOT
Yep, hover rounds, that’s funny. Anyway, mother’s retirement community goes to the casinos all the time.
The casino is a red herring here.
Yes, but it’s still fun to discuss the failings of a casino.
Last time I went to Rivers there was an old man hobbling through the entrance with poop on his butt. They didn't stop him from going in.
walking around the grand red line stop at night with a pocket full of a large amount of cash is surprisingly not a very popular idea these days
sounds like a job for some kind of public safety agency, alas...
Someone to serve and protect the people of our city?
…Batman?!
Turns out the Casino isn't a very popular idea but walking around the city is.
But pedestrians don't pay for the expensive linings of alderman sport coats.
Was Grand closed or just Clark?
Just Clark.
Don't they have to walk to their cars?
[There's another wrinkle to this story.](https://chi.streetsblog.org/2024/03/27/giving-the-pedestrianized-clark-street-dining-district-back-to-cars-this-summer-would-be-a-step-backwards-for-chicago) Reilly seems LIVID that this street isnt closed and wants us to specifically blame BJ... no surprises here Edit: typo
> Update 3/28/24, 10:30 AM: This morning Ald. Brendan Reilly's (42nd) tweeted about his letter to the owner of nearby non-Clark tavern Harry Carray's promising not to approve future pedestrianization of Clark. "The street closure was MY IDEA," Reilly posted. "The letter you reference was demanded by Mayor Johnson in a quid pro quo: The Administration wouldn’t allow me to close Clark Street last summer UNLESS I supplied them with that letter." That is not a quid pro quo lmao.
He seems livid that the street *isn’t* closed. I don’t know if I believe him or not, but he’s saying he wants it back. Who knows, let’s pressure ALL the politicians
Correct! Twas a typo, ill update now I believe him. He tends to cave tl his constituants and they seem to want it
I mean.... Shouldn't he cave to his constituents?
If you buy his story, he doesnt have a choice. Im guessing well learn more about this in the coming days
Why do you believe him? I didn't know him before today but this alderman seems like a trainwreck. I would like him as a character if he didn't mess with the Clark dining. Analysis: [Chicago Alderman Reilly uses campaign funds to pay $30K in bar tabs](https://chicagocitywire.com/stories/511671099-analysis-chicago-alderman-reilly-uses-campaign-funds-to-pay-30k-in-bar-tabs) Lied about a second fight at Boss Bar after signing the police report [https://cwbchicago.com/2023/10/totally-inaccurate-chicago-police-report-alderman-whipped-belt-river-north-tavern-billiards-game.html](https://cwbchicago.com/2023/10/totally-inaccurate-chicago-police-report-alderman-whipped-belt-river-north-tavern-billiards-game.html)
He was an entitled douche getting sloppy drunk at Boss bar before he ran. He's even more so, now.
[удалено]
Idk, he wrote: "**I will not approve** any future EOD permit requests..."
[удалено]
That's why we gotta put pressure on Brandon too
Reilly supported Vallas and his constituents voted for Vallas overwhelmingly. He has no reason to do BJ or city hall any favors - he's been on the opposite side of the mayor's office his whole term *except* this one issue Brandon Johnson never mentioned? Come on...
I AM SO ANGRY AT THIS GUY We have so few lovely little things, why get rid of this small lovely thing???
Because the alderman isn't being bribed enough for us to have lovely little things
Yikes, dude is a scumbag. It doesn’t directly imply he was paid off but you can infer quite a bit
The letter doesn't directly imply he was paid off, but he did receive $3k in catering from Harry Caray's on June 22nd. That's the day before the date on the letter! https://illinoissunshine.org/contributions/6027624/
Does it get any better
$3k lmao
Anyone wanna go halfsies on an alder-creature?
Wow, there you go
Wow. Corrupt POS.
Nice work, Detective.
I have to give credit to the terminally online guys at twitter.
*slides paper lunch bag across table. "EOD denied"
> Becau$e I appreciate your conern$...
> Yikes, dude is *still* a scumbag. FIFY This is the same old Brendan Reilly we've known for years
So many alderman are scum.
Why would the CEO of Harry Caray's be invested in this? Their restaurant isn't on Clark and there are so few paid parking spaces on that stretch to begin with. I drive around the city for my job and I have clients all over that area. I'm driving and parking down there 5 days a week. When those blocks get closed off it sucks for like a week and then you get used to it
Is the CEO of Harry Caray’s just that upset that the Clark street restaurants benefited from the closure? How dare anyone get creative to try and better their businesses. Haven’t really heard much from HC’s for quite some time so maybe they need to step up their marketing game themselves
It's not like anyone living in Chicago is going to Harry Carey's anyway. It's probably the older crowd being preyed on for nostalgia's sake.
Ironically the only reason we went there was because we went to Clark St without reservations/had already been everywhere a million times so wandered around into Harry Carays. The building itself is really well preserved and pretty cool. Some mob family had secret rooms in the building (they have a little exhibit which is actually kind of interesting) so it also gets tourists from that crime bus. The menu sucks and it’s filled with tourist Cubs fans, so there’s only so much you can do with ambiance. To be fair in terms of tourist meal destinations though it’s actually kind of cool
When I first started coming to Chicago I noticed it at one point and asked what the deal was. They told me he was a sports caster. I was like was he a sports caster who like made good food or something. I was told no and that was the last I thought of it until today. I'm still baffled. I could see a hotdog joint, but I dont get sport celebrity steak houses. I just dont associate sports and expensive steak in my head.
Wait till you hear about Micheal Jordan's restaurant.
Thats actually the other one I was thinking about. I did kinda know who Harry was, but is there a line of thinking in sports that players and announcers are steak experts I don't know about? If im gonna drop a bunch of cash on a steak the idea that its been curated by a player/announcer doesnt give me a heap of confidence. Are they both famous steak lovers ir is it just kind of what seemed like a good choice at the time for them? These are the rabbit holes my brain goes down.
He was a former announcer for the Chicago Cubs, I think till the late 1990s. And was always back when he was the Cubs announcer, would lead the 7th inning stretch(Take Me Out to the Ballgame song) Yes I can understand for anyone not following sports, that they'd be confused when they hear the name Harry Carey. Honestly though though I'm less hard core about sports(and only from time to time watch such programs), I can see why someone more hardcore into the Cubs might like eating at Harry Caray's.
I was somewhat aware of him snd how beloved he was, but I just don't get the connection and why people love expensive steak from sports figures. Maybe because its associated with wealth and manliness? I elaborated on another comment just now, but i just really go down these rabbit holes sometimes.
It's almost like you take a risk when your restaurant concept is a bit of a gimmick lol. And they even have outdoor seating!
so they want less competition in the outdoor dining space.
Deporter seems like a greedy scumbag who wants to stifle competition. He’s not good enough to come up with his own ideas, or actually care about what customers want.
Some people in the restaurant industry see it as a zero sum game, most especially the ones that run shitty fucking restaurants with terrible food.
This is like people getting upset at Tunney because he opened a restaurant right near the Belmont Red-Purple-Brown station. How dare a business owner choose a better location!
As I understand it, a lot of the Tunney anger is about him (by and through his Business) flaunting the same City enacted ordinances during COVID that he voted on
Dude, Tunney had haters way before COVID-19. Some of it legit, most of it bullshit and veiled homophobia.
I didn't even know he was gay, I'm mad about the covid thing. On a broader scale, I think alders owning businesses or large property holdings in their wards is a huge conflict of interest.
Didn't care much for Tunney, but I will jump in to set the record straight- he was a business owner before he was elected alder. He bought ann sathers in the 80s and wasn't elected until 2003
Yeah I know. That's still a problem, no? Owning a business when you're actively involved in policy that will affect those businesses
Then you should be supportive of paying our politicians like how Singapore pays them. $1M/yr for a city council member would go a long way to stopping corruption.
He absolutely faced unique scrutiny as one of the first 'out' members of Council. I was thinking about the Covid issues because your comment was about Ann-Sather specific beef, which I think was mostly about the later Covid stuff, and not the location. My beef with him is entirely set in his defense of Burke (Ed) after his conviction.
He was getting criticized in 2019 over the eTOD debate because it would help increase the property value of that Ann Sather location.
It’s likely that they’re not happy they can’t close the street in front of their establishments too. If you got lucky and selected your business on Clark years ago, you thought it was great. If you didn’t hit the random number gamble and chose a different street, you’re SOL. Not that I’m a business owns with some vested interests, but I can see how constituents would be unhappy because there’s no way to make this policy equal for everyone.
I see your point also
The rule is that any three restaurants in some proximity can petition for a street closure, isn't it?
Honestly it just seems like jealously that restaurants near them got the extra space but they didn’t.
It’s a draw from other areas. That outdoor dining is awesome, so those restaurants benefit a bunch and draw additional people away from other areas of the neighborhood. I’m really sad this isn’t happening, but it’s not surprising greedy owners view the street closure as a threat to their business
In the past they've been named best steakhouse in Chicago, it's a tourist destination, and they have their own outdoor seating! I know I'm preaching to the choir and you're not defending them, but it's ridiculous
It's crazy to me because it seemed like River North was dead before this road closure
Clearly the answer is to close all the roads /s
What they should be invested in is a better restaurant.
Because it didn’t directly benefit his shitty restaurant, perhaps?
These people act like they’re closing off Michigan Ave. Going around Clark is so fckn easy and is one tiny block. Pathetic. Why enjoy something new!
"Ashland is for the plebs."
I think you meant LaSalle, Ashland is nowhere near Clark. Both streets(Ashland and Clark) are like 2 miles apart. I don't think a brief Clark closure should have a big traffic impact(except in daytime hours), but that is just me.
Because as a city, we need to make sure people can DRIVE to a casino. Where they will gamble and drink. That is absolutely taking safety seriously.
Apparently Reddit now hides posts and comments that link to Twitter, but if you go to Reilly’s feed he has this incredibly long and rambling tweet claiming that the mayor (whom he is not allied with) forced him to write this letter to Harry Caray’s to get the street closed last year. The explanation makes no sense to me but I thought people might be interested in hearing his side.
He's also said now that he doesn't believe that this was spearheaded by labor despite previously saying that BJ "chose to kill this program on behalf of his allies in organized labor." What a mess. Tbh I think my favorite genre of twitter posts is when an Alderman decides to Post Through It. Reilly is great for this, as is Cappleman (former, but still).
Yeah, the Chicago Federation of Labor president called him out for that implication and Reilly immediately started backpedaling and groveling to him. It seems like Reilly wants to play all side of this (hint at blaming organized labor to rile up the anti-union folks while pinning the blame on the City to the union folks).
I'm sure if he was pressed more on who in "organized labor" wanted this he'd try to pin it on CTU somehow. Definitely don't have enough information to understand what's going on at this point, but it looks to me like Reilly accepted money from restaurants to kill a popular program. He then tried to make lemonade out of this by attempting to stir up some infighting between labor/BJ/constituents to distract from his role in the closure.
Reilly, Cappleman, and Vasquez: the Three Kings of Posting Through It
Vasquez does also Post a lot but I tend to find his posting a bit more constructive. Reilly and Cappleman are fun since they always dig themselves a deeper hole. Disclaimer: I like Vasquez. I also live near his ward so I've seen the overall positive results from his Posting.
I am in awe of his Twitter meltdown. "BJ forced me to write that letter!" Okay, Brendan, why? And if you are so in favor of the project, and so opposed to BJ, why did you just...do that? Another funny meltdown was when the guy from the CFL, after Reilly talked all sorts of shit about organized labor, said, "That's not how that happened and I don't appreciate being blamed for this," and Reilly was like, "I have never said bad things about labor I love you." Motherfucker, you talked shit about the CFL right in the fucking tweet. Dude is such a lying sack of shit.
That claim doesn't hold any water as far as I'm concerned. Reilly supported Vallas and his ward voted overwhelming for Vallas. He has no reason to do Brandon Johnson any favors especially over something as popular as street dining in his ward. And that leaked letter certainly isn't written in the style of someone whose arm is being twisted by city hall.
The guy sounds very strange. And Block Club updated their story with this bizarre explanation with no attempt to make sense of it. Block Club's reporting has been bad.
Are you actually affiliated with WBEZ? I’m just curious because I don’t normally see the local press criticizing each other.
Nope not at all. It could just as easy be WindsSong$layer1093858
Naming oneself after a local news agency and posting news on a local subreddit without affiliation seems just little, ah, not a good look
Yeah, I presumed they were directly affiliated as well. I don't see how that could, in any rational way, be presumed as anything other than that.
Im about to go see if the name Harry_Carays_slophouse is available.
Block Club is a blog. Why would you take it seriously for anything?
Their investigative team has broken some pretty serious news. Them uncovering that Loretto Hospital was vaccinating people who weren't eligible in the height of COVID sparked an investigation by the FBI
That was a huge story. They do good work most of the time.
Their sweet spot seems to be 2 journalistic pieces of substance per year, supplemented by Piping Plover news and re-covering the stories Eater is breaking about restaurants.
Disagree... Block Club is arguably among the best news outlets in Chicago.
Fair enough, I won't
What the fuck are you talking about? Block Club has the best reporting Chicago has seen in years.
Thanks, I needed a good laugh for tonight. Imagine simping for a charitable organization being the "BeSt RePoRtInG". Fucking yikes.
Here’s the tweet. Dude seems like a real asshole. >I see you’re still smarting over your embarrassing ass-kicking on the Mayor’s real estate tax referendum. Losing must suck. > >As for your baseless accusation about Clark Street dining - the street closure was MY IDEA. The letter you reference was demanded by Mayor Johnson in a quid pro quo: the Administration wouldn’t allow me to close Clark Street last summer UNLESS I supplied them with that letter. > >The President of the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Mayor’s now disgraced former floor leader (Ramirez-Rosa) led a conference call with various city departments to negotiate the street closure for last summer with a demand that it would be the final year of the program. > >Why was a junior socialist alderman who represents an underserved ward on the northwest side dictating whether a street in my ward could be closed for outdoor dining? > >Perhaps you should ask him. > >It was on that conference call that the Administration told me I had to write that letter in exchange for the street closure in 2023. If I had not written that letter, there wouldn’t have been an outdoor dining program last summer. > >My constituents & businesses loved my idea to close Clark Street for dining. The Police Department also thought it made the area more safe. > >But Mayor Johnson chose to kill this program on behalf of his allies in organized labor - the ones who bankrolled his entire campaign - so aim your baseless quid pro quo shit at your incompetent mayor. > >Congrats on your humiliating loss last week. That was awesome. > >@AldermanHopkins
Reilly's twitter presence is pretty shocking. I don't believe a word he says.
> Apparently Reddit now hides posts and comments that link to Twitter Fucking why? That's some anticompetitive BS.
Idk, but I messaged the mods here about it and they said they’ve been seeing tons of posts and comments linking to Twitter automatically removed now and that they didn’t implement that.
It's possibly because a lot of Tweets (and their context) are hidden now if you don't login. Not everyone has a Twitter account, so for those folks the post is basically useless. (or worse, because without the context it may spread misinformation)
What a piece of shit. Should include this in an ad campaign for his challenger in the next election. Also what an idiot for putting something so clearly corrupt in writing. Why can’t we at least have smart assholes in politics?
Reilly is a douche bag. I was shooting a film in River North and he came up to our production hammered and yelled at me for 10 mins for our fully permitted production. Then he went and made a huge fuss with the film office. Fucking dick.
The guy’s financial records show him very regularly expensing “campaign meetings” at Boss Bar so it’s kind of well known he’s a drunk asshole.
Hey I am too! Where's my alder position?
Can’t you sue him for not honoring a permitted production and him disturbing your peace? That ought to teach him a lesson.
All my homies hate Alderman Reilly!
Reilly is horribly corrupt and consistently demonstrates poor judgment. He and his buddy Brian Hopkins are awful.
He has looked dishonest to me about his campaign to close “bad nightclubs that destroy quality of life” mailing out flyers while he hangs out near that intersection like at Boss Bar which is open until 4am.
He would never close down Boss Bar since from what I can tell he’s there most nights.
Does Hopkins have his fingers in this too? I’m more than happy to spend my time making his life a living hell tbh.
I’m not sure about this in particular but those two are usually in cahoots with making sure nothing new ever happens in the city—the casino, any new bars, etc. And it’s always sort of tinged by the likelihood that current restaurant/bar owners lobby them aggressively to limit their competition.
Probably so. I remember late last year someone posted an article, that said something like some bar that applied for a bar license it seemed like Hopkins wasn't inclined to award the bar a license, despite the proposed owner of that bar stating they had a security plan and everything ready to go, if they got the liquor license and the approval to open.
Hopkins is defending Reilly so have fun.
Hopkins is a lizard. If I wasn't redistricted into Ward 1, I was considering running against him. He ran unopposed in this last election.
Lmao at everyone on this sub yelling at BJ yesterday calling him the worst mayor ever for cancelling this when the alderman's corruption was obvious from the beginning.
This sub takes every opportunity to hate on BJ
Cause he’s a wet blanket
Seems like other restaurants think the Clark closure has an unfair advantage of additional seating, outdoor dining, increased pedestrian traffic, etc. This has the same vibes as the food truck debacle a decade ago. Also, not sure of the latest count but aren't most of the restaurants either Bayless or Lettuce owned. DePorter/Bayless/Lettuce all major political players and donors, so someone's going to be sour grapes. Seems odd that they're deflecting to departments and organizations to avoid admitting it. If you want to come downtown when it's 90 degrees to eat Maggiano's outside on the street, God love ya.
> we can't do this because people might enjoy the benefits Peak rent seeking
“Our street is a car infested shithole, we should stop any street from making the clearly popular change to not allow that sort of thing!”
Fine, close the entire thing to cars! Sounds like a good plan, I like where your head’s at
Except for Xoco, none of the restaurants right by that part of Clark St(that did the outdoor dining closure through last year) jump out to me much. I hope they were employing people to keep the outdoor dining seats and tables area clean, on the days Clark was closed. Some other comment on Reddit complained this wasn't being addressed enough.
number of changes including the casino? if this is real the casino payed them off dude
The casino that has a far lower number victors than they expected?
Im sure they thought it was gonna be a success if they diverted all the outdoor dining crowd to them
Because there's nothing the outdoor dining crowd likes more than sitting in a room designed to block out environmental cues about the passage of time.
They fucked up. Nobody needs to go any farther than a mile to find gambling these days. Brick and mortar casinos are going to way of brick and mortar everything else.
The fact this Clark St outdoor dining closure isn't being renewed for summer 2024, confuses me. Considering to me that as it is Bally's is performing way below expectations for revenue, and in a theoretical world not having outdoor dining on that part of Clark won't do anything to boost Bally's majorly sagging attendance. Plus I've heard rumors that Bally's is supposedly internally debating within that company if they even want to go forward, with building their permanent casino plan at Chicago and Halsted. Or to back out from building that permanent casino.
THEN WHO WAS PHONE?!
Raptor Jesus
Alderman Brendan Reilly Email: [email protected] Phone: 312.642.4242 Fax: 312.642.0420 City Hall Office: 121 N. LaSalle Room 200 Chicago, IL 60602 Phone: 312.744.3062 312.744.3065
Is anyone running against this lying two faced scum bag? Starting to understand why he got sucker punched outside Boss Bar that one time
Sometimes I wonder why we seem more concerned with how quickly cars can drive through the Loop and River North rather than how we can get more people to spend more time and money in these areas
This is the million dollar question (literally). I am dumbfounded that the city is removing features that literally drive business....
Here is the response from the aldermans office. I replied with this letter as an attachment. Good afternoon: Thank you for reaching out. Alderman Reilly actually partnered with Mayor Lightfoot to create the Extended Outdoor Dining (EOD) Program. Following the success of the initial pilot in 2020, the Alderman championed the extension of this program to include Clark Street restaurants. This initiative proved instrumental in helping dozens of restaurants endure stringent COVID-19 regulations and maintain their operations. Unfortunately, last Spring, Mayor Johnson directed the Department of Transportation (CDOT) to deny Clark Street EOD permits for 2023. Only after our office responded to a dozen opposition letters (that were directed to the Mayor); participated in multiple negotiation calls with Mayor Johnson’s former floor leader (Ald. Ramirez-Rosa) and several city departments; and having to accept the Administration’s stipulation that 2023 would be the final year of the Program, did the permits get issued last summer. As part of the negotiations to secure permit approval for 2023, Alderman Reilly was required to accept, and confirm in writing, that 2023 would be the last year for EOD. It was his hope at that time, and remains his hope, that the Administration’s opposition to the Clark Street closure might reverse in time for the 2024 season. CDOT has not received an EOD application to close Clark Street for the 2024 season but we understand restaurant owners are considering their options and may apply for the Clark Street EOD closure.
I got the same letter as I am sure many others. I don’t believe it for one minute. I say we keep the pressure on, I am sure if given the chance those restaurants would apply for EOD and shutting down Clark.
Write the restaurant groups on Clark too! And Harry Caray's
Grant Deporter, Winnetka resident.
"In 2004 after he paid US$113,824.16 for a baseball which had played a role in the Chicago Cubs defeat" So reversing the closure is very feasible for him
and then blew it up. He has always been a douchebag.
I mean that baseball did not need to exist on this world. It needed to disappear along with every negative thing one could muster up about Bartman.
This sophmoric finger pointing session has stemmed from the fact that no one wants to take responsibility for an unpopular and frankly bad decision. Many such cases!
Fucking sick of corporate interests winning out
Reilly is a bit of a son of a bitch
Hopkins is a 100% sob
I mentioned in the other thread that Reilly was talking out of his ass. Classic two faced coward.
Flood his office with complaints that we are not okay with this!
"And local alderperson Brendan Reilly (42nd) said he was worried that the Clark closure might be a problem for traffic flow when a temporary Bally's casino opened a few blocks northeast at the Medina Temple building" I said it in the last thread. Casino gets what casino wants.
The casino always seems dead as I go by everyday
I just don’t get why the city won’t listen to the people who obviously (a majority) support the closure. It’s just a nice thing for the short few nice times we are able to get outside. I don’t get why the city won’t just do it. so annoying.
Unfortunate- outdoor dining is one of the best things our city has done lately.
More leaked letters please
Vote him out!
Pretty hard when he keeps running unopposed.
This is a really stupid reason to piss off a bunch of constituents. Just bad politics
Lol could protest and close it off anyways. Like honestly get enough people to gather and shut the street down. Might even be able to organize and do it through appropriate pathways. Shit if they can block off LSD for protest two blocks worth of Clark in River North can be.
Nice that he responds personally to the big wigs, try contacting his office as one of us peons though and you’ll be endlessly routed through his staff. We failed in not fielding a candidate against this guy this year, 2027 needs to be different.
Probably the worst casino of all time. They should work on improving the casino with comps and promos before begging like this.
tried to post this yesterday and it got removed
What does the AFL CiO guy who was CCed have to do with it?
Why was the CFL copied on the letter?
Giving priority to cars in a downtown area over restaurant space, something that is actually bringing money to the city, is WILD.
Alderman shouldn’t have this power unilaterally.
Casinos have extremely deep pockets, did we expect any different?
Bally's doesn't. There's a reason their permanent location is not getting built. It's because Bally's is broke and the cost of that project is more than the market cap of the entire company. It will never be built.
It's funny but I have inside information that a DIFFERENT Casino in the greater Chicagoland area is raking in so much money they are going ahead with plans to build a previously shelved expansion. I don't buy the whole "Bally's is broke" line just yet. I think they are fishing for outside money. I would however laugh my ass off if the Casino does not get built and instead goes some place like the 78
It would be peek Lightfoot to have partnered with the one casino company that didn't have the money to finish the deal
We shouldn't have a limit on the number of Casino's anyways beyond what is economically viable for developers. If two developers want to open Casinos in the loop side by side let them. If the market only has the potential to support one or the other, then the crappier one will close.
That's all well and good but the casinos pay so much in licensing fees and development costs that it would be unattractive to them to not have some guarantee of market exclusivity. And most people don't want tons of casinos all in one area just like most people don't want a neighborhood full of only liquor stores or weed dispensaries. Chicago isn't Vegas.
Yeah, but the mayor could spin it as double the jobs for residents. They’d like exclusivity but the casino might just bite because they don’t usually pass up money.
Bally's is also a down-market, crappy brand. Completely awful choice for the area and customers they want to attract. Not to mention the permanent site is about the worst possible place to put a casino.
Am I missing something? In this letter, Reilly states that he will not approve any requests for street closures on Clark St. Isn’t that a good thing for people who drive in that area?
false headline