Chicago's Convention Meltdown

Crain's Chicago Business reports:

The chief executive officer won his post after raising campaign cash for disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The just-departed human resources director owed her job to a powerful state senator. Other top executives have long ties to Mayor Richard M. Daley's political machine.

That's what clout looks like at the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, known as McPier, a little-understood government entity that operates the city's primary convention venue, the vast McCormick Place complex; the adjacent McCormick Hyatt Regency Hotel, and the lakefront tourist center Navy Pier.


But the defection of two major trade shows this month and a deepening financial crisis raise questions about how well an agency run the Chicago Way can compete with more-efficient, warm-weather convention centers such as Orlando, Fla., and Las Vegas.

Despite the high prices it charges trade groups to stage conventions at McCormick Place, McPier doesn't make enough money to cover its operating expenses or payments on its debt. Agency officials project operating losses will grow eightfold to $28.8 million in the fiscal year that started July 1. And the state of Illinois will have to fork over hundreds of millions of dollars in the years ahead to make up shortfalls in tourism taxes that were supposed to cover McPier bond payments.

You'll want to read the whole article. Can Chicago compete in the modern age?