Where’s the evidence that Chicago can afford — or even needs — One Central?

One can read Ray LaHood’s opinion piece on One Central and only think, when did LaHood join Landmark Development’s payroll? While LaHood, a former U.S. secretary of transportation, enthusiastically touts the benefits of public-private partnerships, he glosses right over several concerning aspects of the One Central proposal.

First, LaHood doesn’t mention the amount of tax dollars Bob Dunn is seeking for his private development — $6.5 billion — in a time when Illinois and Chicago are in fiscal crisis. Is giving this amount of tax money to a private developer really a good idea?

LaHood and Dunn like to say that money is an investment and will return jobs and wealth. Really? For whom? What studies show this to be the case? Can anyone demonstrate how giving this amount of money to a private developer is going to directly benefit underserved neighborhoods on the South and West sides of Chicago?

LaHood’s exuberance for Dunn’s proposed transit center is not backed up by any evidence that there is even a demand for the project. He says it will create 70,000 permanent jobs. Wow. Really? What study shows this to be the case? What study shows there is a need for a transit center in that proposed location? In fact, many experts question why anyone would locate a transit center at that location. Even the Chicago Department of Planning and Development seems to have a lot of questions about this that Dunn has yet to answer.

We definitely need major infrastructure spending and proactive investment in longignored areas of Chicago. Giving $6.5 billion of our tax dollars to a private developer to fund a development that is based on wildguess projections is a huge mistake.

Anthony R. Hipp, South Loop