Chicago taxpayers spent $66 million renovating a convention center into an emergency coronavirus hospital that ended up only treating 38 patients. Further, the contract to renovate the facility went to a politically connected company instead of one that said it would waive fees or donate such money to coronavirus relief organizations.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday that top aides to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended the decision to spend $1.7 million per patient on the renovations, calling it an “insurance policy” for the unfounded fear that Chicago’s hospitals would be overwhelmed with coronavirus patients. Samir Mayekar, deputy mayor for economic and neighborhood development, told the outlet that he was “incredibly proud of” the converted facility, adding that the millions of dollars in taxpayer money was “not spent in vain.”
Taxpayers stuck with the bill may see things differently. The contract for the renovations was awarded to a politically connected company called Walsh Construction after a short search. The project was initiated with the federal government and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the Sun-Times reported. A city-state governmental body called McPier – which runs the convention center and owns a firm called Navy Pier – made the decision to hire Walsh, even though it had received just hours earlier proposals from three other construction companies. – READ MORE
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