The time has come for a resolution on what to do with the old Des Plaines Theater property.
City of Des Plaines officials have had more than enough time to make up their minds. In fact, they squandered plenty of opportunity to find a solution to the dilemma months ago. That's when they balked at deciding whether or not to fund a study that would help everyone determine if the idea of transforming the theater into a performing arts center had merit. Their procrastination delayed everything and placed one of the victims in this whole caper, the bank that bought the property earlier this year, at an unfair disadvantage. It also poured fuel onto the fire of uncertainty within the community. No one really knows what will happen with the theater property. Will it become a bank? Or will it become a performing arts center? After months and months of nothing, what's been accomplished is, well...nothing.
The owners of Mt. Prospect National Bank have been treated poorly on this whole matter. They came in to Des Plaines looking for an opportunity to expand their holdings. There's nothing wrong with that. It's the American way. We're told that when they came to Des Plaines seeking help in securing the downtown theater property at Miner and Lee streets, city officials assured them all would be fine. They were soothed into thinking that the property would be relatively easy to acquire, that special permission needed to open a vehicle drive-though would be secured, and that any talk of transforming the building into of all things, a community arts center, was just that---idle chatter that could easily be dealt with.
What has evolved in recent months, of course, is entirely different than the picture that was painted. Local preservationists have remained dogged in their desire to keep the building in tact as a community center. Political pressure applied by the preservationists has had the effect of deer running in front of a car's headlights. Council members seem stunned and unable to act. What they have done, albeit just a few months ago, is to fund the theater study that was asked for almost a year earlier. Now, the bank, obviously upset that their well-intentioned plans have met stiff and costly resistance resulting in a public relations nightmare, has taken the position that they won't permit city inspectors inside their building as part of the study.
Earlier on, we called the bank a victim. And they are. They came to Des Plaines a year ago interested only in opening a legitimate, quality business in Des Plaines' downtown. Such a venture would create jobs locally, improve the community's economy, and provide a service that nearly everyone needs now and then---loans to buy cars and homes and to help finance other kinds of purchases such as for furniture and various property improvements. What they've received so far from their whole experience is a big headache. It's time Des Plaines prescribe some medicine.
Des Plaines leaders have shown anything but leadership on this whole matter. They have allowed circumstances to dictate their actions rather than lead. Certain officials made the mistake of assuring a thriving, bonafide business, that any community would love to have, that they could control the politics of Des Plaines. That was one mistake. And the bank, believing that city leaders would make good on their assurances, blindly believed them. That misunderstanding of the city's complex political dynamics was another mistake.
Both blunders have proven costly to the whole community of Des Plaines.
Like the Chicago Cubs, it's time everyone involved steps up to the plate, engage in a frank, honest dialogue and resolve this matter.
Who knows, maybe Des Plaiens will wind up not only with a new downtown bank but a performing arts center as well.