Journal Editor

Just 42 days after Des Plaines aldermen approved a deal in May of 2003 to permit the construction of 10 new lucrative billboards along local tollways, the rights to erect at least five of those large outdoor advertising signs were sold to one of the nation's largest billboard companies. It's believed the rights to the remaining signs have either been sold or are close to being sold to another large billboard company.

By some estimations, the sale of the five signs, made possible by persuading a majority of Des Plaines aldermen excited about generating $75,000 over a three-year period to pay for fireworks displays, reaped for the shareholders of the selling company millions of dollars.

The names of the shareholders, which were made public in a recent story in the Journal, included ex-con James Dvorak, a former Cook County undersheriff who spent seven years in federal prison after being convicted of bribery and income tax evasion. Another shareholder was Leonora Nicosia, wife of Joseph P. Nicosia, an Oak Brook businessman awaiting sentencing in an insurance fraud scheme. Mr. Nicosia is a former president of Premere Outdoor, Inc., the company that sold the billboard rights to Lamar Advertising Co. The third shareholder was Heather Loss, wife of Joseph Loss, who is listed in current state records and other documents as Premere's president and billboard project manager.

And in a related matter, according to documents obtained by the Journal last week, contrary to a claim by the Des Plaines City Attorney's office that it first became aware of Dvorak's connection to Premere in late August of 2004, records show that the city was made aware of that fact nearly 2-1/2 months earlier.

Included with a letter sent to City Attorney Dave Wiltse on June 9, 2004 by Ed Marcin, real estate manager for Lamar Advertising Co., was a copy of a Stock Purchase Agreement dated July 1, 2003 that listed Dvorak as a stockholder of Premere Outdoor, Inc. That agreement spelled out the sale of Premere stock to Lamar. It did not list the sale price. There is some speculation that each billboard right sold for $1 million. Two-sided billboards located along intestate highways near a large airport such as O'Hare can generate as much as $40,000 per month for its owners.

Wiltse, in a telephone interview Monday said he has never seen the June 9 letter nor was he aware of its existence. He said the letter may have been faxed to the city at about the same time his office's fax machine was broken. The city attorney asked to see the letter which the Journal had obtained last week from the city.

Wiltse, in a Sept. 9, 2004 "Personal and Confidential" letter to top city officials, said, "It has come to our attention through different sources in late August that James Dvorak had or has some connection with Premere Outdoor, Inc." Eight days earlier Loss informed the city by letter that Lamar had inadvertently forwarded to the city information about the stock ownership of Premere. Loss demanded the return of those documents. Wiltse told city officials in his confidential letter that because Loss was threatening to sue the city if the stock ownership information became public, that aldermen, Mayor Tony Arredia, and other city officials should keep quiet about the issue. Wiltse also said that "members of the press are asking questions" in reference to a probe that had been launched by the Journal. A copy of Wiltse's letter was leaked to the newspaper which published a front page story about the matter on Sept. 15.

On Sept. 1, 2004, members of the city's Legal and Licensing Committee directed the city attorney to research the sale of Premere to Lamar. Wiltse said he would report his findings to the committee sometime in October. Wiltse recently told the Journal in an interview that the sale or transfer of billboard rights from Premere to Lamar is not permitted. Assistant City Attorney Ray Bartel told Joseph Loss in a July 30, 2004 letter, in which he asked for documentation spelling out the asset transfer or sale, that sign permits are not saleable or transferable without written permission from the city.

Loss, in response to Bartel, explained that Premere "partnered" with Lamar on five of the billboard permits and is in the process of partnering with Viacom on the other five permits. Viacom is a media giant which owns, among other things, CBS television. In his letter to Bartel, Loss compared Premere's transfer to Lamar to that of a residential development on the city's far north side near Golf and East River Road that took place about two years ago. That controversial project called for a developer to obtain the necessary zoning from the city to perform the work and then either sell or partner with another company to have the work done. Many neighbors of the area voiced strong opposition to the proposed development. Without the ability to convince enough aldermen to support the rezoning, the high density residential development could not have occurred. Rezoning the property increased the land value substantially.

In the case of Premere, obtaining permission from the city took roughly five months to complete. It went through the staff review process followed by a public hearing conducted by the Des Plaines Plan Commission, and eventually City Council approval. The Plan Commission unanimously recommended denial of the billboard proposal. The Commission is responsible for reviewing and advising the City Council on land use issues. The city staff, too, recommended denial. However, included in its recommendation was a suggestion on how the proposal could move ahead. Five of the city's eight aldermen voted in favor of it on May 19, 2003. Those council members who cast "No" votes were, Pat Beauvais (1st), Tom Christiansen (2d), and Carla Brookman (5th).

Prior to the May 19 vote, aldermen discussed on Apr. 7, 2003 Premere's proposal to erect 10 to 15 billboards along stretches of the Northwest and Tri-State tollways. At that session, aldermen agreed to the concept of allowing Premere to erect 10 billboards in the city.

In an Apr. 24, 2003 letter to Loss from Jack Parker, an employee of Premere, Parker identifies 12 potential sites for billboards in Des Plaines. One of the billboards listed at the time as a possible location was at 2410 S. River Rd., on property owned by a printing company. A billboard was erected there several months ago triggering a storm of protest from neighbors who contend the sign is ugly and devalues their property. They have also said that they were not notified about the billboard before noticing it which it was being built.

Further documentation obtained by the Journal through the Illinois Freedom of Information Act and by other means shows a written agreement dated Apr. 25, 2003 authored by Loss which describes the agreement between the city and Premere to erect billboards in the city. "It (the agreement) also affirms our negotiation with the city manager," says Loss' letter. The acting Des Plaines city manager at the time was Bill Schneider, a close friend of Dvorak's who around May of this year resigned his job after informing Mayor Arredia that he had been convicted of mail fraud in the mid-1990s.

The Dvorak connection has attracted much of the attention on the billboard subject.

According to an article published in the Illinois Police & Sheriff's News, James "the Bohemian" Dvorak was a "maneuvering but street-wise political cop who later seized control of the Cook County Republican Party. Dvorak was forced to resign as the top aide to then Cook County Sheriff James O'Grady after government snitch William Jahoda said that the Rocco Infelise street crew paid Dvorak $10,000 a month to lay off on suburban gambling raids that would threaten the Outfit's control over bookmaking." Dvorak was eventually indicted on charges of income tax evasion and bribery." He spent 41 months in prison.

Dvorak's name first surfaced in Des Plaines around April of this year when it was revealed that he and Bill Schneider have been close friends for many years. Schneider, now 35, was hired by the city in July of 2000 to serve as the city's Economic Development Commission executive director. He had previously worked for the City of Chicago. Within a few years, he had also ascended to acting city manager, and acting director of the Community Development Dept., following the departures of two top city employees who had held those positions. By holding those three top posts, Schneider was responsible for most if not practically all city matters relating to land use, property zoning, and redevelopment projects.

At about the same time Dvorak's connection to Schneider became public, it was also unveiled that Dvorak held a high level job with the Prime Site Group LLC, a Rolling Meadows-based firm hired by the city in 2001 to help market the development of property in the Mannheim-Higgins area. And in August, a city investigation into Prime Site's work and involvement with Des Plaines, revealed that Dvorak had introduced the president of Prime Site to Schneider and then City Manager Wally Douthwaite concerning the possible development of the Fisherman's Dude Ranch property on Golf Road.

While Prime Site's involvement in the Dude Ranch development never occurred, Dvorak would have gained financially if it had. Prime Site Principal Michael Blonstein, in thanking Dvorak for the introduction to the city, said that Dvorak would be paid a commission if the company had been successful in procuring a purchaser or lessee for the property.

Attempts during the last several weeks to reach Loss and Dvorak for comment were not successful.