Journal Editor

Despite strong recommendations in 2003 against a proposal to allow Premere Outdoor, Inc. the right to erect 10 billboards in the city, language was inserted into city staff and advisory commission reports suggesting that a number of large outdoor advertising signs be permitted to be built in certain areas of Des Plaines, according to a knowledgeable city employee.

That language, which was not meant to be part of an original draft written on behalf of the Des Plaines Plan Commission in March of 2003, was inserted at the direction of then acting city manager, Economic Development director, and Community Development acting director Bill Schneider, the city employee said. The employee stated that an alderman also insisted that the pro-billboard language be added despite the preference by the employee to keep it out. The employee asked not to be identified. He also did not identify the alderman.

"That was not my idea," the employee recently told the Journal referring to the language included in the Plan Commission report. "That was someone else's idea. That was Schneider's idea."

The added language is part of nine-pages of March 10, 2003 Plan Commission minutes. It is also part of a city staff report believed to be written by Schneider to aldermen and Mayor Tony Arredia in late March 2003. Both reports addressed a proposal by Premere Outdoor, Inc. to amend a section of the city code that would permit the construction of double-faced outdoor advertising signs at 15 locations along the Northwest and Tri-State tollways in Des Plaines.

The March 10 minutes, were submitted to City Council members by Plan Commission chairman Carl Kowalski, one of four Commission members who voted against the billboard proposal. Kowalski called the insertion of the language "stupid. Like being a little bit pregnant" especially in light of the fact that the city spent eight years fighting the installation of billboards in the 1990s.

"We considered the paragraph, but we didn't act on it because we didn't consider it a good compromise," said Kowalski.

In the late March staff report, Schneider, who left city employment in May of this year after it was learned that he had been convicted of mail fraud in the mid-1990s, writes that the proposal is "unworkable." Schneider lists many reasons why the addition of the billboards is not a good idea including that they are unattractive and that the "city may be stuck with these billboards forever." However, in his recommendation to City Council, after he suggests that the specific proposal Premere was asking for be denied, Schneider brings up a different idea. He suggests that aldermen allow a limited number of billboards with a possible time limit of 20 years, along the Northwest Tollway only west of where I-90 and Touhy Avenue intersect. He said in the report that approval would be based on a Conditional Use Permit granted by the city outlining specific conditions. Added Schneider, "Most important, the alternate plan would confine the billboards to a largely industrial area that has already been visually degraded."

As recently discovered, Schneider has been close friends for many years with James Dvorak, the former Cook County undersheriff who spent time in federal prison for income tax evasion and bribery. Dvorak, it has been learned, was a shareholder and officer of Premere Outdoor, Inc. He was also president of Premere Media, Inc., a company whose representative corresponded with the city about the billboard matter this summer. It's believed Premere Media was formed after Premere Outdoor sold its assets---and its right to erect the 10 billboards---to media giant Lamar Outdoor Advertising in 2003, shortly after City Council approval of the 10 billboards.

Another officer of Premere Outdoor was Joseph P. Nicosia, Jr., an Oak Brook businessman who is awaiting sentencing in an insurance fraud scheme.

Premere Outdoor was sold to Lamar in July 2003, just 42 days after Des Plaines aldermen approved granting Premere the right to erect the 10 billboards, mostly along I-90. The listed shareholders of Premere were Dvorak, Leonora Nicosia, Joseph Nicosia's wife, and Heather Loss, the wife of Joseph Loss, Premere's project manager and attorney. There's some speculation that Premere, after securing the billboard rights from the city in May of 2003, was paid approximately $1 million by Lamar for each of the five billboards. Lamar has declined to answer questions from the Journal on what it paid for the signs. The other five billboards, Loss told the city, were going to be erected by media giant Viacom. It is not known whether that deal went through. No permit applications for these signs have been received by the city. Lamar has erected three signs.

Included in a packet of material handed to aldermen at about the same time Schneider's staff report was written in 2003 was a list of 18 potential sites for billboards in Des Plaines put together by Premere. Many of those locations are along the Northwest Tollway.

The language which was part of Schneider's March 2003 staff document and Mar. 10, 2003 Plan Commission report, is largely what was approved by a majority of council members about a month later. Despite the Plan Commission's 4 to 0 recommendation against the billboard proposal, and the staff report recommendation to deny the idea, aldermen approved the measure 4 to 3. According to one former city staff employee, some times, the staff would insert certain language into recommendations as a way of providing council members alternative points of view. Those voting in favor were aldermen Tom Christiansen (2d), Laura Murphy (3d), Dick Sayad (4th), and Rosemary Argus (8th). Aldermen Tom Becker (6th) was absent. Opposed were aldermen Pat Beauvais (1st), Carla Brookman (5th), and Don Smith (7th).

At the Monday, Oct. 4 regular Des Plaines City Council meeting, local resident Brian Burkross asked Finance Committee chairman Ald. Sayad about the city's decision to award Premere the right to erect 10 billboards in the city. He also questioned why it appears that the city never solicited competitive bids from other billboard companies. Some believe that encouraging competitive bids would have made the process fairer and could have generated a large amount of revenue for the city if some of the large signs were built on city property where space could be leased.

Ald. Sayad responded that the billboard subject was brought to the attention of aldermen by the city's staff and that he and council members followed the staff's recommendation. He indicated that if it was known that the outdoor signs could generate more income for the city, then things might be different than they are today. Sayad then told Burkross that if he has any further questions about the billboard matter, he should direct his inquiries to the city staff.

Also at the Oct 4 meeting, Ald. Carla Brookman, a critic of the billboard deal, said, "I asked the staff what value the signs have. I'm still waiting."

It was Sayad who in April of 2003 urged aldermen to move ahead with the proposal to grant Premere the right to erect 10 billboards in the city. He said that in exchange for granting Premere permission, the city would reap $25,000 per year for three years to pay for local July 4th fireworks displays. He added that the city will reap additional money for annual billboard inspection fees and for impact fees for each of the large signs.

Billboards located along interstate highways and close to major airports like O'Hare can generate large sums of money in advertising. A representative of one large sign company told the Journal recently that some signs can cost advertisers between $12,500 and $20,000 per month for just one side.

Numerous attempts in recent to reach Schneider and Loss for comment have been unsuccessful.