ELK GROVE VILLAGE
Off-track betting proposal advances
An off-track betting parlor for Elk Grove Village may be in the homestretch after trustees lent their support this week and sent the plan to the Illinois Racing Board.
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Inter-Track Partners of Melrose Park won unanimous approval from five trustees Tuesday to transform Ringside Sports Club, 554 E. Devon Ave., into an off-track betting parlor. Inter-Track has 13 betting parlors and two under construction, said Bob Bilocerkowycz, president.
Elk Grove Village officials said they would like to set the minimum entry age at 21, because alcohol will be served, and set up an oversight group, similar to a liquor commission. The minimum age to bet is 18 at racetracks and off-track betting sites, said a racing board spokesman.
Bilocerkowycz and Ringside Sports Club owner Rick Contini said they were amenable to the change.
Mayor Craig Johnson said he believes the village can have details on the oversight committee worked out by June 19.
“We have to decide if [off-track betting] is a fit for the community; it’s not all revenue-driven,” Johnson said. “We’re realistic; it may not be the bigger figures [Inter-Track] gave us.”
The Illinois Racing Board is expected to vote on the plan within two months, officials said.
Elk Grove Village expects to take in $150,000 to $200,000 a year through its share of a gambling tax — 1 percent of the total amount bet. Anti-gambling activist Nancy Duel of Arlington Heights warned that Inter-Track’s figures for 2003 and 2005 showed six communities with betting parlors received significantly less money than estimated.
“I don’t see it as a good fit for Elk Grove,” resident Suellen Satern said. “I don’t believe gambling is ever good for families and children.”
Ken Manson
ROLLING MEADOWS
City Council rejects billboard request
Aldermen voted down an ordinance that would have leased Rolling Meadows property to a billboard company.
The council rejected a request by Chicago-based T, B & T Signs to erect a billboard at Winnetka Avenue and Illinois Highway 53. The company offered to pay the city $2,500 a month for 30 years and an initial payment of $250,000.
“This is just not a proper use of public land,” said Ald. Tom Rooney.
Ald. Larry Buske said it would be the first step toward sign pollution.
“It creates a very good chance at having a new revenue stream,” Buske said. “But I am going to stick to my guns. We are suburbanites, not Chicagoans.”
Buske was among those who suggested that the lease could lead to litigation.
“What is to stop someone from putting up something that is not quite tasteful and then saying it’s a freedom-of-speech issue,” said Ald. Glenn Adams.
Terrence Durkin, an attorney for T, B & T, said the city could use the billboard for two weeks a year to promote economic development.
In another matter, the council agreed to a June 12 deadline for Chicago developer Bristol Moran to provide final cost estimates for the tax increment financing district project at the Rolling Meadows Shopping Center.
“This thing started out like a fireball,” Buske said. “A lot of promises have been made, there have been a lot of meetings held and it has taken up a lot of people’s time.”
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Mayor Ken Nelson said plans to amend the TIF district may live on, but with another developer. “We need to keep the issue with [Bristol Moran] separate from the development. The two are not tied together,” he said.
Matt Rogina