Editorial: Seems like Cicero’s hot dogs aren’t cutting the mustard
Editorials August 29, 2011 1:10AM
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Updated: November 4, 2011 11:39AM
We’re used to allegations of impropriety swirling around things like secret land trusts or insider contracts. But hot dogs?
As Steve Warmbir reports
in Monday’s Sun-Times, Cicero officials are being asked why
they used tax-increment
financing money in 2008 to buy $26,400 worth of food from a Chicago hot dog place that just happens to be owned by the family of one of Cicero’s TIF administrators.
All told, Cicero has spent nearly $120,000 at the Dog Stop since Town President Larry Dominick took office.
Cicero officials don’t seem to see any problem with that.
We could ask how buying food from a Northwest Side hot dog joint helps Cicero businesses. We could ask why TIF money is being used to buy food. We could even say that nearly $120,000 sounds like a lot of hot dogs.
But we won’t pose any of those questions. Instead, we’ll ask: What exactly is it they’re putting in the mustard that makes it so hard for Cicero officials to see straight?
