The Long Way Home 5.17.24
I’m a bit late to the game commenting on this, and some of my cohorts may tell me it’s all old news—just forget about it. I can’t. On April 9, the Cook County Board of Commissioners, after reviewing a proposal from an out-of-town design firm for a new courthouse and improved cop shop, voted three to two to proceed with the planning process for the $32 million project. At a meeting of the Board on April 23, the county administrator suggested the commissioners “pause” the design process, and the five elected officials agreed. Finding outside funding to proceed with the project was problematic. All the brouhaha over the proposal left me thinking about the proper role of local governments and how we are a trusting population. The proposal for the so-called Justice Center results from the county’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) process. The CIP addresses deteriorating county-owned properties and cramped working conditions at the historic Cook County Courthouse headquarters, a building co