Poor decision-making continues to plague Cook County.
Last week, the Cook County Board of Commissioners followed DuPage County in banning video gambling in unincorporated areas. Commissioner Tony Peraica, R-16th District, of Riverside joined an effort begun by Commissioner Bridget Gainer, D-10th District, of Chicago to prohibit video gambling in sections solely under the jurisdiction of the county.
I support the bans on video gambling by both Cook and DuPage counties, so this isn’t an example of the poor decision-making on the part of public officials to which I’m referring. That said, Commissioner William Beavers, D-4th District, of Chicago, who also voted to ban the devices, has me stumped on his reasoning.
Representatives of the coin-machine industry staged a demonstration at the County Building in downtown Chicago last week when the vote was being held. They said a ban on video gambling in unincorporated areas would result in lost job opportunities.
Reporting on the event, Rich Samuels from WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight” declared, “One commissioner (Beavers) observing the protest noted that the jobs at stake were not those normally held by people of color.”
“Did you look at it?” Beavers said during the news report. “All right. Did you see anyone that looked like me there? All right. Ray Charles could see that.”
Beavers, a former Chicago alderman, was apparently most troubled by the fact that none of the demonstrators was black. It follows, then, that Beavers believes black people aren’t represented well in the coin-machine industry, so he shouldn’t bother considering the measure.
I don’t know how many black people work for the coin-machine industry in the Chicago area. However, Beavers sent the message that creating jobs for what he deems a largely white constituency doesn’t interest him.
That’s a peculiar stance for a public official to take. I agree with how Beavers voted on this issue, but I can’t go along with his rationale.
Jerry Moore is the opinions editor for Suburban Life Publications. Contact him at (630) 368-8930 or jmoore@mysuburbanlife.com. His blog, Suburban Shoutout, can be found at blogs.mysuburbanlife.com/jerry-moore.
