Ald. Gardiner’s Chief Ally in Killing Cuyler Plaza Resigned in Disgrace
In February of last year, Alderman Gardiner put on a series of performances to justify killing plans previously approved by CDOT to create a pedestrian plaza for the community on Cuyler Ave, near the Portage Theater on Milwaukee Ave.
In Gardiner’s one public meeting about Cuyler Plaza, he enlisted two members of the Chicago Fire Department’s brass to speak to the community about ostensible safety concerns with the Cuyler project. We now know one Chief was under investigation by both federal and City agencies at the time, and the other’s nephew was hired by Gardiner just months after the meeting.
Gardiner appears to have leveraged his official position and relationships to entangle CFD in his schemes, having them act as both his shield and enforcement arm, much like his alleged behavior and manipulation of Chicago Police in a current civil rights lawsuit against him in federal court,
The Disgraced Chief Puts on a Show
The primary spokesperson at Gardiner’s February 11, 2020 meeting about the Cuyler project was deputy fire commissioner Charles Roy from the Chicago Fire Department’s Bureau of Fire Prevention. During the meeting, Roy provided a list of his safety concerns, absent much discussion of potential solutions or mitigation strategies. Gardiner stated that the purpose of the meeting was simply to explain why he would not advance the project, basing his justification entirely on Roy’s analysis.
The week before the meeting, Gardiner posted a video to his official Facebook page, claiming “the Chicago Fire Department’s Bureau of Fire Prevention performed a live survey of W. Cuyler Ave. from N. Milwaukee Ave. to N. Laporte Ave” to “determine if a pedestrian plaza is feasible.”
The video depicts a tower ladder, the largest, heaviest, most difficult to maneuver vehicle in CFD’s fleet making a slow and seemingly intentional late turn to showcase the apparent difficulty of making the turn from Laporte. No corresponding display from the current configuration turning from Milwaukee was provided. Gardiner declined to answer residents’ questions at the time about why the most difficult truck to maneuver was used for this “live survey”. At the meeting, Gardiner credited Roy with arranging this display.
City planning like this is typically conducted using AutoTurn software which can simulate trucks of any specification making turns, since it’s not realistic nor scalable for CFD or any entities that use large trucks to bring every type of vehicle out to conduct live tests whenever there is a street closure or reconfiguration.
In response to numerous FOIA requests and inquiries to CFD, they were unable to provide examples of situations where they’ve conducted similar “live surveys” to analyze street turns, nor could they provide any detailed analysis conducted by CFD for other recent pedestrian plaza projects in the City, nor could they provide any documentation or analysis conducted by CFD regarding the Cuyler project. All we have is Chief Roy’s word and a handout he passed out at the meeting, which gave Gardiner enough cover to kill the project without taking responsibility for it.
But it turns out, Roy’s word may not be worth much. Just four months before the public meeting, Roy had been removed from his high-ranking position as Assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner (ADFC) where he was responsible for CFD operations at both O’Hare and Midway. He was removed in response to the FAA’s discovery that some CFD personnel were operating specialized “crash rigs” without proper training or qualifications to do so. As a result, Roy was temporarily placed on medical leave, according to the Sun-Times, before moving to the Fire Prevention Bureau. While in his new position, investigators from federal authorities, as well as Chicago’s Inspector General, continued to probe what had happened under his airport command.
Inspector General Recommends Firing
This past January, Chicago’s Inspector General Joe Ferguson released his office’s quarterly report, which includes damning findings regarding Roy’s conduct. In the report, Ferguson found ADFC Roy “ordered District 3 subordinates to place uncertified personnel on crash rigs” despite staff informing Roy the personnel in question did not have the required qualifications. These are sophisticated rigs that would be deployed for fire suppression and emergency response at O’Hare and Midway. His actions potentially put passengers’ lives at risk.
Ferguson concluded Roy directed subordinates to falsify official training records to cover up his violations of FAA protocols; then under questioning, he lied to investigators about doing so. CFD personnel under Roy’s command were found to have gone so far as forging a Captain’s signature to falsify records.
“In OIG interviews, [Roy] falsely denied directing District 3 staff to change training records and to staff crash rigs with unqualified personnel.” — Inspector General’s Fourth Quarter Report 2020
Ferguson recommended CFD discharge four employees for their role in this scheme, including Roy; however, Roy managed to retire to avoid punishment. The other three personnel involved in the scandal were terminated by CFD.
Last May, the FAA was exploring fining the City $1.3 million over problems that occurred under Roy’s watch. It’s unclear if the City was ultimately fined.
If Gardiner was looking for someone who would say what needed to be said to back his agenda, whether true or not, it would seem a man so unprincipled to lie to investigators and order subordinates to falsify official documents would be exactly the right man for the job.
Gardiner hires Chief’s Family
The other Chief enlisted by Gardiner to participate in the Cuyler meeting was District 2 Deputy Chief Brian McKermitt. Gardiner and McKermitt worked together at the firehouse at Tripp and Irving Park Rd before Gardiner was elected and before McKermitt was promoted to Deputy Chief. Coincidentally, Patrick “PJ” McKermitt, Chief McKermitt’s nephew and son of CFD Lt. Patrick McKermitt, was hired by Gardiner in August as a part-time worker aka “Gardiner Angel” at a pay rate of $30/hr.
While we have been unable to definitively confirm which of Gardiner’s employees disposed of all of a homeless man’s belongings under the Irving/Keeler viaduct, timesheets obtained from the City Clerk show McKermitt was the only “Angel” working that day.
According to city records, District Deputy Chief McKermitt recently stepped down to the rank of Battalion Chief. The reason for the move is unclear.
Cuyler on the Chopping Block from the Start
The Cuyler Pedestrian Plaza was envisioned as part of the Six Corners Master Plan and championed by former Alderman John Arena, winning approval from the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) to create an “outdoor gathering spots [to] help create a sense of place and encourage more people to come to Six Corners.”
The plan intended to use $1m from the Irving/Cicero TIF fund. Instead of the investing in the community Plaza, Gardiner has spent nearly $2m from the area TIFs on sidewalk replacements and $650,000 on the brick-paved alley behind City News.
“[We] had one meeting with the Alderman on June 20th at 2pm regarding the Cuyler project. At this meeting, he requested that the project be placed on hold.”
Once Gardiner took office, residents were met with silence about the status of the Cuyler Plaza for nearly nine months. In that time, ward residents asked Gardiner online social media, via email, calls to the office, in-person at “Ward Nights”, and at public meetings for an update on the popular CDOT approved plaza, all in vain. We now know that one of Gardiner’s first acts in office was to halt the project with CDOT. According CDOT, in commentary provided along with a response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, Gardiner had put the project on hold just weeks after taking office, “[We] had one meeting with the Alderman on June 20th at 2pm regarding the Cuyler project. At this meeting, he requested that the project be placed on hold.” Gardiner never communicated this to residents.
It wasn’t until Gardiner was able to get CFD brass to provide cover that he finally went public about cancelling the project.
At the end of the public meeting, a resident asked Gardiner if he would consider creating a committee to explore alternatives to this plan and inquired how the community could get started with a process to move forward, whether with a flexible, shared-street plan or a pedestrian plaza at another location.
Gardiner responded, “I don’t have that… This meeting is regards to inform you of our latest findings with regards to we cannot move forward with what we’ve drawn up. How we move forward with that? I have not planned that yet, but you will be notified when we have ideas.”
Over the past year, there has been no update or notification of ideas.
