Thursday, November 6, 2008

More On Labor Ready Case Status And "Delay"

News-Star has a good article with details about why Labor Ready decided not to open in Uptown "at this time" and the status of the lawsuit against the company. Here's an excerpt:

The Uptown Chicago Commission raised $20,000 for a litigation fund on behalf of residents, who filed a lawsuit against the city in April. Residents charged that they were denied due process when only a few of them were allowed to testify before the zoning board. The complaint also claimed that the evidence Labor Ready presented at the hearing failed to meet the standards in the city's zoning ordinance because a professional appraisal did not take into account a Boys and Girls Club or two elementary schools located several hundred feet from the proposed Labor Ready office.

John Pikarski, an attorney with Gordon and Pikarski, is representing plaintiffs in the case. He said the lawsuit against the city is likely to be dismissed, but is subject to an agreement that Labor Ready will let the special-use permit approved by the zoning board expire in March 2009. The city's zoning code allows applicants one year to use special-use permits before they expire.

"We've known about [Labor Ready's plans to not open] for two or three weeks, but it wasn't for popular consumption until it was firmed up 10 days ago," Pikarski said.

Burke said Labor Ready's decision to delay opening an Uptown branch has nothing to do with the pending lawsuit. "This is purely a result of the economy," she said. "We'll continue to work through it as a separate matter."

Read the entire article here.

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