Housewares show gives Chicago an ultimatum

The International Housewares Association has given Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn until Friday to sign legislation that will reform how business is done at the McCormick Place convention center -- or risk losing the International Home + Housewares Show. That's the word from Greg Hinz, a blogger and columnist for Crain's Chicago Business. According to Hinz, Philip Brandl, president of the housewares trade group, wrote to Gov., Quinn this morning to say that unless the governor signs the bill, "we are not in a position to recommend Chicago as our venue for the future." "Chicago would be and is our choice . . . but not without the substantial reform this bill can enact." Brandl told Hinz that the association's board of directors will make a decision on Friday. The show, which is held annually in Chicago, attracted nearly 60,000 participants in March and injected an estimated $82 million into Chicago's economy, Brandl said. After the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. decided to move the 2012 and 2015 NPE trade shows to Orlando, Fla., everyone involved in the convention business in Chicago -- the governor, the mayor, the McPier board, the unions -- has been working on ways to make McCormick more competitive. I can't imagine that Quinn is going to let the housewares show slip away.