Entries associated with the tag "Wrigley Field":

Today's Tribune offered former governor Jim Thompson's promise of a solution to one of most baffling mysteries of our time: How the state can buy and fix up Wrigley Field without spending any public money.

Thompson, now head of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, claimed to have solved what the article termed this "seemingly intractable puzzle."

Unfortunately, Thompson offered few specifics, nor did he give up much of anything to the Sun-Times. In essence, his message amounted to "Trust me, you'll see, there are ways . . ."

But then someone other than me -- in this case the Sun-Times editorial board -- pointed out the obvious: that this would amount to using public taxes for a private deal. Thompson was left with two choices. He could try to convince the public that the Sun-Times is wrong and that somehow or other spending sales taxes on Wrigley wasn't really, you know, spending sales taxes on Wrigley. Or he could concoct a magical alternative to using public money.

Apparently Thompson and his allies have settled on Plan B.

But in the absence of any concrete details, allow me to offer a few fund-raising suggestions. A bake sale, maybe? How about a Cubs car wash? Or officials could kill two birds with one stone by getting the Latin School to pick up the cost.

True, if Latin School soccer moved from Lincoln Park to Wrigley Field, the Cubs would have to schedule more night games--Latin would undoubtedly want the field from 3 PM to 7 PM every weekday and from 9 AM to 4 PM on weekends. And the Cubs would have to go on an extended road trip in July, when Latin would claim Wrigley for its summer camp. But hey, the pope gave the Yankees the boot from Yankee Stadium.  

It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for Sam Zell. All the guy's doing is asking for a handout, the sort of thing Mayor Daley dishes out to developers all the time.

"The Trib's Selling and We're Not Buying," read the front page of today's Sun-Times. "Only Sam Zell and his Tribune Co., owners of the ballpark, stand to gain. And in an economic downturn, only the taxpayers stand to lose."

The headline and accompanying editorial -- which had me cheering over my morning coffee -- are referring to the state's proposal to use sales taxes to buy and rebuild Wrigley Field so whoever owns the Cubs can sell more tickets and concessions and make more money.

The paper's zeal is goosed by wanting to make things uncomfortable for its rival, of course, but it's an encouraging turn of events nevertheless. When it comes to corporate welfare, the Wrigley Field proposal is only the tip of the iceberg. In the last year or so, the city's agreed to fork over $8.5 million to Grossinger Auto Corp. to build a car dealership at North and Clybourn, $51 million to a consortium of developers to convert the old downtown post office into a luxury hotel and condos, $58 million to developers to build an 18-story tower on top of Union Station for another hotel and even more upscale condos, $5 million to Navteq, the hugely successful navigations technology company to move from the Merchandise Mart to 100 N. Riverside, and $880,000 to Barry Callebaut to move its corporate office into the old Montgomery Ward building at 600 W. Chicago. Callebaut, by the way, was the company that closed the Brach's candy factory, throwing roughly 3,500 west-siders out of work.

These are all, of course, just some of the more egregious handouts from various tax increment financing districts, the mayor's favorite slush fund. Whenever I talk to community groups about TIFs they want to know why the Tribune and the Sun-Times aren't writing about this scam. In private writers from both papers have told me that their editors basically think the issue's too complicated for their readers to understand.  

I think they're underestimating the public's intelligence. In fact, today's Sun-Times editorial did a great job of spelling it out in language that pretty much anyone can follow. In this case, they're writing about a diversion of sales taxes, but the same principle applies when the city diverts property taxes for TIF deals. 

"Sales taxes are intended as a source of general revenue to help cover the myriad costs of local government -- teaching children, paying police officers and fixing pot holes," the Sun-Times wrote. "When significant sales tax revenues are diverted to a single special purpose, such as paying for a ballpark, the tax burden grows that much heavier on everyone else."

I couldn't have said it better myself . . .

It's back and forth with Mayor Daley when it comes to the state's plan to use public dollars to help out poor Sam Zell.

Back in January, when former governor Jim Thompson, chair of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, first proposed that the state buy Wrigley Field and issue bonds to fix it up, Daley opposed the plan. Then a few days after that he suggested he was reconsidering his opposition. He seemed to have softened his stance until earlier this week, when he delivered his latest opinion at a press conference. Now he's against it again.

His more comical remarks concerned Thompson and Trib Co.'s insistence that the city relax Wrigley's landmark designation as part of the deal. "I’m not going to be the mayor saying, ‘Okay, we’re going to relax on the historic aspect of Wrigley Field. Mayor Daley says it’ll be torn down.’ That’ll be a great headline for the Sun-Times. . . . I’m a White Sox fan. . . . That would be the end of me.”

More seriously, he spoke out against Thompson's proposal to pay for rebuilding Wrigley with a TIF on sales taxes, a new twist on the property tax TIFs the mayor himself can't get enough of.

"Where does the sales tax go? To help the city budget [and pay for] a lot of activities," Daley told reporters. "If we were to some way sequester that and say, 'We're not going to use that money. We're going to find it someplace else'--that's very challenging and difficult to do."

My sentiments exactly. Mayor Daley's making it absolutely clear that no matter how the state and Thompson try to spin it, a sales tax TIF for Wrigley comes at the expense of everyone else. There's a lot of money to be made on those $6.25 beers.

So I'm happy to say the mayor and I see eye to eye on something--at least till he changes his mind again.

On December 31 I was putting the finishing touches on a story praising Mayor Daley for taking a strong stand against a state handout to the Cubs, while warning readers that his steadfastness was probably only temporary.

By January 3, when the story came out, Daley had already caved. "I have an open mind," Daley told Fran Spielman of the Sun-Times. "I always have an open mind on an issue. And why not?"

Let me tell you why not: there is absolutely no public benefit whatsoever to this deal. Under the proposal being floated by Zell, the state -- specifically, the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority -- would buy Wrigley Field for a nominal sum as low as $1, then undertake a revamp of the stadium, building new parking, concessions, seats, etc. (Already the Cubs have landed the city's permission for additional seating and advertising -- never mind the ballpark's landmark status.)

It's a great deal for Zell. By agreeing to fix up the ballpark, the state raises the value of the Cubs franchise, which is already valued at around $1 billion. And it's a good deal for whoever buys the Cubs. The new owner would not only be off the hook for construction costs but would save millions by being exempt from property taxes.

As for public benefits, the deal's backers say they would require the new owner to sign at least a 30-year lease with the state. Big deal. The Cubs aren't going anywhere, with or without a state handout. Ownership would be stupid to: Wrigley Field is a cash cow. No matter how inept the team is -- and the Cubs, famously, can be very inept -- the seats sell because people love going to the "Friendly Confines." They wouldn't have the same allegiance to a new ballpark. Just ask the White Sox, who only sell out when they do well, and sometimes not even then.

In exchange for this "benefit," we the taxpayers will lose at least $50 million in property taxes (and that is a very conservative estimate) over the next 30 years. And that's so that one billionaire can make more money selling to another billionaire, who will then make more money running the team.

Now that Daley's showing signs of giving in, the main hope for killing the deal falls to 44th Ward alderman Tom Tunney, who says he's reluctant to back a handout for Wrigley.

Stay strong, Tom.