Cub Fans Say “Why Not Me?
by Mike Felten
Over the holiday weekend a lot of Cub fans were mulling over their team’s request that the amusement tax growth paid on every ticket sold be returned to the Cubs organization to make necessary improvements on Wrigley Field. The plan would be in effect for thirty-five years.
The politicians in our near bankrupt city and county were aghast. Chicago is short 2,000 police officers and 2,000 teachers were recently given pink slips, but you can’t beat fun at the old ballpark.
There is a growing number of Cub fans envious of all the improvements they see on the other side of town. They want the modern restrooms and the over-priced food courts to keep up with the White Sox and Bears’ facilities. That’s right, the “me” generation is alive and well on the northside.
However, the politicians held their ground. They aren’t giving up any revenue. They told Tom Ricketts and Co. that they better come up with another source to pay for the improvements.
The bonds used to finance Soldier Field and Cellular One are scheduled to be paid off soon. A hotel tax has been used to make those payments. Yet, there is no information available if the hotel tax would be retired when the bonds are paid. Sports fans is so used to paying $80 for that $59.95 room anyway. According to a spokesman for the Illinois Senate President, John Cullerton, “Bond counsel has technical issues with this back up plan”. Translated this means we’ll continue to cash the paychecks and turn a blind eye to taxpayers.
Where will Ricketts find the money for these stadium improvements? Maybe he can take a portion of the proceeds from the homeless guys selling the Streetwise newspaper outside of Wrigley. The “bucket boys” playing their plastic buckets on Addison for tips don’t contribute a dime to the well being of the Ricketts either.
Alderman Tom Tunney has proposed expanding the boundaries of the downtown restaurant district so all these small business (including Tunney’s restaurant) can help support the Cubs and Wrigley. In the meantime, Chicagoans have received the second half of their property tax bills. This is known locally as the other shoe dropping.
Gary Ettema and Bonnie Sutherland’s auto repair shop has a $29,000 bill due, up from the first “half” $11,000. Their shop is in a special service area that taxes to cover a community’s special needs. These folks are trying to hang on like a lot of Chicagoans. They could use a Ricketts size tax break.
But Gary and Bonnie live on the Southside and are probably Sox fans. They can find shelter in their ballpark if they can afford the price of a ticket and if they can’t keep their business going, maybe they can get a job there too. There are only 2,000 teachers on the waiting list ahead of them.
Mike Felten is an SFC sportswriter fellow. He is a music industry veteran, a performer, and owner of the Landfill Records, the former Record Emporium, navigating the transitioning areas of intellectual property and musicians rights. Born and raised in Chicago, Mike is a long time Chicago Cubs fan and a Oklahoma Sooners booster.
