Silly Season

The Bears now formally own the 326-site once home to Arlington International Racecourse. Let the silly season of stadium shenanigans begin. According to yesterday’s Tribune, Arlington Heights’ village manager indicated “there’s going to be a lot opportunity for public input over the next months and years as the project unfolds.” Not really. It would be more accurate to say the McCaskeys will try to shape/control/manipulate public attitudes on the stadium over the coming months and years. Once the project starts, no amount of public protest will alter any part of it. Hence, the need for shaping and manipulating. Think Stockholm Syndrome, with a stadium. The Munsters released a statement which said in part “for this effort to be financially feasible, a public-private partnership addressing predictable taxes and necessary infrastructure funding for public uses is essential.” Again, not really. The Bears don’t just want a stadium, they want a massive, mixed-use development. If they can build the stadium on their own dime, as they claim, they should pay for the rest of the development, given how they intend to control and make money from it until the cows come home. That there may be a possible public benefit to the scheme is of no concern to them. All that matters is the likelihood of the McCaskey family getting to erect their own money bin from the profits the project would generate. What kind of partnership limits one side from getting its fair share? That’s exactly what the Bears are proposing. To think otherwise would be downright silly.