It’s readily apparent that there is no capacity for shame in the Chicago Bears organization. In a city facing a $1 billion budget shortfall for fiscal year 2025, in addition to the more than $600 million that the Chicago Park District still owes on the ill-advised Soldier Field “renovation” and on the White Sox’s Guaranteed Rate Field, Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren continues to publicly campaign for public tax money to build a new playpen for his overfed minions. And for only 10 or fewer home games a year!
The city and the state simply cannot afford this kind of useless extravagance. Too many legitimate needs remain unfulfilled.
It’s interesting that nobody with the last name McCaskey seems to be willing to be the public face of this continued campaign of greed. The family is leaving it all up to Warren. The McCaskeys have gotten themselves hung up on an ill-advised property acquisition in Arlington Heights. That’s their tough luck. If they can’t figure a way out of their dilemma in the northern suburbs, they shouldn’t expect the people of the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois to bail them out. They went into it with their eyes wide open.
Let’s hope that Gov. JB Pritzker continues to stay strong in opposition to any state financial aid to the Bears for this ridiculous proposal. Unfortunately, Mayor Brandon Johnson can’t be relied upon in this matter. He’s already swallowed the Bears Kool-Aid.
— Chet Alexander, Alsip
Financials for Sox, Bears
The Bears and White Sox both appear desperate not only for a new stadium but also for public funding to build their dream facility. We the people are just as desperate to have our teams be perennially successful on the field. Unfortunately for a myriad of reasons, neither of these teams has been capable of providing that. Some believe it is due to the ineptness of management, and some believe it is due to the ownership constraints for maximizing profit.
For the sake of continued fan support and for the burden that we taxpayers would face if our politicians are persuaded to vote for the requested funding, each team should be required to divulge its financial statements of the last 10 years. That way, the fans/taxpayers could evaluate what level of investment the owners of these teams have made during the last 10 years while fans have had to suffer through the disastrous seasons of losing. This would then identify what the real objective of the ownership is: winning or maximizing profit.
Additionally, both of these teams have had many years of continued ownership and the ability to save/invest for a new owner-owned stadium.
Both teams have used public funding during the last 40 years, and what have fans received? The White Sox have one championship (2005) and have deteriorated ever since, and the Bears won one Super Bowl (1986) and went to another (2007) and have been disappointing ever since. This could be accepted if in fact these teams simply did not have the revenue to be competitive. To have the nerve to ask for public funding to build new facilities, it is incumbent upon ownership to come forward and show the public the financial results that they realized during the last 10, 15 or 20 years.
— Dave Roberts, Frankfort
Bears CEO, stop the game
When is the Chicago Bears’ ruse of building a new stadium, other than in Arlington Heights, going to stop? Obviously, Bears President Kevin Warren isn’t looking out for the best interest of the Bears or their fans. The Bears closed on the property in Arlington Heights in 2023, and it will be years before the Bears even begin construction of a stadium. Every year of delay in construction can increase the price of a new stadium by millions of dollars due to increased construction costs.
With the big holdup in Arlington Heights, how many years of additional taxes will it take to recover the additional building costs?
It’s a game, and the public is being gaslighted. Warren supposedly shopped other suburbs to up the ante and leverage the Bears position with Arlington Heights. Why would the team jeopardize a complete complex that would include income from seats, concessions, parking, restaurants, a sports store, etc., to build a stadium where it has to deal with the city of Chicago and the Park District?
Warren should stop the game and stop looking out for his lucrative contract and do what’s best for the Bears, the fans, the village of Arlington Heights and the city of Chicago. Get on with building the stadium in Arlington Heights.
— Dan Valosek, Downers Grove
Harden electrical grid first
Many articles have reported on the devastation Hurricanes Helene and Milton have caused and the difficulties of the response efforts. One aspect I haven’t seen covered is what the impact of the green energy changes in progress will be on future similar events.
Imagine the problems with mass evacuations when highways are full of partially charged electric vehicles with limited range and limited resources for charging. Think of all the home and public charging stations destroyed or without power because of flooding or high winds. No one can load tank trucks with electricity, as can be done with gasoline or diesel fuel.
How about the solar panel or wind turbine farms that will be put out of commission even if the transmission lines can quickly be restored?
Instead of rushing into a green energy future by federal government edicts of unrealistic corporate average fuel economy standards or bans on gas-fueled trucks, as California has done, the country should first harden its electrical generation and grid so as to survive the hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes and wildfires that are sure to come.
Otherwise, the future suffering and recovery costs will make today’s look insignificant.
— David Swanson, Elgin
Effects of population growth
There are two gigantic elephants in the room that many ardent climate change activists don’t discuss. The first is population growth because the reality is that people consume energy. The more people you have, the more energy is consumed. Reducing consumption per person by renewables while phasing out carbon production of energy is a pipe dream, the more so since nuclear power is rejected by many as an option. Also, regarding population growth, the end of China’s “one child” policy is looming. Certainly not a promising sign for cutting energy consumption.
The second elephant is the ironic reality, at least in the developed world, that we need continued population growth to fund the safety net, particularly, but not exclusively, for the elderly, such as Social Security in America.
So yes, population growth is a potent hurdle to lowering carbon emissions by substituting renewables. And yes, we need population growth to maintain our social safety net, particularly for the elderly.
— Neil Gaffney, Chicago
Sex education for youths
Parents are the first educators of children in most of the fundamentals of life. While they may err in that education, society is best off not overtaking or usurping that role. Resources can be provided parents, and in cases in which children absorb truly unhelpful parental messages in this realm, correctives can be offered them.
In my view, society, government and popular culture best serve our youths when they allow true wisdom through. Of course, many of us disagree on true wisdom about sex. Yet we can agree that solid foundations for family and married life generally benefit the individual and our communities.
May I suggest the Impact program sponsored by Pregnancy Aid Illinois, headquartered in Tinley Park? It is worth some real inquiry and research, as well as reporting.
— Al Theis, Tinley Park
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