Huh, the new Bears proposal for a stadium is... wildly different than I expected :otter_peek: I really like what the renders did with the old Soldier Field columns (and frankly, the UFO they landed inside of it was always a massively ugly waste of money). I feel mostly ambivalent on the proposal I think, provided taxpayers aren't on the hook for it.
If this proposal actually happens, civic leaders from the south side really should lobby hard for the CTA to revisit the Gold Line proposal to take part of the existing Metra electric right-of-way and turn it into a rapid transit corridor. If the city really wants to revitalize the lakefront and drive tourism, they should focus on increasing access between the lakefront parks (the stupid bean/Millennium Park, Grant Park, etc), the Museum Campus (the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Planetarium, Soldier Field), McCormick Place, and Jackson Park (the Museum of Science and Industry and the new Barack Obama Presidential Library). Plus the Gold Line could be used to bring a valuable link for south lake shore communities between the Loop all the way down to South Chicago. :vg_puro_shrug: Seems like a win/win to me.
Side note: Also, boost the Green Line back to Jackson Park like it used to be :neofox_what: It'd make for a great transfer point for people between the Gold Line and the Green Line.
Pretty ok drawings. Looks like run-of-the-mill stadium imo.
But you touched on a couple sore spots. All the plans I've heard of involve taxpayer support. Subsidies for the filthy rich that is. I'm sure thay can get financing like Trump did. Let them do it then.
Secondly,
Can any public money be spent on this when the CTA is so unreliable and disgusting that it's unusable. We're supposed to be a world class city. I can't even recommend our public transit when visitors come to town.
Thirdly,
We (The Bears) can barely win ONE game. We totally suck. And now we'll be rebuilding again for the foreseeable future. The blame goes all the way to the top.
@Malleus The CTA is also facing a fiscal cliff which is... not great. Not sure why we can't do congestion pricing in the city center to help cover the CTA shortfall, but hey, this is America and fuck everyone who doesn't have a car I guess.
So far their proposal doesn't actually involve taxpayer funding beyond the existing 2% hotel tax that they project will grow over time. They want to use bond funding from the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which, to me, reads as a big "we're not actually sure lol, let's go beg J.B., who is notably not enthusiastic about the project, for more funding."
My best guess is that they do what they did for the Soldier Field and Comiskey Park (no I'm not calling it Guaranteed Rate) renovations where they predicate their funding based on future projected tax revenue, then the taxpayers are going to be on the hook when those projections prove to be a joke.
And yeah, the Bears are a fucking joke.
BUT, if we're stuck with this proposal, my standpoint is the south side milks it for better transit. :blobfoxevil:
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