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Isabel’s morning briefing
Tuesday, Aug 22, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Here you go…
* Daily Herald | ‘It’s come to kind of a critical point’: Arlington Heights hires lobbyists on Bears tax-break bill: The $10,000-per-month retainer with Mac Strategies Group — as outlined in a consultant agreement approved 8-0 by the village board — gives village hall a seat at the increasingly crowded suburban stadium bargaining table involving other lobbyists, politicians and attorneys. * Fox 2 | Illinois Secretary of State granting $2.4M to Metro East Auto Task Force today: The group was formed to prevent carjackings, vehicle theft, and break-ins. Giannoulias will also discuss recent crime data. * WSPY | Rezin says override vote of nuclear power bill veto unlikely to be called: Rezin says the bill could return, but without her name on it. Rezin doesn’t think Illinois can reach its environmental goals without adding more nuclear power to the grid. * WTVO | Illinois makes historic investments in education and equity: Illinois’ FY24 budget includes an increase in funding for the Monetary Award Program to an all-time high, which ensures awards for all eligible applicants. This will allow free community college for all Illinois students at or below median income. * IPM News | A state program helps farmers donate the food they raise to food banks:This month, Governor J-B Pritzker signed HB2879, which turns a two-year, USDA-funded Farm to Food Bank pilot program into a permanent, state-funded operation. According to the governor’s office, the Illinois Department of Human Services will administer the program, with an initial $2 million investment in Fiscal Year 24. * Center Square | Illinois health professionals soon to be required to take annual cultural training: House Bill 2450 was sponsored by state Rep. Dagmara Avelar and requires health care workers in the state to receive one hour of racial competency training as part of their continuing education. * Woodstock Independent | Woodstock legislator running for re-election to fifth term in Illinois House: Rep. Steve Reick has announced he will run for re-election to a fifth term in November 2024. * River Cities’ Reader | Illinois AFL-CIO Hires Campaign Veteran Samantha McClain as Chief of Staff: Samantha McClain has been hired as chief of staff for the Illinois AFL-CIO, working to advance the organization’s strategic vision to support working families across Illinois. * Sun-Times | Expect Chicago’s migrant crisis to intensify as Democratic National Convention draws near, top mayoral aide says: Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s deputy chief of staff, predicted the burgeoning crisis that has seen over 13,000 migrants descend on the city over the last year will intensify the closer it gets to the Chicago convention next August. * Sun-Times | CPS disputes claim that migrant children from police station were turned away at school: About 10 children had walked to a Woodlawn school only to be turned away by administrators, a volunteer said. But CPS disputes the allegations, saying that one of the families had an outdated form that stalled the process. * Domocracy Docket | Biennial State-by-State Elections and Voter Survey Details the 1.5% of Mail-In Ballots Rejected in 2022: The percentage seems small at first glance, however, races are increasingly decided by razor-thin margins, sometimes even by just one vote. In the 2020 presidential election, the 10 battleground states — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — were all within that 549,824 margin, five of which President Joe Biden won by a few ten thousand votes. Most importantly, however, every vote cast by an eligible voter deserves to be counted. * SJ-R | At 100, Evelyn Brandt Thomas reflects on working every day and her company’s early days: Evelyn Brandt Thomas joked recently that everybody in a 50-mile radius seemed to know her 100th birthday was coming up on Aug. 25. “It’s hard to believe (turning 100), but I don’t think I’m going to change a thing,” she said. “I’m a little more conscious about visiting with the friends I still have, like at Concordia Village (where I live). I need to think about what I want to do and what I want to say and what I want to have. * Gallup | Americans Rate Dallas and Boston Safest of 16 U.S. Cities: Along with Detroit (26%) and Chicago (27%), less than half of Americans say Philadelphia (47%), New York (41%) and Los Angeles (41%) are safe. Except for Philadelphia, which is seen as unsafe by half of U.S. adults, these other five cities receive majority-level unsafe ratings. * WaPo | Many long-covid symptoms linger even after two years, new study shows: According to the findings, patients who suffered bouts of covid severe enough to put them in the hospital are especially vulnerable to persistent health problems and death two years after they were first infected. But people with mild or moderate cases are not spared from the consequences when compared with those who never had covid, showing an elevated risk of two dozen medical conditions included in the analysis. * Crain’s | White Sox ponder move from South Side home: Knowledgeable sources say Jerry Reinsdorf, the team’s majority owner and chairman, is considering moving the organization from Guaranteed Rate Field in Bridgeport when the team’s lease expires just six years from now.
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- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 8:10 am:
The Arlington Heights White Sox? Say it ain’t so.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 8:23 am:
Will no one rid us of this Reinsdorf?
- ChicagoVinny - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 8:28 am:
Nashville is about the same size market as Pittsburgh. I just don’t see MLB letting the White Sox move to a place that will struggle to have more than one million in attendance, when competent ownership here could draw two to three million.
Where’s the leverage?
- DuPage Saint - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 8:29 am:
Reinsdorf is a plague on Chicago. Someone should tell him Jim Thompson is no longer governor.
- Rahm's Parking Meter - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 8:33 am:
There is a deal to be had with Bears and Sox and Soldier/AH.. Just saying. Sox get Soldier with expensive reconfigurations, Bears go to AH, debt stays with Soldier in some fashion, and Sox park gets sold off and state gets $$$. Call it unlikely, yes, but it is worth a thought.
- Steve Rogers - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 8:46 am:
The Nashville White Sox?
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 8:52 am:
Nashville is a ruse with any moves by MLB franchises.
Given so many mitigating factors, including age, selling the ball club and inflating options to moving to create a crisis buy for a multi-billion dollar franchise to “save a move” is likely at play.
Keep in mind;
The Reinsdorf family not only owns the Bulls but half of the UC. No talk of selling, but the baseball franchise, without a building they own, makes sense to sell with inflated worry inflating a price.
- Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 8:54 am:
Yeah, that ballpark that we pay almost nothing for, we’re going to leave it. Sure. Sure.
I understand that any business has to look at all its options. I doubt there are any options that come close to the free lunch the Sox have gotten for the last 30 years.
- Lynn S. - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 8:59 am:
@Rahm’s Parking Meter:
Some really potentially good thoughts there. (Perhaps almost worthy of the banned punctuation mark?)
If debt stays with Soldier Field, I would suggest it be split in some form between Bears and Sox, but I don’t know how much of the renovation from 2003(?) is paid off.
I would also be willing to split any $$$ earned from sale of Guaranteed Rate field in the following manner: 1. Any bonds/debt on GR gets paid first; 2. Of leftover money, State of IL gets 30%, city of Chicago gets 30%, Sox get 20%, bears get 20%.
Sports franchise owners are all about the Benjamins. Structure the deal so that they get a taste, and state and city get something for all the capital investments/foregone taxes they have contributed.
Also want to structure deal so that all parties are incentivized to cooperate, not cut each other’s throats and fight for scraps.
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 9:05 am:
The White Sox are worth more in Chicago on 35th and Shields than anywhere else. The Florida Marlins have a pretty good team and draw 14,000 a night. The Tampa Bay Rays draw just a little better and are a better team. The Sox draw around 21,000 a night and are a painfully awful team. No one actually wants to make their asset less valuable.
- The Truth - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 9:06 am:
The Gallup survey on perception of U.S. cities’ safety is remarkable and disheartening. So many of these perceptions are just incorrect. (Although Detroit is actually one of the most unsafe cities, that is factually true.)
- Lincoln Lad - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 9:07 am:
Expect Reinsdorf to sell the team, and they aren’t moving anywhere. How about Michael Jordan buying in? Is that Charlotte money burning a hole in his pocket?
- Steve - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 9:19 am:
Don’t know where the White Sox are going but San Antonio is a big city without an MLB team.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 9:31 am:
Just for openers, the San Antonio media market is 31st
Now you need to build a building in that 6 year frame.
- DTown Resident - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 10:00 am:
I agree with the Gallup perceptions of crime survey being depressing. New York,along with others, especially is surprising given how low crime has become there. Lots of emotional and political responses there . It is way more safer than it was when I was growing up in the 1970s-80s-90s. Crazy how much media reporting with a conservative slant affects that with how it is allegedly awful now. I will take the 425 or less murders NYC has now compared to the 2500 in 1985. It would also be good if Chicago could have murders that low or lower.
- Amalia - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 10:09 am:
I’m with Lincoln Lad. think Jordan buys the team. and it stays on the South Side. His ownership would attract fans. But I’m trying not to think about any of this because the last time with the threat to move to Tampa I was so sad and worried. It’s 6 years off re the lease. Ikea now has Halloween merch. I’m trying to soothe with fun and pumpkin spice. and LuRob amazing catches and bombs.
- Gravitas - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 10:11 am:
Throughout my life, the White Sox have constantly threatened to move. In fact, the team even transferred many of its 1969 home games to County Stadium in Milwaukee.
This begging routine gets tiresome. The White Sox have been operating almost rent free since the state built the new stadium for the team.
- Chicago 20 - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 10:17 am:
- @Rahm’s Parking Meter:
It’s not Soldier Field debt or Guarantee Rate Field debt.
The debt is the State’s debt backed with state sales tax receipts.
If the Bears walk away from Soldier Field, that burden on State sales tax revenue will constrain any plans for the development of on-site and campus revenue areas and continued modernization at Guarantee Rate Field.
- Thomas Paine - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 10:21 am:
Selling the team is the worst option for Reinsdorf. The team needs to expand its economic footprint, just as the Cubs did a few years ago, just as the Bears are seeking to do.
If Reinsdorf cannot do that at his current locale now, who could at some future date, and if revenue is capped who do you sell to?
Reinsdorf’s best option is to develop the surrounding neighborhood, and with Mayor Johnson he might have a shot. His next best option is to move to the south suburbs. There are plenty of Sox fans to fill the seats from merrillville to burr ridge.
- DTown Resident - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 10:32 am:
Can the neighborhood around the Sox stadium be built up into something like Ballpark Village or any number of other areas also controlled by teams. That and stadium upgrades would probably be the best option.
- Hannibal Lecter - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 10:47 am:
Rumor has it the Sox are considering a move to Palm Springs /s.
- Hannibal Lecter - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 10:48 am:
=== Can the neighborhood around the Sox stadium be built up into something like Ballpark Village or any number of other areas also controlled by teams. ===
No. Unless you are thinking of building a unique fan experience on the Dan Ryan.
- Chicago 20 - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 11:02 am:
- Can the neighborhood around the Sox stadium be built up into something like Ballpark Village or any number of other areas also controlled by teams.
This could be easily done by building the “Ballpark Village” in the north parking lot.
- supplied_demand - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 11:59 am:
==No. Unless you are thinking of building a unique fan experience on the Dan Ryan. ==
There are 7 large parking lots west of the Dan Ryan. Wrigley manages to get twice as many people with zero parking lots.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Guaranteed+Rate+Field/@41.8308614,-87.6349138,972m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0×880e2c14278e92f5:0×2f864f668f4a90b8!8m2!3d41.8299748!4d-87.6338652!16zL20vMDJ5eHB2?entry=ttu
- Hannibal Lecter - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 12:46 pm:
=== There are 7 large parking lots west of the Dan Ryan. Wrigley manages to get twice as many people with zero parking lots. ===
Apples and oranges. You cannot compare the two stadiums. Different neighborhoods, different fan bases. Sox fans like to tailgate - can’t tailgate without adequate parking.
Also, there is no way that the folks in Bridgeport would put up with the same parking situation as they have in Wrigleyville. Without parking lots, people would be parking on residential streets - which is a non-starter.
- sal-says - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 1:02 pm:
Wonder how Reinsdork’s crappily/cheaply managed 49-76 sox will draw in rumored FL
- Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 4:52 pm:
==The Gallup survey on perception of U.S. cities’ safety is remarkable and disheartening. So many of these perceptions are just incorrect.==
I looked at the stats - of the cities listed in the Gallup poll, NY is the safest by far in both overall and violent crime categories. The perceptions of Boston and Vegas are on target, but the rest are out of wack.
- MyTwoCents - Tuesday, Aug 22, 23 @ 5:07 pm:
With the White Sox parking situation, if they wanted to use existing lots for something like a fan experience, they could convert surface lots to parking structures and probably keep close to the same number of overall parking spots.