Damning Article on New Chicago Arena

[DudeAnon]

DePaul averaged less than 3,000 fans a game? Good lord, that is worse than I could have imagined.

[muskienick]

I am unfamiliar with school funding in Illinois. In my state, Ohio, municipal governments take no part in school budgeting. That is all done through local school districts and the State legislature. Unless public school educational funding is handled completely differently in Illinois than in Ohio, I find it hard to believe that the City of Chicago (i.e. its City Council or Board of Aldermen --- whatever they call it) is responsible for making the decision to close public schools within the boundaries of the City. Furthermore, there are many precedents that can be cited where public entities have partnered in one way or another with private (or at least non-public) agencies or businesses to benefit both entities. Granting large and long-lasting real estate tax abatements to businesses so that they will bring jobs (and earnings taxes) within its city limits is just such a common practice.

If the City has decided to work a deal with DePaul, a private institution, that would (supposedly) benefit both the University and the City, I can find no reasonable impediment to that project. There appears to be a number of loose ends still to be worked out before the deal is finalized based on all the conjecturing being done here, on other boards, and in the press. If that is so, it might be better to simply wait until the deal is totally official before anyone blasts it or annoints it as the best idea since the invention of the wheel.

[sonofamuskie]

If this deal happens, I suppose they need to extend the train / subway down toward mccormick place or place a stop close enough to make this venture successful. I mean you need butts in the seats to justify it and making it easy to get to is imperative.