Buying the Bears
"We should be focused on homelessness and gun violence, not on recreational folly."
(Chicago Ald. Pat Dowell)
"Recreational folly".
Mr. (or Ms.??) Dowell clearly does not care where the Bears play.
His (or her) comment was made in response to a fellow alderman's well-intended -- but lame-brained -- suggestion that the Bears be purchased from the current owners and sold to the public/fans in much the same fashion as the Green Bay Packers.
WHO CAN FORGET WHEN Daniel Burnham -- the great Chicago urban planner -- almost said, "Make no little nonsense?"
Alderman George Cardenas, one of Mayor Lori Lightfoot's City Council floor leaders, is apparently all in on that unstated notion.
He is the Southwest Side politico pushing for a feasibility study about the city or its residents buying the Bears to keep them from moving to Arlington Heights.
To save time and taxpayer money about Cardenas and his "feasibility study," here's a fast-forwarded conclusion:
Forget about it.
Lo siento.
THAT'S NOT TO SAY that if Lightfoot and cohorts truly want to think creatively about taking a legitimate shot at keeping the Monsters within city limits it couldn't be done.
As a matter of fact, if they want to forward $500K to Insouciant Inc., 60004, there's a bearded suburban Rodin more than willing to take a brief leave from dot-dot-dotting to consult and even generate a more realistic and fun "feasibility study."
Jerry Reinsdorf has always been fond of saying, "There are ways of getting things done."
As a bonus-plus, once that "feasibility study" is done and all tabs are paid, the CEO of Insouciant Inc. will even send Mayor Lightfoot and Alderman Cardenas a series of signed picture postcards from Montserrat, Mykonos and other exotic ports o' hang.
IN THE INTERIM, the effort to get the Chicago Bears into the new George S. Halas Stadium at 3-6 Matt Nagy Drive is far from done.
Some might even say the initiative remains at even money:
It'll happen or it won't.
But if the bet is between the Bears to Arlington Heights or the McCaskey-Ryan-McKenna triumvirate selling to a Green Bay Packers citizen-style flock shepherded by Alderman George Cardenas, CB/AH is on the board at 1-to-infinity.
Even Daniel Burnham would likely tell Cardenas, "Don't make me laugh."
