New Bears stadium replacing Soldier Field would only benefit the rich, opponents say
Parks advocates on Wednesday tried to throw more blocks in the way of the Chicago Bears' stalled drive for a new stadium on the lakefront.
Leaders from Friends of the Parks, Landmarks Illinois and People for Community Recovery voiced their opposition outside Soldier Field, arguing the plan would intensify an existing gap in development throughout the city and use public money in a way opposed by many taxpayers.
"Ensuring Chicago's lakefront remains forever open, clear and free is not the responsibility of one but the work of many," said Gin Kilgore, interim executive director of the influential Friends of the Parks. "With all the issues of inequity in Chicago, we cannot take our eyes off the real goal of accessible health care, addressing food deserts, affordable housing and abundant amenities in all of our parks for everyone to enjoy."
The Bears are seeking upwards of $1 billion in public funding for the proposed stadium, backed by an extension of the 2% city hotel tax used to build Guaranteed Rate Field and renovate Soldier Field. But Gov. JB Pritzker and the state lawmakers who would need to sign off on that idea have all but rejected it, with Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf targeting the same public dollars for another baseball stadium.
The Bears never got any legislative momentum behind their initial plan to move to Arlington Heights either, a proposal that remains stalled due to a property tax dispute with suburban school districts.
But team president Kevin Warren has said the team will keep pushing for the $4.7 billion domed stadium just south of Soldier Field, the 100-year-old home to the Bears that would be largely demolished under the proposal.
Demolishing most of the stadium aside from its colonnades and memorials raised alarm for the group Landmarks Illinois. Advocacy manager Kendra Parzen pointed to the stadium's status on the National Register of Historic Places and its history as a landmark in Chicago as reasons to oppose new development.
Friends of the Parks, a primary protector of the lakefront, announced their opposition to the plan but declined to give a preferred location for the Bears to play. The group has met with Bears leaders and urged the team to take things slow and include the public in any decisions.
"The Bears are lucky. It's a privilege to play on the lakefront," Kilgore said. "That doesn't mean they get to leave and keep their place in line. The lakefront does not need development."
Asked if Friends of the Parks would head to the courts to block development as they did to block George Lucas’ museum from breaking lakefront ground a decade ago, Kilgore said a lawsuit isn't off the table but there are better places to start.
Other activists were concerned with the potential for the stadium to widen an equity gap in the city by funneling money into the already-developed downtown area while some neighborhoods struggle.
"Those resources could even be beneficial to all of us standing here today," said Cheryl Johnson, executive director of People for Community Recovery. "I just can't imagine coming all the way from Altgeld Gardens public housing — been there all my life — to see that the rich want to increase their playground at the expense of the people who are suffering."