CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Chicago hotel room attendants rallied Monday against proposals to build new stadiums for the Bears and White Sox.
Proposals for a new Bears stadium on the Lakefront and new White Sox stadium south of downtown both call for the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority (ISFA) to issue bonds to fund the developments. They're paid for by a two percent tax on Chicago Hotel rooms.
Members of UNITE HERE Local 1, which represents some 2,300 Chicago hotel room attendants, rallied outside Soldier Field to protest the tax.
“If the two percent ISFA tax were eliminated, instead of funding new stadiums for the Bears and Sox, this could result in an additional $42 million of reinvestment in Chicago neighborhoods every year, and the neighborhoods that would stand to benefit the most are working class neighborhoods such as Bronzeville and Humboldt Park,” said UNITE HERE Local Executive Vice President Lou Weeks.
They're calling for the elimination of the tax, with the money instead going towards the paychecks of Chicago hotel room attendants.
“That would mean an extra $14,000 per year for me and my family,” said Blackstone Hotel room attendant Latonia Marshall. “I would be able to help my son through college. I would be able to keep up with the rising property tax.”
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