Aldermen OK $424M in projects around Fire stadium

CHICAGO CITY HALL (WBBM Newsradio) -- The owner of the Chicago Fire soccer club may be paying for his team's new pitch in the South Loop, but City Council has signed off on a multi-million-dollar assist for what will be called McDonald's Park.

Aldermen voted overwhelmingly during Wednesday's Council meeting to use $424 million in economic development money to improve roads and other infrastructure around the stadium, and to build a combination parking garage and retail/housing structure.

One of the most vocal opponents of the use of that money, which come from something called a tax increment financing (TIF) fund, is Downtown Ald. Bill Conway, whose ward abuts the area known as "The 78" where the Fire's stadium is being built.

"This is a bad deal for Chicagoans," said Ald. Conway (34th Ward), saying that the projected revenue from the parking garage amounts to about 5% of the total TIF expenditure. "I cannot look taxpayers in the eye and say I voted to spend taxpayer money on a parking garage for a sports stadium."

But Conway's West side colleague Jason Ervin (28th Ward) responded that those projects are perfect uses for TIF money: "This plan cannot happen without the infrastructure improvements."

And South side Ald. Pat Dowell, in whose ward The 78 sits, noted that the plan for the area includes commitments to affordable housing and other improvements for a plot of land that's been vacant for decades.

"We don't get there if we don't have roads, if we don't have water," said Ald. Dowell (3rd Ward). "These are not just for the Third Ward or downtown. They're for the whole city."

During the Council meeting, aldermen also:

• confirmed the mayor's selection of Rush Health chief medical officer Dr. Garth Walker to serve as the city's new Public Health Commissioner;
• approved a $9 million payment to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who claims Chicago police beat and misled him into falsely confessing to a murder in Little Village in 2002;
• offered a brief tribute to Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling, whose last day on the job was Wednesday. The Superintendent was not in attendance at City Hall, and Mayor Brandon Johnson hinted that he might be open to a tribute in the future.