CHICAGO -- The advocacy group Friends of the Parks said Tuesday the whole conversation surrounding a new Bears stadium needs to slow down.
They said the reason the lakefront is so attractive to private development is because it has been protected from development in part by Friends of the Parks.
The following statement was released by the Friends of the Parks:
"What we need right now is “open, clear and free” discourse driven by the public instead of private interests. Presently, our main reaction is frustration at the apparent urgency for the Chicago Bears to have a new plan in place after saying repeatedly they wanted to leave the city to develop an 'entertainment district.'"
Friends of the Parks
Discussions about a project that will require significant public investment that could profoundly affect the literal and figurative landscape of Chicago and our neighborhoods should not be rushed like this.
The Bears announced on Monday they’d contribute $2 billion to a publicly owned domed stadium near Soldier Field and improve open spaces.
But Friends of The Parks is asking – given the Bears plans for an entertainment district in Arlington Heights – what that would look like on this land that’s protected by the Public Trust Doctrine.
As for the economics of a second stadium, a sports economist and University of Chicago Professor is doubtful the numbers could work.
"I certainly think it’s more entertaining than it is economics because this whole thing fails any economics test," Allen Sanderson, Economics professor at the University of Chicago, said. "A second stadium, a second facility – putting a dome on it, and putting it on the lakefront, it just keeps going and going and getting worse and worse.
Friends of the Parks suggesting an alternative site in the city.
The Michael Reese site in Bronzeville, which they say is the best of both worlds with lakefront views, but surrounded by residential and business development.
The group saying it is looking forward to more conversations with the team.