Daily Herald opinion: Suburban lawmakers know Bears proposals need work; their efforts are helping show where
This editorial is a consensus opinion of the Daily Herald Editorial Board.
As he acknowledges himself, legislation state Rep. Marty Moylan has filed doesn't lay out a visionary path for moving the Chicago Bears to Arlington Heights. It does, however, help sort out the complicated and sensitive issues that, among other things, will determine whether any development proceeds in a spirit of cooperation or acrimony.
Initial reactions to the Des Plaines Democrat's proposals from some key stakeholders offer cautious optimism for the former.
The would-be development's closest neighbors, Rolling Meadows and Palatine, filed a letter of opposition to Moylan's bill, but in remarks to her city's Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, Rolling Meadows Mayor Lara Sanoica made it clear the problems may not be that the objectives of the legislation are misguided so much as they are premature.
It is too soon, she emphasized, to begin allotting proportions of anticipated revenues from a massive development at the site of the former Arlington Park racetrack without having even rudimentary studies undertaken, much less completed, about what those revenues might be and what specific demands on infrastructure and public safety various towns will have to contend with.
"We are keenly aware of how a mega project like this could completely overwhelm our commercial ecosystem, gridlock local traffic or strain our infrastructure," Sanoica told her chamber luncheon audience.
Perhaps the most salient point in the letter from Sanoica and Palatine Mayor Jim Schwantz was that now is not the time for the state to be getting involved in affairs that local communities are better positioned to work out among themselves.
"We do not need state legislation to allow us to work through our development-related concerns with Arlington Heights," they wrote.
In a similar vein further east, Democratic state Rep. Kam Buckner, whose Chicago district is home to Soldier Field, observed that a proposed $3 surcharge on each ticket sold to Bears games offers little more than a welcome nod to tax losses the city and county could suffer as well as $640 million in debt still remaining on the cost of a 2002 stadium upgrade.
Moylan's bill, remember, is the second piece of legislation offered by suburban lawmakers to offer proposals related to impacts a stadium development in Arlington Heights would have on other government entities. Arlington Heights Democrats Sen. Ann Gillespie and Rep. Mark Walker filed legislation that would affect how property taxes are assessed and allotted to affected school districts.
Those proposals carried a similar epithet to the dominant response to Moylan's bill, essentially "More To Come." And that is not a bad thing. Indeed, these legislative actions
set the stage for productive discussions that recognize that any Bears development - or, for that matter, any major development at that location - would have regional impact and would need to accommodate diverse issues throughout the region.