Letter: Don't just give handouts to the Bears

The Bears want the state to freeze the property taxes to what they were for the racetrack, but the planning is for apartments/condos and an entertainment venue that did not exist when the parcel contained the racetrack and would be operating more days than the racetrack. The state should keep out of the decisions regarding property taxes for the parcel.

Taxpayers should not be giving handouts to the Bears. Also I don't think that any state legislators should be on the oversight board. It should only be officials from the area.

For the apartments/condos when the plan comes before the city council, it should follow the same process as if the parcel were any other parcel of with the same size and infrastructure. What gets built and paid for by the municipality or the developer is probably already spelled out in the building/development code. If the parcel is 100 acres with no roads, sewer, or water mains, what part of the infrastructure would the developer be expected to build and/or pay for and what would Arlington Heights build and pay for?

If the stadium and entertainment are open the same number of days as the racetrack was then maybe that part of the property could have the taxes frozen for five years, but no more.

I realize that the Bears are used to getting giveaways from Chicago, but they don't really need the giveaways. The Bears don't need to move to Arlington Heights, they decided that they wanted to move to Arlington Heights. They want to move into a new state-of-the-art stadium that can be used more often for other events and therefore make more money. Neither Arlington Heights nor the state (taxpayers) be subsidizing the move unless the Bears open their books to be audited as to why they need to be subsidized.

Mary McCarthy

Downers Grove